Mark Stiles and Reedy sweep the BRCA 1:12 Nationals Round 3 (with video)

 

Round 3 of the 2012/13 BRCA 1/12th National at Tamworth saw great results for Reedy drivers Mark Stiles and Zak Smith. The event saw another big turnout with nearly 100 drivers racing on each day of the event.

 

On Saturday in the 1/12th scale stock (10.5 blinky) class Chris Kerswell set the early pace, but a couple of clean and well driven runs in the last 2 qualifiers saw the Reedy powered CRC of Mark Stiles take TQ. Mark was using a Reedy sonic 10.5 motor and a Reedy 1S 6500mAh LiPo battery. The motor was geared at 68mm/rev with 42.5 degrees of static motor advance, the perfect combination for running in blinky speedo format. Joining Mark in the final with Reedy power in their Team Associated 12R5.2’s were ‘up and coming’ Zak Smith and ‘been there and done that’ Nigel Hale. Once again Associated were the dominant manufacturer in the top ten.
 

In the A final Mark and Chris got away cleanly at the front and 2 minutes into the race had left the rest of the field in their wake. At the half-way stage the pair were separated by less than half a second, but then Chris got tangled with a back marker, losing 3 seconds. This left Mark with a clear lead which he controlled until the end to take his first BRCA national win of the season.

Zak Smith proved he had more pace then his qualifying performance showed and put in a cracking drive to make his first BRCA 1/12th scale national podium in what is only his second season of pan car racing. Well done Zak!

10.5 Stock A Final Result

1. Mark Stiles - CRC/Reedy/LRP
2. Chris Kerswell - Serpent/LRP/Dynamite
3. Zak Smith - Associated/Reedy
4. Matt White - Associated/GM
5. Mick Farrell - CRC/HPI
6. Luke Burley - DoRi5
7. Jason Butterfield - DoRi5
8. Nigel Hale - Associated/Reedy
9. Andrew Edwards - Associated
10. Jim Spencer - Associated

Sunday is a new day and a new event, and Mark Stiles picked up where he left off on Saturday by setting the fastest time in the first two rounds. He was on for a faster time in round 3 until a mistake sent him into the barrier and out with a broken car. However, the times set in that race were not good enough to better Mark’s round 2 effort, so with 1 qualifier remaining it was still Stiles ahead of Zak Smith and Chris Kerswell, with 3 seconds covering the trio. The final qualifier was one of the closest of the year, with the three fast guys circulating together for almost the entire race. Stiles looked to have TQ in the bag but with 30 seconds to go Chris took over the lead and just snatched TQ by half a second. Mark bettered his previous time but would have to settle for 2nd overall with Zak an excellent 3rd for his best ever qualifying performance, and only two seconds off the Chris’ pole time.

The A final was a role reversal of Saturday’s. Now it was Mark’s turn to try and force a mistake from Chris. The pair led the field away and within 1 minute of the start had already pulled a half lap lead to 3rd placed Nigel Hale who’d had a blinding start from 9th on the grid. The top two were racing hard and close until Chris clipped a track marker at the end of the straight and Mark slid through into the lead. That was all Mark needed and he would go on to win the race by 2 seconds. Nigel Hale consolidated his strong start to finish a superb 5th. Unfortunately contact from behind by another car put a halt to Zak’s charge as an early pit stop for a repair which cost him any chance of a good result, but he will be back and is hungry for more podiums.
 

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