A massive 44 cars showed up for the May 13th regular club meet at Launceston R/C’s Rutherglen indoor raceway.  By far the biggest night in the club’s short history, the result was five very full heats, and some excellent racing.  The track team, led by Chris Brickwood, had been hard at work laying out a new circuit for tonight, and it proved popular with all classes. Click through for all the details on a super night at the race track:

Novice:

Five cars in the novice class tonight, with the guys joining forces with the 10th Buggy class for a very busy racetrack.  Come finals time, and Sam Leeder showed that he’s learning his lessons well – pushing well clear of the field for a dominant win with Jonny Silczak just sneaking his new 8th EP buggy home for second in front of the mini-Revo of Ben Willson. Paul Tenteye returned for another shot at R/C and enjoyed himself on his way to fourth, with Steve Willis fifth in the mighty Kyosho DBX.

1. Sam Leeder – 15:5.14
2. Jonny Silczak – 13:5.11
3. Ben Wilson – 13:5.14
4. Paul Tenteye – 11:5.02
5. Steve Willis – 10:5.04

Buggy

Tenth buggy had some pretty interesting cars on board tonight – none more so that Andrew Barrett’s Losi Slider sprintcar.  Though a little out of place on a circuit track, the Slider looked fantastic.  Just maybe we might have to schedule an Oval night later in the year for a bit of fun!  Steve Madziara was the fast man in this class all night, pushing his Traxxas Bandit to TQ and then to chase down early leader Matt Hodgett’s tiny Team Associated RC18T mid-way through the final.  Madz went on to a big win from Hodgetts, with Bart’s Slider getting home for third ahead of a rapidly improving Scott Kopriva

1. Steve Madziara – 18:5.12
2. Matt Hodgetts – 17:5.20
3. Bart – 16:5.09
4. Scott Kopriva – 16:5.22

Tourers

On a big night for the club, we had our biggest field of Tourers ever, with 9 cars fronting the starter – and including first timer Doug Perkett and the return of Luke Rice.  Rodney Houghton made his intentions clear with some fast times in his Mini during qualifying – but Graham Viney was close by and threatening for the final.  Rocket was having none of it however, and ran away with the final, going to the line well clear of the field.  Viney was consistent in second, with Bart’s Mini making it two on the podium after a good comeback drive following a slow start – Bart just getting the better of Richard Green late in the final.  Rocket had a micro camera mounted in his winning mini, so we might get to see some in car camera action later in the week. Stayed tuned for the footage.

1. Rocket – 28:5.04
2. Graham Viney – 24:5.03
3. Bart – 22:5.05
4. Richard Green – 22:5.11
5. John Scott – 21:5.10
6. Peter Hutton – 18:5.16
7. Luke Rice DNS
8. Doug Perkett DNS
9. Evan Cornelius DNS

Big Bangers

A strong eight car field lined up in the 8th scale Big Bangers class, with a mixture of buggies, monster trucks, and a 4wd SC truck all chasing David Holloway’s spectacular RC8T truggy.  With astonishing horsepower on display, this really is our most spectacular class.  Dave showed best throughout qualifying to lock down the TQ spot, but when he had a slow start and first time 8th scale pilot Josh Fogarty got away to a flyer, it was always going to be difficult for Dave.  Josh made the task impossible, peeling off a series of fast laps and giving Holloway no hope.  Dave fought through the field to second, but time ran out, Fogarty getting a well deserved first win in this class ahead of Dave, and with first time Launceston R/C racer Darren Walters an impressive third. Walters is a racer from way back, and showed that once he clears out the dust, will be a force to be reckoned with.  A super performance too from Faye Hodgetts – joining the Big Bangers class with her RC8 buggy, and looking a whole lot more comfortable than with her former micro RC18T ride.

1. Josh Fogarty – 18:5.05
2. Dave Holloway – 18:5.08
3. Darren Walters – 16:5.08
4. Faye Hodgetts – 15:5.16
5. Ian Scott – 5:2.26
6. Bart – DNS
7. Daniel Bastick – DNS
8. Aaron Peck – DNS

Short Course

An astonishing 18 Short Course trucks faced the starters gun tonight, split into two heats of 8.  In the A group an intriguing battle developed between Rocket, Sam Wells and Chris Brickwood, with each picking up a win – but Wells being the man to be looking speedy at the end of the night. Getting a clean run was proving difficult on a very full race track. In the B heat Scott Guyatt had the Blitz on a string and set three fast times to set TQ .  18 cars necessitated both A and B finals.  One point to note, with a couple of guys running faster than our normal spec motors in this class, consideration will be given to opening an Outlaw SC class – for any motor, tyres and even 4wd SC trucks.  Our normal SC class will remain tightly controlled to ensure close racing – but we’re working on offering the other option for those wanting to option up their SC trucks.

In the B final Josh Fogarty dominated – going to the line nearly over a lap clear of the field – and showing that with two B final wins in a row, he’s knocking on the door of an A final start.  Jeremy Lunson returned with his SC10 to take a deserved second place, while Scott Kopriva’s debut SC drive netted him a fine third.  Further back in the field Jack Keenan made his first SC appearance, and Taylor Barwick somehow managed to last most of the final with a bodyshell almost entirely made of masking tape!

Scott Guyatt jumped clear at the start of the A final, and after a series of quick laps had a race winning lead.  Likewise Sam Wells was pumping out his fastest times of the night to draw clear of the field into a comfortable second. Rocket fought off a determined challenge from new SC owner Matt Hodgetts, while Greenie got home in front of an intense battle between Chris Brickwood and Paddy Hume.

SC B Final:

1. Josh Fogarty – 17:5.03
2. Jeremy Lunson – 16:5.04
3. Scott Kopriva – 16:5.13
4. James Atkinson – 15:5.15
5. Jack Keenan – 14:5.02
6. John Scott – 14:5.19
7. Taylor Barwick – 13:5.14
8. Ian Scott – 10:5.12
9. Richard Castigan – DNS
10. Mark Harris – DNS

SC A Final:

1. Scott Guyatt – 20:5.05
2. Sam Wells – 19:5.00
3. Rocket – 18:5.01
4. Matt Hodgetts – 18:5.06
5. Greenie – 18:5.14
6. Chris Brickwood – 17:5.03
7. Paddy Hume – 17:5.04
8. Dave Holloway – 16:5.07

With both Richard Green and Bart wielding cameras tonight, we’re hoping to see some action shots.  Check back over the next couple of days to see what the boys came up with.

Thanks to all who’ve worked hard to get us where we are.  44 cars was a bit night, but we were done and gone by 10.15pm.  We’re back next fortnight, with Rutherglen lighting up Thursday 27th May.

Best wishes to Matt Hodgetts, who’s off to race in the NSW GP offroad champs (Truggy class) and Scott Guyatt, heading over to the Victorian EP Onroad champs (Modified Tourers). Bring back some bling boys!

NOTE: Late news, Dave has extracted the full results files for us.  All races, qualifiers, finals, qual reports and full meet report are available just by clicking here.