Much More UK Rug Racers Round Four

With the Christmas and New Year celebrations over with, it was back to Wodson Park Leisure Centre for Round four of the Championship. Many people thought there would not be many drivers in attendance so soon after the Holiday period, but how wrong could they be with 105 drivers attending, racing in three classes. It seems that the mod drivers had lots to start testing for 2010 so had dusted off their mod motors to give them a blast around the excellent Muchmore UK Rug Racers 32m x 16m carpet track.

The track for this round at first glance looked very easy, almost oval like. Once you had completed a few laps in practice it became apparent that this was not the case. On the infield section a very fast chicane had been laid, which if took correctly and at speed could make or break a fast lap time. After this followed a 180 degree left turn then a sharp right onto the sweeper before the straight at the end of which was another fast sweeper, followed by another 180 turn, then a sharp flick to the left which took you back through the notorious chicane. This was going to be a very fast track, which the 10.5 and mod drivers would like so they could let the horsepower flow.

As you can imagine, there were lots of new goodies for everyone in their Christmas stockings this year and everyone was wanting to get back on track to start using them. This included everything from new LiPo’s and motors to new cars with everything in-between. Good job we were racing only a few days after the New Year’s Eve party’s then, thanks Rug Racers for the perfect hangover cure. There were lots of new cars on show with a few new Xray T3’s for some who had to wait for Father Christmas to bring them with many more receiving T.O.P. Photons as presents, you must have all been very good boy’s and girls last year.

After the usual and very helpful two practice slots for all classes it was time to get down to business with the qualifying, so here we go on with the racing.

TC3

It was business as usual for Philip Randall the current Championship leader posting a 27/ 301.08 with Dean Osbon also up to speed and hot on his bumper on a 27/ 305.33. Steve Henry made a good start to the day with his recent change to the new Photon chassis and secured third with a 27/ 308.37.

Philip put in a better run to go nearly a lap quicker in round two on a 28/ 307.27 which was not far off of the 10.5 Round one FTQ! Matthew Worton got his act together in this round and must have had a toe rope on the back of Philip’s car to come home a very close second on a 28/ 307.48. Dean just missed out on the 28 lapper club on a very clean but unlucky drive through traffic to post a 27/ 301.78.

Philip further extended his lead to take FTQ in the final run with a 28/ 303.85 with Matthew less than second behind him on a 28/ 304.55 with Malcolm Hall putting in a clean run to come across the line in third on a 27/ 302.26.

TC2

Initially, Ricky Copsey turned in some very consistant lap times to post a 28/ 302.27 with Charlie Ware close behind on a 28/ 305.73 and Richard King on a 28/ 307.28 so there was only five seconds covering the top three, so we were going to be in for some very close racing.

Ricky pushed the limits in Round 2 to go first with a 29/ 307.94 nearly a lap faster than his round one time. Ashley Wiffen produced a good run to come in second on a 28/ 304.04 with a hard chasing Paul Pinkney breathing down his neck on a 28/ 304.17.

Charlie finally found a good set up in round three and showed his full potential to post a 29/ 309.45 with Ricky a fraction of a second behind him on a 29/ 309.87 and Ashley further improving his time by a few seconds on a 28/ 302.55.

TC1

Chris Grainger was racing the new MI4 LP and to good effect posting a 29/ 304.49 with Elliott Harper and his new Tamiya ride in second on a 29/ 308.97 and another LP of Chris Kerswell just missing out on a 29 lapper on a 28/ 301.21. As usual for the mod drivers round one was more of a settling in race to get up to race pace but as the tracks grip goes up as per normal at Rug Racers so do the times, so we were going to be in for some very fast times from the mod drivers in the following rounds.

Elliott proved that blue is better in more ways than one by taking the round FTQ in the econd qualifier on a 30/ 306.99 with Chris G in second on a 29/ 303.15 and Luke Hobson in third on a 28/ 304.96.

With not much more room for improvement Elliott managed to shave a few more seconds off of his FTQ to post a 30/ 304.12in the final run while Chris K posted a very quick 29/ 301.12 just missing the 30 lap club that Elliot was in on his own for a change. Ben Cosgrove also showed well in this round and pooped in a 29/ 305.40. So Elliott looked the favourite for the win, but who would be giving him a run for the win?

Top Ten Qualifying Positions

TC3

• 1 Philip Randall
• 2 Matthew Worton
• 3 David Saul
• 4 Dean Osbon
• 5 Ori Sohachevsky
• 6 Malcolm Hall
• 7 Steve Henry
• 8 Dave Ledger
• 9 Mark Buonaiuto
• 10 Jordan Mckulsky

TC2

• 1 Ricky Copsey
• 2 Charlie Ware
• 3 Ashley Wiffen
• 4 Paul Pinkney
• 5 Richard Thorpe
• 6 Richard King
• 7 Scott Morton
• 8 Edward Clark
• 9 Steve Lissamore
• 10 Adam Pryke

TC1

• 1 Elliott Harper
• 2 Chris Kerswell
• 3 Chris Grainger
• 4 Ben Cosgrove
• 5 Phil Chambers
• 6 Luke Hobson
• 7 John Pape
• 8 Brian Eldridge
• 9 Steven Fuller
• 10 Mark Wallace

A Finals – TC3

Philip Randall continued his winning streak to win the first leg with a faultless 28/ 304.38 with Matthew Worton as every very close behind on a 28/ 306.90. Ori Sohachevsky had been keeping quiet all day mid way up the top ten, but took advantage of the misfortune of others to creep through the traffic to a fine 3rd place finish on a 28/ 309.52 his best time of the day so far, well done.

It was Matthew’s turn for a well deserved win in leg two with a 28/ 303.32 just edging across the line in front of Philip on a 28/ 304.53. Ori posted another quick time of 28/ 309.76 slightly slower than his leg one time, but I’m sure that didn’t bother him as he bagged another third place.

Philip wrapped things up in leg three with a 28/ 303.44 as he had another very entertaining scrap with Matthew which is becoming a common sight at Rug Racers with Matthew a few seconds behind on a 28/ 306.52. Ori made it three in a row and improved his time by just over a second on a 28/ 308.57 so great result for a new face in the A final, well done Ori.

TC3 A Final Overall Result

• 1 Philip Randall
• 2 Matthew Worton
• 3 Ori Sohachevsky
• 4 Jordan Mckulsky
• 5 Dean Osbon
• 6 Steve Henry
• 7 Mark Buonaiuto
• 8 Malcolm Hall
• 9 Dave Ledger
• 10 David Saul

A Finals – TC2

Ricky Copsey proved why he is the Championship leader by posting his fastest time of the day on a 29/ 305.38 in leg one of the A final. Charlie Ware was keeping him honest and came home a few seconds behind on a 29/ 307.99 with Paul Pinkney just miising out on the extra lap on a 28/ 300.20.

Ricky again put in another quick run to take the overall win on a 29/ 310.34 in number two with Paul on a 28/ 303.92. Ashley Wiffen placed in this leg to finish third on a 28/ 308.38 so 2nd was still up for grabs as we went into the final leg.

Ricky took a clean sweep in leg threewith a 29/ 302.79 again improving on his FTQ. Ashley took a photo finish to come home third on a 28/ 300.91 with Paul chasing him to the line in an action packed last leg on a 28/ 301.85.

TC2 A Final Overall Result

• 1 Ricky Copsey
• 2 Paul Pinkney
• 3 Ashley Wiffen
• 4 Charlie Ware
• 5 Scott Morton
• 6 Adam Pryke
• 7 Richard Thorpe
• 8 Steve Lissamore
• 9 Richard King
• 10 Edward Clark

A Finals – TC1

Elliott Harper went on to win the first leg on a 30/ 307.70 with Chris Kerswell coming home second on a 29/ 303.87 and Chris Grainger third on a 29/ 307.30.

Chris G decided enough was enough and it was his turn to win a leg in the second final on a 29/ 300.86, just over two seconds in front of Elliott on a 29/ 302.87 and Ben Cosgrove in third on a 29/ 305.53 so it was anyone’s final to win or lose and it was going to be a last leg decider, who would win?

Elliott was back up at the sharp end on a 30/ 304.35 and with it the leg and overall win. Ben came in second on a very respectable 29/ 301.36 and Chris G was very close behind on a 29/ 302.06 to take a fine third.

TC1 A Final Overall Result

• 1 Elliott Harper
• 2 Chris Grainger
• 3 Ben Cosgrove
• 4 Chris Kerswell
• 5 Phil Chambers
• 6 Brian Eldridge
• 7 John Pape
• 8 Mark Wallace
• 9 Steven Fuller
• 10 Luke Hobson

After Philip Randall winning yet another Round of the Much More UK Rug Racers in the TC3 class and having a 801 points total, so far, we can now confirm him as the 2009/10 TC3 Champion, 13 points clear of second place Malc Hall. Well done Philip it is no more than you deserve for a stella performance throughout the championship, even if there are still two rounds remaining! Will he improve on his score? I’m very sure he will try.

Ricky Copsey is still further extending his lead in the TC2 class over Paul Pinkney with a maximum score at this round and looks like he is also on course for a championship win, but anything could happen over the last two rounds. Ashley Wiffen is closing in on Paul and could challenge him for second, so it looks like as in previous years this super fast class could go down to the last meeting.

With there only being two meetings where the mod drivers have been in attendance I’m not sure how the points will be worked out at the end of the championship but as it stands after the the two meetings the drivers have been at so far here are the top three drivers: 1st Elliott Harper 2nd Chris Grainger 3rd Chris Kerswell. I’m sure that any of these well seasoned drivers would love to compete for the title of TC1 Champion. Lets hope we see them at the following remaining rounds.