Round 5 of our Winter Series also happened to take the record for the biggest night’s racing ever at Launceston R/C with 54 cars taking to the track – including a staggering 20 car Novice field.  After an exciting night’s racing Jordan Turner (Novice), Rocket Houghton (Tourers), Steve Madziara (8th Big Bangers), Paddy Hume (Tenth Buggy) and Scott Guyatt (Short Course) took the wins.

Click here for the full race results (uploaded 25/08), or read on for the story of this night….

8th Big Bangers

Steve Madziara is facing stiff opposition from new addition to the field Justin Strickland, but still found a way to get the job done tonight.  Steve overcame a slow start early in the night to top qualify for the final, and then overcome a bright start from Strickland to continue to a dominant win.  Strickland meanwhile can only blame his mechanic after shedding two wheels while leading the final….best invest in a wheel wrench then Justin!  Ben Wilson took up the chase of Madziara, and while he couldn’t keep Madz in check, Ben did put together a strong race-long performance, including holding off the rapid Strickland on his return to the track, all four wheels now attached.  Marc Kilbride drove his big Monster Truck in the fine style we’re becoming used to for fourth, ahead of John Silczak, and with James Atkinso making a rare 8th appearance to see off Troy Taylor.

1. Steve Madziara (Kyosho): 30 10:04
2. Ben Wilson (Hobao): 27 10:19
3. Justin Strickland (Hobao): 26 10:00
4. Marc Kilbride (E-max): 25 10:27
5. John Silczak (Mugen): 24:10.18
6. James Atkinson (HPI): 23 10:25
7. Troy Taylor (Kyosho): 22 10:12

Novice Offroad

A massive 20 strong field tonight, with the three West boys making an appearance, and joined by fellow newcomers Chris Murray and Ben Goode.  Qualifying was tight with Ben Jordan, Jordan Turner, Amiee Mackenzie and Jade Chandler all close together to give some inkling of what was to come.

In a bizarre B final, the lead was a poison chalice with plenty getting to the front only to fall by the wayside. At one point only three of the 10 starters remained on the track, with the 10 minute final taking a toll on battery life.  When the dust settled Gene Newell took the win (after being near the front all the way) over an excited Michael Taylor and Ben Goode making a debut at the wheel of Chris Brickwood’s 2wd buggy.  Ian Griffin finished fourth while Nathan won the battle of the West boys to take bragging rights for the next two weeks.

1. Gene Newell (Associated T4): 17 10:01
2. Michael Taylor (HPI Blitz): 17 10.01
3. Ben Goode (Associated B4): 17 10:36
4. Ian Griffin (Traxxas Slash): 14 8:00
5. Nathan West (HPI Blitz): 14 10:28
6. Andrew West (HPI Blitz): 14 10:39
7. Chris West (HPI Blitz): 10 6:31
8. Taylor Mackenzie (AE SC10): 10 5:21
9. Chloe Beresford (Traxxas Slash): 10 5:17
10. Terry James (AE SC10): 7 5:06

If the B final was unusual, the A final was just plain fantastic. No less than six drivers led the race, and at one point well into the race all six were still within 10 seconds of the lead.  As the race wore on the speed of Jordan Turner started to tell and he reclaimed the front spot and held on under intense pressure from a very rapid Amiee Mackenzie, with Alexander Wade returning after a lengthy absence from the club for a great third.  Excellent performance too from Chris Murray, taking fourth at his first ever race meeting.

1. Jordan Turner (HPI Blitz): 23 10:15
2. Amiee Mackenzie (AE SC10): 23 10:21
3. Alexander Wade (HPI Blitz): 23 10:35
4. Chris Murray (Traxxas Slash) 22 10:03
5. Jade Chandler (AE B4): 22 10:07
6. Ben Jordan (HPI Blitz): 22 10:10
7. Mark Jones (AE T4): 22 10:17
8. Tom West (AE T4): 21 10:05
9. Calvin James (Traxxas Slash): 21 10:22
10. Matthew Chandler (Traxxas Bandit): 20 10:03

Tenth Buggy

When Sam Wells took his customary top qualifier spot, it seemed like all was business as usual in the Tenth Buggy class.  And then the final turned everything upside down. Josh Fogarty nailed the start, Sam was mired in the mid-field, and Paddy Hume, Damien Betts and Chris Brickwood were all going very quickly indeed.  Paddy it was who turned in the most consistently fast laps, working his way to the front by mid race and putting together his best drive for quite a while to hang on for a popular win.  Fogarty showed continued improved pace in the Kyosho RB5 for a deserved second, while Betts’ third in his Durango I’d rank as his best drive yet.

1. Paddy Hume (AE B44): 29 10:19
2. Josh Fogarty (Kyosho RB5): 28 10:14
3. Damien Betts (Durango DE410R) 28 10:16
4. Chris Brickwood (AE B4) 27 10:08
5. Sam Wells (AE B4) 27 10:??
6. Jarrod Painting (Kyosho): 26 10:22
7. Andrew Mackenzie (AE B4): 26 10:28
8. Jason Turner (AE B4): 19 10:19
9. Steve Madziara (Traxxas Bandit) DNS

Short Course Truck

With 13 starters, Short Course Truck was always going to be competitive, and so it proved with the battle for A final spots particularly fierce.  Scott Guyatt took the front spot alongside Mark Rayner, and further back Adam and Derek Beresford and Chris Madziara were the men to win the tight mid-field scrap for A final spots.

Sam Leeder drove a cracking B final (despite the wrong-footed race commentary!) to lead from start to finish in a very competitive time. Tom West put his best foot forward and must be looking forward to his new truck while Ian Scott (having momentarily popped into a potential A final start) was a good third.

1. Sam Leeder (Traxxas Slash): 24 10:19
2. Tom West (AE SC10): 23 10:28
3. Ian Scott (HPI Blitz): 20 10:03
4. Philip Ferguson (Traxxas Slash): 20 10:27
5. Ian Griffin (HPI Blitz): 19 10:18

Rocket was perhaps the most unlucky early in the A final, forced into avoiding action by a spinning Guyatt and getting hung up on the rope. Guyatt got going and cleared out at the front while Rayner and Rocket fought out a 10-minute battle for second and third – finishing in that order and just 1 second apart.  Greenie got the best of the mid-field battle over Mackenzie and Madziara with Derek winning the Beresford war over Adam.

1. Scott Guyatt (HPI Blitz): 30 10:??
2. Mark Rayner (HPI Blitz): 29 10:18
3. Rodney “Rocket” Houghton (HPI Blitz): 29 10:19
4. Andrew Green (HPI Blitz): 27 10:11
5. Andrew Mackenzie (Kyosho Ultima SC): 26 10:16
6. Chris Madziara (HPI Blitz): 25 10:07
7. Derek Beresford (Traxxas Slash): 22 10:21
8. Adam Beresford (AE SC10): 13 5:17

Tourers

Without doubt the highlight of tonight was debutant Kellie Viney’s Holden Torana, the amazing looking vehicle attracting plenty of attention. On the scoreboard it was once again Rocket who was too quick in qualifying, and who sat on a massive lead late in the final before radio troubles put him within the reach of the might mini of Graham Viney. Graham just fell short with Ian Scott third, Viney fourth and James Atkinson’s 3-wheel drive tourer not making the start.

1. Rocket Houghton (Yokomo): 48 10:20
2. Graham Viney (Tamiya Mini): 47 10:10
3. Ian Scott (Sakura): 40 10:05
4. Kellie Viney (Torana):  15 5:15
5. James Atkinson: DNS

Thanks to all for helping us get through such a massive night and be done by 10.20pm.  We’ll be back on Thursday 25th for the final round in our winter points series, and a heap more fun.

Stay tuned for an update on series points including this and last fortnight’s results.

And once again, welcome to all our first-time drivers tonight, and to the massive 20 car novice field. Great to have you all with us.