2019 South Island Indoor Champs Report

16th August, 2019

It had been twelve months since the Christchurch Indoor Radio Control Car Club (CIRCCC) had put on a weekend extravaganza of off-road carpet racing, and after many late nights and a lot of organisation from the committee it was time for round two!
After taking on feedback and learning a bit from last years event, the meeting was pushed out to two whole days with an earlier finish on day one, which saw most of the drivers turn up on day 2 looking a bit fresher!
Our President Luke Prattley had dropped a new epic track with a bit of everything - high speed chicane, technical double into 180 and some straights to let the motors wind out.
Before getting into the report, a massive thanks to the following people who made this event possible, in no particular order:
  • The committee for their relentless planning and focus - everyone chipped in to make this happen.
  • Our major event sponsor Juan @ Extreme Hobbies in Dunedin. Juan had an unfortunate accident the week of the event and was unable to join us - but we really appreciate the continued support you show. Speedy recovery mate!
  • Our class sponsors Chris and Cindy @ Dream Media, Luke @ Mainland RC Ashe and the boys at Hobbystation in Auckland (who are now stocking AE) and David from Beck Industries. The sponsors are a massive part in allowing our club to put on these kind of events and to keep making the club and sport better. Please show them support where you can.
  • The racers traveling to compete - we appreciate you coming to Christchurch to race with us.
  • To Catherine @ CMW Art & Photography for the photos.
  • The lads from The Christchurch Radio Control Car Club who basically gave up their weekend to come and run the meeting, doing all scrutineering, running the PC and keeping us all on our toes. It really allowed the committee to focus on their own racing this time around! Give them a follow and a like!
  • Our amazing hosts the Canterbury Kennel Association who not only provide us with a fantastic venue but also also keep us well fed during the event with Arvine whipping up a storm of pies, chips and toasties to keep hungry racers going!

Seeding

Seeding was once again based upon the three fastest laps in the single practice round. This gives the locals a slight edge with track and jump knowledge critical and this saw the usual suspects Ian Rickerby, Luke Prattley and Daniel Thompson setting the pace in the marquee 2wd and 4wd buggy classes however our Southern friends all the way from Invercargill David Beck and Regan Carter didn't let these guys have things all their own way.
The Invercargill posse made a recce visit to a recent club night and this was clearly paying dividends!

Qualifying

2WD Buggy sponsored by Dream Media.
Even in seeding, it was apparent that the racing would be closer than last year however as the racers began to settle into their pecking order three main contenders emerged - defending champion Ian Rickerby and local speedsters Daniel Thompson and Luke Prattley. These guys ran top 3 in three of the four qualifying rounds with guys like Mark Bidlake, travelling all the way from Nelson to keep them honest.
The gap between success and failure was so close in this class - as shown by top seed Regan Carter getting bumped out of the Amain by less than half a second by good mate David Beck on the last qualifying round - hope the car ride home wasn't too frosty lads!
4WD Buggy sponsored by Mainland RC.
4WD buggy was a little bit more open with other guys breaking into the top 3 as the cars seemed to be a bit more consistent and less prone to being on their roof! Tekno driver Jayden Jamieson was not there to defend his crown however Daniel Thompson was keen to go one better in the Associated B64 in 2019 and was an early pace-setter! Guys like David Beck and Lance Whittle were also right up there! Ashton Witte had came all the way down from Auckland and was running the new Associated B74 which seemed to find more pace as the weekend went on and saw him push right up into the A main with the fast boys on his last qualifying run!
2WD Short Course sponsored by Beck Industries.
The short course class was a little smaller than last year however there was only one man to beat - defending champion and traveling trophy-hunter Mark Bidlake was again dominating in the Team Associated SC6.1! Local fast lads Clay Sutton in the slime green Tekno frankenstein and Phil Sandford (taking a break from flying drones) were keen to have a crack however!
2WD Stadium Truck Sponsored by Hobbystation.
This class was a little smaller than last year however the entire podium were back to try and defend their title or to go one better from 2018. They were given a run for their money by Mike Peck, who was down representing the Hamilton club!
Peck was sandwiched right between last years podium in the same order!
Concourse
Congratulations to Ashton Witte who took out the concourse trophy in his immaculate Associated B74.

FINALS

2wd buggy
The big ticket event of the meet proved tight from the get go! Defending champion Ian Rickerby wasted no time in laying the smack down in the Associated B6.1 but the surprise packet was Dean Wong in his B6.1 who had pushed up from the B qualifying group to make his mark. Rickerby took out the first two races and didnt need to run the third! Luke Prattley was rapid in the fresh Yokomo YZ2-CAL3 ahead of Wong.
Congratulations Ian on going back to back champion in this class!
It was a great result for Team Associated - taking out places 1,3,4,5,6 and 7 in the 2WD Amain!
 
4WD Buggy
These finals were again very competitive however the results were a little bit more unexpected with Ian Rickerby pushing up from qualifying third to take his second class victory of the day and doing “the double” in 2019! Fantastic work from the veteran racer in his dialled Associated B64!
Luke Prattley was desperately unlucky not to take the win in his Yokomo YZ4 - taking out second ahead of David Beck in the X-Ray XB4 by tie breaker!
2WD SCT
After being absolutely dominant in this class for the second year in a row, all eyes were on Mark Bidlake to go back to back. Bidlake did not disappoint - running out comfortable winner in each of the mains!
The battle for the rest of the podium places got wild before Phil Sandford claimed second place ahead of Clay Sutton with Danny Lang unlucky to miss out!
2WD Stadium Truck
This class had a bit of an interesting subplot in that the racer who many felt had the fastest truck out there in 2018 - Ben Tiplady - was taken out by a wild truck on the wrong side of the track which ended his surge for the win! Could Tiplady go one better in 2019?
It was tight but in the end he could not beat out that man Luke Prattley again in the Yokomo who took out a well deserved class win after coming close in the larger classes! Tiplady was the second quickest out there in the X-Ray and was joined on the podium by Mike Peck who had shown some good skills all weekend. Mike beat out his fellow North Islander and third place from 2018 Mike King in some tight racing!
That concluded another tremendously successful meeting - congratulations to all participants the level of racing has definitely improved since last years event. The committee looks forward to bringing you this event once again in 2020 with maybe a few changes to test our racers even more!
Detailed results for all races can be found on LiveRC as always - this is a great tool to analyse your racing.
Next club meeting now Friday 27th September. See you then!
Author
Ross Martin
 

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