For the first time in BDC history, round 1 was at Rockingham race circuit! And what an event it was. With a circuit designed by the judges the track layout made for awesome twinning and made battles very close and entertaining. Another feature added into the BDC this year is the introduction of concrete walls for the drivers to push the cars to the limits of the track and put their skills to the test! With the Sharpie art Livery on the 370Z, Shane was keen to trade ink with them!

All set up early Saturday morning the cars were scrutineered and prepped for practise in the afternoon.  With only 1 hour of practise to make sure the cars are running to full potential all of our drivers took to the track in full force to have run after run only returning to the pits for a re-fuel and a tyre change! After a very successful practise session with all the cars on point the drivers could spend the afternoon watching the pro-ams battle it out for the win.

A sunny Sunday morning was to make for a very grippy, smokey competition day which we were more than excited for it to commence. Matt ‘Doorhunter’ Carter, Paul ‘Smokey’ Smith and Shane Lynch were straight out for the two hour practise session at the start of the day and once again, every minute of the session was used by them all to practise twinning on the new layout.

Following a quick tyre change and re-fuel the guys were straight back on the start line ready for qualifying. After a good safe first run Paul ‘Smokey’ Smith had nothing to lose for his second run and it showed landing him in 10^th position ready and safe for the battles. Shane Lynch headed out with an all or nothing style of aggression for the first run and went in with slightly too much speed on the first corner resulting in a spin.  His next run was slightly safer to ensure a point scoring run which landed him in 19^th position. Unfortunately the following runs moved his place down to 29^th meaning he could not compete further in the battles.

Finally Matt Carter was up and put in a stormer of a first run. With nothing to lose he attacked his second run with so much aggression he ran the wall and knock the cones off the top with his ducktail spoiler. These cones landed on the track causing his run to be re-started……with the anger of the re-start he put in an aggressive and impressive run placing in 2^nd position safe for the top 16 battles. Top 24 battles arrived and Paul ‘Smokey’ Smith was to battle against Matt Stevenson from Slide Motorsport.  Following a very impressive and close battle from both drivers, Matt took the win knocking Paul out of the competition.

With the arrival of the top 16 it was Matt Carters turn to do battle and live up to his #doorhunter title….which he definitely achieved.  His first battle was against Aurimas Vaskelis in his turbo V8 E30 BMW. Following a strong lead run by Matt, Aurimas suffered a mechanical issue and had to forfit the battle sending Matt through to top 8.

In the top 8 battles Matt came up against driftworks driver Martin Richards in the DW32 who was on form all weekend making for a spectacular battle between the two R32 skylines! After a very close call from the judges and an extremely close chase run by Matt, the judges awarded Carter the win sending him to the semi-finals!

A very quick tyre change an re-fuel and Carter was back on the line ready to face Mark Huxley who had been running impressive lines, proximity and speed all day. Once again with a very impressive drive from both, Matt was awarded the win sending him through to the finals!

The final was to be a true David vs Goliath battle as Oliver Evans (a pro-am driver who had fought his way into the pro class for the day) was to take on Matt for the win! After another very impressive drive including some body contact the #doorhunter proved his title and took the win for the weekend!

Round 1 was a very impressive event with Team Japspeed leaving with 1st place in the driver’s championship and 3rd place in the constructor’s championship. We are excited for round 2 in May at Teeside! See you there!