Strickland eats concrete!

On the day when Australia exited the World Cup, and gained its first female prime minister…..the real action took place in a little shed just outside Launceston, as 40 competitiors did battle at the latest race meeting for the fledgling Launceston R/C club.

Rodney Houghton (Tourer), Steve Madziara (Buggy), Ben Wilson (Novice), Paddy Hume (8^th EP Offroad) and Scott Guyatt (Short Course) were the winners on a busy night at the race track.

Hit the “read more” link for the full story.  Photos in the story courtesy Bart, and stay tuned for more from first time visitor Justin Strickland who I spied snapping away.  Full race results are uploaded here

Novice/Buggy

With not quite enough entries for either class to run separately tonight, we combined our 10th Buggy and Novice classes tonight. The result was some pretty busy on-track action, with the Novice guys absolutely serving it up to the more experienced racers.  Out in front it was a battle between Rocket and Steve Madziara – with Rocket getting the TQ spot, but Steve snapping at his heels. Behind these two were some stirring performances from less experienced drivers, with Michael Peck, Scott Kopriva, Ben Wilson and John Silczak all fast at various times.

The final started out as a battle between Steve and Rocket, before a mid-race brain snap from Rocket and a handful of slow laps in a row left the very consistent Madziara out front, and Rocket buried mid pack.  Ben Wilson was as usual fast with his Mini-Revo and came through for second after a top battle with Michael Peck – Peck finishing an excellent third.  Rocket was fourth at the finish line.

Buggy Placings:

1. Steve Madziara 18:5.08
2. Rocket 16:5.07
3. Scott Kopriva 13:5.00
4. Andrew Barrett DNS

Novice Placings

1. Ben Wilson 17:5.15
2. Michael Peck 16:5.01
3. Kyle Denman 15:5.14
4. John Silczak 15:5.21
5. Steve Willis DNS

8th Big Bangers

Dave Holloway en route to the TQ position

Our big monster-horsepower 8th scale class are definitely spectacular. Watching the guys trying to put all that horsepower to the ground, and thread the big machines through the twistier parts of the track is very definitely impressive.  Most impressive during qualifying tonight was Dave Holloway. The RC8Te is shortly to be replaced by a more nimble buggy, but in its last outing the truggy was flying. Paddy Hume chased hard to sit alongside Dave on the grid for the finals, with Josh Fogarty and Darren Walters also close up.

Josh Fogarty in action

Come finals time, and Paddy dominated. He got a clean start while Holloway hooked the rope, and from there steadily pulled away, eking out a few tenths per lap for a thoroughly deserved victory. Our President was a happy man after that race, finishing up nearly eight seconds clear of Holloway, and with Walters securing third after a race-long duel with the very well driven monster truck of Aaron Peck.

1. Paddy Hume: 19:5.05
2. Dave Holloway: 19:5.13
3. Darren Walters: 17:5.12
4. Aaron Peck: 17:5.15
5. Steve Willis: 12:5.21
6. Ian Scott: 11:5.12
7. Josh Fogarty: 10:5.07
8. Graham Viney: DNS

Tourer/Mini

With Graham Viney debuting his new (second hand) XRAY touring car, the mini driving duo of Rocket and Andrew “Bart” Barrett would come under serious threat tonight.  Viney shadowed Rocket during qualifying, taking one win, and lining up in second place alongside the very experienced Rocket.  Bart and Peter Hutton would share row two of the grid.

The final started out in scintillating form – with Viney, Rocket, Bart and John Scott a high speed freight train before first Bart, then John made small mistakes to let Viney and Rocket slip away. Rocket was the model of patience, tucked up under Viney’s rear bumper and waiting for the mistake that eventually came – Rodney able to make the most of his opportunities and prove devestatingly fast in the last minutes to take the win from Viney, Bart and John Scott fourth in what was easily his best run of the night.

1. Rocket: 29:5.07
2. Graham Viney: 28:5.08
3. Bart: 27:5.15
4. John Scott: 25:5.06
5. Peter Hutton: 22:5.03
6. Ian Scott: DNS
7. Evan Cornelius: DNS

Short Course Trucks

Strickland was fast first-time out, here leading Guyatt during qualifying

Another big field of Short Course Trucks tonight, with 16 trucks fronting the starter.  Up front it was Scott Guyatt, Sam Wells, and first timer (but experienced nitro buggy racer) Justin Strickland trading fast times and race wins, but with a very tight midfield battling for A final positions, qualifying proved entertaining. Kudos to Peter Hutton, fighting his way into the A final with some strong consistent qualifying performances.

In the B final we saw a fantastic race with four trucks right in the mix for most of the run.  First Alex Dadson, the Chris Madziara and finally Sam Leeder took the front position, with Scott Kopriva lurking nearby for much of the race as well.  Sam eventually broke free with a couple of minutes to run, and put his head down to record some fast, mistake free laps for  a well deserved B final win.  Could Sam be the next to make his mark by qualifying into the A final? We’ll see!  Dadson recovered from the mid-race blues for second, with Chris Madziara a fine third on what was his first outing in the SC class.  B final placing were:

1. Sam Leeder: 17:5.18
2. Alex Dadson: 16:5.01
3. Chris Madziara: 16:5.11
4. Scott Kopriva: 16:5.15
5. James Atkinson: 14:5.15
6. John Scott: 9:3.09
7. Ian Scott: 3:1.13
8. Steve Potter: DNS

Paddy Hume won the Big Bangers class....couldn't quite hit the same form in SC

In the A final of Short Course, Scott Guyatt got a blinding start and with some big tangles in the pack, that was essentially that. Of much more interest was Sam Wells and Justin Strickland battle for second and third with Strickland fast early to make Wells work for it. Sam got by Justin mid-race and finished off with a string of fast times to be comfortably second, Strickland third. Peter Hutton showed his qualifying form to be no fluke with an excellent fourth place in the A final just reward for a strong night’s racing.  It was in fact a tight mid-field, with just 14 seconds separating 3rd through 7th at the death.

1. Scott Guyatt 20:5.05
2. Sam Wells 19:5.07
3. Justin Strickland: 17:5.01
4. Peter Hutton: 17:5.04
5. Dave Holloway: 17:5.09
6. Patrick Hume: 17:5.13
7. Josh Fogarty: 17:5.15
8. Andrew Green: 16:5.11

Big night of racing….but plenty more to come.  Next time will be the first of our Winter Points Series – a 6 race series that takes us through July, August and September. Stay tuned for more details on the series format, and we’ll see you at Rutherglen on Thursday July 8th.