RCPB Young Guns start nationals with a bang and Nitro X Cross Summer Series Rd 1 and 2

This weekend RCPB were once again out in force up and down the UK, in lots of events/scales and series.

In the Short Course Nationals we had Jamie Hall who had a storming Day and took 2^nd overall in both 2wd and 4wd. A stunning drive by the youngster in both classes, to take 2^nd on the podium 2x. Jamie is rapidly becoming a top driver for the team with his brother and this year has started brilliantly.

In 1/10^th we had Felix De Hamel and both his Schumacher cars at the nationals at Kidderminster Car club, with all 4 seasons in one day on Saturday Felix struggled but on Sunday he was back on form, with a superb 20^th and 28^th in the last 2 rounds securing him 32^nd overall and 2^nd in the D final.

He was also top U16 in 2wd, another amazing drive by an RCPB young gun! He drove a blinder and retained his 4^th, a fantastic drive by Felix.

Attending the SRS we had Ashley Evans and his MBX7R Eco at South Coast. The sun was shining down south and Ashley was in fine form, his car pictured below ready to get started. He qualified 6^th in a tough field of racers but battled hard and took 4^th, just missing the podium.

At Swindon we had the first of the Summer NitroXcross Series, a full turnout of drivers for the event. The indifferent weather made the track tricky but with 2 days of racing the RCPB would get to “grips” and manage some great results.

Saturday was round one – in electric we had Chris Lovell and his MBX7R Eco, he managed 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th in round and qualified 3^rd on the grid. In Nitro we had Rich Price, Elliot Jones, Steve Shakespeare, Jon Griffiths, Matt Box, Andy Prosser, Alex Page and Simon Davies. Andy found some pace at the end with his bullet powered RR8 with a very good 41^st in round 4, this put him 55^th overall. It was very close between Elliots Sworkz and Simons RR8, with Simon just placing ahead of Elliot in 34^th, and Elliot 35^th overall. Rich Price had a cracking day and managed a 13^th in round 3, putting him 25^th overall. Alex and his Kyosho MP9 started unlucky but finished with a 7^th in round showing he has the pace, he ended up 17^th overall, Steve also managed a very impressive 9^th in round 2 and qualified 13^th just missing the A final. Matt and Jon qualified in the A with some great driving in very competitive heats and very close times with Matt and his MP9 10^th and Jon and his fine looking AE in 6^th.

In the finals Andy was up first and took the lead early on, which he retained but unluckily then slipped to 4^th as the buzzer went just missing the bump. Another good drive from Andy!

Elliot was pole in the D and took advantage having a great run, bring the car home in top spot, bumping straight into the C with Rich. His Sworkz/ Nova  Rossi combo looked and sounded fantastic as he won by a massive 15second margin. Great Work! So Elliot and Rich were in the C, Rich was 3^rd on the grid and he battled hard but with some very good drivers in the final he missed the bump and finished a very respectable 8^th, Elliot was now on fire and managed to get his Sworkz from 12^th to 10^th where he finished. Well done both!

We had Alex and Steve up next , Steve was 2^nd on the grid and after a great battle that’s where he finished, getting the bump into the A with his reds powered MP9. Alex started 6^th and after a fantastic race he ended up finishing 7^th. On to the A with now Shakey, Jon and Matt! Jon was the top RCPB driver in 6th and he continued his fine form with a great 5^th, with the top 4 so dominant and so far ahead of the following pack this was a brilliant result for Jon. Matt had a great start from 10^th on the grid gaining a couple of places and finishing only 1/3 of a second behind 7^th with a more than respectable 8^th finish with his Ielasi Tuned powered kyosho. Shakey ended up 13^th.

Chris Lovell and his Mugen started 3^rd and in a very competive field of racers he would battle hard for his 2^nd place finish. Another great result for Chris in 2016! His car is pictured below.

 A great days racing for the RCPB guys and gals for round one – round two was Sunday and some more RCPB faces would be competing. Sunday saw Simon and Simeon White as well as Ben Billing and Kong McKenzie take to the track for RCPB. The cold start would turn into a beautiful spring day with the sun and the Mini Pins out!

Chris Lovell took a great TQ with his MBX7r Eco in the electric class, with 2 first in qualifying. He would be hard to catch in the finals with his pace on the ever drying astro!

In top spot in nitro after qualifying we had Ben Billing and his Sworkz/Nova Rossi combo showing his amazing consistency and solid speed to take 5^th overall. Next up it was Matt and Alex and Shakey and the battle of the MP9’s, all having great qualifiers and so close over the 4 rounds, Matt was 9^th overakk, Alex 10^th and Steve (car pictured below in action from Drizzle RC Photos) 11^th. Kong also had some stead qualifying and ended up in the B final with a great 20^th overall, good going since it was his first visit to the track! Jon was up next with 22^nd overall after some radio issues, but he would be back up to speed in the finals with his AE!

Rich Price had another decent qualifying and pulled out a 15^th in round 1, confirming he has the pace to compete at this level, he ended up 29^th overall at the end of 4 rounds. Simon White also put in some great times and ended up 32^nd. Elliot was 40^th, Si Davies was 46^th after engine issues, and Andy 58^th, with young 64^th.

Simeon and his Mugen was up first in the F final with Andy P, Simeon flew off the line having a great race and gained some good places finishing a very good 7^th, Andy was in fine form and continued to get quicker through the final resulting in a very good 3^rd and a well deserved bump into the E final. This meant Andy and Si Davies would battle it out in the E. Si was pushed back from the start but drover brilliantly to get most of the places back finishing 5^th as the buzzer went, Andy continued his great pace and ended up10th also gaining 3 places from his starting position – great drive by both guys!

In the D final we had Elliot lining up 7^th – he had an awesome race, with some good overtakes and finished a very respectable 4^th just missing the bump with his Sworkz. In the C we had Rich, and another solid drive by him also resulted in a few places being gained, finishing 7^th. In the B we had Kong and Jon. Both drove the wheels off their buggies, and in the very tough B final they both managed some great racing, Kong finishing 5^th after starting 9^th and Jon very impressive again 4^th after starting back in 11^th. Brill drive guys, both narrowly missed the bump to the A.

With Ben, Matt, Alex and Steve in the A it was all hands on deck and they all had some great battles in the 25min A main. Ben as always banging in some great laps on the tricky track, He took RCPB top honours with a very fine 6^th, Matt showed his consistency by starting and finishing 9^th, with Steve 11^th and Alex 12^th. All had a great final. Well done Nitro Lads!

Now it was Chris Lovells turn in the electric Class, and his TQ had him pole ahead of a fine field of racers. He had some great on track battles with some of the quick drivers and went over the line as the buzzer went with Mick Butler, it was down to hundredths of seconds as they crossed side by side, but Chris managed the win. A great drive again by Chris and his RC Concept Powered Mugen.

Thanks to Drizzle RC Photos for the shots - check out his page at : -

https://www.facebook.com/Drizzles-RC-Photography-214884155339095/

The team had a great weekend and will be back in action next weekend. All of the kit and cars that all the team use are available from RCPB so check out the website.....EAT< SLEEP<RACE<REPEAT folks. See you trackside soon!