UK Truggy Nationals Round 1, Double Podium
Darren Bloomfield continued his good form since going the NEMO Racing/Agama team, by winning the 1st round of the BRCA National Truggy Championships at Herts over the weekend.
With the UK once again experiencing clear, sunny weather the competitors for the opening round of the Truggy and E-Buggy Nationals were in for a treat with the track having been rolled and prepared since the previous weekend.
A big NEMO team were in attendance as usual, with competitors in both the Truggy and E-Buggy classes. In Truggy Qualifying Darren spent the time adjusting his car after the previous event in the US where servo issues had prevented a good result, but here he was thankfully able to concentrate on improving the set up and improving his lap times. He would eventually end up qualifying in 2nd place on the grid and in a good place to challenge for the main final. The Agama team were very strong in Truggy, with Ollie Currie and Jon Hazlewood directly behind Darren in 3rd and 4th respectively on the grid.
The E-buggy guys were involved in a very close contest at the front, with many of the usual Nitro National drivers in attendance the competition was very fierce. The Agama drivers were running quickly in qualifying, but odd mistakes were costing them dear in their overall round scores. Meaning that Darren, Richard Barton and Tony Truman would qualify 6th, 8th and 9th respectively. Everybody was chasing the set up a little bit and tuning their cars to deal with the huge amount of torque the electric motors produce compared to a nitro engine. Darren was again in only his 2nd event with the car, Tony was running new electronics which he was learning about and setting up as he went and finally Richard was running his E-Buggy for the first time in a long time. So overall with the standard of the competition, the qualifying results were not too bad.
The Truggy final would see Darren and Jon and Michael Lewis fighting between themselves for the win, and on this occasion Darren would come out on top with a very controlled drive. Jon had a nice race with Michael which he managed to win, to make an Agama 1-2 and a fantastic result for the team. The BETA shod Agama Truggies seemed to be unmatched in the final, making full use of the power available from their Bullitt engines. Ollie Currie came within a whisker of completing a podium lockout for the NEMO Racing team, finally having to settle for 4th overall after a great battle. No less than 6 Agama Truggies and at least as many running BETA tyres were present in the main final.
TheE-Buggy final was a frenetic affair with many fast drivers competing for the win. unfortunately the Agama drivers couldn't quite get up to the front as those mistakes that had cost them in qualifying also prevented a concerted challenge at the head of the pack in the final. Darren was running quick enough for the podium, but would have have to settle for 4th overall with Tony finishing 8th and Richard 9th. BETA tyres were again heavily used by the main final drivers, with at least 6 running our rubber.
The next round of the series takes place at Coventry in the middle of April.
