HALIFAX B.R.C.A. NATIONAL 2009.

Round 2 BRCA 1:10 Electric Touring Car National, Halifax
8.35am. Good
morning and welcome to Halifax, after the tight technical layout of
round one at West London drivers are now faced with the open fast
layout of this classic Yorkshire circuit. last
year we saw a number of young drivers show well here, after a shaky
start at West London some of our more established drivers will be
hoping we don’t see a repeat of that as they try and make up for a poor
start to the season, Chris Grainger and Elliott Harper will be aiming
to get their 2009 campaign on track, watch out for fast Phil Chambers
and Johnny Aird who were both at the sharp end of things last year,
they will be hoping to repeat that form in 2009, in Pro Stock Rob West
proved last year he likes Halifax and after a good showing at West
London he will looking to challenge early Pro Stock front runner Jay
Westwood. Practice is now underway.
The
early heats of practice ran a damp track but as the later runners hit
the track it was slicks all the way, clouds are hanging over the
Halifax track and the feeling among the drivers is that we are going to
get a good mix of dry and wet weather running today.
Nice
to see a few faces back on the national scene, Sam Smith, Luke Hobson
and Stew Noble who were missing from round one at West London are back,
but missing in Schumacher modified driver Lee Woodhams, Lee will be
missing for the rest of the season due to work commitments and an up
coming wedding, all the best Lee and Vicky if you are tuning in to the
live updates.
Chris
Grainger and Matt White of the Schumacher
team Elliott
Harper team X-Ray

Round
one of controlled practice is now complete and we now have the
opportunity to see who is on the pace, in Pro Stock Rob West, Andy Low
and Mark Musgrove were all looking quick and smooth, while in modified
it is still a big debate over the quickest option, five cell or Lipo,
the modified top heat seem to be split 50 / 50 on that one, on the
clock Andy Moore, Johnny Aird, Olly Jefferies, Chris Granger and Chris
Ashton are the early pace setters.

Covered pitting for some		Team gazebo's for others

13.15
pm. Qualifying is now underway, changing conditions could still be a
factor as we work through the early heats, drivers with a spare wet car
are readying both in preparation of more rain.
14.45
pm. The Halifax mini climate had a drastic effect on the first round of
Pro Stock qualifying, as the last but one heat of Pro Stock were being
put on the grid it started to rain, effectively ending any chance of a
driver from the this heat setting a competitive time, then as the top
heat arrived at the rostrum, some on wet tyres the track dried in
seconds. Dominic Carter looked quick early on but a consistent run from
Byron Humphries saw the Stafford based driver take the heat just ahead
of Jay Westwood, a first lap error from Rob West spoilt his run. Dewi
Jones for Schumacher was fastest overall in Pro Stock round one, Dewi setting
his time in a dry heat early on before the rain when the track was at
its best, proving that its not always the best thing to be in the top
heat, Darius Walker was second in round one Pro Stock ahead of Byron.
A
dry run for all the modified drivers meant a the top ten had a familiar
look to it, Chris Grainger for Schumacher was quickest from Elliott
Harper X-Ray, Andy Moore, Olly Jefferies and Johnny Aird completed the
top five. Associated were delighted to have three cars in the top ten,
joining Olly were team mates Alan Bickerstaff sixth and Andy Robson
rounding off the top ten, Schumacher were another team with three
drivers in the top ten, Chris Ashton and Colin Price eighth and ninth
for the Northampton manufacturer.
16.30pm.
Two new faces at the top of Pro Stock in round two, Lee Price Bowden
showed his Schumacher had pace taking the win ahead of the Hot Bodies
of Johnny Bowden, Luke Thomson drove well to post the third fastest
time, nest us was Ryan Edwards and Darius Walker, fifth for Darius puts
him top of the Pro Stock pile after two rounds.
Drama
in the one from top of heat of modified, Alan Bickerstaff was on for a
time that would have been third fastest, Alan came across Glen Westwood
and Tom Watts that were having there own private crash, the incident
dropped Alan to eighth in the round. Chris Grainger took another
dominating win in the round ahead of Elliott Harper and Colin Price,
next us was Olly Jefferies ahead of John Pape.
Andy Moore had an incident early on and pulled off to save his tyres.

Well not a bad start for Richard after the first few rounds of qualifiying. It looks like the weather has upset a few of the front runners. Rich is going to have to drive his socks off tomorrow to stay in the top 10 with quite a few drivers having bad scores that they will drop which will move them up the pecking order.
Still I'm sure Rich will be ahving a crafty pint tonight to celebrate his 8th place overnight, good luck for tomorrow Rich from all at G.M.C.C. and I will be looking at the B.R.C.A. live coverage tomorrow and keeping everyone up to date as the news comes in, go G.M.C.C. go Ginga!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday Day Two
9.30am
Good morning and welcome back to Halifax, round four is now well
underway under clear blue skies, after this round we start dropping
scores and we will then get a much clearer picture of the overall form,
more later.

The introduction of the Top Gear Cool Wall entertains Johnny Aird and Stew Noble as they wait to go onto the rostrum

Last Updated ( Sunday, 21 June 2009 08:35 )

Well Rich did a great job and out qualied Steve Lissamore his team mate which I'm sure will put a smile on his face.

Grainger looks unstoppable, we will see.