Novarossi GP 07

The second annual Novarossi GP was held over the weekend of the 6th and 7th of October at the Novarossi Raceway in Essex. The event was arguably the biggest one eighth off road event in the UK during 2007and played host to some of the best drivers from the UK, Europe and America. From Europe came Joern Neuman and his pitman Gerd Strenge from Serpent and from Sweden Lars Nordin attended with a string team that included Robert Gustafson and Henrik Nilsson. Making the trip from from Losi in America was Adam Drake and Mike Truhe.

The profile of the event was of course raised to a high level with the support of the foreign drivers but the UK drivers didn’t disappoint. Their response resulted in an outstanding list that reads like a who’s who of the UK racing scene: David Crompton, Neil Cragg, Elliot Boots, John Hazelwood, Karl Jackson, David Bailey, Darren Bloomfield, Richard Barton, Tommy Chung, Stewart Wilcox, Mike Craddock, David Spashett and Reece Sawyer were all competing, just to name a few. Dave Duggen from CML travelled south to be in attendance to help and support his strong UK team, which was greatly appreciated.

For most people practice started first thing Friday morning and with the new track layout everyone needed some time on the track. The practice was controlled to ten minute slots so everyone was able to get a good and fair amount of track time. TQ of practice went to Graham Alsop who managed just about three hours of track time! For the restsix or seven slots during the day gave everyone a good chance to practice and find the right tyres and set-up for the weekends racing.

With the event being held so close to Southend sea front and the local Travelodge right next door to a nightclub and pleasure park everyone found something to keep them entertained in the evening.

Saturday featured one round of Practice in heats to check for any frequency problems and then three qualification runs for both Buggy and Truggy. The morning run was on a wet track but as luck would have it the weather soon brightened up and the track dried out allowing some very quick times during the day.
Nobody was really sure on what to use on the drying track in round one and this threw up a few surprises in the leader board. The British Losi Novarossi drivers, David Spashett, Darren Bloomfield and Kevin Brunsden took the top three spots respectively, followed by American Team Losi drivers Adam and Mike, thus completing the top 5 places for Losi. In the Truggy class it was the Americans chance to show us the way home, and they did, with Adam taking the top spot followed by Mike in round one with Losi locking out the top three spots with the help of a very fast Darren Bloomfield.

Round 2 saw a very dry and edgy track and it was our own UK Truggy national champion John Hazelwood and his Recab powered Xray who took top honours, Adam drake still with some bad luck and getting used to the conditions was in second and Elliot Boots Kyosho RB also showed his intentions in the round with a very strong performance. In Truggy Adam And Joern Neuman tied for the round with identical times and Darren Bloomfield put in yet another strong performance in third.
The third and final round of the day would settle the overnight TQ positions and set things up for an exciting fourth and final round on Sunday morning. Everyone was pushing hard which for some only lead to mistakes and loss of time. Mike Truhe from America joined the show with a superb run and the fastest time of the day to take the top spot in round three. Adam Drake gave yet another strong and consistent performance to take second with Neil Cragg moving into one of the top spots with a very confident run driving his RC8 to take third in round. In the Truggy class it was all change when Joern Nuemann put a stop to the Losi domination for round 3, but he still found himself chased hard by Adam Drake and Mirko Morgenstern.
The top ten Rally-X positions on Saturday night after 3 rounds:

As the event finished for the day everyone’s attentions were focused on the night ahead. The Friday night entertainment still fresh in their mind and a repeat of events was truly required.

Sunday morning broke with some feeling a little worse for wear but heads eventually cleared the fourth and final round saw some impressive drives in an attempt to secure that all important TQ spot for the final. With five different people able to take TQ one mistake or hold up could have made all the difference. Mike Truhe after a slow start to qualification took the fourth round and TQ for the meeting securing his place in the Main A final. In the Truggy class Adam continued his impressive weekend with yet another TQ in round and so TQ for the event. After all the dust had settled the top ten in Buggy and Truggy looked like this:

The arrival of the commentator Kris Kennedy for the event on Sunday morning really helped to bring the racing to life especially during the main finals. Keeping everyone informed of position and the race order gave the spectators something to really watch and enjoy.

A special mention must go to Steven Johnson. Not having to be able to compete on Saturday due to work commitments, Steven bumped his way from the lowest part of the qualification tree all the way to the main final. Just over 2hrs and 45 minutes of racing in one day!

With only one driver direct into the buggy final the competition for the remaining spaces was fierce and very competitive. Knowing they must finish in the top six to make the final meant the drivers could never back off and relax. After some good qualification runs David Spashett found himself struggling in his semi with a split fuel tank and a broken clutch bearing, eventually forcing him out of the final. Another one to suffer was Richard Barton who ran into some troubles which cost him time and a spot so well deserved after a good solid weekends racing. No such trouble for Darren Bloomfield, Adam Drake, David Crompton, Karl Jackson, Elliot Boots, Robert Gustafson, Kevin Brunsden, Neil Cragg, Graham Alsop, John Hazelwood, John Holmes, Joern Numan and Steve Johnson, who all found their way into the Buggy main A final event.
The line-up for the final was loaded with national winners from across the world and all about to race for the top spot at the Novarossi GP 2007.

In the Truggy A Final Adam Drake Made a mistake at the start of the run allowing Darren Bloomfield and Mike Truhe to pull away and build up quite a lead. Small mistakes from both of these drivers allowed Adam to catch up though and then build quite a comfortable cushion at the front. Then as most drivers have experienced at some time, bad luck struck for Adam and he had to retire with a broken outer drive hex pin. This now left the battle for the lead between Darren, Truhe and Joern which they duly did for the next ten minutes. Not one of the drivers took charge until mistakes from Truhe and Joern allowed Darren to take the lead. A bad landing off the back jump section then took it’s toll on Darren’s lead and Mike Truhe took over driving clean and precise for the rest of the race and the overall win for the weekend. Darren came home in second and Joern third. A 1, 2, 3 for Novarossi at the Novarossi GP!

The Novarossi GP buggy A final had shaped up to be one of the most hotly contested A finals of 2007 in the UK. Both Truggy and Buggy UK National Champions, Roar National Champion, Nitro Dirt Champion, Xray GP Champion, Kyosho Masters winner, Proline indoor champion, Neo Buggy winner and Scandinavian National Champion all lined up. We were all in for something very special.
With the commentator primed and ready for action, Rob Nelson from BBK pushed the button and the race began. Darren Bloomfield jumped out to an early lead and never looked back driving at one hundred percent, the only way he knows how. Truhe fell out of the running after electrical problems at the eleven minute mark and this left Adam and Neil to try and chase Darren down. The field was so competitive and strong any advantage gained was taken and held on to.

Disaster struck for Darren 33 minutes in to the final. The rear set screw holding the rear centre driveshaft in place had come undone, and Adam Drake was promoted to first place with Neil Cragg now in second. Darren’s car was fixed and he was back on track within two laps but everyone thought that his chance of a good result had now gone. The spectators were then to witness something you don’t see every weekend. Two laps down and ten minutes left against two of the best drivers in the world and Darren took on the challenge. Within four minutes Darren had caught Neil and they were fighting for second place, the moment Darren managed to make a pass he set his sights on Adam taking back one full lap. Coming in for fuel with five minutes to go meant Darren rejoined the track right in front of Adam and on the same lap, in the next five minutes Darren managed to reclaim twelve seconds on one of the best racers of 2007 and secure his second place for the event. A fantastic drive and very exciting to watch.

So Adam Drake took the win with Darren Bloomfield second and Neil Cragg third, but the real winners were the spectators who had just seen one of the most competitive events in the UK.
With the racing finished there was still more to come though. Novarossi, the main sponsors of the event had donated some prizes to be won. Not just any prizes though but the latest engines and accessories from the world leading engine manufacturer. Prizes went specifically for the driver finishing last and the best non sponsored driver bumping up the most amount of places. The rest of the prizes were drawn from a hat offering the chance to every one to win some of the best engines on the market today.

Our thanks go to Novarossi for their support.

From all of us at Horizon Hobby we would like to thank the organising club who had put in months of preparation to ensure the event would run smoothly and provide man power enough to control the racing. Steve “The Bull Dog” Webb ran the pit lane and track marshals all weekend keeping everyone in line and the meeting on time. Richard Mandy, Leon Cook and the second Steve Web looked after the engine warm-up zone, time sheets, entries, enquires and all the details associated with the event. A great weekends racing was had by all and our thanks to club for their help and support.
Finally though our special thanks go to Novarossi without who’s help and support this event would just not be possible, and without doubt all the drivers who attended and raced making this such a memorable race meeting.

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