CML's RC8B3 Crew Podium Lockout at Round 4 of the Frankley Summer Series

Sunday the 19th July 2015 and with a rainy morning start we all rolled up at Frankley, happy with the knowledge that the weather would turn dry as the morning went on.

The track was wet but not a total wash out. Fortunately the track work carried out early in the summer was enough to ensure puddles didn’t hang around and with added features the track is a good test of skill level. The crew at Frankley should again be commended on the efforts to push the club onwards and upwards.

We struggled on with four rounds of qualifying and with the track being wet it put a spanner in the works for some drivers. It was a good test for the new RC8B3 buggies shod with the soft compound Fastrax twister tyres.

As the morning went by the track started to dry and out came the trusty Pro-line Pinpoint tyres in Z3 compound. As the grip came up the times got faster and literally a hand full of seconds split the top 3 fastest times of the day for nitro buggies.

1/8th Nitro Buggy Top 10 Qualifying :-

 1. Jon Howells
 2. Craig Drescher
 3. Matthew Lawerence
 4. Dennis Holding
 5. David Brown
 6. Jon Griffiths
 7. Peter Hedley
 8. Mark Westwood
 9. Rich Price
 10. Carl O’Connor

1/8th Electric Buggy Qualifying :-

 1. Lloyd Pitt
 2. Jake Knight
 3. Dan Whitehouse
 4. Jon Hurley
 5. Paul White
 6. Arron Knight
 7. Tony O’Connor
 8. Alex Costas

With a quick rest for dinner, charging of batteries and a bit of maintenance we were on to finals. The Electric 1/8th buggies would be running prior to Nitro 1/8th A main final and this was probably a race TQ man and CML/AE team driver Lloyd Pitt will choose to forget. Lloyd started well and had the pace but on the last few laps of the race an unfortunate clash with a pipe flipped his buggy and cost him dearly, he pushed on and managed to bring it home, crossing the line in third position.

Electric Buggy A Main :-

 1. Jake Knight
 2. Jon Hurley
 3. Lloyd Pitt
 4. Arron Knight
 5. Tony O’Connor
 6. Paul White
 7. Dan Whitehouse
 8. Alex Costas

The A main final 1/8th nitro buggy final soon followed and with the word GO a number of people cut through the ensuing chaos and broke free. CML/AE team driver Jon Howells would be the one leading the pack with CML/AE team mate Matthew Lawerence chomping at Jon’s rear end. Matthew pushed hard and kept Jon honest for the duration of the final, and that’s how the top two finished.

CML/AE’s Craig Drescher never recovered from an electrical issue which caused him to miss the start, so it was down to CML/AE’s newest team member Jon Griffiths to pick up the baton. Jon did a great job to work back from the start line chaos to finish third, making it a CML/AE 1, 2, and 3 podium lockout!

1/8th Nitro Buggy A Main :-

 1. Jon Howells
 2. Mathew Lawrence
 3. Jon Griffiths
 4. Dennis Holding
 5. David Brown
 6. Peter Hedley
 7. Mark Westwood
 8. Carl O’Connor
 9. Gaow Hedley
 10. Mathew Ball

What a day for Team CML/AE with the podium lock out and in all 7 AE RC8B3 cars in the top final!

A special mention for CML/AE young gun team driver Gaow Hedley should be said, with him bumping from the B final to the A main and also taking top junior for the day. His dad and team mate Peter Hedley is starting to look over his shoulder and revel in the fact that he is improving with every race.

All in all a great day out at the track with the Associated RC8B3, fun for the diehard racer and the family.
The new buggy is proving it’s become a force to reckon with on tracks around the UK, with set up sheets going up on CML’s web site and friendly support trackside from the team making it a sure consideration for racers and new comers.

Thanks to Pete Hedley for the race report.