Launceston R/C’s Spring racing series got off to a cracking start tonight with some high quality racing right across the classes. Aimee Mackenzie (Novice), Damien Betts (10th Buggy), Rocket Houghton (Tourer), Justin Strickland (8th) and Sam Wells (Short Course) were the winners.

Full results here (8th final missing…sorry) or read on for the story….

8th Big Bangers

Six starters faced the gun, but James Atkinson’s open short course truck gave up after just one race, leaving the famous five. Steve Madziara was fastest in qualifying to take his customary #1 starting spot for the final in front of Justin Strickland.

The final was a cracker. Madziara was fast out of the blocks, but Strickland fought back, both drivers struggling for consistency through the five-jump rhythm section.  The lead switched back and forth in what was an enthralling duel, with Strickland popping in the fastest lap of the night with a 24.316 second ripper in his chase. It came to a head on the critical final lap when both drivers crashed twice, but Strickland suffer least taking the lead back for one final time.  Ben Wilson held on early and then settled in for a long run to third.

1. Justin Strickland 23 10.29
2. Steve Madziara 22 10.01
3. Ben Wilson 20 10.03
4. John Silczak 19 10.07
5. Troy Taylor 17 10.17
6. James Atkinson DNS

Novice

A competitive 8-car field tonight included first-time racer Glenn Wade (welcome to the racetrack Glenn!).  Amiee Mackenziee was quick early before an impressive Mark Jones took over the TQ position in a ripper second qualifier.

These two went at it again in the finals, never far apart in a duel that lasted all the way through the ten minutes. Towards the end Amiee’s consistency started to tell, and she eased out to the biggest gap of the whole race as the final coundown began.  Behind the front two, Calvin James and Chloe Beresford were locked together, switching positions regularly and again, never far apart.  I’m loving seeing the improvement in the Novice class, with these four (and others) getting quicker and quicker.

1. Amiee Mackenzie  18 10.12
2. Mark Jones 17 10.03
3. Calvin James 17 10.22
4. Chloe Beresford 16 10.01
5. Sam Betts 13 10.08
6. Gene Newell 13 10.28
7. Michael Taylor 13 10.38
8. Glenn Wade 12 10.14

Tenth Buggy

Off the back of his first win at last month’s practice meet, Damien Betts was speedy in qualifying, serving notice that his continued improvement was no fluke. Paddy Hume did his best to destroy the B44 but struck back to go quickly in Q2 and set up an intriguing final.  Damien was quick away, opening a small gap as Paddy fought off a speedy Jarrod Painting – the front three staying in that order with gaps slowly opening as the race progressed.  Paddy pushed hard, but Betts had all the answers, going on to a second straight win, and first blood in the Spring series.

1. Damien Betts 23 10.06
2. Patrick Hume  22 10.00
3. Jarrod Painting 22 10.25
4. Matthew Chandler 17 10.24

Tourers

Andrew Mackenzie joined the tourer brigade tonight, with immediate results taking a first-up qualifying win before Rocket set things right with a Q2 victory and with it the top qualifying spot. Come finals time, and Rocket went right on with the job, quickly opening a one lap lead over Mackenzie, and then sitting on it comfortably through the mid-race period.  When Andrew ran into steering issues, Rocket was safely clear at the front, while a fascinating duel between the repair skills of Mackenzie and the pursuing pair of Derek Beresford and Ian Scott developed. Andrew’s fast pit work returned him to the track in third, momentarily regaining second before a recurrence of the problem put him out, Beresford a deserved second, Ian third.

1. Rocket Houghton 50 10.07
2. Derek Beresford 34 10.03
3. Ian Scott 33 10.03
4. Andrew Mackenzie 32 9.31
5. Matthew Chandler 32 10.11
6. Peter Hutton 11 3.23
7. Graham Viney 9 2.41

Short Course Trucks

Short Course is always competitive, but the return of Sam Wells and Josh Fogarty boosted it to even greater heights. Wells played himself in gently in Q1 before striking with a fast run to lock up the TQ position ahead of Scott Guyatt.   Superb efforts also brought Richard Green, Graham Viney and Jade Chandler into the 9-truck A final.

Andrew Green  jumped to the lead in the B final early, stretching away from Chris Madziara and Sam Leeder (happy 18th Sam!). Chris closed in mid-race before Greenie got going again to fly away to a near one-lap victory at the death. Alexander Wade chased Sam hard finishing just a handful of seconds away.

1. Andrew Green 21 10.15
2. Chris Madziara 20 10.11
3. Sam Leeder 18 10.18
4. Alexander Wade 18 10.24
5. Ian Scott 16 10.35
6. Philip Ferguson 14 10.20
7. James Atkinson 12 10.33
8. Derek Beresford DNS

The A final was close to the best SC Truck race we’ve yet seen at Rutherglen. Wells and Guyatt put on a cracking race, with the last minute in particular impressive. Wells led early with Scott making a critical mistake, the two running throughout the 10 minute race split by about five seconds. A late race error from Wells brought the two together for one mad final minute, the trucks hitting the line just a tenth of a second apart, a well deserved win to Sam Wells.  Mark Rayner overcame a fast Andrew Mackenzie for third, with Andrew dropping into a very tight mid-field with a couple of mid-race issues.

1. Sam Wells 24 10.21
2. Scott Guyatt 24 10.21
3. Mark Rayner 22 10.23
4. Rodney Houghton 21 10.02
5. Josh Fogarty 21 10.11
6. Andrew Mackenzie 21 10.13
7. Richard Green 20 10.25
8. Graham Viney 18 10.10
9. Jade Chandler 18 10.13

More great racing action next fortnight at Rutherglen. Be there Oct 27th!

And best of luck to Justin Strickland, Mark Rayner Matt Hodgetts and the rest of the NWRCCC crew on their trip to the Victorian 8th Offroad Champs next week. We’ll bring some results, or you can follow live at http://www.slyfoxrmt.com.

Racing this weekend is at Latrobe (outdoor offroad) and Hobart (10th EP touring cars).