Just days after rain flooded half the Ipswich track, we have seen two fantastic days of racing on an excellent circuit – and the crowning of 6 new Queensland Champions. Darren Perry (2wd and 4wd Modified), Kyle McBride (2wd and 4wd Stock), Steve Perry (Mod Truck) and Dave Lawrence (Stock Truck) wore the biggest smiles – but not too many left disappointed. Here then is how it happened….
Track: The Chargers R/C club presented what I think is the best layout ever put down at the Leichardt tennis complex. Some really challenging corner combinations, tough jumps, and an excellent and resilient surface. Considering the flood it received during the week, conditions were excellent as practice began Friday at midday. All day Saturday the track remained quite consistent with fast times set throughout the day. That definitely wasn’t the case Sunday however, with track conditions very slippery early, before cleaning up to be extremely fast by the end of the day. In 2wd modified at least, the only round of qualifying that counted was the last – such was the improvement in conditions. Ashley Peeler sat 3rd after three rounds of qualifying, and after failing to improve in the vital fourth qualifier, dropped to a remarkeable 13th position! Certainly a good argument for a “qualifying points” system rather than the traditional fastest run. Notably AARCMCC have just proposed such a system for EP racing in Australia….
Organisation: Ably led by Mark Fahren-Price and Dave Lawrence, the guys did a good job of running a friendly and efficient event. Aside from a small delay Saturday morning to resolve a transponder-loop problem, everything ran like clockwork.
Racing
Stock Truck: This class always looked like a battle between the two local fast men – Dave Lawrence and Chris Schoenfisch. The two swapped the TQ spot all morning during qualifying, before Dave finally nailed down the spot in the final qualifying round. Some tough starts for Chris in the finals meant that Dave was able to sneak away when it counted and nail the win with two straight victories in the first two legs of the final. Dave broke down on lap one of the third, but by then it was academic. Chris took that third leg win, with Jeffrey Godfrey and Gary Sturdy consistently the next two fastest to lock down third and fourth respectively.
Modified Truck: A disappointingly small field of just 6 trucks faced the starter – and Steve Perry basically won with ease. Steve Smith made a welcome return and was fast at times, and easily finished second ahead of a rapidly improving Michael Crookes and Hayden Cutfield. Todd Trower and Paul Seliminovic didn’t start the finals series.
4wd Stock: The big question here was whether young gun Kyle McBride (who must be about 12 years old at a guess?) in his BJ4 could turn potential into performance after easily being the quickest in the leadup to the event. The answer was an emphatic “yes” as the youngster turned in the three fastest qualifying times to comfortably secure pole. Ryan McColl (Losi XXX4) got over a slow start to improve throughout qualifying to lock down second ahead of Adrian Beggs (BJ4 and a recent convert from bitument to dirt) and Jason Wakefield (rapidly returning to dirt-track form with the Tamiya 501X). Realistically these four were the quickest. McColl upset the apple cart with a first leg win over a slightly nervous McBride, before Kyle got things together to win big in the last two very entertaining A final races – and secure his first Queensland Championship over an impressive Ryan McColl. Beggs got the better of Wakefield in the battle for third place as the twosome came to grips with jumps and bumps.
4wd Modified: The powerhouse class (and unashamedly my favourite R/C class) saw some big action today. At the front however, Darren Perry (BJ4) was basically untroubled to take the win. Despite at times being threatened during qualifying, when the finals rolled around, Darren simply outlasted and outdrove everybody. It was an impressive (and amazing) 17th Queensland Championship win from a guy who only brings out the 4wd for big race meetings. Behind him it was less clear with Scott Guyatt (Kyosho), Ashley Peeler (Tamiya 501X) and Jason Dyckhoff (BJ4) fighting out the qualifying duel. Dyckhoff indeed looked like knocking Perry off in the last qualifying before a late breakdown cruelled his hopes. Come finals and a mixed bag of results (and some more breakdowns from Dyckhoff) and stellar drive from Todd Trower (Kyosho) put the remaining podium spots on the line with one race to run. Guyatt got there in the end to secure second from Peeler with Trower a close-up fourth and Dyckhoff fifth.
2wd Stock: Today’s question? Could McBride do it again? The young Queenslander (Losi) started out in good form, but trailed McColl (Associated) in the early qualifying heats, before getting it together in the fast afternoon conditions to lock up the pole from McColl, Alan Stons (Associated) and Jason Wakefield (Kyosho). Again, these four seemed to have a break on the field. The first A final had everything with the pace of McColl and McBride challenged by the consistency and patience of Wakefield and Stons. Finally when push came to shove McBride stood firm from Wakefield and McColl. Leg two and McColl – desperate to keep his hopes alive – drove purposefully once he found his way to the front to take the win from McBride and send it to a third leg. In that final race, McColl made a mistake early and gave the advantage to McBride who nailed his opponents to the wall with a strong drive to secure not just the race, but his second Queensland Championship for the weekend. I suspect it may be the first two of many. Congrats to Kyle and his dad Scott. McColl for the second time in two days secured second in a Queensland Championship, with Wakefield going one better than 4wd to lock down the final podium spot from Stons and Schoenfisch.
2wd Modified: Not only the glamour class, but unquestionably the toughest to drive, and as qualifying opened, conditions were challenging to say the least. Steve Perry was strong early in the day to lead, before Darren got going in round three. As I noted above, conditions were such that only really round 4 mattered – and it was there that TQ and the A final lineup was largely decided. Darren (Losi) secured the #1 spot from Steve (Associated) and a thrilled club president Mark Fahren-Price (Losi). Behind the front three it was a slippery pole – and in the midfield just a few seconds separated 6th from 14th – it was close! The first final gave no indication of what was to come, with Darren and Steve driving away from the field, and in fact, Darren easing away from Steve. Steve never let Darren get to far away, but the younger (DP) always looked to be in control. At the start of race two, a mistake from Steve dropped him back and it seemed likely that Darren would win easily and wrap up the title. One Mark Fahren-Price stood in the way, putting in a stellar performance to chase down Darren Perry (and how often do we hear that phrase?) and take the lead. Mark lead for a while, the Losi dancing over the jumps and sliding outrageously through chicanes. In the end however, the class under extreme pressure of DP told, and he was able to retake the lead in the final minute to get home for the win (and his 18th championship). No doubt, though, Fahren-Price was impressive (the first 2wd mod into the 24 second lap bracket). In the third leg, Darrn was out to sweep his opponents, while Steve and Mark fought over the other podium spots. After dropping back early, Fahren-Price was if anything even more impressive to make his way back to second place and once again put enourmous pressure on Darren throughout the 6 minute final. Once again, DP stood tallest, but not before Fahren-Price cemented not only a new reputation but second place on the podium from Steve Perry.
Full results are available by clicking on the “Results” tab above. Or, to go directly to the Index of results, Click here for 4wd/Truck Day, or here for 2wd/vintage/monster day.
Drive of the Meet: It’s hard to go past a double champion like Darren Perry or Kyle McBride, but I have to say, Mark’s 2wd mod final drives were the most impressive of the event from where I stood. He was fearless, fast and all but mistake free on a challenging and technical track, and all that after spending most of the week rescuing the event from inclement weather, and most of the weekend either filling race director duties, or helping out with a thousand small jobs. Between the second and third finals, while others worked on cars, Mark was out checking track barriers, and volunteer marshalling – before going out and putting in the drive of his life to chase down and nearly beat a guy who is unquestionably the best R/C driver Queensland has produced. I don’t know about anybody else, but can you guess that I was impressed?
My Race: I thoroughly enjoyed my competitive return to the dirt. I loved the track, enjoyed the atmosphere and the challenge of racing against different drivers and on that slippery, bumpy stuff that is quite different to my normal touring-car haunts. For Saturday I drove dad’s stock-as-a-rock Kyosho Lazer and with just one small change from the kit setup (40 weight oil in front shocks for the record) found a car that I could drive close to the limit but very consistently. It handled the bumps, jumps, turn in well and put power down effortlessly. The Novak 6.5 was more than enough HP for me. Early on I realised that if I drove it like a touring car about to overheat its tyres (ie take it easy!) I could turn competitive laps. Needless to say I was delighted to finish second. Also needless to say, like any true race car driver, I was disappointed not to have done better. I crashed on the first lap of each of the A finals (of my own doing) and so consigned myself to fighting back through the field, and no chance of chasing DP. I doubt I could have beaten him, but it would have been nice to try!
In 2wd, the truth came home to roost. 2wd mod buggies are very hard to drive, and I just wasn’t quite able to put in a mistake free run. I had the car (FT-B4 courtesy Peter Scott), the horsepower (again Novak’s 6.5) and the lap speed, but each time a couple of mistakes crept in in the back end of the race as the pressure overcame my ability! I ended up 14th, just 2 seconds out of the final. So near, and yet… In the pressure-free environment of the B final, I (naturally!) put in a clean run in a time that would have been well up in any of the A finals. As I said, I wasn’t up to the pressure of driving 6 mistake free minutes when it mattered. Nontheless, driving a 2wd buggy late on Sunday was amazing with grip enourmous and wheelstands easily possible just about anywhere on the track. After racing finished, I steered the new Kyosho Ultima RB5 of Todd Trower (thanks Todd!) and let me tell you, if I was in the market to get back into offroad racing, that would be my choice. Cheap, fast, easy to drive, and competitive. You’ll be seeing more of them on race tracks around Australia…
One final thanks to Dad and Peter for the cars I drove this weekend, and to the Chargers for putting on an enjoyable race. Well done all.