Team Associated take the 2015 Nitro X Championship
Jonathan Howels and his TOP powered RC8B3 did what was needed to take the championship in what can only be described as a nail biting finale.
A VERY closely contested brawl between young and old, Losi and Associated, big and small, handsome and ugly. You get the picture. It was a tortoise and hare championship between the up and coming talent of TLR's Michael Lewis and the Team Associated veteran, Jonathan Howels. Michael was generally faster but Jonathan was more consistent. They both missed rounds and both experienced bouts of bad luck. The deciding points would be counted and verified at the final round and they both needed to perform. The points were close, too close to call. Objective: beat your rival and stop them getting TQ to gain that valuable extra point.
The final round was held on the grass track at Coventry’s temporary site. Saturday and Sunday both count as individual races with point up for grabs on both days. Grass is something that we used to race on many years ago. It may seem easy enough but that became the overwhelming set-up feature creating a 2 day TYRE WAR. Nobody knew what would be best and it proved to be a very complicated and demanding surface which evolved round-by-round.
Jonathan held his nerve and did just enough by finishing second on both days to his team mates Craig Drescher on Saturday and 2015 BRCA veteran National Champion David Bailey on Sunday. It was a sterling drive in the end from Jonathan to do what was needed and secure the championship. All his hard work, time and dedication payed off at the end of a long championship. Michael Lewis experienced some very unlucky phantom cuts on both days during the finals. Michael still gets the award for the drive of the weekend in Sundays final to come from dead last to finish 3rd overall giving him second overall in the championship. Great Job Michael.
It was a fantastic weekend for Team Associated, Reedy, Pro-Line, TOP, Savox, Byron and CML racing. Congratulations to Jon for winning the BIG one……. James Harrold for winning the overall Juniors and Goaw Hedley giving him a good run home. Lloyd pit for the electric veterans and 2nd overall.
The Track.
A flowing grass track with aggressive wooden jumps and flat landings. Here is how the track evolved.
Saturday
A fresh wet grass track with moisture in it from a rainy week.
Worn grass with clay coming through but still damp
More worn grass with greasy roots showing and clay showing. Drying slightly.
A dry grass track with greasy roots and dry clay.
Sunday
A very damp wet track with greasy roots, wet grass and clay coming through
No more grass just greasy roots and clay
A dry track with greasy root, choppy ruts and dry clay.
Tyres
Everything from HoBao Angle Spikes to Pro-Line Diamond Backs were tried. Even after the race it wasn’t clear what tyre was best. Everybody believing that the other persons choice was the better option. It made for interesting racing.
The favoured choice by the end of play on Sunday was Pro-Line Blockade in a mix of compounds. Some drivers chose M4 whilst others used X3. The fastest tyre appeared to be the harder compound. The safest tyre was the softer compound. It was that balance between feeling fast and safe. At the end of the day it was the drivers choice and there wasn’t much difference in outright pace.
Results
Nitro Top 3 Overall
Team Associated’s RC8B3 swept the results in the nitro class.
- 1st: Jonathan Howels Team Associated RC8B3
- 2nd: Mike Lewis
- 3rd: Chris Leighton
Veteran Top 3 Overall
- 1st: Jonathan Howels Team Associated RC8B3
- 2nd: Alex Page
- 3rd: Dave Brown
Junior Nitro Champion:
- 1st: James Harrold Team Associated RC8B3
- 2nd: Gaow Hedley Team Associated RC8B3
- 3rd: Aaron Ford
In the 1/8th electric
- Veteran Winner: Lloyd Pitt Team Associated RC8B3
A big congratulation must go out to all the other category winners and also Michael Lewis for making it such an enjoyable fight to the bitter end.
It was fantastic to see so many youngsters coming through the ranks and we at Team Associated and CML Racing are extremely proud of their achievements. Congratulations to James Harrold and Gaow Hedley for finishing 1st and second in the Junior category and Alex Hedley for making his first bump up. Awesome job guys.
We would all like to thank everybody involved in the Nitro X series. Both drivers and organisers. We appreciate your efforts in bringing US racers the events to complete and we appreciate all the efforts made to make it so enjoyable.
Team Associated and CML Racing
