UK Nitro National Round 1 NDOR
BRCA National Round 1 at NDOR
Upon arriving at the track on Friday afternoon to set up the tents and trailer for the 26 strong team we had in attendance, the track was in very good condition a true showing of the effort put in by the NDOR team.
The standard Saturday race schedule was underway, 2 round of practise followed by 4 rounds of qualifying. The team all started to settle in once they got going around the track. The weather on Saturday was slightly hit and miss with some showers at the track, this made for some unrepresentative qualifying results for the team, but good results were had by all. Darren got the TQ in both rounds 3 and 5 making for a 2nd overall qualifying result. After Qualifying we had 4 Agama A215SV’s and BULLITT 221’s in the top 12, a truly super result.
On Sunday the finals and semis were run, in the B 1/64th we had Gavin Powell bumping up into the next final, A 1/64th Daniel Shelton drove a superb race and bumped into the next final. Next the B 1/32nd Jordan Shelton also drove a great race and won his final to bump up, in the 32’s Allan Bridgeman bumped up too, well done Digger. It was really great to see so many high individual performances across our team.
In the Semi final B, Joni Skidmore, William Skidmore and Darren all lined up on the grid after a good semi practise beforehand. They all drove a superb race and they would progress into the main final, well done boys ! In the A semi side we had Callum Niblett who also drove a super race to progress into the main final, this made for 4 Agama’s into the main final. An awesome result for the team as well as being the most highly represented manufacturer in the final.
The main final started with Darren Bloomfield in the 3 spot, Joni Skidmore in 7th Callum Niblett in 8th and William Skidmore in 13th. The flag dropped and the 45 minute race was underway. Darren, Elliot and Lee all pulled from the remaining pack of drivers, passes and changes of position were frequent making for a very close and tense race. Darren and Lee both being on a different pit strategy allowing them to do one less pit stop than other competitors. The pace was very high and Darren fought hard to snatch the lead but Lee passed first over the line with Darren just 5 seconds back when the flag fell. Darren had superb pace in the final with the fastest lap of the entire event being the only driver to get into the 34 second lap times, a full 0.3 of a second faster than any other lap in the final, showing the true pace of the AGAMA A215SV buggy and the BULLITT B-221 engine. With the points Darren gained from qualifying, he will head into round 2 of the series tied for the lead of the championship.
Well done to Lee on his win and a heartfelt thanks to NDOR for putting in such a huge amount of effort getting the track and facilities ready.
Next weekend we are at KMRC for the first round of the E8/Truck Nationals.