Chesterfield Shootout Round number 2

It just seems to be an effortless task for the Chesterfield club and its members to put on good weekends racing and the increased entry for round two of the series were not disappointed. Track layouts during the regular 1/12 season have been very similar in design so the club decided to try something a little different and layout more of a low speed drivers track. Not only did this prove to be a success for the Blinky classes being raced over the weekend but it seems that all racers thought this was a welcome change to the usual high speed risk tracks.

Lee Palmer made a welcomed return to the hobby after a significant break, a steep learning curve getting used to all the new technology but not a bad showing for his return, also Stelios Bishop and John Parker just to name a few more made the trip up for the weekend and we hope to see everyone again for round three on the 2nd of September.

Tighter track, slower speeds, great fun and closer racing basically sums up the racing on Sunday. The competition was fierce in the growing 1/12 17.5 Blinky class, Andrew Sawyer taking the Gold medal in qualification and then getting that all important good start to the main final and never looking back. Kevin Creaser held off all challenges from Championship leader Russ Giles to finish Second overall on the day, Martin Bollenbacher switched from 10.5 to 17.5 for round two of the series and secured fourth overall while Terry Holmes started his shootout series campaign with an excellent sixth place finish.

It was an all change affair in the 1/12 10.5 Blinky class with none of the top six the same as in round one of the series. National A finalist Daniel Holmes set the fastest times in qualification and after some minor chassis tweak issues put on a very strong performance. In the main final a mistake from Daniel allowed Adrian Thorpe to get past and take the all important win with a superb drive and by some margin. With so many different people competing in the 10.5 class the championship is a little mixed up but Bob Hill currently heads the leader board with two solid A final finishes.

In world GT again a large increase in numbers made for a big shake up in the championship, the legend that is Vince Formosa still leads over all but Peter Craig was the man to beat all day from Chris Blakey and David Rollinson. The next round of the Shooutout on the 2nd of September is also the GT and F1 National so again we hope too see some more superb racing.

GT12 is becoming very popular with new entrants to the world of indoor carpet racing but also seems to be attracting some past Hero's of the 1/12 section. Mark Jewit, Karl Dransfield and Peter Craig stepped above the rest to lock out the top spots for the day but again that Legend Vince Formosa Leads the championship with everything to play for in the last few rounds of the series, will age and experience hold on to the spoils or the new young blood take the title?

In 1/12 mod its always about keeping in control and managing the pace as best you can. With the track tighter and a more demanding layout the cars were far more enjoyable to drive with less emphasis being made on ultimate power performance. David Spashett made qualification his own and continued that form on to win the final in front of Jason Butterfield and Luke Burley. Matt Rice showed fantastic pace in qualification and at the start of the final but then had his ESC go into nuclear meltdown before the eight minutes were up.

Round 3 of the series will be on the 2nd of September so don't miss out.

Kendal 4WD NW Regional

The day started off dry but the track was very fresh and unused.
The track was all grass and the clippings did get stuck in the drive shafts which made things very hard.

Stu Wood with the XX4 did not have a 100% day as he did not finish any of the qualifying but still managed to qualify 3rd.

The rain did stop play after the 4th round of qualifying so with this round to count Stu Wood has now been crowned Regional Champion 4wd 2012.

Stu has said ' This is the first year that he has managed to be Regional Champion for both classes in the same year and THANKS TLR/Horizon for all the support I have had over the summer'.

Thanks to Stu for the report.

Björn Prümper is SCT Vice Champion

Our Teamdriver Björn Prümper is german vice champion SC4WD 2012. He makes the second place after Jörn Neumann on the first official Short Course Championship in Germany.

All Drivers use Losi Ultra Digits SCT Tyres.

Thanks to Sasha Baumann for the report.

Woody Cleans up Nort West Regional Series

Driving the Team Losi Racing 22 Buggy in 2WD and the timeless XX-4 Buggy in 4WD, Stu has pilotted his Spektrum controlled vehicles to the top honours in both classes in the North West BRCA Regional series this year.  Despite being a fearsome competitor for more years than he'd care to remember, this is the first time that the well-respected Manchester based racer has simultaneously secured both crowns and was quick to thank Team Losi Racing and Horizon for their support over the season.

In return, all of us here at Horizon UK would like to say thanks to Stu for his great efforts and to congratulate him on his success.

Pro-Line Challenge

An annual event in the UK but a change of venue for this years Pro-line challenge would see 175 competitors at the ever improving Herts Track. The club have done an amazing job in designing some new track features both challenging and rewarding when driven correctly but also enhancing the overall layout of the circuit.

Things started a little slowly for the TLR team but Simon Reeves, Karl Jackson, Michael (Honey Monster) Lewis, David Spashett, Josh Adams, Darren Hayden-Ball and Mathew Lewis slowly worked away on their race programs to ensure they would be there at the end of the day. In the early rounds of Qualification Simon showed great pace claiming second in round backed up by a forth to secure his semi final spot early on and after qualification was finished Karl, Mathew and David had also secured semi final places for the team. Mr unlucky at herts Michael Lewis started well in qualification but some niggles during each run resulted in a quarter final spot, one he easily bumped out of in to a semi final but then again lady luck ran-out on him and a lost shock nut cost him any chance of a final place even though he had superb race pace. Up and coming TLR star Josh Adams found himself in the quarter final and bumping to the semi final. The impressive fuel mileage from his Nitrotec engine ensured he could easily make the 10minute fuel stop but with some early mistakes in the semi there was no chance to fight back, still a fantastic result at his first ever Pro-line event. Also a special mention for Mike Powel for bumping from the Quarter to the semi final with some great driving over the whole weekend. When the semi's were done and the dust settled the team had got four TLR 8ight EU cars into the main final, the biggest advantage had been the Nitrotec Engine giving all drivers and easy 10minute fuel stop strategy and so just one stop in the 20minute main. Karl was now even prepared to run 11m30 stops in the final with his Nitrotec engine to further remove a fuel stop from the 45 minute main.

A race of endurance was to rage on for 45minutes with battles going on all up and down the order, Karl worked himself into a great place to potentially secure a top three finish but only to run into trouble towards the end of the main with the same fate falling on Matthew Lewis. Simon and David were never more than 15seconds apart for the whole run slowly working away and picking up places, David only just beating Mr Truman by .01 of second across the finish line for 5th place overall.

A big thank you to all the club members at Herts club for making the event such a great success and to all TLR members for such a great team atmosphere all weekend.