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A long tough season came to an end last weekend for the fantastic 8-10 Series at the Frankley MCC and with it a Championship win for the XRAY 808-2010 Spec car.
Iâ™ve got to say, the 8-10 Series has been one of the best series iâ™ve had the pleasure of entering, and it showed with the fantastic support at every round this year from the first round at Coventry right through to the superb Finals at Frankley, almost every round was full to capacity, and the competition stronger than ever, the organisation was top notch and the social scene was cracking all year. |
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I think everyone who attended this years series will agree itâ™s been the best, every track deserves a mention and a well done, and i cant remember a single track where we wouldnâ™t happily want to go to again or where youâ™d question it being included in the series. We had Coventry which has got to be one of the countries finest dirt tracks now, and even if it rained there they could simply swap to thier Astro Track, Stoke is a cracking Astro Track, and even since the 8-10 was held there theyâ™ve been working hard to further improve the track because they want a BRCA National there next year (and i totally agree it could host one), Derby track has had a full Astro update and is now a tricky technical track with some fast sweepers and was personally one of my favourites of the year and a mega improvement from the old track â“ well done guys, Our Welsh crew at Talywain hosted another round after the success of last year and the track is a real technical challenge witha mix of both Astro and grass, and âśThe Hillâť is just legendaryâ¦
J12 was brilliant with itâ™s all Dirt super fast and flowing layout, and we got to visit it just after it hosted the BRCA Nationals so it was in great condition (Note â“ iâ™m not sure about the on-site campfire, i mean burger van, burning down thou Les!!) and then the last round, the final at Frankley a track soo used to Hosting BRCA Nationals, International Meetings and the Countries most popular Winter Series it needs no introduction to anyone really!! |
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Combine that with the fact that we had Factory supported Teams from all the main suppliers including - XRAY, Losi, Mugen, Kyosho, Associated, Hong Nor, a couple of HBâ™s and LRPâ™s to add to the mix of competition and no doubt a couple of others too⦠and you can only start to imagine what a great season and series this really has been!!
Oh and did anyone notice it didnâ™t rain â“ at all â“ all seasonâ¦â¦.Perfect (iâ™m ignoring the 5 minutes of rain at Stoke btw, rose tinted glasses and all, dont spoil it hey)!!
Anyway, RC Disco entered a small well organised Team with myself (Greg Hill), Leigh Richardson, Carl Richards and Milan Dragojlovic fronting the Team along with a number of other drivers getting support and set up advice including Les Reeder (J12 Track Boss) and the crazy gang from Podium RC to name a fewâ¦
With some early season testing we quickly found some decent set-upâ™s for most tracks and we happily took the challenge to the main contenders, our old buddies over in the Losi camp and the lone ranger it seemed, Steve Childerhouse with his Mugen - race on guys!!!
Over the season the 8-10 series saw many â guestâ™ drivers come and go, itâ™s often the case at the first round you see some names that dont always continue on, and equally at the last round, maybe we saw some Team tacticâ™s with some guest drivers appearing from nowhere⦠some drivers complain about this sort of thing, i think itâ™s all part of what we do, at the end of the day we race the drivers that attend and we fight (race i mean) for the points that are available on the day, and ultimately over the whole season its really upto you to do the homework, set the cars up and perform on the track on the day⦠well thatâ™s my view anyway, iâ™m sure plenty wont agree but itâ™s done now so itâ™s too late to complain i guess!!
The season had plenty of twists, turns, what ifâ™s and what onlyâ™s, but come the end it all came down to the Finals day at Frankley and being a âťDouble Pointsâť round and a massive 720 points up for grabs anything could still happen in the Championship⦠so would it•
Er noâ¦â¦ not reallyâ¦.. er and i kinda pointed that out in the first sentence cause i won ha ha!!! But it couldâ™ve, in fact going into the Finals day there was a bit of maths going on in the XRAY/Tecnopower Tent checking over the Championship table, the Double Points system, a team talk explained what needed to be done, ie my team block the opposition, let me through, let me win rightâ¦â¦ My Team promptly out-qualified me!! |
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But weâ™d pretty much achieved the goal, after qualifying we worked out i only needed 1 measly little point from the final to win the Championship, and even then, worst case scenario, Steve (Childerhouse) needed to Win the A Final and i had to come last in the Final for us to â tieâ™ on points forcing a âśrace offâťâ¦ iâ™ve seen it before so i still wasnâ™t taking anything for granted.
Fortunately for me this didnâ™t happen and i was able to take home the Championship Win - saying that, i didnâ™t help myself by installing new fuel tank & exhaust pressure pipes for that meeting that ended up wrapping itself around my flywheel half way through the final causing me to stall several times â“ see told you it anything couldâ™ve happened - could you imagine how mad youâ™d be at yourself if that silly mistake lost you the Championship at the very last hurdle??
Phewâ¦. so thatâ™s the season over and at the 4th time of trying, this time, finally, thankfully, the Championship comes home with meâ¦. happy days, really happy days, iâ™m genuinely super chuffedâ¦.
Gotta give a huge shout out to Glyn â Maddogâ™ Morgan for organising the series, you and your team did a fantastic job all year and you never get enough thanks for what you do, so thank you buddy, keep doing it, weâ™ll definitely be coming back next year⦠i also wanted to give a big shout to Rody Roem from Tecnopower for helping me this year with the launch of the new engine â“ youâ™d be amazed at what development goes into â creatingâ™ an engine, so to get one to us and winning in itâ™s first Championship is something quiet special i can promise you (and there were 3 in the Top 10 btw so something works i guessâ¦) â“ but thanks Rody much appreciated and well done too!!
And finally to my XRAY Team, not only did we take the Championship but Milan pulled a blinder and stole 3rd overall from the grasps of the Losi camp (sorry guys) and Leigh Richardson ended up 7th â“ although it has to be said he dropped several points in the final as his gearbox bearings fell apart dropping him out the running early onâ¦â¦â¦ you remember i needed that point?? |
| 8-10 Series Overall Championship â“ Buggy Class |
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1. Greg Hill XRAY XB808
2. Steven Childerhouse
3. Milan Dragojlovic XRAY XB808
4. Robert Cork
5. Jim Davis
6. Scott Francis
7. Richard Hanscomb
7. Leigh Richardson XRAY XB808
9. Mathew Lawrence
10. Patrick Savage |
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So thatâ™s it for 2010, the 8-10 Series is done and dusted, only one last thing to sayâ¦
See you, and this lot at the Race of Champions. Itâ™s back at Frankley on the 3rd October, it should be a cracker!! |
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