British Championship
at Buxton
S
aturday 10th and Sunday 11 August
at Buxton was the destination for
the V8 Hotstox 2013 British
Championship. A change to the
format of recent years from a NZ
qualification system to a more traditional
format of graded order qualification races.
These took place on the Saturday with the
main race the first race of the Sunday
355 (1) 477
131 (2) 187
478 (3) 175
64 (4) 211
96 (5) 275
298 (6) 179
450 (7)
meeting.
position at the back of the grid, providing
they race Saturday night.
Usually, a lower grader manages to get
themselves near the front of the grid with
some sterling qualification performances.
This was no different for the V8s when Blue
graders Bryan Andrews (355) and Max
Hertzog (477) locked out the front row.
Heat 1 went the way of Simon Sykes (64)
and Heat 2 went to Bryan Andrews (355),
Andrews racing his 2013 debut straight back
to winning ways. Andrews was perhaps a
bit fortunate after Sykes, who was actually
first across the line, but fell foul to the rule
that race winners must start from the back of
their grade. Final time and former Rebel
racer (478) took the chequered flag, Geary’s
fully deserved first Final win in V8s, ahead of
Craig Smith (187) in second and Max
Hertzog (477) in third. Hertzog went a
couple better in the Grand National taking
the win.
At the end of the Saturday racing, the points
were tallied and the grid arranged:
12
Non point scorers were able to take up
At the green flag, Craig Smith (187) got
himself tucked to the inside line and put a
great first bend lunge to Bryan Andrews
(355) and Kevin Stuchbury (131), Smith
settled into the lead from the first turn.
Stuchbury was able to keep close to Smith
past the half way point waiting for his
chance - that chance came when Smith was
held up by a back marker.
Stuchbury made his move muscling his way
past the 187 machine. Stuchbury’s lead
would be short lived when Smith put him
wide enough into the plating. Karl Hawkins
(175) slipped under for second place and
that’s how it remained to the flag. Perhaps a
couple more laps may have seen Hawkins
challenge as he was closing the gap, but
congratulations goes to Craig Smith on
winning the British Championship title for the
second time.
Novices Novices Novices!
This year has seen an influx of Novice
drivers and new comers to the sport, helped
largely to the Open day at the start of the
year at PR1MO International Raceway
Northampton. The day was aimed at people
wanting to come and hire a V8 Hotstox for
minimal cost, giving them an insight into the
racing side of the fence and by doing so,
hopefully, enticing a few to give it a go in a
proper race meeting. Since then, the
Bracher team have introduced a Hire Car
which has seen very positive results. Three
drivers have taken up that opportunity, two
of them arranged a hire for more than one
meeting and one has already bought a V8
Hotstox rolling chassis for next Season and
another eyeing up a car to buy! I caught up
with the the following three drivers see how
they have found their experiences; 115 Liam
Roche, 319 Sam Wallwork and 522 Paul
Collins.
Starting with Roche; he said ‘I’ve been going
since I was a few days old and I’m now 22.
Like most spectators I have always wanted
to have a go in a Stock Car, Dougie Bracher
offers a really good deal, so I took the
plunge and had a go in a V8’. He added: ‘My
first meeting was at Skegness Sunday 18th
August. I didn’t really do anything to prepare
myself on the day, I just got familiar with the
car in the pits before the meeting and
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