This last weekend saw the 3rd Annual Apex GP, the venue was Slough which is a well established dirt track & is always well presented & preped to the highest of standards making it a pleasure to drive on. This year the entry was to include both Buggy & Truggy giving a full entry in both classes.
XB808 of Jon Hazlewood (click to enlarge)
The XRAY team was well represented & competition would be tough as the majority of the national field was here to also get valuable track time prior to the national in two weeks. Rain during the morning made the track a little sticky so many decided not to practice, the moisture helped the track further as it soon became very slick & polished up to give a good groove & became very fast.
XB808 of Brennan Ralls (click to enlarge)
During the qualifying Jon Hazelwood showed great pace & was just unlucky in his rounds not to take overall TQ, in the last round took the fastest time of the meeting & placed himself pole in the semi. Kevin Brunsden showed great pace all meeting & finished all rounds near the top so again a comfy semi position. Bruce Thompson fresh from a high finish at the losi GP on the Saturday was dialled in from the word go. His pace was good just luck was not always there but another to qualify to the semi. Bren Ralls had not raced at the track this year so had some catching up to do to get upto speed, the pace of the car was good & the balance spot on. I also put it in the semi & new I was in with a chance..
XB808 of Kevin Brunsden (click to enlarge)
To the buggy finals
Our club & B team drivers did well in the lower finals. Chris Howe having a nightmare qualifying bumped up several finals from the bottom. Steve Webb, Ricky Burnett & Jon Simblet showed great patience & etiquette which again rewarded all as they bumped up several finals. Dave Grunhill easily had the pace for the semi put a problem kept him to the 1/4's. Mark Dell from the 1/4's straight into the semi with no problems.
XB808 of Mark Dell (click to enlarge)
Semi B included Kevin & Mark. Kevin soon took the lead but mid race developed a servo problem but nursed it home to 6th. Mark looked like he drove the race of his life & bought it home 4th , so in the end XRAY put 5 808's in the Main.
The Main was super fast & the pack remained tight for quite a while. Kevin had a problem so retired mid race, Bren flamed out in the pits & lost to much time so was out of contention. Mark carried on from where he left the semi to finish a very creditable 9th. Bruce was his usual Mr super consistent & came home 6th. Jon had to do another fuel stop over Allsop &
Crompton but clawed this back & easily put in the fastest laps of the meeting consistently to come home 3rd.
Buggy Final Position
1 Graham Alsop
2 David Crompton 3 Jon Hazlewood XRAY XB808
4 Jon Howells
5 Craig Drescher 6 Bruce Thompson XRAY XB808
7 Mike Waller
8 Karl Jackson 9 Mark Dell XRAY XB808
10 Raphael Robert
11 Tommy Chung 12 Brennan Ralls XRAY XB808
13 Kevin Brunsden XRAY XB808
14 Simon Willetts
(click to enlarge)
(click to enlarge)
The Truggys had 3 Xrays in the Main, many was there first time to slough but all put in great drives. Simon Freeman topped the XRAY pile & put himself 3rd on the podium & a greatly deserved reward for his efforts. Adam Lewin coming home 9th & Richard Mandy aka Mr Pirate himself 10th, hindered in the final by having to do an extra fuel stop to the rest of the field as he was still running in a new engine.
Truggy Final Position
1 Karl Jackson
2 Simon Turner 3 Simon Freeman XRAY XT8
4 Julio Pittelli
5 Steve Martin
6 Cameron Taylor
7 Simon Hunter
8 Tony Scott 9 Adam Lewin XRAY XT8
10 Richard Mandy XRAY XT8
Thankyou to Slough & Apex for putting on this top event XRAY & all of the teams Sponsors, not forgetting Mr Pirate for the photos.
