Nationals this year was held at my local club ARCCC, the track was changed significantly for the event to minimize local racer advantage. The new track resulted in a fast flowing design with some interesting risk vs reward factors to keep the racers on their toes.
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There wasnâ™t a whole lot of rain leading up to the event so the track was dampened down with some watering a week out from the event. Then a day out from the event the rain really came down and made for a bit of a wet start to the event. Although it was a mucky start the water ended up really helping with track longevity.
Qualifying was spread across 2 days starting on the Friday and finishing on the Saturday. It went well for both classes, after 5 rounds in buggy I was sitting 2nd tied on points with Jonathan Collucio but my best overall time being just over a second slower so it meant Jonathan clinched TQ. Kent Perry also driving an XRAY XB8 qualified in 3rd place so with qualifying complete having 2 XRAY buggies in the top 3 was a good achievement! In truggy managed to qualify in 2nd place after having a great battle with Craig Underwood (another local racer) for TQ.
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After meticulously preparing both cars for the finals day, it was all about reliability. Buggy was up first and I managed to make a good call on tires for the semi and kept the car on itâ™s wheels. This resulted in a start from pole position in the buggy final. In truggy after a bit of a rough start I bumped through the semi finals to start in third place.
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The truggy final was up first and the buzzer went, the car launched off the line only to hit the car infront as they had a problem. After the first lap of the truggy A main I was sitting in last position and the work beganâ¦â¦..The first 3 laps was very difficult to race clean as cars were close together and all fighting for position. I could see Craig coming up to lap me after the first 3 laps and I knew I really had to push whilst staying on my wheels. Little by little I managed to make my way through from 12th up to 5th and then slowly catching up to 2nd. Craig maintained a good lead throughout the race and with 5 mins to go I started pushing a little too hard trying to close the gap ending in a few crashes. I finished in 2nd place for the final in truggy, I was still happy considering the bad start but was determined to do my best to get a Nationals win.
In the buggy final I was to start of pole position, I had to take advantage of this within the first few laps and hopefully open up a bit of a gap. The buzzer went off and racing started and it was CLOSE the first few laps there were some position changes between myself and Kent whilst we both settled in to our groove. After the first fuel stop I had opened up a small gap between Kent and intended to keep it that way. The rest of the race was a blur, the XB8 was handling awesome and I was able to lay down some quick laps with minimal crashes. The finished siren went and I realized I had finished in 1st place with Kent in 2nd place. This meant a 1st and 2nd to the XRAY XB8 buggy for the 2014 NZRCA Nationals which was a great achievement. Thanks Xray for awesome cars which keep performing!
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Buggy results:
1. Chris Banham - XRAY XB8
2. Kent Perry - XRAY XB8
3. Gage Peters
4. Shane Oconnor
5. Scott Brownhill
