Richard Hicklin wins BRCA 1/8th Rd6
Round 6 of the BRCA 1/8th scale Nationals was back at the Halifax track in Yorkshire last weekend. The weather forecast for Saturday was overcast and showers all day which made for little action on the track. All the Championship’s top drivers decided not to run, so Sunday would be a testing day for all concerned. The Committee decided to allow 2 practices sessions in heat order to allow all drivers to find a base setting and get engines tuned to suit the circuit.
In Round 1, Mark Green was again in awesome form, recording a very fast 20 lap run with no mistakes. Behind was a close battle between Richard Hicklin, Andrew North and Neil Diver. With the track now with a black line, the times were sure to be improved in the later rounds. Minor tweaks improved Andy North’s car throughout the day, but Richard Hicklin just had the edge and finally finished 2nd with Andy third. The Serpent chassis tends to generally have the edge at Halifax since it has more turn in at mid speed and hence allowing the double left had corner section to be taken in one movement and on the power without having to back off and have 2 attempts at getting the car to turn in. Neil Diver had a quick car but an unfortunate accident in practice by hitting a stray foot, meant that Neil had to check his car since it was out of tweak. The car never improved throughout the day and the conclusion maybe a bent chassis? Tim Wood was 5th with Chris Health in 6th, after missing the last round at Adur. Pete Hastings was 7th with a Serpent car that he did not seem happy with but the individual lap times suggest that the car was quick, but not consistent.
The top 10 in qualifying were as follows:
1. Mark Green (Serpent/Novarossi) – 21 laps 311
2. Richard Hicklin (Serpent/Mega) – 20 laps 302
3. Andy North (Mugen/Sirio) – 20 laps 303
4. Neil Diver (Velox/IDM) – 20 laps 303
5. Tim Wood (Serpent/Mega) – 20 laps 304
6. Chris Heath (Mugen/Sirio) – 20 laps 308
7. Pete Hastings (Serpent/IDM) – 20 laps 309
8. Jason Frost (Mugen/Mega) – 20 laps 313
9. Ashley Gouveiv (Serpent/Mega) – 20 laps 315
10.Chris Edwards (Serpent/JP) – 19 laps 303
The final blasted away with no incidents which was good driving by all. Mark Green had a clear track upfront and started to pull out a lead over Richard Hicklin and Andy North. Richard Hicklin however made a small mistake going onto the straight and he lost 1/2 a lap to the leaders. At this point Mark Green was lapping at a very fast pace and soon lapped the entire field after the 7 minute point. Andy North was then being put under pressure from Tim Wood, who was on a 5 minute fuel strategy which would eventually allow him to jump into 2nd position since Andy decided to play safe and go for a conservative 4mins 30 second fuel stop window. In the midfield, Neil Diver was having a battle with Richard Hicklin and Pete Hastings and after incidents for Neil and Pete, Richard set about catching the 2nd place position. With a slightly quicker car, Richard moved into 2nd position, at this point 3 laps down from Mark Green, until Mark had Radio problems yet again. This was again very bad luck after such a dominant performance. This then left a battle for the win, which resulted in Richard Hicklin coming first for his 2nd victory of the season and Andy North taking 2nd after Tim Wood lost time due to running out of fuel before his last fuel stop.
The final results were as follows:
1. Richard Hicklin (Serpent/Mega) – 115 laps
2. Andy North (Migen/Sirio) – 115 laps
3. Tim Wood (Serpent/Mega) – 114 laps
4. Jason Frost (Mugen/Mega) – 110 laps
5. Chris Edwards (Serpent/JP) – 107 laps
6. Neil Diver (Velox/IDM) – 104 laps
7. Mark Green (Serpent/Novarossi) – 103 laps
8. Chris Heath (Mugen/Sirio) – 101 laps
9. Ashley Gouveiv (Serpent/Mega) – 89 laps
10.Pete Hastings (Serpent/IDM) – 76 laps
The Championship now gets a five weeks summer break due to the World Championships. I look forward to meeting you all at the worlds.
Thanks to Andrew North for the report.
