A Backmarker’s View of the ISRA Worlds 2013, Kiev , Ukraine

[Greg N]

I’ll talk about the set-up here later, the racing is currently more interesting:

The A Group is running in Team Production right now. Currently Ragi-Ragis and a young kid (who’s unbelievably fast), both from Latvia, are in first, Fhyr and Nabotkins (Finland and Latvia) are in second (remember that you need to add the qualifying distance to the lap total for the final total).

You’ll want to know why many of the fast guys ran in the first two heats this morning and why some teams have negative qualifying distances:

We’re running at a large Toyota dealership somewhat outside of Kiev. The track is in the showroom, and the 2 pit rooms are about 30 meters and about 60 meters from the track. There is no telecom to the pit rooms, though there is a video feed of the scoreboard in the pit rooms. Consequently, communications between the track and the pit rooms is an issue.

Last night 8 teams were late for tech. 2 were late the ordinary way, meaning that they failed tech a couple of times and then ran out of time. But 6 teams, including most of the best drivers here, didn’t show up for tech in time. Those of you familiar with ISRA Worlds will know what happened next. There was a race jury or delegates meeting (I’m not sure which). It was noted that the rulebook clearly spells out what to do in a situation like this, so it was unanimously decided to follow the rulebook and all 8 teams were docked 10 laps. This was assessed at qualification, meaning that all 8 teams would be staring at the bottom and again remember that the totals are the race total plus the qualification laps.

Enough for now, I’ll see how the A group is doing.

Greg

[Greg N]

Near the end of the 5th heat, 3 teams, Jansons/Zaks (Latvia), Landrud/Dolzhan (Sweden/Russia), Nikitin/Vasilik (Russia) are on track to podium.

This does bring me to briefly mention something that I'll be writing a lot more about during this week. The best off track story of the last year's Worlds in Sweden was the huge Finnish team and all of those fast kids. This year, the clear big story is the very large numbers of Eastern Europeans (from many countries). There are a few kids and a few old guys in this group, and quite a few of the usual subjects (Ragi-Ragis, Nabotkins, Janson, Zaks, etc), but the rest are mostly 20 somethings and some are very fast.

Greg

[Greg N]

Midway though heat 7, Landrud/ Dolzhan are in first, the Russians are in 2nd, the Latvians in third.

Greg

[Greg N]

BTW, a flashback from last year: the team currently in 6th, Bergman/Sinisaari, are 2 kids. Bergman is Michael Landrud's adopted son, and Sinisaari is a young boy from the Finnish team. All of this very good news for our hobby, I'm thinking.

Greg

[Greg N]

And the winners of the team race are Michael Landrud (Sweden) and Nikolai Dolzhan (Russia). 2nd goes to Nikitin/Vasilik (Russia), and 3rd to Janssons/Zaks from Latvia. Michael has won a number of world championships, but I believe that this is the first for Nikolai.

Much more to follow, but not tonight.

Greg

[Greg N]

I forgot: the winners will stay as is, but you'll have to wait for the corrected results (qualifying laps added) to know where the rest stand.

Greg

[fxgeorge]

Greg, I know it's a lot of work to post stuff, but from my perspective I appreciate the news updates you are writing far more than trying to make sense of the webcam stuff. I'd rather read your reports, so please keep it up if you can! It's really great stuff. So happy to hear Michael and Nikolai won! I suspect both will do will this year. I remember Nikolai from the Chicago Worlds.

[Tmoore]

Thanks for the reporting Greg.

Too bad I'm not there to snap photos.

Нехай щастить! (Good luck).

Tony:cool:

[Wallbasher]

http://www.valiko-motors.com/ISRAWC2013/index.html

This link will help you with results.

[Greg N]

Tony,

I'm taking pictures, but I've not yet started to upload them. Maybe tomorrow or the next day. But they won't be anywhere near as nice as yours. Also, there's bad issues with backlighting from the windows during the day.

Greg

[Greg N]

I checked: This was Michael's 5th world championship: 3 in team, one in F1, one in 1/24ES. It's Nikolai's first world championship, but he's been really fast for a long time.

Greg

[Greg N]

1/32 ES qualifying is just starting, and there are a ton of racers, so I've got some time.

We're slightly outside of Kiev, in a thoroughly modern car dealership. We're in the Toyota one, but immediately adjacent is Maserati, then Mercedes, then another one, I forgot, then Opel. All in one enormous building that would look entirely at home in LA or Wichita. Behind the showroom, where the track is, is a large repair area with perhaps 20 stalls, all very clean and modern. Adjacent to these are 2 large rooms, probably really the parts department, but now they are our 2 pit rooms.

The hotel is a 16-20 story euro-modern building, a 10-15 minute walk from the track. It's nice there. There's a mild problem, in that there is an 8 lane divided highway between the hotel and the raceway. You get across by way of a Soviet style tunnel. That's a weird place. Could have been used in the Harry Potter movies. I'll see if I can take a picture of it tomorrow morning, but it'll be hard given the light.

The hotel is a Ramada. They have great breakfasts: European style with cheeses, cold cuts, tomatoes, and bread, fruit, yogurt, cereals, also hot stuff (eggs, hash browns, etc, but the other things look better to me, so I haven't tried them. For lunch we order off a menu and the food gets delivered. Everything a la carte. I always get a salad, soup, and a lemonade, but there are bigger hot choices as well. Changes every day. The salads are OK, the soups fabulous.

I've got to see when I'm up for qualifying. More later.

Greg

[mazur50]

Thanks for the updates Greg, it looks like a really good time and a great place to race.

-Mike

[Wallbasher]

Greg's running right now. Heat #5.

[86ed once again]

Greg, was it announced what the reasoning behind the dq's were in the production race?

[Greg N]

Well, I wrote a whole long piece about what it's like here in a broader sense, but it got lost on the upload. Last time I do that. The rest will be written on Word and copied to here.

But there's something brief to write about:

My teammate, Magnus Helgesson (Sweden) and I ran real well in the team race, came in 25th, which for me is just great here. A real victory.

So today I come to the raceway full of hope, start practicing on our elaborate schedule, but in the end it's really only 3 mins on each lane x 7 hrs. And the whole time I can't see in front of my car. This happens to me sometimes in 1/24 ES, only rarely in 1/32 ES. I don't really understand it, but it's related to aging, maybe in my case not so early dementia. :-) But the weird thing was, that by the time we hit qualifying, I wasn't fast, but at least I was able to see the track in front of the car (normally I can see about half of the track in front of the car). So I was feeling much better. So in the race (the second heat from the bottom, the L heat), I was actually able to run for real, the first time all day, the first 4 heats I turned down my choke each heat, and I ran very well overall, even tho I only got 223 laps (the winners of the heat races will likely be in the high 200s, low 300s), I'm really feeling good, because I got on top of my car and ran for real.

I'm now very hopeful for my chances in F1 and big Eurosport. This is one of the reasons to come to the Worlds. It's not all just about becoming the number one ranked racer in the world.

More tomorrow.

Greg

[LoudCat]

Thanks for the updates Greg. I really enjoy reading them.

[GT1]

Thanks for the updates Greg. Keep at it and have a great time :)

[Greg N]

Thanks, Roy, and Bernie!

I spent the late morning and afternoon in downtown Kiev, and had a great time! Much more about that later. Nice pictures to post, too.

Right now the A semi is running. The C semi felt not so fast to me, really the whole time. Raivis Jansons did the best by far, for really pretty much the whole race. Tire wear calculations seemed a little off to me. There were 3 late to very late changes. Raivis ended with 385 laps. I think that he's the only one with a chance to move and I think that that's unlikely.

The B semi was much quicker and smoother. Jiri Karlik at 395 has a good chance to advance, I think, and Chris Bruyninx at 387 is in pretty much the same shoes as Raivis.

Recek, Piero, and Vladimir are just smoking so far. It's great to watch these guys go. The martials have almost nothing to do. Sort of makes you feel small.

Greg

[Greg N]

I forgot: Watch Peteris Dunis, a 20s something kid from Latvia. He's new to the Worlds. He's a real quiet, polite kid. He's flying right now, and has been all week so far. If he keeps at it, I think that it's very likely that he'll become a member of the really very small Worlds fast guys club. He's currently in 4th in the A semi.

Greg

[Greg N]

I forgot #2: I haven't written much about the track. Black here qualifies, I think, as one of the hardest lanes in flat track racing. In this race Landrud dropped 3 laps on red, Recek 2, I think, and Horky 1.5. Makes me feel even smaller.

BTW, Matti just broke, not obvious what, but he lost a ton of laps and is likely out. Currently Karlik and Bruyninx will move up.

Greg

[Richland68]

Arghhhhh

Just went off air mid 7/8 of A Semi
Top 3 from the 1:32 semi's - all from A Main
J Recek was strong 1 or 2 but fell back on 6/8 white with car issues
V Horky was 4th overall at time
P Castricone moved to 1 mid way in race
M Fyhr steadily came on strong broke mid 6/8 fell from 2nd
A Vojtik moved into 3
P Dunis up then down
J Karlick from B main moved to 3/4

Oh well

[Greg N]

Just finished the A semi. In the end, all of the usual subjects made it in except for Matti Fhyr (break down) and Paul G (mid-pack in the slower, rougher C semi). Replacing them are Peteris Dunis and Chris Bruyninx. The latter no surprise, but very welcome for me as he has worked so hard as the interim ISRA president, the former some really good news for our hobby.

Now a 30 minute break and off we go with the final.

Interestingly, they don't have the tire wear down well. In the A there were some more very late, somewhat clumsy changes, and some hard crashes, likely also due to tires. I'm thinking that you'll see almost everybody changing tires in the 5-6th heat in the final, since they are 5 mins/lane.

Greg

[Greg N]

One thing that seemed pretty clear in the A was that some of the drivers were just hanging near the top, assuring that they would make the final, but not particularly pushing it. I'm thinking that that will change in few minutes. If you recall, Matti won last year's 1/24 ES final by taking off like jack rabbit right at the start. He got up 3-4 laps right in the beginning, and just stayed there for the rest of the race. I'd be surprised if this has been forgotten, and I'll bet that they all take hard in the beginning.

Greg

[Greg N]

First heat over. Horky put 2 laps on Dunis, everybody else 3, except Byuyninx 5 and Landrud 6. Michael had a very hard black with lots of offs.

[Greg N]

End of heat 2. Michael and Chris are definitely slower, and Dunis had a tough purple, losing 7 laps. Youv've got Horky in the lead, Castricone and Recek down 3, Karlik and Vojik down 5.

Greg

[Greg N]

More crashes this heat. Horky still in the lead, but Recek gained a lot, down 1, now Piero, Karliy and Vojcik all down 5. Dunis down 13, Landrud 14, Chris 17. Recek gained 5 laps I think on purple!

Greg

[Greg N]

Heat 4: Vojcik had a rough purple, Recek a tough black. Chris and Michael remain slower. Everybody else flying. You've got Horky in the lead, Karlik down 4, Piero and Vojcik 7. Lots of tire changes going on, including the leaders.

Greg

[Greg N]

Heat 5: Karlik, no tire change gained a bunch and he's currently catching Horky, who's on high tires. Don't know if he'll need a change. Horky in the lead, Karlik down 1, Piero 5, Vojcik 9, Dunis 11, Recek 12. Landrud and Bruyninx are down 18.

Greg

[Greg N]

Heat 6: Horky on black lost 2 laps to Karlik who now leads by 1. No tire change yet for Karlik. Vojcik had a bad yellow, don't know why. Don't recall if he changed tires earlier. Piero down 3. Dunis and Recek 12.

Greg

[Wallbasher]

Peiro flying about .15 faster than the rest..... does he have time?

[Greg N]

Heat 7: Karlik on black, Castricone flying on green, Horky on yellow. Michael got warned for unsportsman-like conduct, don't know why (there were no raised voices) and promptly dropped out. He'd been in 7th. Dunis had a hard red. Going into the final heat, you've got Horky in the lead, Karlik down 1, Piero down 2. Karlik lost 2 laps to both Hory and Piero, but he was on black.

[Wallbasher]

Piero flying but crashed & lost a few.

[Greg N]

Mid 8th: Horky ending on orange, Karlik yellow, Piero blue. Horky and Karlik tied, Piero down 3. Great race!

[Greg N]

It's over. Horky and Karlik ran the whole heat within a few feet of each other, until Karlik fell off pushing really hard. So it's Horky 1st, Karlik second 1 down, Piero (who stopped with a 30 secs to go, a really good sport!) down 9. Don't know the rest yet, as they're fussing with the computer. Leaders now being teched.

Greg

[Greg N]

Horky 499.27
Karlik 498.30
Castricone 490.84
Recek 483.32
Dunis 476.77
Bruyninx 471.71
Vojcik 467.94
Landrud 362.00

More tomorrow. Hope you liked that final!

Greg

[Tmoore]

Exciting reporting Greg. Thanks!

.. now back to my spreadheets ..

Tony:cool:

[Greg N]

Everybody's through tech and qualifying just started in F1.

Two additions to the 1/32ES report:

1) I checked: Michael Landrud's warning and his dropping out were no big deal for either him or the race director. He'd changed axle bearings between races and inadvertently soldered his rear axle to one of the bearings. He blew a gear, and in trying to get the axle out he was slamming his car (the rear axle) into the driver's panel. So he got warned and told to stop. He tried for a few seconds further to get it out, realized that it was soldered in tight and decided to drop out.

2) Dunis knocked off one of his front chassis ears in a crash during the final. It was found at post-race tech: it was riding around stuck to the front magnet of Jiri Karlik's car.

Greg

[GearBear]

Great job reporting Greg! Sounds like you are having a great time... Good luck in the rest of your racing!

[Greg N]

Thanks, Gary!

The C semi is running. We've got Andrey Remmel (Russia, I think), Peter Taurins (Latvia), Janis Rage-Ragis (Latvia), Jan Zemlicka (Czech), Anders (Gus) Gustavsson (Sweden), Peteris Dunis (the fast Latvian kid from the other night), Maxim Tretyak (Ukraine), and Antonio Merlini (Italy). Half way through it's Zemlicka in the lead, Dunis 2 down, Rage-Ragis 3 down, and Remmel 4 down.

After a disastrous time in the heat races, the entire US team is out. Mechanical problems for many of us, and additional slow driving by me were the causes. In Paul's case, he was driving well, but his chassis wasn't working properly.

Greg

[Greg N]

Three of them are kids, and Rage-Ragis is the only gray hair, tho he's the craziest gray hair in the ISRA community, probably really any community. :-)

As an aside, the speeds that these guys are driving the F1s around this truly tough track are amazing. There are 3 to 5 fall offs per 4 minute heat total, and those mostly on black and purple. And it's only the C-Semi.

[Greg N]

I forgot, you'd asked me about all of the disqualifications in the team production race. That was also simpler than it probably seems from the outside.

After the races, the top 3 cars undergo detailed tech. 1 car was disqualified. But the next 3 (I think) that were teched (in order to find a third place) all failed, too. So it was decided to tech all of the cars. Of them, a total of, I think, 4 more were also illegal, hence the high number of disqualifications. Most were for front axle diameter (1 mm carbon fiber rod is actually 0.8 or 0.9 mm diameter) and for ground magnets. You're allowed to grind the can, but you can't touch the magnets.

As to why this wasn't picked up pre-race, the front axles should have been. The cans are harder. Currently you're allowed to run glued gears in production. You can't remove the rear axle on a production car without unsoldering the motor.

As to why you'd want to run an axle/gear combo that you can't change in a 60 minute slot car race, I don't have a clue. :-)

[Greg N]

Zemlicka 338.38
Dunis 328.89
Remmel 325.14
Taurins 316.40
Gustavsson 312.66
Tretyak 310.93
Rage-Ragis 271.00
Merlini 206.00


Greg

[Greg N]

If you compare Jan Zemlicka's 338 here with Raivus Jansons 385 in winning the C semi in 1/32 ES you can see how fast they're going.

In the B semi it's Castricone (Italy), Raivus Jansons (Latvia), Pavel Flaisig (Czech), Jiri Karlik (Czech), Andrey Zhabanov (Russia), Gavin Wills (England), Sandis Spricis (Latvia), and Alex Leite (Brazil).

Gavin is an interesting story. He wasn't in Chicago, so most of you won't know him. He's only been racing for a couple of years, and progressing rapidly. He's a huge fan of funny car drag racing, even took a course in the US on driving them. He also is the director of a large and successful Formula 2 (1:1) racing team. He missed the team race because he was at Monza, where his cars ddi great, I think 1st and 2nd. Personally he is very quiet, polite, and very nice.

Greg

[Greg N]

Half way through the b-semi you've got Piero projected at 333, Flaisig at 331, Zhabanov at 328.

Greg

[Greg N]

Castricone 337
Zhabanov 331
Flaisig 330
Spricis 324
Wills 321
Karlik 318
Leite 285
Jansons 110

I was correct, the C-semi was indeed very fast.

Also, Gavin did just great!

Greg

[Greg N]

The A-semi just started. It's Paolo Trigillio (Italy), Matti Fyhr (Finland) (whose name I always misspell!), Nikolai Dolzhanky (Russia), Vladimir Horky (Czech), Jaroslav Recek (Czech), Janis Nabokins ( Latvia), Antonin Vojcik (Czech), and Michael Landrud (Sweden). If nobody breaks, this could be the same bunch in the finals.

Like the C-semi, they're flying, and only rarely falling off.

Chris Breuyinks (Belgium and ISRA interim president) was interesting in the A heat. He blew a gear in the first heat, replaced it, worked his way up to 7th overall projected in the 8th heat, including a 5.1 lap time, then blew another gear and was out.

Greg

[Greg N]

A-semi, half-way thru, you've got Nabokis projected at 342 first, Fyhr at 341, Trigillio at 339, Horky at 338, Dolzhanky at 335, Vojcik at 329, Landrud at 324, and Recek at 316. At this projection, neither Recek nor Vojcik will make the final.

In addition, just now (start of the 5th), both of them just got a 3 lap penalty for putting their cars back on the wrong place. (I'm not sure that this penalty will hold tho, more later.)

Greg

[Greg N]

The penalties didn't hold, as I'd expected. They dealt with working on the cars at the driver's station, which is in a broad sense legal.

It's over. The top 4-5 drivers did not run hard near the end, so all bets are off for the final.

Horky 343
Fyhr 341
Landrud 338
Nabokins 338
Trigillio 337
Dolzhanky 336
Recek 320
Vojcik 319


Implies that Jan Zemlicka will move up from the C-semi, Piero Castricone from the B-semi, and that they will race with the top 6 above.

I'll be back in 30 minutes with heat by heat for the final. Given how fast Castricone and Zemlicka were, I think that it will be a great final.

Greg

[Greg N]

1/32 F1 Finals

The line up is
Trigilio
Fyhr
Nabokins
Horky
Castricone
Dolzhanky
Landrud
Zemlicka

At the end of the first, it's Horky with Castricone 1 down, Dolzhnky 2, Fyhr 2, Nabokins 2, Trigilio 4 Landrud 4, and Zemlicka on black 5. Clean so far, everybody flying. Somebody got a 2 lap penalty for a false track call, I missed who.

Greg

[Greg N]

Heat 2: a much rougher start, 2 track calls and a hard crash under the bridge.

You've got Horky in the lead, Nabokins 1, Dolzhanky 2 down, Fyhr 2, Trigilio 2, Landrud 6, Castricone 8, and Zemilicka 9. I didn't see the crash, but it must have been Piero and probably Jan.

Greg

[Greg N]

Heat 3: Clean and very fast. Nabokins, our Gothic slot racer, just did a 5.1 on purple. (?!)

Horky in the lead, Nabokins 1, Dolzhanky 1 down, Fyhr 2, Trigilio 2, Landrud 11, Zemilicka 12, and Castricone 15.

Piero was lapping ok at the end, but I'm thinking he must have broken.

Greg

[Greg N]

Heat 4: Piero lost a lap at the counter, it'll be added back, not sure if at the end of the heat or the end of the race.

You've got Horky still in the lead, Fyhr 2 down, Dolzhanky 3, Trigilio 5, Nabokins having lots of trouble on black at 11, Landrud 13, Zemilicka 16, and Castricone 25.

Looks like Piero won't be repeating as the F1 champion.

Greg

[Greg N]

Heat 5: Horky running 5.2s and 3 on blue, nobody else currently going that fast consistently. He'll stretch out if this continues. Nabokins just broke, I think a gear. Zemlicka was in the pits, too, briefly. Didn't see why.

Horky in the lead, Fyhr 3 down, Dolzhanky 5, Trigilio 8, Landrud 16, Zemilicka 24, and Castricone 32, Nabokins 54.

Greg

[Greg N]

Heat 6: Nabokins is back, just ran a 5.1412. The top 5 are all flying.

Horky in the lead, Fyhr 3 down, Dolzhanky 7, Trigilio 9, Zemilicka 25, Landrud 30, and Castricone 41, Nabokins 54.

Matti's going to have to make a move to catch Mr. Horky.

[Greg N]

Heat 7: Horky is on black. Landrud pulled. Reason unknown but no loud crashes or yelling.

Horky lost 3 laps on black, Fyhr now tied (actually about 4 meters behind), Dolzhanky 7, Trigilio 8, Zemilicka 25, , and Castricone 42, Nabokins 52, and Landrud 72.

Look for a great finish!

Greg

[Greg N]

Heat 8: Matti on orange, Horky on yellow. Matti's 1/2 lap with 2 min to go.

Greg

[Greg N]

Matti got behind again, not sure when, but passed Horky again for the win with 10 secs to go. Won by a few feet.

Matti pumped his fist a la Beuf and promptly lifted Piero Castricone about 3 feet off of the floor, implying, I'm thinking, that he used a Piero chassis. :-) Another great race!!

Greg

[zipperi]

Wow! What a fight! Congrats Matti!

[Greg N]

No lap totals out yet.

Matti ran a Castricone.
Horky a new Horky/Recek.

Andy will post pics and the lap totals on his facebook page, so I'll sign off for now.

Hope you enjoyed the race!

Greg

[Mike K]

Greg-

Enjoy! And thank you for the on-the-scene reporting. Cheers to the USA guys!

[Greg N]

Thanks, Mike!

To put the speeds of the F1 race in perspective, Nabotkins ran a race fastest 5.00 today, and Matti had multiple 5.1s when he was chasing down Horky. The fastest guys in practice with their 1/24 ESs are running 3.9s.

The other thing that's amazing to me is that while Vladomir Horky has now won 30+ world championships, it is not for lack of good competition.

Greg

[GearBear]

Great commentary Greg! Reading this series of posts made me almost feel as if I were there. Thanks so much for your awesome reporting!

[Greg N]

Gary, thanks!

Now that was a slot car race! Pass Vladomir Horky to win in the final couple of seconds in a world championship final! If Zemlicka's car had not come off in the final corner because the power went off, Horky would have likely finished only a foot or so behind Matti.

And as I already wrote, some of the lap times were unbelievable.

Lastly, Nabotkins break down was a blown gear.

Greg

[Mic Byrd]

Greg
Thanks for all the great reports.

[Forsyth Racing]

Greg awesome job. Good luck in 1/24th euro. See you in Seattle. In April.

[Jerzey JayRo]

Thanks for the well reported updates!!!! Great job Greg

[Greg N]

Welcome to the 1/24 ES heat races. We all qualified and ran better today than in F1. I ran in the 3rd heat from the bottom. Qualified best ever for me in big euros, at 4.26. Horky Tq'd at 3.55. :-)

I raced in the third heat race from the bottom. I was able to see the car real well today and was able to drive it faster than ever before. Many 4.3s-4.7s in a row. Never drove that fast. Used to be a dream of mine. Only problem was I'm not used to going so fast, so I crashed a lot. But I learned a ton, so I'm fine. Lest one of you write this in here: I'm well aware that I could have learned this lesson far cheaper just racing in Chicago. This is certainly true, but I did have a great time here. Also, lest you bring this up: I could have gone slower and made more laps, but I felt that it was more important to learn how to drive that fast.

Mike Hould qualified in the middle and raced a couple of heat higher than me. He ran real well, but dropped out due to guide problems.

Mike Aquirre is driving real well in the E main, with our acquaintance from 2 days ago, Gavin wills. Both out-qualified Peteris Dunis (also from the other night). Paul G made it into the A heat.. :-)

I'll update soon re Mike.

Greg

[Greg N]

The D race is running right now.

Mike pulled near the end, I don't yet know why.

The D is of huge interest to all of us in that you've got Chris Breuyninx (a 40 something), Sandis Spricis and Nikolai Dolzhanky (both in their 30s), 4 early 20's guys, and 12-14 year old Finnish kid.

Note that Jiri Karlik for example already ran.

Greg

[Greg N]

Mike blew a can bearing. He's feeling fine. Making it to the E race and running with those guys is really pretty great!

Please congratulate him when you see him.

Greg

[Greg N]

All these kids are getting pretty excited, and the race is starting to look like a very fast open 12 race at Mid-AM, just much faster. I'm thinking that Chris, Sandis, and Nikolai would have done better to qualify a little slower. :-)

Actually, Sandis is now in the pits making repairs.

Greg

[Greg N]

Sandis is out. Nikolai and Chris are flying in race now more like the group 7 F quarter at the Nats.

Greg

[Greg N]

Now Chris is wounded. Nikolai is on a pace to maybe make the semis, but Chris is likely out.

[Greg N]

Nikolai won with 333, may be enough. They should let him advance for just finishing that race. :-)

Greg

[Greg N]

The rest of you probably figured this out way before me. All of the races have been a number off. That D was actually the C.

And to take the suspense away, Nikolai Dolzhanky did make it in. And if ever a racer deserved it, he did!

I'm a little behind, I was delayed by the Swedish team which is drinking some vodka in the back. But, I can still type.

In the actual B, you had Raivis Jansons at 349, Piero Castricone at 346, Paolo Trigilio at 341, Janis Sneiders at 340, Andrey Remmel at 339, Janis Rage-Ragis at 330, Pavel Flaisig at 328 and Heiki Sinisaari at 322.

Means, I think that if all of the A's beat Heikki, that Laquardia Vidal Breno and Jan Zemlicka advance from the D, Nikolai and Oleksaner Miliukov from the actual C, and Jiri Karlik, Kaiar Tammeleht (a very fast and very nice guy from Estonia), Kari Sinisaari (that's the Dad), and Andrey Zhabanov from the E/F will all advance. No guarantees on that, but I think I got it right!

Greg

[Greg N]

In the A you've got Horky at 355, Fyhr at 352, aroslav Recek at 350, Nabokins (our Gothic hero :-)) at 348, Paul Gawronski at 348, Antonin Vojtik at 348, Peter Krcil at 346, and Ricardo Taxeira at 344. Depressingly, no one seems to be pushing. Making me, with all my success at going fast today feel real small again.

Actually, they're all smiling and small talking during the lane breaks. I'm pretty sure that they're just all out here fast lapping, not really racing.

See you in 8 hours for the semis!

Greg

[Greg N]

1/24 ES C-Semi

Jiri Karlik (Czech), Janis Rage-Ragis (Ukraine), Heikki Sinisaari (Finland. He's the son.), Kaiar Tammeleht (Estonia), Oleksander Miliukov (Ukraine)), Pavel Flaisig (Czech), Kari Sinisaari (Finland) (the dad), and Andrey Zhabanov (Russia)

Half way through we've got Karlik in the lead, Rage-Ragis 1 back, Heikki 4, Flaisig 4, Tammeleht 4, Oleksander 5, Kari 16 and Zhababov 22.

Clean race with only occasional offs so far, tho I came in late.

Greg

[Greg N]

C-Semi: For the last 3 heats Heikki and Rage-Ragis had a tremendous battle, but Rage-Ragis ended on white and red, Heikki on orange and yellow. On red Rage-Ragis ran out of tires and dropped quickly

So, in the end, it's

Heikki Sinisaari 455 (yippee!!)
Tammeleht 446
Karlik 444
Flaisig 425
Kari Sinisaari 420
Rage-Ragis 419
Miliukov 416
Zhabanov 390

The race was pretty clean, but I'm not sure if it was fast enough. I think Heikki Sinisaari can conceivably move-up to the final, but it's not very likely, as much as I'd like to see it.

Greg

[Greg N]

B-Semi:
It's Paolo Trigilio (Italy), Jan Zemlicka (Czech), Janis Sneiders (Latvia), Piero Castricone (Italy), Ricardo Taxeira (Brazil), Laguardia Vidal (Brazil), Andrey Remmel (Kazahkstan), and Nikolai Dolzhanky (Russia). These guys will be racing hard!

Greg

[Greg N]

B-Semi: Halfway through: Castricone projected at 458, Trigilio 1 back, Vidal 4, Dolzhanky 6, Zemlicka 15, Sneiders 15 , Remmel 18, and Taxeira 22 (after a very hard crash).

Clean with occasional crashes, 2 very hard (Castricone and Taxeira). Pace not faster than the C-Semi overall so far, but that may change. Track rubbering up a lot, as usual.

Greg

[Greg N]

B-Semi:

Piero lost 10 laps in the 6th, I think associated with his crash noted above.

It's over
Trigilio 458
Vidal 449
Sneiders 448
Castricone 447
Dolzhanky 446
Zemlicka 440
Taxeira 419
Remmel 412

A clean race except for the 2 very hard crashes, both affecting the results in a big way. Both Paulo Trigilio and Heikki Sinisaari (from the C) can move up if anyone in the A-Semi falters.

Greg

[Greg N]

A-Semi:

We've got Antonin Vojtic (Czech), Vladinir Horky (Czech), Jaroslav Recek (Czech), Matti Fyhr (Finland), Raivis Jansons (Lativa), Paul Gawronski (USA), Janis Nabotkins (Latvia), and Petr Krcil (Czech).

Greg

[Greg N]

A-Semi: I missed the first 2 heats trying to find a plug in view of the track where I could charge my laptop and see the race. Didn't work, so now I'm in the pit room, writing from the same screen you all see. But the news is NOT good. I didn't see what happened to Paul. Janis is not lapping with his usual speed.

Horky projected at 475 , Fyhr 464 down, Vojtik 464, Recek 464, Jansons 460, Krcil 458, Gawronski 446, and Nabokins 443. Unless something big happens,neither Paul not Janis will make the final.

Greg

[Greg N]

A-Semi:

It's over and the news is not good.

Horky 467
Vojtik 465
Recek 462
Fyhr 462
Jansons 459
Krcil 455
Gawronski 449
Nabokins 447

Implies that Paolo Trigilio will move up from the B and Heikki Sinisaari will move up from the C. Petr Krcil was the 8th place driver, so Paul would have needed 6+ more laps. I'll find out what happened to Paul and Janis early in the race.

30 mins and I'll be back with the finals.

Greg

[Greg N]

1/24 ES Final:

Heikki Sinisaari (Finland) on red
Vladomir Horky (Czech) on white
Jaroslav Recek (Czech) on green
Antonin Vojtik (Czech) on orange
Raivus Jansons (Latvia) on blue
Petr Krcil (Czech) on yellow
Matti Fyhr (Finland) on purple
Paulo Trigilio on (Italy) black

1st heat: Fyhr in the lead, Jansons 0 down, Horky 0, Recek 0, Vojtik , Krcil 4, Sinisaari 7, Trigilio 10. More offs than usual, no big crashes. Paulo is slower, nothing obvious wrong.

Greg

[Greg N]

2nd heat: Fyhr in the lead, Jansons 2 down, Horky 3, Vojtik 4, Recek 4, Krcil 6, Sinisaari 16, Trigilio 19. Cleaner heat, no big crashes. Heikki slower, too, nothing obvious wrong.

Greg

[Greg N]

3rd heat: They're flying on a very rubbered track. Much faster than the lap times appear. Very clean heat. Matti got his lead on purple and black!

Fyhr in the lead, Horky 5 down, Jansons 6, Vojtik 8, Recek 8, Krcil 9, Sinisaari 23, Trigilio 25.

Greg

[Greg N]

4th heat: Still flying. Very clean heat. They're trying to catch Matti, but he's slightly faster. Horky crashed, needs a new body!

Fyhr in the lead, Jansons 6 down, Vojtik 9, Recek 13, Krcil 12, Horky 20, Sinisaari 28, Trigilio 29.

Greg

[Greg N]

5th heat: Still flying. Tire change Recek. Matti on white, Jansons pushing on orange. Didn't work. One big crash, Matti not in it.

Fyhr in the lead, Vojtik 8 down, Jansons 10, Krcil 11, Horky 20, Recek 22, Sinisaari 31, Trigilio 34.

Greg

[Greg N]

6th heat: Still flying. Recek out with a broken magnet. Matti on red. Antonin gaining on purple(?!). Matti seems fast, but not handling as well. Tires?

Fyhr in the lead, Vojtik 1 down, Jansons 6, Krcil 9, Horky 14, Trigilio 24, Sinisaari 29.

Greg

[Greg N]

7th heat: Still flying. Big crash, Matti involved. Vojtik on black. No tire change for Matti yet. Both leaders still very fast.

Fyhr in the lead, Vojtik 3 down, Jansons 8, Krcil 13, Horky 14, Trigilio 23, Sinisaari 37.

Greg

[Greg N]

8th heat: Still flying. Clean heat. Paulo sucked a body, lost a wheel. Matti on blue, Antonin next to him on yellow.

Matti Fyhr wins, Vojtik 4 down, Jansons 8, Horky 12, Krcil 23, Trigilio 38, Sinisaari 50.

In the end, I think that it was about strategy, Matti getting a small lead in the first 2 heats on purple and black, then holding.

Greg

[slotstuff]

Outstanding report Greg!

[Greg N]

I asked Janis Nabotkins and Paul G about their problems in the A-semi: Janis said that the only problem was that his car was too slow. Paul said he had a malfunction in his controller brake circuitry. It has now been fixed, but it cost him during the race.

Greg