Mark Green wins Rd6 of BRCA 1/8th nationals

Round 8 of the 2012 national championship was our second visit of the year to the Cotswold circuit near Cirencester. The weather was set to be good all weekend which would be the only fully dry weekend of the year so far. With an entry list over 40 drivers provided 5 qualification heats of 4 rounds to determine the final line ups. The Main championship contenders were on display aiming to gain the upper hand ahead of a potential title decider in 2 weeks at Mendip. The current situation is that 3 times champion Tim Wood currently leads the way and is now aiming to better his worst score in the 6 from 9 events to count format. The remaining 2 drivers with a chance to snatch the title are Mark Green and Kyle Branson, who have missed racers due to European commitments during the year. The pre-event favourite by many was Kyle Branson who as showed consistently very fast pace throughout the season culminating in 4 TQ’s from 7 to date but with only 1 win due to bad luck in finals whilst clearly in the lead. Mark Green on the other hand was also confident of a good result this weekend.

With a dry track on Saturday morning the top drivers seemed to wait a little time before starting practice to allow the grip to increase. From previous visits to this track, the good laptimes are in the region of low 15 seconds and possibly high 14 seconds which eventually became the marker for most of the drivers. By mid afternoon, Green was consistently lapping in the high 14 second window which was consistently around 0.5 seconds quicker than the next group of drivers. Kyle Branson after initial installation laps for engine and gearbox setup, started to produce lap times of around 14.6 seconds which eventually resulted in a 14.4 second time which was around 0.2 quicker than Green. The chasing pack of Tim Wood, Andy North, Pete Hastings, Neil Diver, Neal King, Andrew Hastings, Dan Brancroft, Alex Thurston and Jason Frost all struggled to break the 15 second mark but Andy North did eventually manage a single 14.9 second lap. This therefore clearly showed that our star drivers of Branson and Green really did have a clear advantage over the entire field at this event.

Sunday arrived with a dry track and clear sky which was very encouraging and after the drivers briefing, we had a round of free practice in heat order. Up front in heat 4, it was Neal King (Mugen / Sirio) who set the pace with 20 laps 310 seconds followed by Alex Thurston (Motonica / G-Mar) with 19 laps 309 seconds. In the final heat, Mark Green on the better of Kyle Branson to TQ the round by 0.058 of a second on 2O laps 300 seconds. The next best was Tim Wood (Serpent) on 20 laps 312 seconds which confirmed that the top 2 had a clear pace advantage over the remaining drivers.

Round 2 and in Heat 4 we had a further improvement for Neal King by 2 seconds and Mike Walton (Shepherd / Sonic) improved to 19 laps 307 seconds which put him in with a good shot of making the top ten. In the final Heat, Kyle Branson produced a faultless run to record a time of 21 laps 311 seconds which took TQ after Mark lost 11 seconds which cost him a 21 lap result.

Round 3 and Richard Waters (Shepherd/Sonic) improved to 19 laps 303 seconds, but Neal King did not improve on his previous best. It was Green who won the final heat after Kyle had hit problems towards the end. Pete Hastings and Andy North were on the move, with Pete posting a sub 15 second lap time to finish with a respectable 20 laps 307 seconds to put him third overall. Neil Diver also posted a time of 20 laps 313 seconds which cemented a top ten position. Tim Wood again ran into problems and did not finish the heat.

Round 4 and Mike Walton was on course for an improvement which may have put him into the top ten but a small shower prevented any improvements. The final heat did not see any major improvements, so the top ten was as follows:

1. Kyle Branson – Mugen/Sirio/Contact – 21 laps 311 secs
2. Mark Green – Serpent / Novarossi/Xceed – 20 laps 299 secs
3. Pete Hastings – Shepherd / Sonic – 20 laps 307 secs
4. Neal King – Mugen / Sirio / Contact – 20 laps 308 secs
5. Andy North – Mugen / Sirio/Contact – 20 laps 311 secs
6. Jason Frost – Serpent / Mega / Xceed – 20 Laps 312 secs
7. Tim Wood – Serpent / Exceed – 20 laps 312 secs
8. Neil Diver – Mugen/Reds/Contact – 20 laps 313 secs
9. Daniel Bancroft – Motonica / Vox – 20 laps 314 secs
10.Andy Hastings – Shepherd / IDM / Shepherd – 20 laps 317 secs

The final started along the back straight and the first lap was completed more or less in grid order. Branson started to pull out a little lead but Green pegged this back and the gap remained constant throughout the early and middle stages. The first casualty was Neil Diver who had a coming together with Andy North and unfortunately damaged the front of his car. This was just after a minor rain shower which slowed the cars a little but wasn’t bad enough for a tire change. In third was Wood who was under pressure from North and Bancroft. Pete Hastings who had qualified third, had handling issues and dropped down the order. Up front, it was Branson and Green until a mistake from Branson gave Green the lead and with 3 minutes to go, Branson chased down Green but unfortunately clipped a corner which launched the car across the track which broke the rear lower wishbone but since this was the last lap and the top 2 had a clear 5 lap lead, the result did not change. Wood maintained third after a late charge from Bancroft.

The final Results are as follows
1. Mark Green – Serpent / Novarossi/Xceed – 116 laps
2. Kyle Branson – Mugen/Sirio/Contac t – 115 laps
3. Tim Wood – Serpent / Exceed – 110 laps
4. Daniel Bancroft – Motonica / Vox – 110 laps
5. Andy North – Mugen / Sirio/Contact – 109 laps
6. Jason Frost – Serpent / Mega / Xceed – 109 Laps
7. Pete Hastings – Shepherd / Sonic – 107 laps
8. Andy Hastings – Shepherd / IDM / Shepherd – 106 laps
9. Neal King – Mugen / Sirio / Contact – 105 laps
10.Neil Diver – Mugen/Reds/Contact – 37 laps

The final round is the Mendip Circuit in 2 weeks, where the 2012 champion will be crowned in favour of Green, Branson or Wood.

Thanks to Andy North for the report.