This past weekend was round 9 of the BRCA UK national championships. Itâ™s been a long season and the championship was still looking good for Team Xray. Xray No.1 driver Jon Hazlewood came into the event with the championship lead, but with drop scores now coming into play, it was going to be closer at the end of the day.
The Swindon RC club hosted Round 9. This was their first ever National event and they had prepared their astro/dirt track very well. Unfortunately the previous dayâ™s heavy rain had flooded the track and a clean up job had to take place before the racing could start. The forecast was cloudy and the track was going to run quite differently to before. Jonâ™s XB8 TQ was set up as per the pre event recommendation which was posted on the Xray web site a few days before. Some small changes to the front suspension had to be made to get more turn-in on the car and this helped during qualifying.
Once again Jon was fighting hard with championship rival David Crompton. Jonâ™s car was fastest during round 2 but after qualifying it was David who lined up for the A final in first position with Jon in 2nd place. Lee Taylor (8th) and Matt Perry (9th) did brilliantly to support Jon in the main final, with Ryan Donavan and Jon Dell in the B final and the potential to bump up into the A. Statistically this meant 25% of the cars in the top 20 after qualifying, were XB8 TQâ™s, which is an excellent performance in a world of many different types of buggyâ™s.
Ryan Donavan managed to bump up to the A final, making 4 Xrayâ™s in the main final. During the warm up for the main final there were lots of tyre changes going on. Both David and Jon had selected the Proline Inside Job on a track that now was dry and smooth. From the start David led, with Jon trying to make a move on the first lap. Having not managed to make the pass, Jon patiently sat behind for around five minutes. This allowed the two of them to pull away from the pack. David then made a mistake and Jon took up the lead. During the rest of the race the Xray stayed out in front as gap grew to around 10 seconds. The championship was at stake and both drivers pushed very hard during all of the 30 minute final. Nearing the end of the race Jonâ™s exhaust had become loud, and fortunately it stayed together as Jon crossed the line to win the race.
(click to enlarge)
This now leaves a showdown for the final round. The race will take place at the 2003 euros track, Slough on the 18th September 2006. Jon has won the last 4 nationals at this track and needs to again beat David to reclaim the UK national title.
Final results of the the 9th Round of British Nationals: 1. Jon Hazlewood - XRAY XB8TQ
2. David Crompton
3. Karl Jackson
4. Dave Bailey
5. Jamie Booth
6. Tommy Chung
7. Graham Alsop
8. Brennan Ralls 9. Ryan Donovan - XRAY XB8TQ
10. Stewer Wilcox 11. Lee Taylor - XRAY XB8TQ
12. Matthew Perry - XRAY XB8TQ
13. Mike Cradock
14. Tom Reynolds
