Another exciting night of racing with 46 cars on track tonight. The big news was Paddy’s new sign (points for the first person to hit it!), but right up there were some breakthrough wins with new faces on top of most of the finishing podiums.
Andrew Mackenzie took the win in 10th Buggy, Jade Chandler in Novice, Mark Rayner in Short Course Truck, Graham Viney in Tourers, with only Steve Madziara upholding the honour of the previous round winners with another dominant performance in 8th Big Bangers.
Full results are online here. Read on for the race story….
10th Buggy
A full 10-car field faced the starter, and with the recently dominant Sam Wells absent, it was an open race meeting with any number of possible winners. Paddy Hume opened up fastest in round one of qualifying, but Andrew Mackenzie, Josh Fogarty and Alex John were looming. Mackenzie stepped it up in round two to take TQ, but once more it was a close run thing, with Hume, Jarrod Painting, Chris Brickwood, Fogarty and John all very close by. Hume grabbed the lead right from the start of the 10 minute main, but after recovering quickily from a slow start, Mackenzie began a race-long hunt that woudl ultimately return him to the lead in the closing minutes. Alex John too, had shadowed Andrew’s run through the field to be right in the mix, momentarily grabbing second spot from Paddy before Hume took the spot back with a couple of laps to run. Chris Brickwood made it four cars on the lead lap at the end of 10 minute of hard fought racing.
- Andrew Mackenzie: 29 10:14
- Paddy Hume: 29 10:17
- Alex John: 28 10:06
- Chris Brickwood: 28 10:11
- Damien Betts: 26 10:04
- Josh Fogarty: 26 10:05
- Jarrod Painting: 26 10:22
- Jason Turner: 25 10:08
- Andrew Green:22 10:16
- Matthew Chandler: 17 8:50
Short Course Truck
Plenty of interest in the short Course Truck tonight with the first appearance for new trucks in the hands of Mark Rayner and Matt Hodgetts (from the North West R/C Car Club) and the return of Rocket Rodney Houghton to SC after a long absence. These three would sit at the front of the field, Rayner grabbing the TQ spot in the second round of qualifying by the barest margin of just two tenths of one second over Hodgetts, with Rocket and Alex John just a few seconds further back. Andrew Mackenzie, Adam Beresford and Jason Turner took the last three A final spots while Richard Green and Chris Madziara would line up on the front row of the competitive B final grid.
Andrew Green put to right a tough run in qualifying by grabbing the lead on lap one and never giving it up, driving on to a big win. Richard and Chris went at it behind, swapping places early before Chris eventually settled into a race-long grip on second, Richard likewise safe and steady in third. Behind them it was a close run thing between Atkinson, Beresford and Leeder.
- Andrew Green: 27 10:09
- Chris Madziara: 25 10:06
- Richard Green: 25 10:10
- James Atkinson: 23 10:24
- Derek Beresford: 22 10:01
- Sam Leeder: 22 10:04
- Ian Scott: 21 10:29
Mark Rayner put a quality Short Course A final field to the sword on the back of pure consistency. While second placed man Alex John and third placed Matt Hodgetts would both turn faster laps, Rayner was the man pumping out consistently fast laps. And then there was Rocket….who on his comeback to SC was also putting together a first class race, stalking Rayner all the way, and making it count as he took the lead momentarily mid-race before Rayner struck back. A late race mechanical issue dropped Rocket to fourth. It was definitely a race that had plenty, but Rayner was the man, and Alex John put together perhaps his best 10 minute run yet. The “out-of-town” gang dominated tonight.
- Mark Rayner: 29: 10:18
- Alex John: 28: 10:17
- Matt Hodgetts: 26 10:10
- Rocket Houghton: 26 10:11
- Adam Beresford: 25 10:04
- Andrew Mackenzie: 22 8:22
- JasonTurner: 18 8:07
Novice Offroad
Regular front-runner Jordan Turner had his work cut out tonight, with Alannah Hodgetts going very fast in round two, to grab the top qualifier honours. Turner was right there, and Jade Chandler close up after missing round one of qualifying. It was a big 10 car field with plenty of action right through the field, and a lot to look forward to. Welcome to Taylor Mackenzie – a first race night for Taylor (unless my memory fails me!).
The final delivered, with three different drivers tasting a share of the lead. Jade Chandler was the man when it counted though – starting strong, fending off mid-race challenges from both Jordan and Alannah before driving a strong back half of the race for a big win over a similarly fast finishing Turner and a super impressive Amiee Mackenzie, with Allanah a close up fourth.
- Jade Chandler: 24 10:20
- Jordan Turner: 23 10:03
- Amiee Mackenzie: 23 10:13
- Alannah Hodgetts: 23 10:18
- Mark Jones: 19 10:00
- Chloe Beresford: 15 10:07
- Michael Tayler: 13 8:18
- Taylor Mackenzie: 11 5:21
- Arron Meyman: 7 3:33
- Terry James: DNS
Tourers
Peter Hutton warmed up for his extended northern R/C holiday with a dominant performance in qualifying tonight, picking up the pace from Q1 to Q2 by a full lap and well clear of Graham Viney in the mighty mini. James Atkinson qualified third from Ian Scott and a welcome first appearance in the class for Derek Beresford.
For the first minute of the A final, it was all Hutton, but then a big accident cost him more than a minute for repairs and promoted Viney to a lead he would not relinquish despite Hutton’s desperate attempts and quick lap times. James Atkinson also fended off the recoving Hutton, holding on determinedly to second spot but just 1.6 seconds at the hooter.
- Graham Viney: 50 10:01
- James Atkinson: 47 10:02
- Peter Hutton: 47 10:04
- Derek Beresford 45 10:00
- Ian Scott 26 6:38
8th Big Bangers
The scene was set for another epic battle between Steve Madziara and Rocket Houghton, but somewhere along the lines both of them failed to read the script. Madziara was in a dominant mood and Rocket a little off his usual pace. And right between the pair of them was first-time 8th EP racer Justin Strickland. Justin is one of the regular fast guys in GP buggy at NWRCCC and was quickly on the money.
Madziara, Rocket and Strickland all dipped well into the 18 second bracket as they went at it in the A final, Rocket stepping up the pace to push Madziara hard. Steve though was having none of it, easing out to a comfortable win by race end from Rocket, with Strickland fading as the race wore on. Ben Wilson and John Silczak fought out their usual tight battle while Troy Taylor was out early.
- Steve Madziara 30 10:00
- Rocket Houghton 30 10:17
- Justin Strickland 27 10:17
- Ben Wilson 25 10:18
- John Silczak 24 10:13
- Troy Taylor 7 3:28
- Marc Kilbride DNS (or no transponder)
Launceston R/C Racers 
First off i must apologise for my outburst of a nawty word when my tourer when flying thru the air into the drivers stand. Had a gr8 night qualified pole got a gr8 start but unfortunatly tangled with another car while lapping causing a loss of nearly 2 mins but managed to get back out and finish 3rd 1.5secs behind james in 2nd. Congrats graham for the win with the mini..well done.
See you all in six weeks as off to Darwin for the NT 4×4 SC titles than Cairns for a holiday.
Stay safe guys and race hard.
Peter
Had a good night out in both Cars; i thought i had a early problem with the Slash but it was an loose wheel nut but no problems for the tourer for the night!
On the drivers stand i noticed some drivers having a go at other drivers and i was one of them that someone had a go towards myself and told me to change classes & ive got one thing to say: Build a bridge and get over it! See you at next Round James
Paddys sighn looks great.my night was ok blitz going ok and the tourer running ok with a different electrics until it rejected the battery again wont happened again.
My complaint with last night was there is still swearing on the drivers stand in the short course trucks.there are young people there and its not good enough. We are there for racing and not getting abused.
The marshelling all over was poor with people just looking at the cars and taking the time to fix the cars and the drivers eticate wasnt much better with drivers pushing there way through
That is only my thoughts on the night
You got that right Ian; I was one of them being pushed around, i was trying to let them through easily but they didnt back off and colided with me and i could here them swearing off at me on the Driver-Stand plus i had to put up with this person next to me in the final heat!
I think this was on of the poor rounds that ive seen from both sides of the fence: Driver-stand and Marshalling, I think paddy has to stop the countdown several times during the night! L8r James
Wheres the love?
I’m sorry to hear about those concerns. I’ll keep a closer eye on driver ettiquette and driver’s stand behaviour next time. I definitely want us all to keep Launceston R/C a relaxed, friendly and fun place to race.
I’m sorry to hear about those concerns. I’ll keep a closer eye on driver ettiquette and driver’s stand behaviour next time. I definitely want us all to keep Launceston R/C a relaxed, friendly and fun place to race.
The race story is updated with some more detail. Championship points update still to come.
There were some below average goings on all round from my observations throughout the classes and marshalling last Thursday.
Faster drivers need to give the slow guys some room , but also the slow guys need to give some room back and let the fast guys go through without wrecking both drivers race. Several time we seen the lead cars pass lapped traffic only to be taken out going into the next corner.
Several drivers cutting corners, jumping ropes etc and taking out the car in front of them , maybe not intentional but it can almost look that way at times ? please keep the driving clean guys, maybe next time it is your car wiped out by someone ?
Marshalls need to remember, you are not out there to watch the race, you are there to watch and marshall the section of track where you are at. Just about every class Thursday night there were cars stuck pretty much in front of a marshall, but the marshalls were busy watching the rest of the race and not seeing the stuck cars. Just please remember to concentrate on your section of the track , and marshall the car how you would expect your car to be marshaled in the same circumstance in a speedy and safe manner 🙂
The language is something that needs to be looked at also, I’m as guilty as the rest when it comes to loosing my cool, but we need to remember it is a family venue and there are young kids present.
sad to see standards sway when our fearless race director is away.
standards and language has been noted and will carefully monitored.
its a family sport guy’s and gal’s, lets keep it that way.
if you have a problem, bit your tounge and after your race, see race control on your way out to marshal.
On a nicer note, racings not far off!!! well, yeah, ok, couple of weeks, but can’t wait to hit the track again!!!!!!!! GO THE MIGHTY HPI’s!!!!!!!!!!
You will be seeing one more Hpi car hit the track next week Greenie My Hpi Buggy will be out for a run since last weekends cancellation form Latrobe’s Round! L8R
Looking forward to the next race meet. Go TEAM ASSOCIATED 🙂
Have fun guys. Will think of you all while lavishing in the beautiful sunshine in Darwin and Cairns over the next 6 weeks. Cya all when i return hopefully with a fistfull of parts to get the tourer up n running again
Pete
have fun dude, and good racing!!!!!
Update Greenie
Had my first meeting on dirt for a very long time and first for the truck and finished up better than expected 7th outright and 2nd in class for the night. And btw thx Richard it was the mamba i got from you that i was running. some fine tuning to be done and hopefully can go one better in class in the titles in 2 weeks.
With both girls making an appearance this week making it a busy night getting their trucks ready as well as my own, unfortunately I didn’t get to see much action between races but I do agree with comments made regarding ettiquette and marshalling. The bad language which I have also heard on a number of occasions should be a complete no, no.
A lot of us are still learning and trying to gain experience but everyone regardless of experience will at some stage make mistakes and be the victim of mistakes. Maybe we could all do with a guide or reminder on best practices when racing/marshalling and how to handle mistakes made by us and others (hint: does not involve abuse or swearing).
With many of us having been racing less than twelve months I’m sure most of us are grateful for any tips and advice that can be passed on in a positive manner to improve our on and off track experience.
The close, competitive racing has been great and I really enjoy a good, clean, close race but one of the clubs most important assets is its fun and friendly atmosphere. I would hate to see someone leave or not take up this great hobby because of a bad experience.
Come on fellas, lets keep it fun.
Well said Rocket and Andrew M