Hinckley Report

[shaungooner]

Report by Shaun Thompson (BRCA Micro Section PRO)

Swept along by a wave of anticipation and enthusiasm following the hugely successful Micro X event in September, the Micro section arrived for round 1 of the 2014/15 national series at the same venue it finished the 2013/14 series at. Once again the Hinckley club laid on a fantastic, technical track that would be sure to reward precise driving.


The track

The question on everyone’s lips was: Would Phil Sleigh continue the dominant form he showed at Micro X or would the others have clawed back some time on the newly-elected section Chairman, oh and would Jonesy get second place?

Drivers’ briefing consisted of the usual formalities as well as introductions for the new committee members and some role changes for older members with Phil Sleigh stepping up to the role of Chairman.

Strangely for the micro section the atmosphere felt a little tense as practice got under way, perhaps a marker for how the section has evolved as drivers look to this as a serious race series whilst of course maintaining the spirit of fun that has always been associated with micro racing.

As practice went on it was clear to see that the fast guys had got a little faster and that some of the young and not so young pretenders had caught up a little too, with fast laps being reported throughout the field it was going to be interesting to see who would break into the top 10.

Micro veteran Dan Harding took the concours win immediately after practice with his typical red, white and blue scheme catching the judge’s eye.


Craig Harris looks like he might eat Dan Harding’s concours winning shell

The tight, technical track proved a challenge for many drivers in the early stages of qualifying but one man appeared to be reigning supreme. Phil ‘The Power’ Sleigh set a marker in round 1 with a FTD 25 lap run, the only driver to record 25 laps in the first round with his Carisma GTB.

LC Racing Driver Andrew Funge and Carisma’s Craig Harris would make up the top 3 after round 1 with Micro newcomer Chris Bowater hoping to improve on his BQ at Micro X sneaking into the top 5 winning his heat with an impressive 24 lap run.

Notable casualties from round 1 of qualifying were Andy Jones who retired after 10 laps and Mark Hancock who despite having a very quick car suffered a servo problem to end his race after just 4 laps.


Andy Jones calls on his Dad to get him up and running again

Further down the order our top Junior Ben Young recorded a heat victory and 11th in round with a 23 lap run just a second ahead of Shaun Thompson (who he?). Ben’s car looked incredibly quick over a lap, he just needed a bit more luck with traffic to improve his time and press for an A-Final berth.

The 2wd race was a quiet affair with only 4 cars entered. Round one was taken by Ian Littley with a 21 lap run from Rob Chalmers.

Round 2 would see a lot of improvements as drivers got to grips with the track and found their rythym. Once again Phil Sleigh took the round with a 25 lap run but this time only one second ahead of Craig ‘The Welsh Wizard’ Harris and a further 4 drivers recording 25 lap runs this time around including Andy Jones who seemed to have overcome the technical problem he had in round 1 to take a fifth in round. Mark Hancock would be hoping for better luck in the next round or better preparation as his PT had not been plugged in so a very fast run was not actually recorded for the man who spent the day prior to the race getting beaten up on a rugby pitch and drinking in the club post match (some might say not the best preparation for a national but his car was fast and looked sure to challenge for TQ).

The joke re-naming of drivers from Micro X seemed to have been carried over into the national series as CML’s Jason ‘Harry’ Potter showed some magical from to be 13th overall, Tom ‘The Beared Warrior’ Owen (new name for the nationals) showed great form to push himself into the B Final positions with a 16th in round and Chris ‘Ming The Merciless’ Mills dominating his rivals to 19th overall.


Spencer Farley chats with LC Racing distributor Robin Schumacher of Schumacher Racing who called in to see how his drivers were performing

Ian Littley continued to lead the small 2wd field improving his time with a 22 lap run.

Round 3 would be make or break for some drivers as earlier problems had left them languishing lower down the order. Phil Sleigh secured pole in the A with a round to spare recording a very fast 25 lap run and it was Andy Jones who would run him close in this round with his best run being only 2 seconds behind the 2012/13 champion. The aforementioned Mark Hancock armed with a fully working car would record a fast 25 lap run also to set himself up with a great chance of an A Final spot.

After three of the four rounds of qualifying the top 3 was Phil Sleigh, Craig Harris and Andrew Funge. Newcomer Chris Bowater had secured his A Final spot setting consistently quick times and a three way fight for the last A Final spot was emerging between Gavin Williams, Stephen Davies and Dan Osbourne.

Ian Littley was the only driver to record a time in the 2wd heat in round 3 and the decision was taken to abandon the class for this round.

Last chance saloon for many of the field produced high tension for round 4, Mark Hancock pulled the first 26 lap run of the day out of the bag to secure his A Final spot in heat 7 and apply the pressure to those at the top of the order. Phil Sleigh made it a perfect score though, matching Mark with a 26 lap run beating Mark’s time by just 8 tenths of a second. Craig Harris would be the only other driver to record a 26 lap run just a further second behind Mark. So the top 3 fastest runs of the day were separated by less than 2 seconds, wow!

Mark’s earlier problems meant he just missed out on a top 3 start as the A Final shaped up with Phil Sleigh on pole, followed by his Carisma team mate Craig Harris and LC Racing’s highest placed driver Andrew Funge who showed some great pace and crucially Consistency to secure third on the grid.

Mark Hancock would start in fourth tied on points with Andy Jones but with a faster run in the bag, sixth on the A Final grid would fall to Micro National debutant Chris Bowater with Dan Harding in seventh and Tony ‘The Bish Train’ Bishop in eighth. A fantastic sixth in round run from Stephen Davies saw him take ninth spot on the grid for the A just ahead of Morgan Rham who held onto the final A Final berth from Gavin Williams and Dan Osbourne who just slipped down the order into the B Final places.


Heat 8 drivers on the rostrum

This year for the first time the 4wd A Final was contested over 3 legs following a rule change voted in at the section EGM in September.

So leg 1 of the A Final was first up and following a clean first lap for the front runners, grid order was maintained with Phil Sleigh looking to continue his domination of the meeting from Craig Harris. A slight mistake from Phil at about the one-minute mark saw Craig pull right onto the back of the pole man and behind them Andrew Funge was coming under increased pressure from the super quick Mark Hancock. At the 2-minute mark Andrew flipped his car at the end of the straight letting Mark through into second place. Up front Phil was doing his best to keep Craig at bay but at the half way point in the race Phil took evasive action to prevent a collision with a marshal and Craig pounced, executing a clean overtake on the inside line and taking up the lead. Behind them Mark had been held up in traffic and looked to have fallen too far off the pace to challenge but with Phil pushing hard to get back up to the back of Craig’s car he pushed a little too hard and grip-rolled as he turned off the landing of the jump in front of the rostrum. This proved to be a costly mistake letting Mark through as the marshal tried desperately to right his car. Tony Bishop also capitalised on this rare slip up from Phil to take up third place. Craig eased off and cruised through to the finish to take the leg win from Mark and Tony who held on to claim third ahead of Phil by just 6 hundredths of a second.

The F Final saw the event’s youngest competitor Freddie Thompson take on Jez Morris and Tim Lucas. The all black car of Jez re-named ‘The Wraith’ by Stuart Macdonald on the mic taking the win in fine style with a fantastic 22 lap run which defied his qualifying form, Tim followed him some three laps behind and Freddie a further 2 laps behind after a pretty uneventful 3 car race.


John Toole negotiates the bumps in the E Final

A scrappy first lap as the E Final got under way saw those in the lower order drop back from the leaders and a battle ensued between pole man Mike Saunders and Chris Young starting from third on the grid, Chris Hampson joined the fray with his LRP Shark and these 3 drivers fought out the rest of the race finishing with 21 lap runs at least a lap ahead of the rest of the field. Despite a mistake on lap 20 Chris Hampson came from fourth on the grid to seal the win ahead of pole-sitter Mike Saunders and Chris Young.


Chris Hampson’s LRP Shark on the way to E Final victory

A 15 minute break was declared to allow enough time for the A Finalists to prepare for leg 2 which started in a similar vein to leg 1 with the leading drivers getting away cleanly and forming a train. An early mistake from Andrew Funge saw him slip right down the field and allowed Mark Hancock up to third in hot pursuit of his Carisma team mates Phil Sleigh and Craig Harris. Mark’s pace saw him apply intense pressure to the reigning champion and this battle allowed Phil to pull out a small gap, meanwhile Andy Jones was looking to get involved up front as he pressed up to the back of Mark. A scrappy lap from Mark saw Craig ease away and just as it looked like Andy might have the pace to take third a mistake allowed Mark to sneak away again. Mark soon reeled Craig back in and the pressure told as with 2 minutes remaining Craig clipped the track marking entering the straight and Mark made the move as he caught him at the end of the straight. A mistake at the end of the straight on the next lap from Mark saw Craig regain second place and train his sights on Phil once more. A mistake from Mark saw him flip his car and allow Craig the freedom to chase Phil. Phil was at this stage battling with traffic and Craig pulled right onto the rear of his car once more setting up an epic last minute battle. Just as it looked as though Phil had leg 2 won he would suffer some serious final-lap bad luck as Morgan Rham flipped his car in front of him and Phil could do nothing to avoid a collision allowing Craig through to seal victory.


Long wait - Richard Williams and Glynn Jessop take up their marshaling positions ahead of leg 2 of the A Final before realising there was a 15 minute break

The D Final was a scrappy affair with the win being taken by ‘Daddy Phat’ Simon Osbourne with 21 laps from Russell Lee and Ant Hall both on 20 laps and the unfortunate Liam Toole who despite having what looked like the best pace in the race had a terrible time with traffic and could only manage a fourth place finish.

A blockbuster of a C Final saw last year’s Junior Champion Harry Redstone competing as a senior for the first time to take the win ahead of Chris ‘Ming The Merciless’ Mills and Ricky MacGough. The lower order in this final were left in no doubt about the presence of ‘Ming’ as Stu Mac on commentary declared they should let him through or “He will kill you”, classic commentary sure to be repeated throughout the series.

The B final shaped up as a battle for the almost made the A brigade as Gavin Williams led off from Dan Osbourne, Shaun Thompson (who he?) and top junior Ben Young. Gavin eased away slightly in the first couple of laps as Shaun pressured Dan and Ben in turn pulled up to the back of Shaun. A mistake from Ben as he collected the rear end of Shaun’s car saw the top 2 pull away and left Shaun to work hard to pull back up to Dan and Gavin. Unfortunately Ben’s mistake left him somewhat adrift of the battle and seemingly out of the running. Dan would suffer a collision with a back marker soon after which allowed Gavin some extra breathing space and gave Shaun the chance to pull back up to the rear of Dan’s car. Once again though back markers would have their say in the race as Shaun was clipped and turned over by a lapped driver. Dan was left to persue Gavin and Shaun was left looking over his shoulder at Ben Young who’s electric pace saw him gaining with each lap that went by. With less than 2 minutes left on the clock Dan would take up the lead from Gavin. The pair would battle it out to the finish with Dan pushing hard to maintain the lead he flipped at the end of the straight allowing Gavin through for the win, Shaun just held off the hard pushing Ben to maintain third with Ben recording the fastest lap of the race.

With victory sewn up for Craig Harris in the first 2 legs of the A Final, leg 3 was all about who would secure second and third. Once again the race got away cleanly and the train formed in grid order with Phil Sleigh looking to right the wrongs of the previous 2 legs and Craig looking to make it a 3-leg clean sweep. Andrew Funge was the first to falter as he fell down the order allowing Mark Hancock up into third. Phil pushed hard to pull away but with just over 2 minutes remaining a mistake at the end of the straight saw him flip his car and let Craig and Mark through. Phil and Mark would trade places several times in the next minute or so but eventually a mistake from Phil saw him stranded on the straight and Mark got away. Craig eased to victory followed home by Mark and Phil in third.

The final standings saw Carisma lock out the top five with Craig Harris first, Mark Hancock second, Phil Sleigh third, Tony Bishop fourth and Chris Bowater enjoying an excellent micro national debut in fifth, Andy Jones was the first of the LC Racing drivers in sixth with his team mate Andrew Funge just behind in seventh. The lineup was completed by the Carisma trio of Dan Harding in eighth, Stephen Davies ninth and Morgan Rham tenth.


The top 3, L-R Mark Hancock (2nd), Craig Harris (1st) and Phil Sleigh (3rd)

Full results of the meeting can be found at http://microrcracer.com/National-Res...nd_1_Hinckley/

The next round takes place at Torbay on November 2nd, enter via the BRCA website at http://www.brca.org/?q=content/online-entry/16723