The weekend of the 29th / 31st of August saw the annual Proline event to be held at the Remote world track better known as Slough or with those less familiar the venue of the 2003 Euros.
The track once again prepped to perfection being well compacted, the design being acheivable jump sections & technical infield leading to some very close racing. A large Marque was in place for all the racers close to a large covered rostrum & massive pit lane area.
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Team XRAY headed up by Bren Ralls, Kevin Brunsden & Legendry but privateer Jon Hazelwood. Mark Stiles better known from 1/12th making the swicth this year now up to speed & used to the bumps & jumps. For Truggy Bradley Blaird for Ireland Davy Bales for France & Rusty Russel Bailey from the UK would compete all with the XT8 09 spec's.
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Saturday practice was 3 x 5 minute runs giving us all time to find a good balance. The dust cleared & a groove soon started to appear other than what was the far right of the track which started to develop a few holes & never really bound together for the event, this area would just get worse to a section that looked like a digger had been let loose by the end. The pace of our cars was good with kevin taking the TQ in last round of practice 4th & last run of the day would be the first qualifing round with Mark putting in a flyer in heat 7 putting in a top 15 time . Kevin making a mistake but going 8th in round & Bren being held up with two guys battling for half the race but when past a mistake free run to go 9th. This was the end of day one & a good team talk with us all agreeing Bren's setup was working best & would opt for that route. Rc Disco manager Greg Hill circulated the pits on the saturday meeting up with all the team drivers allowing mant to put the name to a face being a great oppertunity for all.
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Sunday & a cloudy start with temperatures around 22 deg some 5 deg colder than the day before. Mark again putting in a clean run considering the heat he was in did well. Bren out next found the car to feel very loose as the tyres where not working as well in the colder conditions. A mistake free run earned him 8th in round. Kevin ran a faultless run to go 7th & Jon 5th. With the track evolving our setup was going away from us so some good team chats resolved this. Kevin coming out top for us with following rounds of 4th 7th & 6th. Jon with mixed fortunes 10th & 4th & Bren held up but an 11th doing the job Bren , Kevin, Jon all making the semi, Jess Saunders making the switch to Xray mid event taking the all important straight in spot to the semi. Mark had problems in the 1/4 & was out & Damien Tigwell had it to do from the 1/4 but a sterling drive did this & a semi place awaited him.
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Sunday & finals day, a muggy heat to the air but cloudy at first, forecast though was for a scorcher at around 30 deg. Discussions in the team about setups & plans settled all. Bren, Kev, Jon & Damien all in the same semi plus a field of the uk's elite would make it a challenge. Jon got away & would be safe plus the 10 minute stops helped. Kevin got tangled but was very strong & pulled through & into the main. Bren had a good start & held onto a place in the main. For Damien it was not to be but still a great effort for the team. In the other semi Jess would be very strong but only narrowly missed the main by a few seconds.
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With such a busy weekend i was unable to keep tracks of the truggys but our guys Bradley, Davy & Russel all made the main. Russel had a problem & dropped out but Bradly & Davy would have an epic battle & done a great job for Team Xray with Davy taking 4th & Bradly 5th. Thanks goes to Damien here as he stood in for Davy as his marshal cheers bud.
For the Buggy main Kevin had an engine cut & blown plug which cost him dearly losing many laps he got the engine tune sorted running the 3rd fastest laps but mid race retired which was a shame as his pace was very strong. Jon battled well with Bloomfield & Bayer to bring the team a podium & 3rd. Bren had good pace with 10 minute stops & consistency earned him a well deserved 8th.
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Truggy result
1. Simon Turner UK
2. Stewart Wilcox UK
3. Michael Lewis UK 4. Davy Bales France XRAY XT8
5. Bradley Baird N.Ireland XRAY XT8
6. Jon Dell UK
7. Christopher Mccauley N.Ireland
8. Jim Thompson UK
9. Mark Byrne UK
10. Marc Jacka UK
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Buggy Result
1. Darren Bloomfield UK
2. Martin Bayer Czech Rep 3. Jon Hazlewood UK XRAY XB808
4. Dave Crompton UK
5. Graham Alsop UK
6. Simon Willetts UK
7. Sam Taylor UK 8. Brennan Ralls UK XRAY XB808
9. Brent Thielke USA
10. Reece Sawyer UK
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All in all a great Proline event for the Team with 3 xrays in each main & a podium for Jon Hazelwood Well Done all.
Thanks to XRAY, Hudy & RC Disco plus neobuggy.net for the photo's.
