Press Release From RacewayOne:
www.racewayone.com
With the unhappy demise of the Kidderminster observe, Robinhood Raceway acquired the chance to host a second spherical of the BRCA 1/tenth Offroad National Series on the weekend of July 8/9. James Halliwell and his band of merry males are one of the tight-knit teams within the nation and the show of effort and teamwork over the weekend was exemplary. The forecast was not good for weekend, particularly Saturday, however the group have been able to at daybreak each days to empty the observe after torrential rain fell each nights.
After a few hours of arduous graft the observe drained and puddles receded to disclose a principally dry line other than among the dips the place water was trapped. The drivers launched into the standard 2 x 3 minute follow classes with all drivers on Silver compound tyres and most utilizing their moist setup automobiles. There was one noticeable absentee at Round 5 and that was Lee Martin who was in another country and couldn’t attend. Straight out of the traps it was present 2wd Euro Champ Tommy Hall setting the tempo – his automobile showing to have a major ahead drive over the competitors. Ben Smith and Matt Thompson additionally exhibiting their tempo early on. For spherical 2 of follow the observe was drying considerably and Neil Cragg was in a position to go quickest in spherical and prime the desk in total follow occasions. Ben Smith once more very quick going second and Tommy Hall rounding out the highest three.
As 2wd Qualifying began there was a noticeable change within the situations. Dark clouds have been rolling in and thunder might be heard within the distance. The climate radar exhibiting a powerful risk of rain within the mid-section of the spherical.
Heat 1 and a couple of ran in usually dry situations however throughout warmth 3 the heavens opened, and the rain was torrential. It stored raining all the way in which to warmth 8 – the assembly dropping no time to the change in situations. The rain was adopted by sunshine which began to dry the observe halfway by warmth 8. By the time warmth 10 of 12 was working the observe was at that time the place the silver compound tyres have been working completely. Ben Jemison made the a lot of the sooner situations and set provisional TQ in warmth 10. As warmth 11 began, the rain recommenced, and the observe began to gradual – Ben Smith doing an incredible job to solely free 4 seconds to Jemison going second total. The persistent rain giving warmth 12 no probability of competing up the entrance. Round 2 of qualifying was moist or everybody and it was Ben Pugh who took TQ – his automobile regarded locked into the observe in a means that not one of the different did. Neil Cragg acquired his qualifying going with a second in spherical just one.2 seconds behind Pugh. Tommy Hall going third. Round 3 of 2wd Qualifying was once more a mixture of drying observe adopted by rain for the upper heats. The climate regarded promising until the top of warmth 9 after which rain threatened once more. Matthew Peter in Heat 10 simply acquired by, setting the present Round 3 TQ time, earlier than there was torrential rain once more. Heat 11 & 12 had a tempo discount of about 15 seconds or half a lap. This was music to Peters’ ears as he secured his first 2wd TQ in Round. Round 4 was an analogous story – Matthew Peters working in Heat 10 set the tempo. Ben Jemison and Harley Eldridge in Heat 11 had 4 minutes of dry situations and have been on to compete with Peters earlier than extra heavy rain fell – killing off their problem and discounting Heat 12 performances solely. With two prime occasions in Round, Matthew Peters has taken his first National Pole Position for the A Finals.
Overall Top 20 after 2wd Qualifying
Looking on the qualifying factors you may see some wild swings in factors scored because of the situations. Charlie Saunders, Edward Callan and Josh Holdsworth all with solely actually one “normal” for them rating. Neil Cragg and Ben Smith additionally struggling – however not less than they made it to the A Final.
There have been many racers who have been delighted for Matthew Peters to be ranging from the entrance row and it was hoped by many who he would settle in rapidly and do his greatest to maintain the sphere behind him. The observe doesn’t current to many overtaking alternatives – maybe on and off the straight, and maybe by the jumps beneath the podium. Other than {that a} challenger will probably be hoping {that a} chief runs large off line within the chicanes.
By the time Leg 1 of the 2wd A Final commenced the rain had stopped and the observe was drying quickly. The began buzzer sounded, and Matthew Peters led the sphere away. Ben Jemison was fortunate when he wheelied off the road however managed to catch and floor it rapidly – following Peters into the primary flip. As the primary lap progressed it was apparent that Peters main automobile had a rear suspension setup targeted on attaining most facet chew within the moist and because the observe was drying quickly this was not wanted. The automobile appeared to roll proper to the boundaries of the suspension journey on every nook making it gradual on the apex. At the beginning of the second lap the breakaway group of Peters, Jemison and Pugh all entered the primary nook in shut proximity. Pugh ricocheted off the pipe on the entry to the sweeper on the finish of the straight however hung onto it and solely drifted large loosing little time. Jemison then caught the pipe and put his automobile up on two wheels – managing to catch it, however in flip leaving the door wide-wide open for a recovering Pugh to come back by and take second place. Things then quiet down for a few laps. Peters out within the lead by over a second, Pugh main the chasing prepare of automobiles with Jemison in third and Tommy Hall in fourth. Neil Cragg was as much as fifth after beginning nineth! With virtually two minutes down, Jemison rode the hose out of the bomb gap and have become beached requiring marshalling and dropping him to tenth – problem over. Over the next lap, Ben Pugh drew proper as much as the again of Peters. You may see how Pugh’s automobile was really easy to drive compared to Peters’ – Pugh simply needing a shot of killer intuition within the arm to setup a possible cross. At the midpoint of the race, Peters appeared to gradual up barely and the queue of automobiles began to kind behind him. Pugh was ready for an error from Peters. Hall in third, conscious of his principal rival Cragg behind, was cautious additionally. With a minute and half to go, Hall noticed his alternative and made a clear cross on Pugh. The tempo of the ultimate lead pack dropped to level the place automobiles have been beginning to journey over each other. Hall hit the again of Peters a few occasions, Cragg hit Pugh and Luke Holdsworth was additionally a part of the pack. In the chicane earlier than the straight with a minute to go, Peter’s clipped a concrete marker and ricocheted out into mid observe off the road. Not sufficient of a possibility to cross, however Hall was alongside facet him. Pugh then ran large letting Cragg by and practically letting Holdsworth although – the racing was frantic! Moments later, Hall rolled on the finish of the straight letting Cragg into second and into pursuit of Peters. Hall touchdown on his wheels and preserving the momentum up slotted again into third. Cragg was now proper behind Peters and in search of a means by – Cragg showing to be driving at solely 90%. Tommy Hall proper there too. Cragg made a few makes an attempt to get by, however backed out as he couldn’t afford an accident and let Tommy away with second place and even the win. With solely 10 seconds to go, Tommy acquired wonderful drive onto the straight and went across the exterior of Neil Cragg on the finish of the straight and into second place – a unbelievable transfer. Hall and Cragg returned the Peters’ again bumper and on the second final nook, Tommy Hall caught the facet of Peters’ automobile and rolled him over. Cragg then collected Hall, who could have been ready for Peters to get going once more. All three wanted Marshalling. Peters was away first to say the Leg 1 win, Hall second and Cragg third.
The situations have been once more dry for Leg 2 of the 2wd A Final. The race began with all drivers being cautious other than one – Neil Cragg beginning in ninth making up locations from the beginning tone. A prepare of automobiles made their means across the observe and half a lap in, while climbing out of the bomb-hole, Matthew Peters clipped a hose which slowed him barely and he was rear-ended by an over-exuberant Ben Jemison. Peters managed to scramble out of the collision, however Jemison acquired trapped on the hose on the apex, dropping to final place. Peters’ automobile regarded higher on observe – maybe a setup change was made – however he regarded slightly afraid of the automobile and was not pushing on as a lot as he did in leg 1. Ben Pugh had inherited second place with one lap down and Ben Smith was as much as third. Peters led the race, carefully chased by the pack behind till the beginning of the third lap when he rolled of the observe on the finish of the straight. The battle for the lead was not between Pugh, Smith and Cragg. Smith began to interrupt away as Pugh fended off the problem from Cragg. A mistake from Pugh a lap later in entrance of race management let Cragg although needing to make up a 3 second deficit to Smith. Cragg initially took a bit chunk out of Smith’s lead, however then the latter responded and began setting sizzling lap after sizzling lap – solely fractionally sooner than Cragg, however nonetheless sooner. With a minute and half to go, there was no signal of any change. Ben Jemison had recovered to fourth however was a substantial distance behind the leaders and Smith began to lap again markers. Ben Smith had slowly amassed at 3.5 second lead by the point he crossed the road to take Leg 2 of the 2wd A Final. Neil Cragg ending second simply forward of Ben Pugh.
The drivers went into Leg 3 of the 2wd A Final with an excessive amount of uncertainty. Peters, Smith, Cragg, Hall and Pugh all may mathematically win it with a Leg 3 victory. To add the mathematic, there was a 75% of rain in time for Leg 3, nonetheless with giant areas of blue sky over the observe – we’re placing this right down to a Met Office miscalculation. Leg 3 of the 2wd A Final acquired off to a quick begin with a number of of the drivers within the decrease grid positions going into the primary nook three abreast. Somehow they got here out of it unscathed and queued up properly for the primary hairpin. Peters out in entrance with Jemison in second. Pugh clipping a hose half a lap in and letting Tommy Hall as much as third. Jemison acquired a nasty touchdown into the hole in entrance of the podium and slowed while getting himself again onto the racing line while leaping out – Tommy Hall seeing this unfold gave it some welly and jumped straight over Jemison on the apex into second – thrilling stuff. Hall then rapidly drew up onto the again of Peters in the beginning of the second lap. He was trying left – trying proper a number of occasions for a niche to get by, however Peters stored the door closed. Under the podium, Hall carried a quick large line on the hairpin and drew alongside Peters on the apex and on the exit powered previous into the hole. Hall now main. A lap later, Hall had stamped his authority on the race and was opening up a big divide on Peters. In two laps, Hall had an almost 4 second benefit! Peters was doing his greatest to fend of assaults from Jemision, Smith and Luke Holdsworth. At the hairpin in entrance of race management Jemison managed to rise up the within of Peters and thru. Peters went of line in response and subsequently Smith acquired by additionally. With two minutes to go, issues began to quiet down a bit. Hall with a 4 second lead over Jemison and Smith in third pushing arduous to catch Jemison after a roll out of the soar beneath the podium. Smith caught Jemison with a minute to go and began in search of a means by. Jemison held his floor properly and took second behind Tommy Hall with Smith in third. The Leg 3 win offers Tommy Hall the general 2wd win, Ben Smith in 2nd and Neil Cragg in third.
It was a unbelievable end result for Tommy Hall and he actually displayed prime notch tempo and race craft in Leg 3. Its been a yr since Tommy received the EFRA 2wd European Championship and he seems to be very match match to efficiently defend his title in Utrecht, Netherland subsequent week. Ben Smith is one other driver who confirmed he might be there when it counts additionally and naturally we can’t rule out Neil Cragg for yet one more title.
Congratulations to Matt Thomson, William Venables and James Chappell on making the A ultimate and a particular congratulations to Matthew Peters on his first Pole Position.
The 2wd championship decider will probably be in Torch on August fifth.
2wd Podium: 1st Tommy Hall, 2nd Ben Smith, third Neil Cragg.
The four wheel drive part of the assembly began early on Sunday morning. More rain had fallen in a single day; nonetheless the observe was in good situation and prepared for motion. Neil Cragg was intending the suitable the wrongs of Saturday and hit the bottom working going quickest in spherical 1 of follow. After ending second in 2wd, Ben Smith was additionally on a mission going prime of the pile in follow spherical 2 – and was quickest total. The Hall brothers, Holdsworth brothers all there or there abouts as properly.
In qualifying, Neil Cragg constructed on his follow tempo to take Round 1, simply forward of Ben Smith and Tommy Hall. Jamie Hall main the chasing pack a number of seconds additional again. In spherical 2, Ben Smith went one place higher to take TQ, Hall second, Cragg third – qualifying was shut! In spherical 3, Tommy Hall put in a staggering run – the quickest of the day to date – to take his first TQ. It was now a three-way tie for Pole Position with just one spherical left. Tommy Hall had a mistake on lap one in every of his This autumn run and that made it arduous to guage if he’d performed sufficient to take it. Ben Smith was an in depth second. In the ultimate warmth, Neil Cragg was on an analogous predicted time to Hall, however had two pricey errors ruining his run.
The observe structure for four wheel drive was top-of-the-line we’ve seen from Robinhood Raceway over the previous couple of conferences. It was fairly technical in locations particularly by the bomb-hole and up over the continuing soar part. If you have been too cautious by the later phases of it you ran the danger of getting a nasty bounce. Whilst totally launching it often resulted in a very good touchdown within the base of the hole. One of these uncommon circumstances the place sending it’s much less of a threat.
four wheel drive A Final Leg 1 began in clean style with everybody getting although the primary few corners with out incident. Tommy Hall out in entrance appeared to have lots of ahead drive and punch. He was in a position to level and squirt with nice have an effect on between the corners. The different automobiles simply regarded slightly duller and wanted a bit extra driving. Three quarters of the way in which by lap one, Neil Cragg had an accident by the hole which dropped him to tenth and promoted Josh Holdsworth to 3rd. One the second lap, Hall prolonged his lead by 0.6s which reveals the mission he was on. A win immediately would settle the collection in Tommy’s favour. Smith, in 2nd place, responded by matching Hall’s laptimes – however he would wish sooner occasions to have the ability to shut the now 2 second hole. At the midpoint of the race, Hall nonetheless had a 2 second benefit over a hard-charging Smith. Unluckily for Smith, a again marker had an accident on an adjoining a part of the circuit and barrel rolled throughout the pipe and into the trail of Smith. A freak accident which Smith rapidly recovered from, but it surely put paid his probabilities of difficult Hall. Final Order, Tommy Hall, Ben Smith, Jamie Hall.
The climate remained dry for Leg 2 of the four wheel drive A ultimate. The race began properly for everyone until Smith bounced off a pipe in entrance of race management. He put the automobile up on two wheels and needed to veer offline to land it again on all fours. The wide-open door was loads large sufficient for Neil Cragg to come back by – Smith rejoining in third. With one other couple of laps beneath their belt, Tommy Hall was making a break. His tempo was utterly unanswered by the chasing pack lead by Cragg, Smith and Josh Holdsworth. Cragg had a spin within the bomb-hole, which let Smith reclaim second place. Smith then opened the faucets and began to match Tommy Hall for tempo. Cragg, Josh Holdsworth and Jamie Hall left behind to battle for third. It seems the distinction between Hall and Smith’s tempo is when it is available in – Smith has to construct his tempo, Hall can swap it on full energy from the inexperienced flag. With two and half minutes down, Cragg had one other mistake adopted by an unrelated mistake from Ben Smith. This promoted Jamie Hall to second. With a 5.5 second lead and the strain off, Tommy Hall began to set sizzling lap after sizzling lap – a show of whole mastery. The solely important battle on observe was between Jamie Hall and Neil Cragg for second. Cragg closed in on Jamie lap after lap however didn’t get shut sufficient to arrange a cross. Finishing order; 1st Tommy Hall, 2nd Jamie Hall, third Neil Cragg.
Overall A Final Points After four wheel drive Leg 2
Tommy Hall had nothing left to show. He had received the four wheel drive assembly and the 2023 National title. However he determined to take part in Leg of the four wheel drive A Final anyway. At the beginning of the race, Tommy Hall ran large out of the nook at race management and Ben Smith nipped up his inside into the lead. Hall then made an extra error within the chicane earlier than the straight and barrel rolled up the observe and leaving him remoted on a hose. In solidarity, Jamie Hall crashed coming onto the straight and likewise wanted marshalling so the order on the finish of lap 1 was Smith, Cragg, Josh Holdsworth. With two minutes down, Smith and Cragg broke away from the sphere – each setting practically equivalent laps, however separated by over two seconds. Over the continuing 90 seconds, Cragg labored arduous to step by step scale back Smith’s lead and at one level was practically on his again bumper. However contact with a observe marker within the bomb-hole meant a spin and this let Smith off the hook – growing his result in 3 seconds. Smith powered on to the road to take the Leg 3 win, Cragg second, Edward Callan third.
four wheel drive Podium: 1st Tommy Hall, 2nd Ben Smith, third Neil Cragg.
(sure it’s the identical podium as 2wd!)
It has been a superb however troublesome weekend at Robinhood Raceway. Excellent as the usual of the ability and the racing is so excessive – troublesome because the climate performed such a major function. Tommy Hall has taken the four wheel drive collection and is a really worthy winner. The battle for the 2wd title between Tommy Hall and Neil Cragg will probably be settled at Torch on the weekend of August fifth & sixth.
However, earlier than that we’ve got the small matter of the Euros in Utrecht, Holland. Cragg, Smith, Hall Brothers, and Lee Martin all have the tempo to depart with silverware however the continental Europeans will probably be wanting their very own and will probably be a tricky week. What we are able to say is that the BRCA is a pacey collection and the drivers on the entrance can battle at World stage – so a powerful British entry into the Euros A finals is a close to certainty.
Thank you to James Halliwell & the RHR crew for internet hosting the assembly and to Martin Owen, John Cockill and Mark Musgrove for making all of it work and work with consistence.
See you subsequent month in Southampton.