BADMCC Round 4

Sunday 11th May 2006 and Banbridge and District Model Car Club hosted round 4 of their club championship in the glorious sunshine.

The usual track was unavailable due to Banbridge Council double booking the location -instead we were to benefit from the variety of racing on the football pitch - a very sandy and bumpy surface which rewarded a steady drive, and was very difficult to attack consistently - though many were to try!!

Brian Meeney as ever led the construction of a fabulous track which led to fast and challenging racing for everyone who took part.

A few racers opted out of this round of the championship, detered by the sandy surface - their loss, as without doubt this only added to the days challenges.

Gary Baird set the pace in Round 1 of the Monster Truck class with his Savage 25 and 10 laps in 325s, only bettered in round 3 by the TQ man Chris McCauley's Lightning Stadium RR with a 10 in 302s - getting very close to the buggy fastest times.

Not surprisingly this led to a very close final, until lap 16 when Gary dropped out struggling with wheels breaking on his truck all day - now thats power for you. This allowed Chris to comfortably take the win with 20 laps from Wayne Watson in 3rd and Stephen Heuston in 4th.

The buggy class saw Andrew Rennick's Lightning RR leading the way in Round 1, just sneaking through for the extra eleventh lap on Barkley Abernethy (RB powered Xray XB 8) and Paul Myles (Thunder Tiger).

Newcomer (to 1/8th) Stephen Coyle was delighted with the performance of his Nosram powered Lightning Pro driving to 4th place in round one.

After some very close qualifying, and some serious engine work (thanks for your help Geordie and Barkley), that was the way qualifying ended.

In a close fought B Final, Andy Tait and Derek Fluke secured 1st and 2nd, as well as their place in a hotly contested A final. Andy's car was to cry enough however with a gearbox failure on the Hyper 7 after 20 laps of the A final - disappoining for Andy whose car looked comfortable on the track.

After a hectic start (with the pole and 4th placed men cutting out at the first corner) the race settled with Andrew's Blue Thunder Fuel /Top Engine powered car in first place. Barkley and Andrew fought tooth and nail over the 30 minute final, with Andrew just doing enough to snatch victory from the charging Barkley. Debutant Stephen Coyle was happy with his 3rd place finish showing his ability with his Blue Thunder powered car to mix it with the best drivers. Paul Myles had to settle for 4th after a close fought battle with Stephen.

Thanks in particular to Angus, who although not racing spent the day in the hot sun making sure that the race ran smoothly....we know you'll be back challenging next day Angus.