BATLEY - PAUL BRADBY WINS ROUND 1

There is one thing guaranteed in R/C racing in the North East, whenever there is a Regional or National event it will rain at Batley. Looking at the pictures it's hard to believe that on occasions the rain was quite heavy and at one point there were pools of standing water on the concrete sections, however it wasn't as bad as 2002 when the track had to be changed for safety reasons.
The day started cool and dry, and after some delays racing got underway, just as the first heavy shower arrived. Round by round had been chosen by race director Steve Lawson, which was the correct choice as by the time the last heats were being run, the track had dried out, and some drivers were using Schumacher yellow compound tyres. Another shower towards the end of round two promoted Kevin Kitchen to 1st in the round, but solid runs from Paul in rounds 1 and 4 put him on pole for the finals. A decision to only run single leg finals was taken at the end of round 3 as at that time the weather was unsettled, as it turned out the weather for the finals was the best it had been all day.
There were penalties issued at this meeting regarding a BRCA rule which says that no driver may leave the rostrum until the race is declared over, unfortunately several drivers had to be warned, and 3 were finally issued penalties after another driver had complained that his run had been spoiled by the action of another. Tony Snee, our North East Representative pointed out that the BRCA rules are made to ensure that everyone has a safe and enjoyable day and will be applied at every Regional event throughout the year.

 

A Final
1. Paul Bradby
2 Neil Cragg
3. David Bailey

B Final
1. Dave Grunhill
2. Mark Harrison
3. James Sykes