I gotta say, there was some great racing tonight.  There’s just one more chance to get some R/C action at Rutherglen this year (more details to come), and if it’s anything like tonight was, it’ll be worth being there.

Rodney Houghton (8th Scale), Sam Wells (Touring Cars), Steve Madziara (Tenth Buggy), Scott Guyatt (Short Course A) and Sam Leeder (Short Course B) scooped the wins tonight.  You can get the full results here, and read on for all the details….

8th Big Bangers

A small, but high quality field of 6 took to the track tonight, with Rodney Houghton debuting his new LRP S8 BXe to take on Josh Fogarty and his Kyosho.  The duo split the wins during the two qualifying heats, but Fogarty was faster to secure pole position but just 3 seconds over Rocket, with Silczak and Wilson lining up on row two, from Ian Scott and Stephen Vass’ big monster.

In A1 Rocket overcame a slow start on lap one to return to the lead and then hold it to the flag. Meanwhile Fogarty and Silczak fought out a tight one, Johhny faster than he had been all night to push Josh, and with Ben Wilson a close up fourth.  A2 was more of the same up front, Rocket getting to the lead early, and setting the fastest time of the night to win again, this time Fogarty pushing him throughout, and at times leading.  Behind these two Silzcak and Wilson put on a cracking race, Ben getting home for third by just half a second at the end of five frenetic minutes.  The qualifying tie-breaker had to be called on to determine the final results.

1. Rodney Houghton – LRP S8 BXe
2. Josh Fogarty – Kyosho MP9e
3. John Silczak – Mugen MBX5
4. Ben Wilson
5. Ian Scott
6. Steven Vass

Short Course

15 trucks and some typical hard fought SC action.  Up front Sam Wells and Scott Guyatt traded fast times in qualifying – Scott eventually getting the TQ spot from Wells, with Andrew Green getting ominously quicker for p3 and Josh Fogarty continuing his surge toward the front in 4th.  Rounding out the 8 car A final were Nathan Clark, Paddy Hume, Richard Green and Corey Dolbey.  Both Richard and Corey’s efforts are worthy of further note – Richard just on his second appearance with the HPI Blitz ESE, and Corey the quickest of a gaggle of Traxxas Slash and making (I think?) his first A final appearance.  Awesome job!   Just missing the cutoff and lining up on the front row of the B final would be Sam Leeder and Chris Madziara – both of whom have been A finalists in recent weeks. It’s a sign of increasing competitiveness throughout the field.

The two B final races were crackers.  In B1 Sam Leeder was the man to catch, leading throughout with Madziara and Ryan Hughes (going much quicker than during qualifying) chasing throughout, but not able to catch the young Traxxas pilot.  In B2, Madziara turned the tables, dominating proceedings from Leeder and Hughes.  The resultant tie forced us to go to qualifying….giving the win to Leeder.  Tight!

B final:

1. Sam Leeder – Traxxas Slash
2. Chris Madziara – Traxxas Slash
3. Ryan Hughes – Traxxas Slash
4. Alexander Wade
5. Ian Scott
6. James Atkinson
7. Carl Taylor

The A final promised a lot, and it delivered.  A1 opened up with Sam Wells laying a beautiful pass on Guyatt to lead – the two split by milliseconds over the opening minutes before Guyatt made the most of opportunities through mid-race traffic to get away for an opening win, Wells hanging on for second and Fogarty third with his fastest run of the night and only just clear of Nathan Clark.  A2 was even better – Guyatt and Wells again going at it hammer and tong, but this time Andrew Green crashed the party, driving perhaps his best race yet to hit the lead mid-race, before Wells and Guyatt snuck away in the closing minute.  Sam this time had too much and took a great win from Guyatt, with the luckless Green suffering an electrical issue late to drop behind Nathan Clark (and excellent third and by far his fastest run of the night)  Once again, we had to go to qualifying to split the front two, Guyatt getting the nod:

1. Scott Guyatt – HPI Blitz
2. Sam Wells – HPI Blitz
3. Nathan Clark – HPI Blitz
4. Josh Fogarty
5. Andrew Green
6. Richard Green
7. Paddy Hume
8. Corey Dalby

Tenth Buggy

Steve Madziara’s unchallenged reign at the top of 10th buggy is under serious threat. That’s the conclusion we draw from a night of enthralling racing in this class.  Ben Wilson showed up with his new buggy and was immediately quicker then he had previously been.  Madziara was still quickest in qualifying though, showing the challengers he won’t be giving in easily.  Wilson would line up alongside him, with John Silczak and Troy Taylor rounding out a small field.

A1 really could have been anybody’s race, with Madziara, Wilson and Silczak fighting out a race long duel.  Madziara had the speed, but when Wilson found his way to the lead with a couple of minutes to run, he was mistake free and impossible to catch.  It was a fine first win in the class for Ben, and put Madziara under pressure for the second final.  Steve responded in the finest possible way, turning in a time two seconds quicker than his own top qualifying run, with Wilson and Silczak chasing forlornly throughout.  It was the drive of a champ who knows the opposition are out to get him, but who is determined not to be caught.  I can’t wait to see how this class develops over the next few months.  If you’ve got a tenth scale buggy in the cupboard, drag it down to Rutherglen to join in the fun.

1. Steve Madziara – Traxxas Bandit
2. Ben Wilson – Traxxas Bandit
3. John Silczak – ?? 4wd Stadium Truck
4. Troy Taylor

Touring Cars

This is the class I’m predicting to grow rapidly in the next few months. With construction in the building largely finished, the track is offering higher levels of traction, and lower levels of dust, and the tourers are looking better and better.  Tonight was a treat to see Tassie TC legend Rodney Houghton take on Sam Wells, Peter Hutton and Graham Viney (sadly out with a breakage midway through the first heat). Wells was quickest in qualifying to grab the TQ spot and put Rocket under pressure, Hutton third but looking faster and faster.

A1 was all Wells. Sam got to the lead on lap two and put together a string of fast, consistent laps.  Take a look at the results sheet here, the consistency number of 0.40 (the lower the better) is an excellent effort on a hand-timed basis, and shows just how consistent Sam’s run was.  Rocket finished second, Hutton third.  If A1 was all Wells, A2 was Rocket re-asserting his position.  This time it was Rodney’s turn to grab the lead early and drive into the distance – in a time just fractionally slower than Sams A1 winning run. Wells second place was enough to ensure that courtesy of his Top Qualifier position, he’d take the night’s overall win after the two shared the finals honours.  Star of this race was Peter Hutton, putting together his best five minute run yet at Rutherglen, to improve his own PB by a full 8 seconds.  Super!

1. Sam Wells – Schumacher Mi4lp
2. Rodney Houghton – Team Associated TC5
3. Peter Hutton – XRAY Fk05 (?)

Drive of the Night

A new award I’m going to try and offer each week for an excellent performance that catches my eye. There were a few candidates tonight – Corey Dolbey’s A final appearance in SC trucks, Peter Hutton’s fast Tourer runs, Ryan Hughes who really stepped it up in the SC B finals to name a few……but for a first up final leg win, I’m giving the nod to Ben Wilson’s A1 tenth buggy victory.  Madziara might have got the overall result, but that first win was a breakthrough for Ben, and a sign of things to come.  Congrats Ben, you win our “Drive of the Night” for your A1 win in 10th Buggy.

More news to come over the next few days.

Thanks to all who made it out tonight for another chapter of fun in the unfolding story of Launceston R/C.