BRCA Rally X Round 1 race report...

HNMC was the first stop on the BRCA Rallycross calendar this year, down near Ware in Hertfordshire, this great technical track always provides some great racing and this weekend was no different. The predicted inclement weather didn’t appear  but the newly oiled and drying track would mean some changing and challenging track conditions through the qualifying stage.

It was the first time since the World Championships last year that the top drivers had all competed together and lots of changes of sponsorships and a few familiar faces stepping away from racing would spice things up! It was Elliott Boots and his Sworkz and Joni Skidmore and his Xray who would be doing battle for the qualifying top spot once again, following on from the previous 2 years amazing championships.

After all 5 years rounds of qualifying it was tight at the top, but it was Joni Skidmore who took overall TQ with Elliott just behind in 2nd. William Skidmore and his Xray got the 3rd spot and Kevin Brunsden and his new Agama N1 Buggy clinched 4th, with team mate Lee Martin and his N1 rounding out the top 5!

Jonny Skidmore - Overall TQ



The lower finals started Sunday morning, bump up results were as follows:-

B 1/64 
1st Neill Daunt /Sworkz
2nd Jake Dell /Agama
3rd Jamie Bowen /WRC
4th Nick Simmerson /Agama

A 1/64
1st Tommy Dale /Serpent
2nd Ian Gallespie /Kyosho
3rd Andrew Rennick /Mayako
4th Chris Procter /Sworkz

B 1/32
1st Wayne Buckthorne /Sworkz
2nd Lee Maggs /Xray
3rd Jake Dell /Agama
4th Ben Kenneth /Agama

A 1/32
1st Mark Everitt /Mayako
2nd Ashley Patterson /Sworkz
3rd Tommy Dale /Serpent
4th Clive Malland /AE

B 1/16
1st Paul Abbott / HB
2nd Stewart Wilcox /TLR
3rd Barry Abbott /Mugen
4th David Rose /Sworkz

A 1/16
1st Jack Ritchie /Kyosho
2nd Mick Butler /Sworkz
3rd Michael Rivière/Sworkz
4th Adam Buckholt /Sworkz

B 1/8
1st Westley Jolly /Tekno
2nd Paul Abbott /HB
3rd Reuben Shakespeare /Sworkz
4th Callum Mcloughlin /Kyosho

A 1/8
1st Ashlee Owen /Agama
2nd Kyle Book /Kyosho
3rd Daniel Austin /Tekno
4th Matt Box /WRC

B 1/4
1st Simon Willetts /Mugen
2nd Darren Hayden-Ball /Sworkz
3rd Jack Willetts /Mugen
4th Tehannah Cradock /Kyosho

A 1/4
1st Paul Crompton /Xray
2nd Karl Jackson /WRC
3rd Ashlee Owen /Agama
4th Robson White /Xray

The Semi final B side was Dominated by Elliott and his Reds powered Sworkz machine. He led every lap of the race, crossing the line with the extra lap on the field after 20 mins. After a relatively linear start it was Lewis Jones of WRC, Kevin Brunsden and his Agama and the Mayako of Josh Graham that would take on the challenge for 2nd spot throughout the race. Lewis passed Kevin for 2nd after the initial laps and that’s where he remained for the majority of the race, he too pulling a gap to the racers behind him of over 10s. It was a lot closer between Kevin and Josh who crossed the line barely 1.5s apart, Josh with 3rd and Kevin 4th. 5th with a consistant drive was Neil Cragg and his AE and 6th was the talented Jnr driver Billy Grindley and his Sworkz passing the line just behind him. A great drive by Bradley Baird and his mayako saw him grab the final promotion of the final from starting 10th. 

Boots Reds powered Sworkz:



The A semi saw the Skidmore show! With both Joni and Will being 1st and 2nd for the entities of the race, an impressive drive from the brothers. Joni taking the win with Will 2nd. A brilliant drive by Lee Martin and the new N1 buggy saw him take the 3rd spot 3s up from the super  fast Jnr, Sworkz driver Dylan Saunders who took 4th. The mega consistant HB of Graham Alsop came through next for 5th. There was a good battle for the 6/7th places between Mike Lewis’ Mayako and the Sworkz of James Le Pavaux, with James eventually getting 6th at the buzzer with Mike 7th.

The main event would see Joni pole and Elliott 2nd! The gathering crowd were in for a race that saw lots of thrills and spills. After a relatively straight forward first lap or so, Boots made an uncharacteristic error which saw him at the back of the field in 12th. This meant Joni had a good lead, but that too was short lived, with him dropping back to 3rd, behind the Sworkz of Jnr driver Dylan Saunders now leading and the WRC of Lewis Jones in 2nd. Boots was on a mission, and by lap 14 he was back up with the leaders again! An incredible drive by him to carve through the countries best drivers! Joni managed to pass Dylan just after half way with Boots 3rd and Jones 4th, unfortunately a return to the pits for Jones saw him drop out of the hunt, so now Boots and Skidmore were gunning for Saunders! It was an amazing race between all 3 with Boots and Skidmore pressing the young Sworkz driver for many laps, Joni passing him just a few laps before he suddenly stopped on track from 1st, leaving the door open for Boots. Dylan did manage to pass Elliott again but Boots retained the lead after a few laps and that’s where he stayed, taking the win from Saunders in 2nd with the Xray of Will Skidmore in 3rd. 4th was the Agama of Kevin Brunsden and 5th Graham Alsop and his HB car.

A great race to finish off a great weekend of racing and the perfect opening event of the season.



The full results and series information can be found HERE  

We head to Brookthorpe near Gloucester in June, and we can’t wait to see how the series unfolds.

Thanks to all the crew at the Herts club, the BRCA RallyX committee and to all the racers and supporting members for all their efforts.

Bring on the next round!

Round 1 of the BRCA Rally X nationals take place this weekend at Herts Nitro Model Club.

For everything you need to know about HNMC please download the fact sheet HERE