Section: BRCA 1/10 Off-Road Trucks
Venue: A1 Raceway, Grantham
Event: 2026 Truck National Series, Round 1
Date: 2nd/3rd May 2026
Report by: Steven Brooke/ Tony Bishop
The first weekend of May saw 62 entries, with three different classes at these National events drivers are allowed to double class, gather at A1 Raceway, near Grantham. The track is a sand filled, 100% Astroturf surface with plenty of features that can accommodate both one-tenth and one-eighth scale off-road rc trucks and buggies. Open Practice started at 12 noon on the Saturday, as is the norm at these events, in dry, sunny weather, but the brave campers had heavy rain to contend with during the evening.
Sunday, race day and competitors were greeted with cloudy weather and a damp track. 8 Heats of timed practice, followed by 4 rounds of round-by-round Qualifying. The heats would consist of four different classes of 1/10 electric Truck, 2WD Short Course, 4WD Short Course, 2WD Stadium Truck and within that class the relatively new (sort of!) 2WD Vintage/Rear Motor Stadium Trucks, basically running to Iconic Revival regulations and limited to 10.5 turn brushless motors. Qualifying would be on a damp track, with sporadic light rain, a few brave drivers did get out on dry tyres in Round 2, but more rain came.
4WD Short Course qualification was taken by Mark Everitt, with defending Champion Eddy Rowland sharing the round wins, Marks better time in Round 4 would take the tie break, Dan Staite would line up 3rd on the grid.
With 15 4WD’s entered, the B Final was won by Phil Birchall winning legs 1 and 2, 2nd was Oliver Swain and 3rd Jason Hopkins, 4th and top Junior was Haidan Hicks.
The A Final was won by Eddy Rowland with wins in Legs 2 and 3, Mark Everitt would come home 2nd and Ben Baxter 3rd after coming out tops in a 3-way tie for points. Ben, a member of the travelling Eden Park Raceway contingent, is one of several drivers that have made the switch this year into the 4WD Short Course class.
2wd Short Course qualification was taken by Stuart Carling after taking wins in rounds 1 and 2, 2nd on the grid would be John Yarman Junior and 3rd Mark Everitt.
The 2WD Short Course B final was won by Phoebe Birchenough winning legs 2 and 3, 2nd was Top Junior, Sebastian Birchall and 3rd Oliver Swain.
The 2WD Short Course A Final was won by third on the grid, Mark Everitt, when he took all 3 legs for the win, TQ man, Stuart Carling would finish 2nd overall and Oscar Morris from 8th on the grid was 3rd. There were 31 Stadium Truck entries for this, the first round of the 2026 BRCA National Truck Series, including the Vintage/Rear Motor class. Qualification would be between the 2025 Champion, Tony Bishop, and 2025 Championship runner-up Kit Jones, Tony would take TQ with round wins in rounds 1,2 and 3, whilst Kit would line up 2nd with the win in round 4, when conditions were at their worst! 3rd on the grid and rolling back the years was Jason Potter. Taking full advantage of the conditions and the suitability to those conditions of a vintage, rear motored stadium truck, Ben Baxter would line up an impressive 8th on the grid running his Losi XXT truck, not forgetting that it has a 10.5 turn motor in it, as per Revival rules!
2WD Stadium Truck C Final was won by Mark Stevens after winning legs 1 and 2, 2nd with a win in the third and final leg was Marc Birchenough and 3rd was Rob Caddy.
2WD Stadium Truck B Final would see three different winners over the three legs but overall it was won by leg one winner, David Bailey, 2nd with a leg three win would be Rich Hipkiss and 3rd and Top Junior and second leg winner would be Charlie Hall.
The 2WD Stadium Truck A Final would see a continuing battle between last years and what, initially, appears to be this years, leading protagonists, Tony Bishop and Kit Jones, With wins in legs one and three it would be Kit Jones that would take the overall win with 2nd going to Tony Bishop and Joey Cockill taking the 3rd and final podium place.
2026 BRCA 1/10 Off-Road Truck Championship Standings after round 1:
SC4 =1st Mark Everitt 100, =1st Eddy Rowland 100, 3rd Ben Baxter 98
SC2 =1st Stuart Carling 100, =1st Mark Everitt 100, 3rd Oscar Morris 98
ST =1st Tony Bishop 100, =1st Kit Jones 100, 3rd Joey Cockill 98
Vintage/RM 1st Ben Baxter 101, 2nd Mark Ashforth 99, 3rd Marc Biddas 98
Full results can be found at: https://rc-results.com/Viewer/Main/MeetingSummary?meetingId=19720
Next Round 2 to be hosted by Surrey and Hants Radio Car Club in Farnborough over the weekend of 23rd and 24th May 2026, with these and many more details available on the UK Truck Nationals Facebook page, and www.brca.org/events/10th-off-road-trucks-nationals
***VERY IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ***
It was noticed by many during this meeting and subsequently discussed by the 1/10 Off-road Truck Section Committee that following the winter lay-off driving standards and etiquette had regressed somewhat! Drivers may have had a winter lay off, may have been driving other classes and/or been driving indoors and had not been used to using their larger truck chassis’ outdoors! Whatever the reason standards and etiquette need to be improved, will be watched and may, if needs be, be penalized!
ALL drivers will be made aware of the expectations of the Committee and Race Organisers and this matter will be detailed at the next and subsequent Drivers Briefings.
