Victorian State Championships-2006
 

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Photos courtesy of John Hallowell

It was a great flying day down at Knox on Super Sunday at Easter. Winds were light with temperatures around 19Deg C. The day was made to order for team race, with Vintage A being first up.

Andy Kerr, Richard Justic, Grant Potter and Hugh Simons were down from NSW to give the Vics some hurry up. They certainly achieved that goal and even put some curry in the hurry with fearsome hot laps and a new finals record to boot.

This competition was at long last going to showcase Paul Stein’s Olympian with Rothwell R250 up front. The first heat proved short on laps and they glided to the finish. A tweak of the tune by master pitman Paul did not disappoint and Rob Fitzgerald guided the racer to a stunning FTD of 3.18.81.

Jim and Colin Ray didn’t have the best of luck. They have not had the opportunity to sort gear and practice. Both have been very busy on a personal front with Colin getting married and Jim and Glenys moving from the city to a large country property which will shortly have its own control line circle! Anyone going to volunteer to help build the Grandstand?

Graeme Wilson and Mark Ellins had an excellent first round of 3.21.47 which would just about be the best ever heat time for this multi talented team. They elected to miss round 2 believing they were safe for a place in the last three. As usual, they were right.

Andy Kerr and Richard Justic put in two consistently fast times but were not helped by a missed catch that took precious seconds from what would have been a very quick race.

John Hallowell and Keith Baddock also put in a glided finish in round one. Keith knew what was required and the Dimpled Dumpling was a big improver in round two. However, a backwards start both times saw them eliminated from the final by .44 of a second, allowing Hugh & Grant (take the ‘&’ away and something sounds familiar…) into the final.

With ‘only’ a 3.22 on the board, and Andy breathing down their necks on 3.23 a big second round was a must. What happened was a DQ for an unintentional shut off. Didn’t matter though, as they still scraped into the final.

Of the other Victorian teams, Lance Smith and Murray Wilson showed promise with a best of 3.40, a time he will be odds on to better in South Oz next week. Ken Hunting had the ‘Nobster’ as his hired flicking hand. Neil Baker did well, the CS just didn’t have the awesome grunt of the NSW specials. In a perfect world, there would be enough R250’s for everybody. With a little patience and time, I’m sure there will be.

The final was an R250 fest. Hugh Simons flew the Dimpled Dumpling superbly, Grant Potter caught and started brilliantly. The result was a new record of 6.34.01. A truly outstanding performance. They could have been pressured all the way by the other two, but Graeme had an unfortunate run in as the model seemed to catch a wheel and bounce inwards. Paul & Fitz also had a less than perfect race with a 7.05 and you can bet the Olympian will be a lot better next outing at the Nats.

After a short break Classic B was next and the calm Knox air was soon disturbed by howling OS 25’s with rpms of 20,000 plus in the air. Contest Director was again Alan Lumsden and, just like Vintage A, kept the contest moving at a good pace.

Lack of practice was again against the Cosmics and despite the LA 25 and Crescendo having airspeed the equal of anyone, Jim and Colin had to be content with heat times a long way below their best. With a new model almost painted, these two are primed (pardon the pun) to make a big impact leading up to the Albury Nats in late December ’06.

Lance Smith had Murray Wilson holding his home made handle. No question, the former State Championship winning Antares and MRS modded FP 25 was fast, but the stops were just a little slow. The first round time was within 10 seconds of Wilson / Ellins.

In the second round the gremlins struck with a broken plug connector wire ending their race and finals chance.

John Hallowell and Keith Baddock were ably assisted by Paul Stein on battery. They used the Rocket first round and posted a 3.14.72 and then switched to the Super Swooper in Rd 2 to make a FTD of 3.06.97.

Graeme Wilson and Mark Ellins put in a workman like time of 3.25 and decided to sit out the second round. Ken Hunting and Neil Baker were having fun but their setup did not have enough poke to seriously challenge the front runners.

Time for the final. All three teams were quickly away. The Rocket had a edge on speed and was continually passing the Wilson / Ellins Double Dice.

The Cosmic’s Crescendo was holding its own but was down on laps and had one slow stop. With Keith getting 3 flick starts on both pitstops, the Rocket was never headed and coasted to a comfortable win.

1

Name

Class

Engine

1

Rd 6