The third round of the 2011 BRCA 8th Nitro Rallycross series was held this past weekend at Slough, Southern England. The event is the only one in the calendar that’s stretched over 2 days and runs to a similar format to the EFRA and IFMAR championships with christmas tree finals. For this reason it’s the most prestigeous and highly regarded of the series.
The meeting kicked off on Sunday the 29th May 2011 with 1 round of practice in heat-order followed by 5 qualifiers – with the best 3 from 5 results to count toward overall qualifying positions.
Team Durango drivers tried a few things out during qualifying to get the cars ready for the main event with all the guys trying out the rear shock position on the back of the car – a Team Tech Tip on the rear-shock mod will follow soon.
Leading the Team Durango charge in qualifying was team leader Chris Doughty who placed 5th overall. Team mates Kevin Brunsden and Elliott Boots were 7th and 9th overall respectively and this meant all three drivers lined up in the same semi-final together in positions 2-3-4.
The semi went smoothly for Doughty and Boots but Kevin Brunsden had to fight back from a poor start to bump up with the other guys into the A-Main. Elliott Boots meanwhile after a poor days qualifying (by his usual high standards) the previous day was back on form and sailed past Doughty and Richard Barton to quickly establish a lead and sail through to win the semi.
In the break between Semi’s and the A-Main it started to rain and the weather continuted to be changable throughout the 45 minute final.
Elliott Boots sat in 4th on the grid for the A-Main and quickly passed Simon Willets after a few laps and then John Holmes for 2nd position. Elliott battled with defending national champion Darren Bloomfield for around 7 laps before passing over the back jumps and laying down the fast laps. Fuel strategies came into play with Neil Cragg having a longer gap which allowed him to catch Boots but in the end it was Boots that came home first and was the only driver on 70 laps to give Team Durango their first BRCA National victory, and at the premiere event in the calendar – not bad.
Chris Doughty finished 4th and Kevin Brunsden 6th to give TD three cars out of the top 6 – again, great result that proves the team are working together well and finding their groove with the car more and more each time out. It was important to have a car that worked well in all levels of traction and as Boots, Doughty and Brunsden showed, the DNX408 dealt with the conditions superbly.
[source: www.team-durango.com]
