2010 Tasmanian Championships

2010 1/10th EP On Road Tasmanian Championships

Friday 5th March:
A rushed set up to provide the eager Victorian's with a temporary pit area were praised by the competitors that arrived well before we expected. Tables, chairs and power leads were in place and they were into the unpacking and preparing for practice runs. Race control was ready and the computer fired up in practice mode. Minor issues were encountered with transponder mounting positions in some cars, but that was quickly rectified and all cars were registering laps and times.

The 1st casualty of the weekend occurred when Max Brouggy's Mini did a belly flop on Jason Morris's stationary Stock Xray T2 009

By 7:00pm the "Interstate" competitor's pit area was taking shape

It was now time to get racing underway with the all important qualifying to determine grid positions for the Sunday finals. The 540 and Mini classes were going well and lap times were pretty much as expected. The major shock to our local Stock Class competitors was the main straight speed of the Tekin equipped cars. The timing and turbo functions of these speedies enabled the cars to reach speeds in excess of the Super Stock class cars. So unfortunately our local Stock team of Mark Davis, Rob Gillie, Matthew Cleaver and John Batich were lacking the straight line speed of most of the Interstate competitors.

With 4 qualifying rounds scheduled for Saturday and a further 1 on Sunday, our schedule was disrupted when the re-grading at the end of Q2 didn't work. It was not a good time for the Alycat software to play up. STMCC, Templestowe and Bendigo Alycat "experts" all put their heads together to resolve the issue, but alas it just didn't want to play fairly. As the manual re-grading of each class would take a considerable amount of time, it was decided not to re-grade, leave the groups as they were and get back to qualifying. It was also decided to run the Sunday 5th qualifier on Saturday as well. This would give us the time required on Saturday night to manually sort the results and re-load the finals entries.

Sunday 7th March:
A very fine rain mist greeted us at about 6:00am. By 7:00am the cloud was breaking and the sun beginning to shine through. Another warm to hot sunny day was on the cards. Perfect weather for racing. With a shortened race program now in front of us, we had a more casual and relaxed start to the day.

Racing commenced with the McCanns Model World 540B Main. Locals, Matt Badcock (TQ) and Scott Minehan lined up against 9 year old Tamika Simms from the Templestowe Club. Racing was close over the 3 rounds with Scott taking the top spot from Tamika in 2nd and Matt 3rd.

Next class to be decided was the Glenorchy Council 540A Main. Aaron Stevens (TQ - Templestowe FTR) lined up against his father, David Stevens (Templestowe FTR), Matthew Cleaver (STMCC), David Rush (STMCC), Edward Rolins (STMCC), Aaron Van Berkel (Boronia RCCC), John Rolins (STMCC) and Colin Clayton (STMCC). Aaron quickly wrapped up the title with wins in the first 2 finals.

It was down to the 3rd final to decide the rest of the podium positions with Matthew, David Stevens and David Rush in contention after the first 2 finals. Tangles in the first few corners allowed Matthew to put a small gap on the field. David Stevens hounded Matthew all race but couldn't get close enough to make a move and hold the lead. An early mechanical problem put David Rush out of contention. As they crossed the line, Matthew had a 1 second lead over David Stevens with a further 5 seconds back to Edward in 3rd. Matthew and David Stevens were now tied on points when their worst final was dropped. Matthew's better result in his dropped final allowed him to take the 2nd podium position over David on a tie break.

The Mad Mini's were the next class to be decided. Sponsored by Hobart MINI Garage, this class is always entertaining and competitive. A full field lined up to do battle, with favourites John Beggs (STMCC) and Nathan Tasca (Bendigo RCCC) ready to fight it out. The pre-race antics of the Mini's on the grid are always entertaining, with some chasing round and round in circles, a bit of pushing and shoving and the obligatory show of strength with the nose to nose tussles.

The siren sounded and the battle was on. John "Beggsie" Beggs took the lead with Nathan hot on his heals. Beggsie held a 2 second lead for most of the race until an error on lap 12 allowed Nathan to go through to the lead, David Stevens moved to 2nd spot and Beggsie dropped back to 3rd. Beggsie got back some dignity taking 2nd spot on the 2nd last lap and David finished in 3rd.

Nathan got the jump right from the start in the 2nd leg and was never pressured taking an easy win and locking up the title. Beggsie held down 2nd all race with Matt Wicks holding down 3rd place. After an incident in the first lap, David went back to 7th spot at the end of lap 1. By lap 7, David had moved up to 5th spot which is where he finished. After 2 legs, the other 2 podium positions would be decided by the last race, with Beggsie, Matt and David all in contention.

Beggsie got the jump in leg 3 holding down a good lead until a miss calculation, 3 laps from the end, saw his car clip the barrier and pop a ball cup off a rear upright. He struggled to get his car to the trackside for repairs, allowing Matt, Nathan and David past. This order was held for the final 3 laps. This result had Beggsie and Matt tied up on points with their best 2 legs. Beggsie secured the 2nd podium position with a tie break and Matt took out 3rd.

It was now time for the Bob Jane T Mart Stock B Main. A small field consisted of Darryl Simms (TQ - Templestowe FTR), John "JB" Batich (STMCC) and Matthew Cleaver (STMCC). It was fairly even for the first 6 laps of the 1st leg until an error by Darryl allowed Matthew by and he was never headed. Darryl finished 2nd and JB came home in 3rd. Matthew got the jump in the 2nd leg when Darryl and JB tangled in the first series of corners. Darryl got going before JB but Matthew was already 3 seconds ahead. Consistent driving by all three saw these positions remain static right to the end. Matthew had secured the Stock B win with two 1st places and Darryl locked up 2nd with two 2nd place finishes.

A full field of highly competitive Stock drivers lined up for the Bob Jane T Mart Stock A Main. Matthew Guidotto (Templestowe FTR) Matt Wicks (Bendigo RCCC), Chris Bismire (Boronia RCCC), Jason Morris (Dendenong), Lyndon Turvey (Bendigo RCCC), David Guyatt (Bayside RCCC), Tim Forster (Bendigo RCCC), Rob Gillie (STMCC), Mark Davis (STMCC) and Ryan Simms (Templestowe FTR) were eager to get underway. There was a great deal of action from these high speed cars. Matthew Guidotto reigned supreme taking out the first two legs with Matt Wicks finishing 2nd in both. Ryan Simms took out 3rd in the first leg from 10th grid spot but a DNF in the second leg allowed Chris Bismire to come home in 3rd spot. It was down to the third leg to decide the final podium position.

Matt took the lead in the third leg and held it until Matthew recovered from a bad start to claw his way back to the lead from 5th. This saw Matthew cross the line in 1st Matt in 2nd. The third podium spot was a battle between Ryan and Chris. Chris held a slender lead over Ryan early on. Some determined driving by Ryan allowed him to close the gap and pressure Chris, passing him on lap 8. Chris held on for a few laps until an error put him back to 5th spot, handing the 3rd podium position to young Ryan, as long as he drove hard and consistent for the rest of the race. He did just that and took a well deserved 3rd.

We were now down to the fast and furious Tasmanian Trophy House Super Stock A Main. Scott Guyatt (Launceston RCCC) laid down the gauntlet early in qualifying with some excellent driving and fast lap times. He bettered the previous lap record by close to 1/2 a second, getting into the 13 second barrier.

Lining up to do battle against Scott (TQ) were Andy McCallum (Templestowe FTR), Jamie O'Brien (Bendigo), Lee Harvey (STMCC), Mark Davis (STMCC), Peter Townsend (STMCC) and Dylan Perry (Boronia RCCC). As each leg got underway, Scott was pushed by Andy with Jamie and Lee close behind. The first leg saw Scott finish 1st, Jamie 2nd and Lee 3rd. Andy pulled out with a mechanical problem on lap 16. With the second leg underway Scott was pushed by Andy with the pair matching 14 second laps with Andy's occasional 15 second lap allowing Scott some breathing space. The battle for 3rd was on between Lee and Jamie, with Jamie making his way back through the field after an early incident to ultimately take 3rd from Lee. Once again, it was down to the third leg to determine the final 2 podium positions.

Scott and Andy got the jump as Jamie and Lee encountered problems in the first corner. Scott and Andy gapped the field with Andy just needing to drive a fast and incident free race to secure the 2nd podium spot. Lee managed to get the upper hand on Jamie early on until Jamie took 3rd spot on lap 10 after a determined drive back through the field. Lee tried a fight back but a few errors midway through the race allowed Jamie to get a good gap which Lee couldn't make up.

Throughout the 2 days of racing, competitors and spectators enjoyed burgers, sausages and cold drinks from the Glenorchy Lions Club BBQ. The Lions have always supported the STMCC activities and were more than happy to provide the catering services again this year. Lions President, Jim Foster, addressed the gathering as the presentations commenced. He thanked the interstate competitors for making the trip down to help make the event a huge success. He was impressed with the smooth running of the event and was excited to see what a great time all competitors were having.

The STMCC Committee and members would like to thank our interstate visitors for making the 2010 event one to remember. The racing was first class and the weekend was a fun time. We all look forward to the next time our paths cross, be it on your track or ours.

Keep watching this space for details of next years event. Make a note of the dates: