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UK: Double A-Final for S411 at BRCA Nationals Round 2

Round 2 of the BRCA 1/10th Electric Touring Car Nationals took place at West London Racing Centre last weekend. Having just returned from WC testing in Heemstede, Chris Kerswell and Mark Stiles were hoping for good results at their local track.
Despite the thread of rain, the track remained dry for all of qualifying and the finals, although high winds caused all of the drivers problems on Saturday. The West London track is quite small, tight and very technical, meaning that precise, consistent driving and a good setup are required to get a good result.
In qualifying, Chris K made a good start by taking 3rd place in the first of 5 qualifying rounds, but then a couple of problems in the next 2 rounds left him languishing outside of the top-10 at the end of the first day. However, Chris held his nerve and a couple of solid runs in the final 2 qualifiers on Sunday would see him line up 3rd on the grid for the A final.

Mark Stiles started well with a 5th and a 6th in the opening 2 qualifiers, but then an 11th and a 23rd left him needing a good run in the last qualifier to secure his A final place. A 9th in round was enough to get him 8th on the grid for the A final, perhaps slightly lower than he’d hoped but at least in the A final.

In the finals, consistent runs in legs 1 and 3 enabled Chris to retain his 3rd place grid slot in the overall placings, thus making him the only driver to finish on the podium at both of the first two nationals in 2012. Mark did well to make up ground in the finals and netted 5th overall in what was a very competitive field. The result leaves Chris in a tie for the championship lead with Olly Jefferies.

A Final Overall Results
Olly Jefferies – Associated
Colin Price – Schumacher
Chris Kerswell – Serpent
Elliott Harper – Tamiya
Mark Stiles – Serpent
Paul Pinkney – Schumacher
Chris Grainger – Schumacher
Phil Chambers – Xray
Matt White – Schumacher
Alan Bickerstaff – Associated

Serpent UK supported drivers Rob Sawell, Gary Dyson and Chris O’Donoghue were also in attendance. Rob qualified for the E final, while both Gary and Chris were in the F. Chris drove well in his finals to move up from 9th on the grid to a podium position.

The 3rd round of the championship takes place at at Halifax track, 1 week prior to the WC in July. For full results and information, visit http://www.brca.org/?q=content/tc-national-championship/14267