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Category: Winter Racing 2008/2009
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Published on Sunday, 22 March 2009 21:06
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Written by Blake Bell
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Hits: 298
Saturday, March 21st was the 17th race in the IROCC 2008/2009 winter season. We had a great night of racing with 21 entries in four heats of 12th Scale. The layout this week was very line critical, and it allowed racers to make up time by taking chances in a couple of sections. It really rewarded clean driving, as most mistakes meant for a slow "turn around" to get back on track.
Big congrats to Glenn Armstrong for securing his first ever 12th Scale TQ! Glenn ran away from the field in the first qualifying round, beating the field by a lap and a half. In the end, this run would stand up as TQ for the night! It's not often that TQ is set in the very first round of qualifying. Nice going Glenn!
Great effort from Don Myatt in the D-Main, finishing just a few seconds behind 2nd place finisher Dustin Anderson. Don ran his best race of the night, beating his qualifying pace by almost a lap! In the end, Jarrod Heap and Dustin would advance to the C-Main.
The C-Main was almost unfair with both Jarrod and Phil Cady in this one. Both of these guys had tough nights of qualifying and so it was going to be a long road to the top. Jarrod would go on to win his second consecutive race, and Phil would take 2nd. Both would advance to the B-Main. Gord Wood had some flashes of brilliance during qualifying, but beating Jarrod and Phil was going to be a tall order. In the end Gord would secure 3rd spot in the C-Main.
The B-Main was stacked with seven drivers of almost identical speeds. Daryl got a great start from the pole but made some mistakes later that would move him back through the field. Most of the other drivers made some bobbles in the early goings, and suddenly Rob Fantetti found himself in the lead. Rob led until about the halfway point in the race when he made a mistake and Doug Ball moved up into the lead. Doug made no mistakes from this point on and would go on to secure the win, and the first berth into the A-Main. Good to see Doug back on his game! Back to the racing, Rob ran very consistently in 2nd place, but he was being reeled in my Nick Newroth who sat in 3rd. Nick was running the fastest laps of the race and he made it close at the end, but Rob would hold on for a very well deserved 2nd place finish, and the 2nd bump spot to the A-Main! Congrats Rob!
The A-Main featured a couple of great races. Glenn Armstrong made no mistakes from his pole position and led the first few laps with Blake Bell in tow. Craig Roberts had a horrific crash on lap three and moved to the back of the field. He would work his way up through the field to challenge Doug Ball for 4th spot. Meanwhile, Jody Haddow was quietly running on his own in 3rd place, between the two battles. The Craig and Doug show continued on throughout the race and the two swapped positions more than a few times until Craig finally managed to pass Doug for good and went on to take 4th spot. Haddow secured another great A-Main placing by holding on for 3rd place. Haddow has been running very consistently the last few races.... Meanwhile, at the front, Glenn made a small bobble at about the 3 minute mark which let Blake move by to take over the lead. Blake would run just 10 to 20 feet in front of Glenn for most of the remainder of the race. In the closing minute Glenn really started to apply the pressure and he had his car just a couple of feet behind Blake. On the last lap Glenn was right on Blake's bumper, and he managed to get within about a half inch of Blake as they came around the last corner. It was a drag race to the finish and Blake managed to hang on for the win with Glenn taking 2nd! Great racing.
It was good to have 20+ racers again. Let's hope we can finish out the season with good turnouts for the last two races!
Race results are below, along with your best 13 of 17 races.
Read more: March 21 2009
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Category: Winter Racing 2008/2009
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Published on Sunday, 08 March 2009 09:08
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Written by Blake Bell
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Hits: 280
Saturday, March 7th was the 15th race in the IROCC 2008/2009 winter season. We had a very small turnout with just 14 entries in three heats of 12th Scale.
When Don's speed control gave up the ghost just prior to the C-Main, it was decided to compress into two mains, a B-Main and an A-Main.
The B-Main was fairly busy but Shane Archer and Daryl Jones ran very cautiously and secured the two bump spots to the A-Main.
The A-Main was epic. We saw some crashing about a minute into the race which let TQ Blake Bell get away to a sizeable early lead. Phil Cady, who had been running a close 2nd to Blake, moved back though the field while Glenn Armstrong was lucky enough to avoid the wreck and he moved up into 2nd place, but still a few seconds behind the leader. The race went on like this for several minutes, but Glenn was stealthily reeling in Blake. At about the six minute mark it became apparent that Glenn was running faster than Blake and that he would soon be in a position to challenge for the lead. Craig Roberts, who had been involved in the early wreck, had recovered and was running the fastest laps of anyone in the main. He found himself on Glenn's bumped just as Glenn was starting to pressure Blake. The three cars freight-trained around the track until there was about 30 seconds left. Blake tapped a board which pushed him wide and Glenn slipped underneath to take over the lead. Blake recovered well enough to sit in 2nd, just a few feet behind Glenn. With 30 seconds to go in the race Blake would trying everything he could to pass Glenn, but there was nothing doing. Glenn held a super tight line and made no mistakes over the final couple of laps, and went on to a very well deserved A-Main victory! Big congrats to Glenn for securing his first ever IROCC A-Main win!
Race results are below, along with your best 12 of 15 races.
Read more: March 7 2009
