Rug Racers XRS Round 1 Oct 23 - Race Report

XRAY Sponsored Rug Racers XRS is back for 2023 after a 3-year break from the series! Sunday the 22nd saw the Rug Racers 2023 debut with an action-packed day hosting 99 drivers including some of the best in the country! This took place across our 3 classes of 4.5FDR MB Models & Ride Tire Sponsored Front wheel drive and our Schumacher & Rush Tire sponsored stock and modified touring which all competed across 1 round of 4minute practice, 4 rounds of FTQ qualifying and 2 leg finals where both legs would each count as 1 round of the overall championship with the best 6 counting out of 10.

Our front wheel drive class saw Jamie Hickin take TQ after a close battle in qualifying with Adam Southgate who sat only 3 seconds behind Jamies 23/ 304.14 in the end of qualifying. In addition to this, we saw only 3 and a half seconds separate p4 to p10 on the grid, providing an exiting 2 legs of the A main, in which we would see Shane Chipolina charge through to take the win from third on the grid after some contact at the front of the field in the first leg. Leg 2 would work out slightly differently seeing Adam Southgate take the win from second after a close battle with Jamie. 

The overall top 10 for the day worked out as followed:

1. Jamie Hickin
2. Shane Chipolina
3. Adam Southgate
4. Sam Jones
5. Alex Everett
6. Ethan Southall
7. Nathanael Goodban
8. Gary Taylor
9. Matthew Tunks
10. Mark Young

A close qualifying in 17.5 Blinky saw multiple national champion Zak Finlay take the top spot, followed by Ricky Copsey and Billy Fletcher in the 2 and 3 spots with only 1.2 seconds between 2nd and 4th! Some very competitive finals concluded with Zak Finlay taking both legs of the A main from TQ just ahead of the close battle for second between Ricky Copsey and Billy Fletcher who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. The final top for the ten were as followed:

1. Zak Finlay
2. Ricky Copsey
3. Billy Fletcher
4. Will Everett
5. Andy Murray
6. Liam Tyrrell
7. Matthew Worton
8. Adam Downing
9. Masanori Oyama
10.  Mason Weston

  

Modified was our class with the least amount of drivers on the day, but it’s safe to say that the competition did not disappoint with only 4tenths separating the top 3 qualifiers of Elliott Harper, Harley Eldridge and current stock national champion Ollie Payne! An exiting 2 legs, packed with close battles from top to bottom within the field. We saw Elliott Harper take the first leg and Harley Eldridge took the win in the second allowing her to take the overall win for the day followed by Elliott Harper and Ollie Payne in 2^nd and 3^rd. The days overall finishes in modified consisted of:

1. Harley Eldridge
2. Elliott Harper
3. Ollie Payne
4. Daniel Robins
5. Chris Grainger
6. Matthieu Dambrine
7. Paul Pinkney
8. Jamie Hickin
9. Stuard Rand
10.  Peter Eagles 

1.

Everyone at Rug Racers would like to give a shout out to a particular young future champion – Frankie Fletcher who at the age of 6, drove brilliantly, finishing 9th in the Frontie D final, we noticed very few mistakes in his driving paired with brilliant on track etiquette! Certainly, one to watch over the next few years!

A huge £743 was collected on behalf of the MacMillan Cancer Support Charity over the course of the meeting, well done everyone and thankyou.

The day concluded after three brilliant battles for the podium positions in each class making for a very exiting day! A massive thank you to everyone who attended and all our sponsors!

Xray – Title Sponsor
MB Models – FWD Tire Sponsor
Schumacher – TC Tire Sponsor
TI22 – Series Sponsor
RDT Products – Series Sponsor
BattCave – Series Sponsor
Moodyfools – Series Sponsor

We look forward to seeing you all at round 2!