Pete Hastings wins BRCA 1/8th Rd1

The opening round of the BRCA 1/8th scale nationals was held at Brooklands yesterday and with 43 drivers, both new and old faces, in attendance it was a very enjoyable start to the season. In Qualifying, it was Mark Green setting the pace yet again, but this year the performance advantage is very clear to see using his new Novarossi engines. The fight for second was very close and would eventually be determined by which driver could make 5 minutes run time. With this being the case, Andy North just beat Pete Hastings by 0.02 of a second. In the final, Mark Green pulled out a big lead with the chasing pack of Andy, Pete and Neil Diver also pulling out a lead over the mid field. At 13 mins, Andy North went off whilst in a strong 2nd place due to a battery pack support bracket working loose and up front Mark Green had a battery failure, all of which promoted Pete into a comfortable lead which he maintained to the finish. The 2nd spot went to reigning champion Tim Wood, with Neil Diver in third after drive belt issues close to the end prevented a 2nd place finish.

Final standings
1. Pete Hastings (Serpent/Picco) – 124 Laps
2. Tim Wood (Serpent/Mega) – 121 Laps
3. Neil Diver (Velox/GRP) – 116 Laps
4. Chris Heath (Mugen/Sirio) – 112 Laps
5. Ian Campbell (Velox) – 94 Laps
6. Jason Frost (Mugen/Mega) – 89 Laps
7. Richard Hicklin (Serpent/Mega) – 88 Laps
8. Mark Green (Serpent/Novarossi) – 57 Laps
9. Andrew North (Mugen/Sirio) – 53 Laps
10. Ashley Gouveia (Serpent/Mega) – 24 Laps

Thanks to Andrew North for the report.