And with just a couple of race meetings to run before the 2012 Launceston Cup we can be double sure of a big turnout.

Come, race, enjoy good company, have fun.

Normal classes for anything electric, and as usual doors will be open by 6, with racing underway by 7pm.

Entries for the Launceston Cup are rolling in – we’re approaching 40 entries already, including our first interstate entry (Adrian Beggs flying in from the Gold Coast). We’ve also added entries in Junior and Open Short Course in the last couple of days.  Hit the online entry form to get your entry in.

Don’t forget you can enter on the online entry form here (pre-entries compulsory).

And a great parcel of gear for the event raffle arrived courtesy Ace Hobby Distributors:
- Sweep Racing pit mat, traction compound applicator bottles & stickers
- Team Associated WC hats & battery plugs
- Fusion Typhoon L50B Pro 2s capable LiPo charger/balancer
- Sky RC e-fuel fuse protected power board (for plugging multiple items into power supply)
- Extreme BMC-01 Brushless Motor Checker

Get your entry in and make plans to be in Launceston 29/30 June!

Points update is available here: LRC Autumn 2012 Points After Round 7

The score-sheet now includes two dropped rounds (the format for this series being best 7 our of 9 scores counting).

In Short Course Truck it’s Andrew Green with a narrow 6 point lead over Rocket, Andrew Mackenzie third.

Jarrod Painting tops the 8th scale leaderboard, just two points clear of Steve Madziara, Darren Sheehan in third.

Painting makes it two-from-two as he also holds top spot in 10th Buggy, with Paddy Hume just 1 point away and Damien Betts another two back. That’s tight!

Rocket is well clear in tourers, Andrew Mackenzie second and Peter Hutton third.

Sam Betts is three points clear of Chloe Beresford in the battle of the young-guns in Novice. Michael Taylor is third, but Ben Goode is the man to watch, shooting up the rankings quickly.

Full results are online here, or read on for a summary.

8th Buggy

6 cars marked the biggest field for a while in a class that has been struggling for numbers. Steve Madziara as usual was the fast man in qualifying, and led the A final over the first 6 minutes before electrical gremlins sidelined him, handing the lead to an ever-present (and very quick tonight!) Ben Wilson. Jarrod Painting wasn’t giving up and closed down Wilson’s lead, sweeping to the front to run out the winner of Wilson, John Silczak making a welcome return in third.

1. Jarrod Painting
2. Ben Wilson
3. John Silczak
4. Darren Sheehan
5. Troy Taylor
6. Steve Madziara

Novice

Ben Goode and Brett Baylis put on a cracker qualifying battle, Baylis particularly impressive in just his first competitive R/C outing.  The two battled early in the final before Goode put the hammer down and disappeared. He ran away to a one-lap win with Baylis a great second. Chloe Beresford got the better of a tight race-long duel with Sam Betts and Michael Taylor, with Danny Tatnell out early.

1. Ben Goode
2. Brett Baylis
3. Chloe Beresford
4. Sam Betts
5. Michael Taylor
6. Danny Tatnell

Tourers

Another big 9-car field meant for busy times, and I know a stack of TC/Mini drivers yearn for the day the class is big enough to split. Rocket Houghton was the quickest TC driver and dominated qualifying and the final with relentless pace. Gene Newell finished second in easily his best Finals performance, Damien Betts a great third (and first of the Mini pilots) after a tight race all night for the front-wheel drivers between he, Peter Hutton and Matthew Chandler.

1. Rocket Houghton
2. Gene Newell
3. Damien Betts (Mini)
4. Peter Hutton (Mini)
5. Matthew Chandler (Mini)
6. Graham Viney (Mini)
7. Jarrod Murray
8. Ian Scott
9. Derek Beresford (DNS)

Tenth Buggy

The 1/10th scale buggy class was scene of some of the best racing of the night. A ripper opening qualifier between Betts and Hume a pre-cursor to a 10 minute final that featured the duo going head-to-head once again.  Betts took the lead early, Hume starting slow and spotting Damien 7 seconds just a couple of laps in. From there it was just about the best 10 minutes Paddy has drive, hauling his way past Jarrod Painting and up to the rear bumper of Damien’s Durango before sliding past and escaping to an 8 second win.  In the battle of the 2wd buggies young tyro Calvin James was the man to beat, Leo Lorenzen’s new Durango 2wd also looking good.

1. Paddy Hume
2. Damien Betts
3. Jarrod Painting
4. Calvin James (2wd)
5. Leo Lorenzen (2wd)
6. Matthew Chandler (2wd)
7. Darren Sheehan (2wd)
8. James Atkinson (2wd)

Short Course Truck

17 trucks with a very fast pointy-end meant that qualifying was intense. Scott Guyatt got the better of Rocket and the north-west’s Mark Rayner, while Chris Madziara, Shaun Whatley, Richard Green and Chris Murray did well to make the A final cutoff.

Justin Strickland was disappointed to miss the A after mechanical trouble during the qualifying session, but did a ripper job in the B final, running out to a time that would have placed him 3rd in the A final. Calvin James likewise was very quick and Leo Lorenzen is going better and better as he gains experience.

1. Justin Strickland
2. Calvin James
3. Leo Lorenzen
4. Ian Scott
5. Derek Beresford
6. James Atkinson
7. Danny Tatnell
8. Philip Ferguson (DNS)

Guyatt cleared out at the start of the A final, while Rocket, Andrew Green, Adam Beresford and Mark Rayner all took a shot at top-3 spots. Mark eventually found his rhythm and pulled clear of the mid-field battle, while Rocket likewise got in the groove to break into 3rd around the 3 minute mark.  The gaps slowly opened from there, the order unchanged at the front for the remainder. Chris Murray’s fifth spot is worthy of note – an excellent drive.

1. Scott Guyatt
2. Mark Rayner
3. Rocket Houghton
4. Andrew Green
5. Chris Murray
6. Shaun Whatley
7. Chris Madziara
8. Richard Green
9. Derek Beresford

So we’re racing this Thursday night with all our usual classes. It should be an action packed night, and we hope to see you there.

As usual racing takes place at the Rutherglen Holiday Resort, with doors open by 6 and racing underway by 7 at the latest. Get there early for a practice if you can.

Head over to the event page at launcestonrc.com for all the news, entry forms, times, rules and entry list.

A huge thanks to our event partners:

Major changes this year:

• All new track layout for the event
• Open practice 5-9.30pm Friday night
• New class for Open Short Course Trucks – 2/4wd, open tyres, open motor, 2s LiPo.
• New class for Mini
• Tourers is combined 17.5/Blinky and 21.5/Open ESC. 27t Johnson/Mabuchi 540 motors also welcome

We’re hoping to offer an event raffle with some great prizes (including R/C gear from Venom and Pro-Line). If you have or can arrange any donations, please see Scott to add to the raffle prize pool.

We’re looking forward to a ripper of an event, and hope you will come and race with us.

The end results will be based on each driver’s best 7 resuults from the 9 rounds.

Here’s the updated points after Round 6, ordered counting each driver’s top 5 scores.

LRC Autumn 2012 Points After Round 6

we’ve uploaded full results from tonight, together with last fortnight’s race meeting. Get all the details here:

• Race results 26 April
• Race results 12 April

Or, as usual, click through for tonight’s race report.

Tenth Buggy

Paddy Hume dominated qualifying with two flawless wins to take pole position ahead of Sam Wells, but the final was nowhere near as straightforward.  Paddy opened up fast, with Wells close by, Jarrod Painting and Damien Betts not far away. It was looking like a serious four way battle before first Wells, and then Hume succumbed to mechanical challenges leaving Damien and Jarrod to go at it. And go at it they did, swapping the lead regularly through the back half of the race, but Jarrod held the point position when it counted, Betts in two and Hume recoving to three in front of Matthew Chandler (an excellent drive) and Calvin James (likewise).

1. Jarrod Painting
2. Damien betts
3. Paddy Hume
4. Matthew Chandler
5. Calvin James
6. Tom West
7. Darren Sheehan
8. James Atkinson
9. Sam Wells

Short Course

14 trucks meant for an 8 truck final, and it was Andrew Mackenzie that headed the A final rush with Rocket, Greenie and Adam Beresford close by.  Chris Murray, Calvin James, Shaun Whatley and Richard Green took the other A final spots.

Leo Lorenzen nailed the start and left his rivals scrabbling in the B final. In a messy opening couple of laps the pursuing bunch spotted Leo 12 seconds and he never looked back, driving to a dominant and deserved win. Derek Beresford eventually settled into his run to finish second, Tom West third in a strung out field.

1. Leo Lorenzen
2. Derek Beresford
3. Tom West
4. Gene Newell
5. Ian Scott
6. Philip Ferguson

Just as in the B final, Rocket took a flyer and left the field for dead.  TQ man Andrew Mackenzie and last-start winner Andrew Green were in deep trouble at the rear of the field.  They recovered quickly while Rocket blazed away out front and Adam Beresford also started strongly. Beresford, Green and Mackenzie were tight through the mid-part of the race before Adam stretched away in a determined but ultimately fruitless pursuit of Rocket. It was a pretty untidy race for many, the front two aside and the order in the mid-field switched around right to the final hooter.

1. Rocket Houghton
2. Adam Beresford
3. Andrew Green
4. Chris Murray
5. Shaun Whatley
6. Andrew Mackenzie
7. Richard Green
8. Calvin James

8th Big Bangers

A small field tonight, dominated by Jarrod Painting, and with some close and entertaining racing between Leo Lorenzen and Darren Sheehan for the minor placings.  When the dust settled Sheehan held second behind Jarrod in what is perhaps Darren’s best result yet since his return to the sport.

1. Jarrod Painting
2. Leo Lorenzen
3. Darren Sheehan
4. James Atkinson

Novice

Ben Goode led a healthy 8-driver field right through qualifying to start favourite for the final.  He opened up a big lead early and looked like he’d go all the way before a disconnected motor wire cruelled his chances. Chloe Beresford had been waiting in the wings, already putting together a strong drive and took control, going on to an excellent win (making two in a row). Danny Tatnell, Sam Betts, Andrew West and Michael Taylor all had opportunities to run at the front in what was a tight and entertaning final.

1. Chloe Beresford
2. Danny Tatnell
3. Sam Betts
4. Andrew West
5. Kris Jones
6. Ben Goode
7. Michael Taylor
8. Carl Taylor

Tourers

A full 10 car field meant for some crazy times, and we’re definitely at a point where we’re going to have to find a way to split the mini and tourer fields if current numbers continue.  Rocket was fastest right through the night to TQ and run out a comfortable winner in the 10 minute final. Andrew Mackenzie was quickest of the minis in second, Damien Betts third with Graham Viney and Matthew Chandler (who continues to improve) all quick in the little front-drive machines. One note, that occasional visitor Jordan Richardson put together his best drives yet and enjoyed his new ride a lot. Well done Jordan.

1. Rocket Houghton
2. Andrew Mackenzie (Mini)
3. Damien Betts (Mini)
4. Graham Viney (Mini)
5. Matthew Chandler (Mini)
6. Gene Newell
7. Derek Beresford
8. Peter Hutton (Mini)
9. Ian Scott
10. Jordan Richardson (DNS)

If you have an electric R/C car (or you’re interested) come and check out the action at Rutherglen Holiday Resort, Hadspen. Doors open by 6, with racing underway by 7pm.

All our usual classes will be in action:

• 2wd Short Course Trucks
• 10th Buggy
• 10th Tourers/Minis
• Novice Offroad (any 10th offroad vehicle)
• 8th Big Bangers (EP 8th buggy/truck)

We’ll see you there!