Paul Bradby and Lee Martin Add to Their Win Taly
Round three of the BRCA 1:10 Off-Road National Championships was held at Talywain, Wales on their permanent Astroturf track. The weather played a big part in the weekend and followed the same pattern for both days of heavy drizzle persisting throughout the mornings, thankfully drying out later in the day. Pole position in the 2WD event went to the rejuvenated Neil Cragg with his Centro C4.1 mid-motored conversion for the Associated B4.1. The only other drivers on Neil’s pace were team mates Paul Bradby and Phil Sleigh, both also driving the C4.1 and Lee Martin with his Tamiya. The finals saw the top four battle away with Neil and Paul just having the edge. The fight for the win came down to the last lap of the last leg and despite a last ditch effort from Neil, it was Paul that took the win – his second national win in a row. Joining Paul on the podium were Neil in second and Phil in third – an all Centro podium. Darren Bloomfield made his first appearance of the season and after recently winning the 2WD Worlds warm-up meeting in Finland managed to put the TLR 22 into its first A final, finishing in ninth place.
The 4WD event saw total domination from Lee Martin. The Tamiya driver took all four rounds of qualifying to sew up pole position. The finals saw no problems for the TRF511 of Lee either as he walked away with all three wins. Taking up where he left off last week having done the business in the 4WD Worlds warm-up event in Finland. Behind Lee there was a tremendous battle between the Yokomo B-Max of Tom Yardy, Ellis Stafford with his Kyosho Lazer FS2 and the Associated B44.1 of Paul Bradby for the remaining podium steps, won by Tom who took up second and Ellis in third. Congratulations to up and coming racer Greg Williams who put in a couple of great qualifying rounds to make his debut A final, driving the Schumacher CAT SX3 for the first time. It must have been a proud moment for his dad to hear him get the loudest cheer as the drivers were announced onto the rostrum.
The 2WD Championship is looking like it could be a classic with the AE duo of Paul and Neil showing great pace since dialling in the C4.1. The 4WD Championship however, looks like it could all be sealed up at the next meeting with Lee’s dominance yet to be beaten. The next round sees a return to Kidderminster and will be the first visit for a couple of years – only three weeks to wait.
