Another massive night at Launceston R/C with 56 cars taking to the track for the 6th and final round of our Winter 2011 Championship series.
Special welcome to Mark Davis, Ben Hoare, Phil Reibel and Alex John who made the long haul up from Hobart for the night’s racing, and to first-time touring car racer Bradley Mitchell.
Wins went to Rodney Houghton (Short Course Truck & Touring Cars), Ben Hoare (Tenth Buggy), Jordan Turner (Novice) and Steve Madziara (8th Big Bangers) while Richard Green (Short Course) and Tom West (Novice) took their B final wins.
Hit the full results here or read on for the story (and we’ve also uploaded full results that had gone missing from last fortnight’s event as well)…
Tenth Buggy
Hobart’s Ben Hoare led a gaggle of 4wd buggies tonight that would dominate the evening’s proceedings. Ben was quickest in both qualifiers and then drove a very impressive final to win comfortable with his Durango buggy. Paddy Hume was next quickest, taking his AE B44 to a front-running position and doing his championship hopes no damage, while Andrew Mackenzie neve gave up hopee, fighting all the way through the 10 minute final to haul himself up through the field to third.
- Ben Hoare (Durango DE410R) 31 10:14
- Paddy Hume (AE B44) 29 10:04
- Andrew Mackenzie (AE B4) 28 10:04
- Alex John (Losi 22) 28 10:18
- Phil Reibel (AE B44?) 27 10:15
- Steve Madziara (Traxxas) 26 10:07
- Scott Guyatt (Schu Cougar) 22 7:35
- Mark Davis (Schu CAT) DNS
- Damien Betts (Durango) DNS
- Josh Fogarty (Kyosho RB5) DNS
- Jarrod Painting (Kyosho) DNS
Short Course Truck
15 trucks meant that we were in for some excellent racing, with the battle for A final positions particularly fierce, and the fight for the coveted Top Qualifier position likewise hard fought.
Chris Madziara was the unlucky man to sit 9th and therefore take the “BQ” spot, but the B final was all about Richard Green. Greeny nabbed a great start and was rock solid to lead from start to finish, while first Madziara and then Tom West kept the pressure on. West himself came under the close attentions of Derek Beresford late in the race but as the flag fell they three held those positions.
- Richard Green (HPI Blitz ESE) 27 10:20
- Tom West (HPI Blitz ESE Pro) 26 10:00
- Derek Beresford (HPI Blitz ESE) 26 10:09
- James Atkinson (Traxxas Slash) 21 10:16
- Ian Scott (HPI Blitz) 21 10:27
- Sam Leeder (Traxxas Slash) 18 10:17
- Chris Madzira (HPI Blitz ESE) 10 3:56
Mark Rayner opened up best in the A final to lead early, before a mechanical sidelined him and left a race long battle between Rocket Houghton and Andrew Green for the win. Rocket eased away in the closing minutes with greenie comfortable in second while Alex John, Andrew Mackenzie, Ben Hoare and Phil Reibel battled all the way to the flax.
- Rodney “Rocket” Houghton (HPI Blitz) 30 10:22
- Andrew Green (HPI Blitz) 29 10:14
- Alex John (AE SC10) 28 10:11
- Andrew Mackenzie (Kyosho Ultima SC) 28 10:13
- Ben Hoare (AE SC10?) 28 10:19
- Phil Reibel (Traxxas Slash) 28 10:22
- Jason Turner (HPI Blitz ESE) 27 10:15
- Mark Rayner (HPI Blitz ESE) 26 10:20
8th Big Bangers
Steve Madziara is facing a serious threat to his long reign at the top of the 8th Big Bangers class, with Justin Strickland getting quicker and quicker as he comes to terms with the tight Rutherglen layout. The battle betwen the pair was very close at times, and Strickland did get to the lead mi-way through the 10 minute final before Madziara took back the front-running to retain the crown for another fortnight. Ben Wilson was consistently smooth all night for third.
- Steve Madziara (Kyosho) 31 10:00
- Justin Strickland (Hyper) 31 10:07
- Ben Wilson (Hyper) 28 10:21
- John Silczak (Mugen) 26 10:22
- Troy Taylor (Kyosho) 23 10:25
Novice Off-Road
For the second week in a row, Novice was our biggest class with 18 cars on the grid, the usual mix of short course trucks, stadium trucks and 10th buggies. When the dust cleared nine drivers would battle the A final, led by top qualifier Ben Jordan.
The B final was a battle of the west clan, with Tom determined to see off the challenge from sons Chris and Andrew. Tom put together probably his best drive in his fledgling R/C career, taking a flag-to-flag win over Matthew Chandler and the impressive Mark Jones.
- Tom West (HPI Blitz ESE Pro) 24 10:10
- Matthew Chandler (Traxxas Bandit) 22 10:15
- Mark Jones (AE T4) 20 10:19
- Michael Taylor (HPI Blitz) 19 10:19
- Chris West (HPI Blitz) 18 20:21
- Chloe Beresford (Traxxas Slash) 18 10:28
- Andrew West (HPI Blitz) 16 10:07
- Terry James (AE SC10) 11 10:09
- Sam Betts (AE B4) DNS
Jordan Turner had a tough run through qualifying to start back in an unusual (for Jordan) 5th place. He didn’t take long though to work his way through to the front of the field, and from there demonstrated that he knows how to win, gapping the field. Meanwhile Ben Jordan was left to wonder what might have been after fighting back from a horror start to nab the broken-armed Zander Wade right at the death. Further back Gene Newell was looking good in the debut of his new truck, while it was great to see both the Mackenzie girls in the A final (and for Taylor to win that family battle!).
- Jordan Turner (HPI Blitz) 24 10:11
- Ben Jordan (HPI Blitz) 24 10:22
- Zander Wade (HPI Blitz) 24 10:24
- Jade Chandler (AE B4) 22 10:02
- Gene Newell (HPI Blitz) 22 10:07
- Taylor Mackenzie (AE SC10) 22 10:16
- Amiee Mackenzie (AE SC10) 22 10:18
- Chris Murray (Traxxas Slash) 22 10:26
- Calvin James (Trassas Slash) 19 10:01
Touring Cars
A big 7-car field faced the starter tonight, with newcomer Bradley Mitchell a welcome addition, and Derek Beresford returning for another crack at the flat-track class. Rocket was too classy for his opposition to sweep qualifying and the final, while Beresford backed up his second-qualifier effort with a comfortable run to second in the 10 minute final. Graham Viney overcame some mid-race mechanical issues to re-claim third, getting by Ian Scott in the closing minutes. It was great to see some ‘realistic’ bodies in the class tonight, with Beresford’s Camaro joining Kelly Viney’s Torana (and of course Graham’s mini) to add some visual interest.
- Rodney “Rocket” Houghton (AE TC5/Yokomo) 64 10:12
- Derek Beresford (?) 47 10:00
- Graham Viney (Tamiya Mini) 44 10:34
- Ian Scott (Sakura) 43 10:12
- James Atkinson (?) 41 10:01
- Kellie Viney (GV Torana) 35 10:14
- Bradley Mitchell (Lambo!) 15 10:31
Reminder that next week sees the clubs annual general meeting take place from 7pm, followed by a School of R/C session on suspension tuning, and then free practice. Nominations for committee and executive positions can’t be emailed to Scott.
Racing returns to Rutherglen on Thursday September 8th.
Launceston R/C Racers 
Got home on the stroke of midnight. Thanks for running our finals first.
Had a shock of start of the night finding my Vorza has an loose front left hub: lost an grubb screw and pin to drive the wheel and lucky i took out the Slash for a Practise-fun run turned into racing run for the Slash after a short break!
Had a good run in the tourers qualified 2nd for final and i loosened the gear mesh to get a better start off the line then i spun out in turn one, i thought i had crystal clash with some one then i asked scott and he said no then i continued on racing then i noticed that the car was pulling to the right and i thought to myself just have to put up with it!
Once i got home i had a closer look at the car from pulling to the right and guess what my car was 3wd again on the right front this time!
Good night out,
Marshalling for the novice class was an eye opening experience.
The School of R\C looks like it will defaintly come in handy! Will be good to see them getting much faster, by using less throttle 🙂
Had fun trading blows with Rocket all night in the SC class – Unfortuantly one of my bullet sockets to the motor come unplugged. Lesson learned – I’ll be shrink wrapping those puppies up for next race!
Another great night of racing had by all.My night didnt start of to good with the tourer with the battery coming apart and stopping the stearing had a good 2nd heat and the final was in the placing until i lost control and crashed but it was good racing in the tourers and well done to derek in his bumble bee tourer taking out second.Good to see a new driver in the division. In short course had a steady run all night and final was good
cheers Ian luck was on my side last night!had fun with my ese blitz too in the short course final!
could someone please answer this question,i have blown my capacitor on my hobbywing brushless speed controller but can i still use without the capacitor?thanks.
Ive got an hobbywing esc also but im not sure!!
Modern esc’s are really designed to be used with the capacitor. i wouldn’t run without it. Risks include overheating and damaging either esc or motor. You can replace the capacitor.
Thanks Ian!
for what derek
doh i meant scott!