The 2026 BRCA Scottish GT Regionals took place last weekend at Lothian Radio Control Car Club. In a change to the usual format for this series that has now been running for more than a decade this year’s series was concentrated into a one day event mirroring the format for this year’s nationals.
The club laid a flowing track that had a mixture of high speed corners and a slower more technical section. 19 drivers were in attendance to compete for the championship. Winner of the previous two years, James Eaves was looking to make it three in a row but unfortunately Nevan Osbourne, last year’s junior champion would be unable to try the same feat after having to withdraw from the event.
Qualifying took place over four rounds and was very close with 2nd to 5th all on 31 laps, only James managing to break into 32 lap territory. The juniors all looked to be progressing well and enjoying themselves too which is the whole reason we all participate in this hobby.
Qualifying ended with James Eaves taking TQ, followed closely by John Simpson in 2nd place, Kenneth Rogers in 3rd, David Martin in 4th, Alan Stewart in 5th and David McKeown completing the 6 car A final.
Finals took place over three legs for all drivers.
A - leg 1:
James squirrelled it off the start line and John closed in but had to back off to make the hairpin first corner. James drove off with John hanging on closely, Kenneth and David Martin were also still in the mix, James started to edge away but John was still driving well and trying hard to stay in contention, sadly that changed when John had to stop with an electrical fault which caused him to lose all drive. Kenneth took full advantage this and pulled clear of the rest of the pack. James won leg one with another 32 lap finish, Kenneth 2nd on 31 laps, with David Martin, David McKeown and Alan Stewart finishing in 3rd, 4th and 5th respectfully, and John finishing in 6th after the earlier retirement.
A - leg 2:
The entire field got a good clean start in leg two with the top three pulling away, with James pulling a few seconds ahead of John and John pulling a 5 second gap from Kenneth. Everyone finished in the order they started with James winning the second leg and the Scottish Regional GT12 2026 Championship with it, John finished 2nd, Kenneth 3rd. With just 1.04 seconds covering 4th, 5th and 6th place it finished with David Martin in 4th, Alan Stewart 5th and David McKeown in 6th.
A - leg 3:
John and Kenneth battled throughout this leg very closely to settle 2nd and 3rd place overall in the Championship with James opting to sit this leg out. This was one of the closest races of the day with Kenneth pushing John all the way, John made one small mistake which allowed Kenneth to pass but as Kenneth ran wide at the next corner John regained the lead and went on to take leg three with Kenneth 2nd, David Martin 3rd, David McKeown 4th and Alan Stewart rounding off the leg in 5th place.
A Final - Final results:
1st: James Eaves
2nd: John Simpson
3rd: Kenneth Rogers
4th: David Martin
5th: David McKeown
6th: Alan Stewart
In the B Final Mike Penman converted his pole position into the win being closely challenged by Bryan Thomson and Ross McKeown.
In the C Final Oscar Robertson-Dunn would take the win from Winters Dunn and David Simpson.
In the D Final Cole Martin won from Angus Cannon and Austin Cannon.
In the junior championship Ross McKeown took a commanding victory driving superbly well to qualify 2nd in the B final. Ross drove consistently well and demonstrated the progress he has made over the year to race well in the three leg finals and finish in third place.
All our junior drivers drove well throughout the event with some excellent driving shown throughout qualifying and the finals.
The Scottish Regional 2026 Junior Championship overall results were as follows:
1st: Ross McKeown
2nd: Oscar Robertson-Dunn
3rd: Winters Dunn
4th: Cole Martin
5th: Angus Cannon
6th: Austin Cannon
Congratulations to our 2026 BRCA Scottish GT Circuit Regional Champion James Eaves and 2026 BRCA Scottish GT Circuit Regional Junior Champion Ross McKeown, well done.
Another excellent event by Lothian Radio Control Car Club with the event running flawlessly all day, a huge thanks to Kenneth Rogers for running Race Control and scrutineering with support from others.
Thanks to everyone who attended and helped throughout the day to keep everything running smoothly and the racing competitive throughout qualifying and the finals.
A big final thanks to everyone who helped tidy the track away at the end of the day
See you next year.
