Thurston wins 1:8 Onroad British Nationals opener

Alex Thurston enjoyed the perfect debut with his new Mugen Seiki MRX6 at the opening round of the BRCA 1:8 Onroad British National Championship taking the TQ and setting a new lap record on the way to victory over reigning Champion Tim Wood.  Over the four rounds of qualifying Thurston was the only driver to run 18-laps, securing the overall TQ ahead of the Shepherd of Wood and Vice-Champion Karl Dransfield.  In the half hour final an opening lap incident involving hitting a pitman delayed Thurston but worse for Dransfield resulted in the end of his race.  This allowed Wood to go to the front but losing 8-seconds with a slow first pitstop, he dropped back to second as Thurston took over a lead.  Once out front Thurston held station winning by 11-seconds from Wood with the Shepherd of fourth place qualifier John Carr completing the podium.  While a great day for Thurston, unfortunately after 20-years racing at the Cotswolds track this was to be the last race before it is permanently closed down due to the site being developed for commercial use.

Image: Alex Thurston [Facebook]