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The event was held at the now very established Frankley track just on the outskirts of Birmingham. Glyn Morgan and his incredibly dedicated and hard working crew were on site all weekend to make sure the event went off without a hitch and run like clockwork.
Supported by US Panther drivers Ryan Lutz and Aaron Pucci we were expecting some fantastic racing and quick times. Pushing these two Americans all the way were UK drivers Sam Taylor, Elliot Boots, Simon Willets, Edd Kerry, Kevin Brunsden and Mick Cradock just to name a few.

The track preparation started late Friday night so the new layout meant a new challenge for all the drivers attending the event. A fantastic jump section on the back straight was sure to provide some entertainment and the fast flowing infield required some precise driving. A five-minute practice Saturday morning and we were straight into 5 rounds of 10minute qualifiers!
Ryan Lutz started as he meant to go on taking the round one TQ spot, then consistent 10-minute runs were the order of the day, eventually resulting in the young American taking TQ honours for the event. The only two drivers to take rounds away from Ryan were Edd Kerry and David Spashett. Even though qualifying was 10minutes, the times were so close and the fight for second place and the rest of the top ten positions were only decided after each driver had completed their 60minutes of qualifying. We don’t know of any other event in the UK, Europe or the World where there has been so much track time in qualifying for an event.

With TQ man going direct into the final this meant 30minute finals for the rest of the drivers to get into the main event. Sam Taylor put his qualifying troubles behind himself to bump up, racing for 1 hour from the quarters to the main final. Both semi finals were full of excitement and drama. In the B semi Aaron Pucci had a big lead to lose out when he ran out of fuel in the centre of the track. Consistent driving from the American then took him through, qualifying in fifth place for the main event. Jim Davis had a fantastic start to his “B” semi to then simply lose out going over the back jumps and as a result crushed his pipe inside his car. There were also some fantastic achievements during the semi finals with local stars Bruce Thompson, Paul Gill, Andy Nicholas and young Elliot Taylor all making the trip into the main event. Simon Reeves attending his very first 1/8th rally-cross meeting raced Kevin Brunsden for the win of the A semi until he lost drive with only 7 minutes left to go; a rough introduction to rally-cross racing but a very real experience.

The top fourteen cars for the weekend and the main 45 minute final were -

  
Even before the start of the final we had a retirement from the event. Aaron who had travelled over from America with Ryan decided not to race so he could pit for his teammate. Offers of help were given so they could both compete but Aaron decided to support his teammate to the best of his ability and to give his team the best chance to win the event: What a team player!

The start was very fast and everyone made some mistakes. Ryan dropped to the back, which left Edd Kerry and Elliot Boots at the front. These two stayed together for quite some time fighting for the lead of the final. Ryan slowly took charge catching these two, taking the lead at the 4minute mark. With the nature of Ryan’s driving he could just about run 5minutes on a tank of fuel so he would need to pit more often then the rest of the final. This ultimately meant he could never back off and he had to push hard through the entire 45 minute final to keep in front. Edd Kerry just broke free of Elliot and this is how these two stayed for the rest of the finals: Great driving from both of these two during the entire event paid off with a fantastic overall result for the weekend.		  
 

Our thanks must go to Aaron Pucci and Ryan Lutz for making the trip over to support the Panther cup this year. Without doubt Horizon Hobby would like to thank the members of the Frankley Club and everyone who helped to make this event a great success. If you have ever wanted to race then this event gave you more track time and racing than any!

 

Report by David Spashett
Pictures by Chris Bates