Right off the top let me start by saying that we saw some absolutely fabulous racing tonight.  Some of the races were close the best we’ve ever seen.  If this is the standard of racing we’re going to reach….then bring on the next event!

Winners tonight were Rocket (Tourers & 8th Big Bangers), Jordan Turner (Novice), Andrew Green (Short Course) and Sam Wells (Tenth Buggy), but really, there were fantastic performances up and down the field.

Click here for the full results, or read on for the story behind the numbers….

Tourers:

Nice to see a new face joining the Touring Car action tonight, with Jordan Richardson running two heats before having to take an early mark. He’ll be back and we look forward to seeing him.  Rocket led the field throughout the night, with Ian Scott consistently second quickest while Peter Hutton fought mechanical issues all night long, finally resorting to a borrowed car for the finals.  Rocket was just too strong, Ian an excellent second and Peter third.

1. Rocket Houghton: 23/5m8.75
2. Ian Scott: 17/5m9.81
3. Peter Hutton: 14/5m5.62
4. Jordan Richardson (DNS)

8th Big Bangers:

When Rocket opened up with a near one-lap win in round one of qualifying, it seemed like he was headed for an evening of domination. Steve Madziara would have none of it, fighting back for a round 2 win, and pushing Rocket all the way in the third and final qualifier.  Rocket, however, put it all together in the final, with a win in the fastest time of the night, ahead of Madziara and Peter Hutton in the sweet Hyper SC 4*4 truck.  Troy Taylor slotted in a nice personal best run in the final to continue his improvement.

1. Rocket Houghton: 18/5:08.75
2. Steve Madziara: 18/5:17.19
3. Peter Hutton: 15/5:05.56
4. Troy Taylor: 13/5:14.14

Novice:

With recent dominant performer Adam Beresford stepping up to the main Short Course class, the opportunity was there for a first time winner tonight.  Tom West opened up fastest, before Jarrod Painting struck back in Q2 to set up a ripper in the third round of qualifying.  West did it, running a fast and neat race throughout to get home with the race win and secure the pole position from Painting. Jordan Turner and Derek Beresford would sit on the second row of the grid.

Turner got the best of the start, and made every posta  winner, driving away from the field to his maiden victory, only a late race bobble letting Tom West within sight of the fast youngster.  West was impressive in second, wheeling the Team Associated RC10T4.1 stadium truck, with Jarrod Painting getting the better of an intense race-long duel with Derek Beresford for third.

1. Jordan Turner: 14/5:21
2. Tom West: 13/5:07
3. Jarrod Painting: 13/5:10
4. Derek Beresford: 13/5.16
5. Jade Chandler: 12/5:02
6. Matthew Chandler: 12/5:20
7. Philip Ferguson: 10/5:01
8. Carl Taylor: DNF

Short Course Trucks:

Short Course trucks was close to the class of the night, with stunning racing all night long.  Qualifying was an out and out race-to-the-death between Josh Fogarty, Andrew Mackenzie and surprise packet Adam Beresford.  After a superb win to McKeznie in Q1, Fogarty took Q2 and Q3 (and fastest time) with Beresford ever-present in his first appearance in the main SC truck field (and driving the unfashionable Traxxas Slash no less), while regular front-runner Andrew Green was mired in the mid-field after an unhappy night.

Greenie went back to the pits, scratched his head, listened to whatever music is on that ipod of his, and came out all guns blazing in the final. Fogarty led early from Greenie and Beresford, with Mackenzie back in the pits on just lap 4, his challenge over.  Greenie stalked Fogarty, the two at one stage exchanging the lead five or six times on one lap, before Greenie made the pass on a messy lap for both mid-race. From there he went right on with the job, easily running his fastest of the night to win from Fogarty (who showed again that the Kyosho is a definite front-running SC truck), with Adam Beresford continuing to impress with a solid third in the ‘big leagues’.

1. Andrew Green: 16/5:07
2. Josh Fogarty: 16/5:12
3. Adam Beresford: 15/5.07
4. Chris Madziara: 14/5.16
5. Ian Scott: 12/5.06
6. Alexander Wade: 12/5:28
7. Andrew Mazkenie (DNF)
8. Richard Green (DNS)

Tenth Buggy:

A big field of tenth buggy faced the starter tonight, all but one being 2wd buggies and putting on some entertaining racing. Paddy Hume made full use of his 4wd traction to dominate qualifying, taking all three races, with Sam Wells second quickest and Scott Guyatt lurking nearby in the borrowed Hume RC10B4.

When Paddy made a mistake early in the final, it set up what was probably the race of the night. Guyatt hit the front, Wells nearby and Hume desperately trying to recover from the mid-field but having to deal with plenty of speedy cars around him. Scott and Sam cleared out a little, running nose to tail for much of the race…..which seemed to go on and on and on. Eventually the situation became clear, a software setup error resulting in a ten minute final!  The 9 drivers accepted the situation and raced on.  Guyatt and Wells went at it, both graciously waiting when the other was held up, and with Sam getting stronger and stronger as the race went on. He finally made the pass with a handful of laps to go, and drove purposefully to the line, half-a-second clear of Guyatt after a 10-minute non-stop battle, with Hume recovering to third.  Results for the night were declared on the full 10 minute race, but championship points will be awarded based on positions at the “normal” five minute mark.  Both sets of results are included here:

10 minute race:

1. Sam Wells: 34/10:10.2
2. Scott Guyatt: 34/10:10.8
3. Paddy Hume: 33/10:02
4. Andrew McKenzie: 32/10:09
5. Steve Madziara: 31/10:05
6. Chris Brickewood: 31/10:06
7. Damien Bettz: 26/10:07
8. Jason Turner: 26/10:14
9. Tom West (DNF)

5 Minute Results (reconstructed from lap-time records):

1. Scott Guyatt: 17/5:05
2. Sam Wells: 17/5:06
3. Paddy Hume: 17/5:15
4. Andrew Mackenzie: 16/5:11
5.  Steve Madziara: 16/5:16
6. Chris Brickwood: 15/5:00
7. Jason Turner: 14/5:16
8. Damien Bettz: 13/5:06
9. Tom West (DNF)

There are any number of contenders for the best drive of the night. The Wells/Guyatt 10th Buggy final was a classic, Greenie’s come-from-the-clouds win in SC truck special, and Jordan Turners first-up win in Novice one that he’ll remember.  I have to say though, I can’t go past Adam Beresford’s pace in the open SC class, running third all night and securing that position in the final on merit. It’s an impressive start to what I hope is a long and successful R/C career.

It was a great night’s racing, and we look forward to the next event in two weeks time. A reminder that we’ll be running a non-points practice night next fortnight….and based on that accidential 10 minute Tenth Buggy final tonight, we’re contemplating a shift in race format, with two 5-minute qualifiers followed by a single 10-minute final.  Let us know your thoughts on this.

One final personal note, thanks heaps to those who bought the Girl Guide cookies. I’ll have a very happy daughter when she wakes up in the morning……cheers!