Nitro X Cross - Nene Valley Race Report....
Posted by Matt Box on
Last Sunday saw the final round of the popular Nitro X Cross winter series take place at Nene Valley Raceway. The RCPB team were out in force and looking good for a nice trophy haul! As we all know to finish first you must first finish so it was important that everyone was well prepared for the day ahead.
With a dry forecast most of the team arrived with a dry set up but after a quick track inspection we soon realised that this wouldnt be the case. At least not to start with so it was back to a wet set up for round 1.
The Nene Valley crew had been working hard improving the track:
So into round 1 and Milan Dragojlovic was quick to lay down a marker setting TQ for the round with his Maxima powered HB D815 closely followed by his HB/Maxima/Hipex team mate Graham Alsop. Matt Box would be the next RCPB driver with a 5th in round with his SpeedBull Soar Seiki, Chris Lovell running his Soar E buggy in the mixed class would grab 9th in round. Gary Gregory running his new Maxima B4 engine in his sweet looking Kyosho TKI4 would come home 14th in round, Simon Davies' Soar Seiki 37th, Andy Prosser also driving Soar Seiki 46th and Elliot Jones Kyosho suffered an incident in the warm up resulting in a DNS for round 1.
In round 2 Milan would take TQ once again from Graham in 2nd, Gary Gregory drove a faultless run to take an excellent 5th in round, Matt Box 6th, Chris Lovell 15th, Elliot Jones 32nd, Simon Davies 35th, and Andy Prosser 46th.
Round 3 and you've guessed it! Milan took another TQ, the only driver to complete 8 laps from Graham in 2nd, Chris Lovell took a great 6th in round, Gary Gregory 9th, Matt Box 17th, Simon Davies 30th, Elliot Jones 37th and Andy Prosser 47th.
In the final round of qualifying Graham 'Sloppy' Alsop reminded Milan of his pace and consistency by taking TQ with Milan in 2nd both completing 8 laps this time. Chris Lovell was 11th in round, Gary Gregory 14th, Elliot Jones and excellent 19th, Simon Davies 34th, Andy Prosser 43rd and Matt Box after somehow dumping his tank of fuel after just a couple of laps would retire early scoring 60th.
So with the drivers best 2 rounds counting to determine their grid positions the team would line up as follows:
Milan Dragojlovic TQ
Graham Alsop 2nd
Matt Box 7th
Chris Lovell 8th
Gary Gregory 10th
Elliot Jones 30th
Simon Davies 42nd
Andy Prosser 56th
Milans TQ winning HB:
So on to the finals and first up we had Andy Prosser in the E final. Andy started in P11 and consolidated his qualifying position by coming home 11th.
In the D final we had Simon Davies. Simon started in 8th position and although briefly holding a bump up spot he would eventually bring his Ielasi powered Soar seiki home in 7th place.
In the C final we had Elliot Jones who lined up his Kyosho/Ielasi machine in 8th place for the 15 minute final. After a great midfield battle Elliot would bring his ride home in a respectable 5th place.
I'm not sure if this is a first but all RCPB drivers managed to miss the famous Nitro x Cross B Main with 5 drivers heading straight into the 20 minute A final! After qualifying this would clearly be a battle of the two HB/MX boys and it didn't disappoint! Milan and Graham were pushing each other to the limits setting fastest lap after fastest lap and pulling a gap on the rest of the pack. The lead would change hands on several occasions but in the end TQ man Milan Dragojlovic would take the win with Graham in 2nd, both 2 laps up on 3rd place. Chris Lovell drove a great final to come home in 6th place, Gary Gregory improved his qualifying position by coming home in 9th place on the same lap as the 3rd place finisher so a big well done to GG! Matt Box had a scruffy final and eventually came home in 13th spot.
Here are the final positions after a great 20 minute final:
A totally dominating performance from the HB/Maxima/Hipex cars of Milan and Graham:
So with wrapping up the final round of the championship in style Milan would also be crowned 2016/17 Nitro X Cross Winter Champion. Congratulations Milan!
Chris Lovell took the over 40's Championship as well as 3rd overall in the series, A massive well done to Chris!
And Matt Box made it 3 RC Pit Box drivers in the top 4 with an excellent 4th overall.
A huge well done to all of our drivers who took part in the series. Here are the overall standings after 6 rounds with best 4 to count:
1. Milan Dragojlovic - HB Racing
3. Chris Lovell - Soar Seiki
4. Matt Box - Soar Seiki
17. Elliot Jones - Kyosho
21. Nathan Powney - HB Racing (only completed 3 rounds)
22. Ben Billing - Kyosho (Only completed 3 rounds)
27. Gary Gregory - Kyosho (Only completed 3 rounds)
35. Lee Curvis - Soar Seiki (Only completed 3 rounds)
60. Rich Price - Soar Seiki (Only completed 2 rounds)
75. Andy Prosser - Soar Seiki (Only completed 2 rounds)
So onto the driver of the day - I think this has to go to Milan Dragojlovic this week! A totally dominant performance not just at this event but the whole series taking TQ and the win in 3 of the 4 rounds and the win in the other. Well done Milan! An exciting season ahead!
Thank you to Answer RC for sponsoring the series, Alex Vernon for running the series and to Nitro X Cross for having us! We look forward to the summer series.
As always all of the products used by our race team are available through our website. EAT - SLEEP - RACE - REPEAT