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Neil Cragg reports after this past weekends 1/8th nitro buggy national season opener… Well it was the first round of the BRCA National championship at Westmill this past weekend. I’m not going to lie to you, I’m not a big fan of Westmill, it’s a great track and facility with a well-run club, but it’s to God-damn far away and EVERYBODY seems to be good on it except me! I always look forward to national races though regardless of where they are and this was no different. I had some engine gremlins going on in practice which resulted in me having 3 whole laps of track time, things not going quite to plan…
So I thought I’d use qualifying as practice for the semi’s and mains, probably qualify 5th/6th no problem, then be ready for when the real racing started, BIG MISTAKE. I hadn’t counted on so many people being so fast, and the times being so close! After a real torrid time in qualifying I finished up a disappointing 11th, but it was in the semi’s and that’s where I wanted to be. As for everybody else Bootsie tq’d, his brain fell out in round 1 but he got it together after that, Leroy was close behind in 2nd looking cool and composed (on the track anyway!), then we had the usual suspects of Butch, Embling, Bloomfield, Hazelwood, Reeves, Brunsden, Sloppy and Crompy making up a closely fought top ten.
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On to the semi finals, in the first it would be Lee taking the win just in front of boy wonder Jack Embling in what turned out to be a scrappy affair, Lee said his car was dialled at the start but became hard to drive half way through. Hazelwood was bumping no problem until he hit some engine trouble, apart from that no major upsets that I can remember. In the second semi there was really drama at the start as tq man Bootsie had a big off on the warm-up lap and broke his car, cue frantic mechanics working on it, he was up and running just under a lap down on the leaders.
I had no doubt he would make the main with his pace, but I’ll be damned if he’s beating me after giving me a lap head start!! Sloppy won after a great drive, and a cheeky 10 minute pit stop to line up on pole. Butch Willetts put himself 2nd on the grid with Bloomfield just behind. I finished 4th a couple more seconds back which was good but I was still a little slow compared to the front runners. Bootsie did make the main starting 7th behind Lee and Jack.
On to the main now and we changed a few things on the car and also went from X3 Diamond Back’s to X2′s. As soon as I went out for the warm-up I knew my car was good, it was a complete transformation of what I’d been running and I was pretty confident going to the start line. I got tangled up on the first lap and ended up near the back but I just got my head down, hoped the front runners would battle it out and lose time, I also hoped they’d be doing 7 1/2 minute fuel stops compared to my 9 minute stops. At the 20 minute mark my longer stops had brought me into a battle with Bloomfield and Lee for 2nd, with Sloppy not too far behind me. By this point Elliott was already up front and building a formidable lead over the chasing pack. Luck deserted Leroy after the third fuel stop as a snapped flywheel pin ended his chances, a real shame as it was turning into a battle royal for the podium!
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This left me in 3rd and I spent the remainder of the race trying to hunt down Bloomfield and pressure him into a mistake. Unfortunately I pushed to hard which ended in a big crash on the back section which seemed to cost me years! From there I thought just take 3rd but another crash on the following lap and Sloppy was all over me like a rash. There were two minutes to go and I’m making my car the widest I can, on to the last lap, I hold him off but I know the fast chicane is right before the finish line and I know he’s going balls out through it, I hesitate and clip the pipe on the last corner and through he goes, beating me by 2 tenths. Absolutely gutted. If you’d offered me 4th during qualifying I’d of snapped your hand off but that felt like I’d lost the win! Elliott won comfortably in the end with Bloomfield, Sloppy, me and Jack rounding out the top 5.
It’s been good to see everyone after the long winter break and I’m looking forward to the next round, hopefully with the new Associated car!
Round 1 Westmill Winners and Losers
ELLIOTT BOOTS:
Apart from a bad first round and a late start to his semi after a breakage in warm-up it was a dominant performance from the Kyosho man. Once he hit the front in the main final there was no catching him. This is his track and he’s rarely beaten on it.
DARREN BLOOMFIELD:
A good start to the national series for Agama’s new main man. He was never outside the top 5 all weekend and will be satisfied with a 2nd place finish.
GRAHAM ALSOP:
Sloppy is a top 5 guy, always has been. After qualifying it was surprising to see him propping up the top ten. Come Sunday though he was a different driver, winner of the semi-final and starting on pole, a podium finish was a great result for the Hot Bodies driver.
JACK EMBLING:
Another stella weekend for Lee Martins young padawan. Now a full time member of the main final, a podium finish this year is a realistic target for the up and coming Mugen driver.
TARO CRADDOCK:
The improvement from last year to this year was very impressive, a completely different driver. Not that far off beating his old man, it won’t be long!
JACK WILLETTS & TEHANNAH CRADDOCK:
An awesome battle for the last bump up spot in their final, it was great to see these two young upstarts fighting it out on the last few laps!!
LOSERS:
LEE MARTIN:
Real bad luck for the defending champion as he retired from the main final with a snapped flywheel pin. From the second Lee hit the track in practice he looked very fast and comfortable, he looked the most likely to challenge Bootsie’s dominance in the mains. With the championship only allowing one throw away score there’s not much room for error now for the 2013 champ.
SIMON ‘BUTCH’ WILLETTS:
Butch looked good all the way through qualifying, had a great semi final and looked like he would challenge for the podium. He was in the running at the start but kind of lost his way a little later on and would end up 6th, I’m sure Butch will be slightly disappointed knowing he had good pace at Westmill.
JON HAZELWOOD:
John was definitely rolling back the years in qualifying. He had some serious pace in that car, trust me I know, I was usually the car he was cruising up on in the heat races!! Was running well up in his semi and was an absolute certainty for the main until a flame out put paid to that. It was a really shame, I reckon John would of done some damage in the main!
MIKE CRADDOCK:
With Taro getting close to beating his old man, Tehannah improving, dad might have to throw in the towel and become a full time pit bitch while he’s still ahead! (Only joking Mike)
THE CAR JOURNEY HOME:
It’s always a long car ride home after Westmill, but it seemed longer than the three and half hours it took as I was constantly shaking my head at crashing on the last corner and letting Sloppy past to take 3rd, He owes me a drink at the next round…
Report: Neil Cragg