The winter of 2024/25 seemed a little shorter than normal with the addtion of high profile events such as the BRCA Masters and British Offroad Grand Prix to fill the gaps between Nationals. It doesn’t seem that long ago since the 2024 titles were awarded at Boughton in August to Tommy Hall. That being said, there was still an air of excitement as the drivers arrived to HNMC in Ware for Round 1 of this years series on the last weekend in April.
The Herts club has spent quite a bit of capitol since last year installing a new driver’s stand and race control. The double shipping container arrangement was plumed and wired only days before the event and still needed a lick of hammerite – but it proved to be a most suitable and functional build – well done team!
Evdoka’s speech would take 7 minutes 45 seconds – please don’t spend your winning all at once. The forecast for the weekend was for a cool start to Saturday with conditions gradually improving with a strong chance of sunny spells throughout Sunday. Entries were at capacity for both 2wd and 4wd for most of the season, so busy days ahead for the field.
The season pretty much started where it left off with Tommy Hall setting the pace in 2wd practice. There had been speculation regarding manufacturer moves for several drivers over the winter and the Hall brothers names popped up now and again – however both Tommy and Jamie continue with Team Associated with lifetime stalwart Neil Cragg (4th in practice) and young guns Daniel Pole, Thomas Phipps and Lewis Hopkins. Schumacher lead Ben Smith (3rd in practice) has taken a job at the Northampton HQ, so he is firmly fixed in place with the Holdsworth Brothers in support after a rumoured move to Sworkz proved vacuous. One move that is certain is that of Lee Martin (2nd in practice) to Xray along with a dozen or so other drivers during the winter with Harley Eldridge and Ryan Clarke having flown the Slovakian manufacturs flag almost alone last year. Young gun Oliver Natress is the sole Kyosho entrant running their brand new 2wd.
2wd qualifying was not predictable as the track was proving a challenge in for the UK’s finest. Very few drivers had a clean run with bad bounces and clipping hoses was difficult to avoid. First out of the traps with a fast time of 12/309.99 was Lee Martin with Tommy Hall going second some 1.5 seconds adrift. This was tight racing with both drivers having a small errors. Neil Cragg was only slightly behind in third with the new Kyosho of Oliver Natress going well to take fourth a few seconds further behind. The weather cooled off for round 2 and the grip skyrocketed which made it hard for the racers. Mistakes for Martin, Cragg, both Halls, Smith and Pole made a mess of the top 10. Tommy Hall managed to take the round, but on a time 5 seconds slower than the round 1 fastest time. It was a similar story in round 3 – again mistakes for all of the top drivers apart from Tommy Hall who took the round – this time 3 seconds adrift of Martin’s round 1 time. With the faster time looking unrealistic in the warmer, lower grip conditions, Hall’s provision pole was looking anything but certain. Lee Martin showed just what he could do under pressure and secured round 4 on the fastest time of the day 12/309.93 after a mistake from Tommy Hall ruled out his chances.
2wd A Final Leg 1 got off to a fast start in bright and sunny conditions. Pole man Lee Martin led the field away with Tommy Hall and Neil Cragg is close but cautious pursuit. Tommy Hall looked keen on taking the lead on lap two especially when Martin put two wheels up on a pipe, but the order remained unchanged. Coming onto the straight to start lap three, Martin jumped wide and Hall is through. Hall led the final with Martin and Cragg close behind for over a lap before catching an apex in the centre of the track which allowed Martin to reclaim and only just managing to deny Neil Cragg the promotion to second place.
With two minutes down the battle for the lead raged between Martin and Hall with the chasing pack of Cragg, Holdsworth and Smith only just behind. Then on the following lap at the midpoint of the race, Hall carried too much speed off the straight and into the hairpin over the small tabletop and collected Martin. The two cars interlocked required marshalling. This allowed Cragg and Jamie Hall through. It was an ugly incident which normally would be avoided.
Cragg led the field around the infield and as he made his approach to the double jump he grazed a hose which put the car into a spin mid-air and off the track. Jamie Hall now to the point but with Martin all over his gearbox. Jamie Hall dealt with the pressure of leading a National A Final well – dictating the pace. This meant that the first five cars bunched up and it looked like chaos could break out at any moment. The quintet snaked around the track for a couple of laps before the first cracks showed coming onto the last lap with Tommy Hall rolling out of fourth promoting Smith. Then half lap later Smith made his own mistake reverting back to the earlier order. The last lap diminished and Jamie Hall ensured that no doors were left open keeping Martin behind him for the win. Martin a close second, Cragg in third.
With no A finalist demonstrating any significant level of dominance in Leg 1, it was going to be very difficult to call leg 2 from the off. Jamie Hall needs a win from fourth to seal it – but that looks like a tall order. Tommy Hall looks racey, but can he have a clean run? And Martin and Cragg are both able to take it up a notch when it counts. 2wd A Final Leg 2 got of to a very fast start with Lee Martin catching the field napping and breaking away initially. Tommy Hall and Neil Cragg were in fast pursuit with a gap behind them an fourth place qualifier Jamie Hall crashed and was demoted to the back of the field. With two laps down, Cragg oversteered at the off camber hairpin on the hill and required marshalling. This let Oliver Natress through to third and some six seconds off the lead two. Cragg was able to retake third after a mistake from Natress – could he cut into that 8 second deficit with only three minutes to go?
At the front the battle between leader Lee Martin and pursuer Tommy Hall was intense. For several laps the gap rebounded between 0.2 and 0.6 of a second. With a minute to go as Hall pilled the pressure onto Martin, it was a mistake from Hall that ultimately settled Leg 2. The undercut the corner tabletop coming onto the straight and spun. Hall now 1.5 seconds down put the hammer down to close the gap of the final two laps. But pushing that hard can allow mistakes creep in as demonstrated when Hall spun at the same corner as Cragg requiring the marshal. This settled it – Martin taking the win, Tommy Hall second, Neil Cragg third.
So the decider goes to Leg 3. The race started in tight fashion with the top 5 cars bunched very closely. Martin led the field around for the first two laps before he got a bad bounce coming down off the second off-camber hairpin on the hill – this pushed him off line only very slightly and as he came back across to get back onto the line, Hall was already on it and powering up for the pass. There was contact that caused Martin to spin, demoting him to third. Cragg now in second. Tommy Hall then commanded from the front continually maintaining a lead of around 1 second over Niel Cragg. Cragg would take a couple of tenth on one laps and Tommy would take it back on the next. After a few laps of this cat and mouse game it was Cragg who made the first error crashing coming onto the straight. This gave Tommy Hall a 2.5 second lead which he never relinquished. Cragg second, Jamie Hall third.
With three different winner of the A finals, the results came down to times.
The win goes to Tommy Hall – a great way to start his defensive campaign.
2wd Podium: 1st Tommy Hall, 2nd Lee Martin, 3rd Jamie Hall.
The 4wd portion of the meeting started on Sunday morning with a thick mist at 12ft. The writing was on the wall for the 60m thick layer of mist as blistering sunshine and blue skies burnt the moisture away from above by midday. After Tommy Hall’s 2wd win, everyone was keen to see if the usual bunch of top racers could be infiltrated by some new blood in 4wd. Initially the reply to that was a resounding NO! as Tommy Hall went fastest in 4wd practice with Martin, Cragg and Smith going 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively. The first sign of new blood in the lead pack was Johnny Skidmore in 5th. There was particular interest in Ben Smith as he was using the new Schumacher 4wd Prototype which is a shaft driven car – the first time we think the Northampton based manufacturer has produced a shaft driven offroad buggy.
Neil Cragg hit the ground running in slightly lose conditions to take TQ in round 1 of qualifying, but from that point on there were very few top drivers who managed to have a clear run all day. One of the drivers who could manage it was Tommy Hall who took rounds 2, 3 & 4 to secure pole position for the A finals. Neil Cragg started up front in second with Ben Smith third. It was noteable that Luke Holdsworth took fifth on the grid with the current belt-drive Schumacher – perhaps we will see regular front running performances from him this year especially if he gets a prototype to run.
No new A finalists at all at Herts, but encouraging to Callum Akeroyd-Bench, Matt Drewitt and Ewan Tumilty all running strong in the B Final.
Overall 4wd qualifying positions…
The Herts track is a challenging one which can throw up unexpected grip peak and troughs throughout. The 4wd A Final Leg 1 got off to a fast start with all cars in a tightly packed train. The track design incorporated two off camber down hill hairpins that could be loose and on lap one Tommy Hall’s pole position advantage was nearly used up when he oversteered at the first hairpin and caught the hose. Somehow, as the pack ran wide to avoid his car, he was suddenly freed and managed to get going again and retain the lead. The moment later and in a very similar fashion, Neil Cragg oversteered into the apex of the second hairpin. Cragg not as fortunate when he was collected Ben Smith which let Lee Martin and Luke Holdsworth through. This left Hall with a nice little gap to the chasing pack and things settled down a bit for a couple of laps. With a minute down, Lee Martin started to nibble at Hall’s lead. Martin was just drawing up onto the rear of Hall’s car when the latter made an unforced error coming onto the straight, rolling his car softly onto its roof and requiring the marshal.
At the midway of the race, Martin was out front with Hall 1.6 seconds behind and pushing hard to catch. The lead two had broken away from Johnny Skidmore who led the chasing pack. The lead two’s pace was very well matched. They traded 0.1 and 0.2 seconds either way each lap. Going into the final minute Tommy Hall started to throw everything at making up the deficit. His car often sideways and jumping just barely within the track limits he took brough the lead down to 1.2 seconds over two laps with just one to go. Martin, in cruise mode, couldn’t be caught and a final lap error from Hall sealed it for him. Leg 1 result: Martin, T Hall, Skidmore.
Leg 2 of the 4wd A Final got off to a much smoother start with all 10 cars snaking around in qualifying order. Neil Cragg started to close the gap up to Tommy Hall during lap 2 and it looked like we were in for a spectacle. With two minutes down, Cragg’s challenge was brought to a premature end when he replicated Hall’s crash from Leg 1 having a soft roll at the tabletop hairpin coming onto the straight. This let Smith and Martin through. Smith then started to carve up Hall’s advantage in 3/10th size chunks – the new car performing well. And a mistake from Hall on the uphill hairpin at the back end of the track put the two nose to tail with Martin not far behind. Approaching the four minute mark and Hall, Smith, Martin and Cragg were bunched. Hall was making small inroads to and advantage, but there was no movement in the group apart from that. With ninety seconds to go – a mistake from Smith. Coming off the small tabletop in the middle of the track, he clipped a hose and put his car into a slow quarter spin letting Martin and Cragg through. The three ran in close proximity for the final three laps with Smith recovering and closing up to the back of them, but none have enough of an advantage to make a move. Final order: Hall, Martin, Cragg. Leg 3 will be the decider.
The tension on site rose as the drivers prepared themselves for the third and deciding leg of the 4wd A Final. The shadows grew long as the warm summers evening came to close and I often feel the hint of an anti-climax as the drivers from the lower finals start taking down their gazebos and packing their car boots as the top drivers make their way the rostrum for the final Leg.
The third leg started just as the other two had. All drivers settling in as part of a long train of tightly packed cars. As the pressure built, it was Cragg to make the first mistake on lap three, landing on the hose as he negotiatedthe double on the right side of the track. He momentarily went off track and recovered so quickly that he remained just in front of Smith – not losing any positions. But that had given Hall a gap and had bunched himself, Smith and Martin so tightly that an incident was inevitable. The pressure was let out of the situation when Smith had an error coming onto the straight as was lightly touched by Martin – both cars settle back down immediately, but it was just enough of an event to spread the chasing pack apart a bit. The pace from all the top four started to rise. Hall now building his advantage out to 1.4 seconds over Cragg, Smith and Martin as they approached the three minute mark. Then an error for Smith – he had a bad bounce on landing off the jump and the top right of the circuit and put his car into a barrel roll and allowing Martin through. Then a lap later, Martin did a carbon copy manoeuvre – luckily not losing any positions. So with ninety seconds to go, Hall leads with Cragg a second behind and closing and then there is a gap of several seconds and Lee Martin leading a chasing pack. Then, out of nowhere and not as a result of any mounting pressure, Hall rolls his car at the top hairpin in the middle of the hill at the far side of the circuit. This could be testament to the comments from drivers who mentioned that the grip is inconsistent and patchy on this track. The error let Neil Cragg to the lead with 2 laps to go. Hall put the hammer down and going onto the lap he had halved the gap to 0.6 seconds. Then the jump which had caused problems from Smith and Martin decided to have a poke at Cragg. He tagged the hose entering the tabletop on the right side of the track, quarter spinning the car. He corrected the car and got going again and had Hall beside him on the take-off for the following jump. Cragg then skimmed the hose on the inside of the next corner which sling-shot him across the track and into Hall. Hall’s car on it roof and Cragg away for the win. This left us with three different winners from three legs with Hall and Martin tied on points. The stewards referred to the winning times and deemed Tommy Hall the winner as he had the fastest time from his Leg 2 win.
Overall 4wd results: 1st Tommy Hall, 2nd Lee Martin, 3rd Neil Cragg
So it is a double win for current double champion Tommy Hall at Herts. There is a noticeable increase in performance from Hall and he has extra pace in reserve when required which is an attribute of only the very top racers in Europe and beyond.
[ARTICLE & IMAGES PROVIDED BY WILLIAM WHITE - RACEWAYONE]
