Rotorstock 6 Report 2009

Pro Class

With Geff Rance breaking in testing the day before, and John Bradshaw a surprising no-show, it was another sadly depleted Pro class at Rotorstock.

Neither Chris Impey or Leon Green really performed at their best in qualifying, Chris suffering from the car jumping out of first gear, and Leon Green down on power due to boost problems.

Pro Class Final

Straight to the final, and with both cars running poorly, it would actually make for a level playing field and an interesting race! In the event, Chris was able to drive around his gearbox problem, and ran a respectable 9.8. Meanwhile, Leon’s boost problems left him struggling off the start, and then the nitrous kicked in at mid-track and sent him sideways! A bit of corrective steering and Leon limped across the line, squarely beaten by Chris who took his first Pro class win.

Winner: Chris Impey

Street Class

Qualifying in Street class was restricted to just two runs, and with no test day, it was a real test of car and driver. Johnny McKeon didn’t disappoint, taking his usual place at the top of the qualifying table with a strong 10.4, although notably lower than his personal bests. Roy Ashby was just behind with a 10.6, although his monster wheelstand on his first qualifier made him the talk of the show. Incredibly, Roy’s MR2 was undamaged after his high altitude shenanigans, and his second qualifier was fast and straight. James Willday ran a decent 11.0 with no drama, and Jeff Ludgate got in just one qualifier with no launch to speak of and ran an off-pace 11.2.

Street Class Semi Finals

Straight into the semis, and Johnny McKeon thought he had an easy ride against Jeff Ludgate, but similar reaction times saw them get off the line together, then Jeff pulled out an unexpected 9.9-second run to leave Johnny chasing his wake. This was the first time Johnny had lost an elimination round this year, and as a result, the final would be turned on its head.

Roy Ashby went up against James Willday, who once again suffered from breakages, and gave Roy an easy ride to the final.

Street Class Final

In the final, two competitors who had never been this far before. Jeff Ludgate took on Roy Ashby, and with neither being the most consistent performers, this could be anyone’s race. Jeff got off the line with an excellent 0.0 reaction, Roy was hot on his heels with a 0.2, but the more momentum Jeff gained, the more Roy seemed to lose, and eventually it was clear Roy had a problem. Jeff ran on to a personal best 9.8 at a monster 145mph!

Winner: Jeff Ludgate

FWD Class Qualifying

Qualifying in the FWD class was once again dominated by Guy Chamberlain, who pulled out an amazing 10.1 second pass at over 140mph to top the tables. In a completely different league, Douggie Gemmell just dipped into the 11’s for second place. Neil Knight followed Douggie for third place, and Richard Batty and Paul Creswell were straggling. But it was a tough qualifying session, with no practice day, and just 2 qualifying runs, there was no time to get up to speed.

Round 1

Guy Chamberlain had a bye-run in round 1, which he took very gently, appearing to have some sort of fault.

Neil Knight combined good reactions with a decent ET to dispatch Richard Batty’s FTO, despite Richard’s late charge that gave big MPH at the finish.

Paul Cresswell was away from the lights first in his elimination, but Douggie Gemmell pulled out of the hat an ET that put him just ahead at the line, driving round the slower car of Paul Cresswell, but leaving virtually no margin for error. An excellent race, with just 0.1 seconds separating the two at the finish line.

FWD Class Semi Finals

Guy Chamberlain launched hard for his semi-final against Neil Knight, but a cracked gearbox meant that he lost momentum at mid-track, handling the victory to a flying Neil Knight, and leaving the race wide-open for the final!

Douggie Gemmell had earned himself a bye run, which he took with a reasonably laid-back mid-12 to see him through to the final.

FWD Class Final

Two very closely matched competitors were lined up for a very tense final. Reactions would be all-important, and Neil Knight capitalised on this with a superb 0.0 second reaction which shot him into the lead. Douggie was dozing, finally leaving the lights half a second later than Neil, but even though Douggie quickly picked up momentum and was catching Neil, he had left it too late. Even a superb 11.8 second ET which was quicker than Neil’s couldn’t get back the time lost on the line.

Winner: Neil Knight

The round points and season standings table are on the main 2009 Points page.