CML sweeps Nitro X Cross Summer Series Rd.7

 

Weston Park Model Air Show hosted round 7 of the 2012 Nitro X Cross Summer Series run by the East Shrewsbury Buggy Racing Club. Clive Maland reports...

The event started a few days before with rubbish weather reports forecast thankfully the day started off not to bad with only very light drizzle that cleared quickly. Everyone turned up for a good event this one of the premier events in the NitroXcross series and certainly a must do in my race calender with 54 rallycross and 5 truggy drivers.

The track was the usual NitroXcross grass track with black plastic hosing tight and twisty with only one centrally located jump this year. Practice got under way swiftly and the usual contenders including some new NitroXcross series runners were quick from the off. In Buggy class Nathan Powney, Josh Powney, Steve Shakespere were quick from the off, whereas myself I had a few radio gremlins that needing fixing. In truggy class John Howels, Graham Howard and Lloyd Pitt were quick.

After qualifying top 3 buggy class looked like this, cars 2nd 3rd and 4th were all Team Associated RC8.2

1 Nathan Powney
2 Steve Shakespear
3 Josh Powney

John Howells topped truggy class followed by Lloyd Pitt with their Team Associated RC8T. Graham Howard just behing in third.

Onto the finals and th Truggy class was up first. The RB powered RC8T of John and Lloyd led the field from start to finish a strong show from the Graham but the result finished 1st 2nd 3rd as the Grid. An easy well deserved win for the RB-powered, Savox-served, Byron-fuelled RC8T of John Howells.
 
On to the main event; the Buggy A final, which was a slippery and damp affair with drizzle from start to finish. Steve Shakespear made the best of his 2nd grid slot and drove straight into the lead. Myself (Clive Maland) took my car straight to 2nd but excitement got the better of me half way round and I buried it under a hose pipe - Great!

1st and well clear by lap 5 was Steve Shakespear who made good progress and pulled a clear 3 corner lead. 2nd 3rd 4th was all nip and tuck for a good 5 minutes between Josh Powney, Scott Francis and myself. It was great fun sliding and drifting in the loose wet conditions.

At the 7 minute 30 mark, all drivers, except me, had fueled as I had opted for the longer stop to give me clear track position. This got me right back up in the thick of it and by the time I had fueled I was right behind Steve. This became a battle all the way to the end with Steve and me swapping positions until the last 4 laps where we were very close. The race ended with Steve Shakespear taking the champagne a worthy winner with his RC8.2 Reedy powered car by 5 seconds, Myself 2nd, Scot Francis 3rd, and Josh Powney 4th.

 

 
A good result for the CML team 1st and 2nd in Buggy class using Team Associated RC8.2 and 1st and 2nd in Truggy class using Team Associated RC8T.

Thanks goes out to all the East Shrewsbury Buggy Club Guys and all the commentators for making it a true spectacle this year.

For more info on NitroXcross visit www.facebook.com/NitroXCross

 

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