Jefferies & Murray win Rd3 of BRCA TC Nats
With the track at Halifax being recently re-surfaced drivers arriving for round three of the BRCA Touring Car series were keen to test the new grip levels but the British weather scuppered that as rain fell for the entire day. Getting the best out of his Xray and mastering the wet conditions Olly Jefferies was fastest in all four rounds of qualifying and took a comfortable TQ. Despite dominating qualifying everyone was expecting close finals as the constant rain was leaving no margin for error. Early on Jefferies pulled a small lead ahead of second place man Chris Grainger, then around the two-minute mark the Awesomatix driver was on the back of the Xray.
Both drivers gave a great display of close driving in tricky conditions with Jefferies appearing to have issues with getting the power down coming on to the long Halifax straight, after the lead swapped a few times it was Grainger who came out on top in leg one.
A nervous Jefferies lined up for leg two as he had not been able to diagnose his leg one issue, a few changes had been made to the Xray and what ever the issue it was gone for leg two and Jefferies was able to drive a composed race and take the win and the overall victory, a result that takes him close to retaining his modified national title.
Mod A-Final results
1. Olly Jefferies – 3pts
2. Chris Grainger – 3pts
3. Zak Smith – 6pts
4. Kyle Branson – 8pts
5. Harley Eldridge – 11pts
6. Peter Eagles – 13pts
7. Chris Ashton – 15pts
8. Louis Parker – 16pts
9. Jamie McDonagh – 17pts
10.Colin Jackson – 18pts
The 13.5 stock class saw a good day long battle between championship leader Marcus Askell and Schumacher’s Andy Murray, in qualifying Askell took round one of qualifying but after that Murray dominated the remaining rounds taking TQ.
The first leg of the 13.5 stock A final was a classic with the lead changing a couple of times as Murray and Askell lapped within half a second of each other, as the cars entered the last lap Askell had the lead and it looked like he had the win in his grasp, then two corners from the end the damp track caught Askell out, a half spin for the Xray driver saw Murray dart through and take the leg one win.
Leg two was another close race but this time without the leg one drama, a win for Murray elevates him into the championship battle as the drivers move on to the Cotswolds track for round four.
13.5 A-Final results
1. Andy Murray – 2pts
2. Marcus Askell – 4pts
3. Zak Finlay – 7pts
4. James Hart – 9pts
5. Sam Law – 11pts
6. Billy Fletcher – 12pts
7. Tony Broad – 13pts
8. Mikey J Mansell – 16pts
9. Sam Nicholls – 17pts
10.Ricky Copsey – 19pts
Both Jefferies and Askell will be on “home ground” at the Cotswold track, Jefferies looks to have one hand on the modified title and all eyes will be on the Askell / Murray battle which looks like it might go down to the final round.
Source: BRCA [brca.org]
