HB/Nosram/GRP driver Mark Stiles scored an impressive podium finish at the 19 turn British 1/12th scale GP over the weekend. The event was held at the Hereford track on a challenging layout that was very unforgiving and punished small errors very heavily.



The meeting was a 2 day affair for 19 turn cars only, and would see 5 rounds of qualifying on Saturday, followed by a further round on Sunday morning and 3 leg finals for all drivers.

Qualifying
Mark struggled to find his pace early on during qualifying, but by round 3 he was fully into his rhythm and moved up the order into second position overall, less than 1 second behind TQ. Mark was leading Keith Robertson by half a second with just over a minute to go in round 5, but a mistake dropped him out of the running for what looked like being a TQ run.

After the 5 qualifying rounds on Saturday, Mark was lying in 4th position overall, and felt confident going into the final round on Sunday morning. Unfortunately a few errors prevented Mark from improving his time on Sunday, and he ended up 6th on the grid, a slightly disappointing result considering his pace during qualifying. Mark was right behind team mate Mick Farrell, who improved in the final round to take 5th spot on the grid for what promised to be a closely fought A final.

The 4 minute practice final saw a comfortable win for Mick Farrell, and despite it counting for nothing except pride, Mick appeared very pleased with his achievement! Perhaps an A final win beckons in the near future for him after 20 years of trying?!



Finals
Leg 1 of the A final saw a comfortable victory for Chris Kerswell, with Mark progressing well and forcing errors from several drivers to take 3rd spot behind Matt White.

Leg 2 saw frantic action during the opening laps, and a couple collisions at the sharp end saw Mick and Mark come through to 1st and 2nd after 2 minutes of the race. Mark then piled on the pressure, getting within 6 inches of Micks rear bumper on several occasions. After a few laps of intense pressure, Mick made a small error, allowing Mark to move inside him at a slow hairpin bend. After taking the lead Mark never looked back, and went on to take a comfortable victory by just over 2 seconds from Keith Robertson, who managed to pass Mick mid-way through the run.

This left a tie for the overall lead going into the deciding leg, with both Mark and Chris having a win and a 3rd place. Matt White and Keith Robertson were also in the running having a 2nd place finish each, but would need a win in leg 3 to take overall victory.

TQ man Russ Williams led the third leg briefly, but the 19t TQ curse struck again and he crashed out with a broken t-bar early in the race. This left the door open for Chris Kerswell to take victory, despite a period of heavy defensive driving when being tailed by Matt White. A bad start for Mark put an end to his chances, although he eventually recovered to take 6th place in the race.

This was enough to give Mark 2nd overall with a leg win to boot; an impressive result from 6th on the grid. Mick Farrell drove a solid set of finals to take 5th overall.

Chris Clarke won a leg of the B final with his Cyclone 12, but lost out by just 0.08 of a second in leg 3 to Andy Sawyer, who took the overall honors in the B final.

Championship
Second place at the meeting elevated Mark to 4th in the overall championship, making him the highest placed HB driver. Andy Griffiths was 6th overall, while Mick Farrell took 9th position.

The next and final 12th scale national of the season is the Modified 2 day GP. This will take place at the Chesterfield club in March to celebrate 25 years of 12th scale nationals at the club.

Full results from the Hereford meeting will be posted at www.bevens.co.uk in the coming weeks.