Hobbytown USA
of Mequon, Wisconsin!
Qualifying
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The qualifying heats started right after the Concours Challenge was over. The first heats to hit the track were the Electric racers, then Box Stock, then the modified classes of Nitro and Super Nitro.
All
of the heats were run in a "heads up" qualifying style, meaning
all the racers started at the same time and whoever finished with the
most laps in the least time qualified best in that race. After each round
the racers were sorted in order of most laps with the lowest time, and
after 2 rounds of qualifying were over there was a "resort"
which put the racers in a heat with racers of the same ability or speed,
which meant less crashing overall, and no slower drivers to slow down
the fast guys. The heads up style of qualifying suits parking lot racing,
especially when spectators are watching, because it's more exciting for
the spectators to watch a battle on the track.
The
first class to race was the Electric RS4 class. Most racers used the RS4
Pro 2, although we did see several Sport 2 cars and some older RS4 Pro
cars. The electric cars were of course the quietist cars running, so it
was cool to hear the tires squeal around the tight corners. The track
was laid out in a very simple layout but it was slightly difficult to
master. The fastest racers were turning 27 laps in 5 minutes, although
judging by the qualifying times in some of the mains the competition was
really close! After three rounds of qualifying, John Macintosh (known
as "Applehead" by many of the racers) was in the top spot with
a time to beat of 27 laps in five minutes, seven seconds. This was just
three seconds ahead of Marty Hageman in second qualifying spot, who in
turn was just one second ahead of Eric Snowy in third.
There were 37 racers in the Electric RS4 class, and we put a full heat of 10 racers in the A Main, with 5 and 6 racers in the remaining heats, down to a D Main.
Although
we had just 7 racers in the Box Stock Nitro class, it was still really
close racing in the middle of the pack. Traveling from Ohio (a seven hour
drive), T.J. Wilcheck put a couple of laps on the field while Timm Wooley
and Ryan Schmid battled it out to get 23 laps each. Just behind them,
three racers qualified with close times to get 19 laps each, so it was
sure to lead to several close battles during the main event!
The
Nitro RS4 Open class is usually our largest class, but the short summers
and long winters in Wisconsin make racers concentrate on indoor racing.
Seventeen Nitro Open racers arrived to slug it out for bragging rights
and also for the kit and trophy, and while the racing was close for the
spectators, it was clear that there were a few really fast guys who would
provide quite a show! John Macintosh again took the pole position in this
class with 27 laps in 5 minutes and 11 seconds. You may notice this is
four seconds slower than his time with his Pro 2 on this same track -
usually, electric cars do turn faster times on smaller tracks than Nitro
cars do. The Nitro cars don't have a chance to use their top speed and
are quite heavier than the electric cars, which can accelerate a little
faster than their Nitro "big brothers".
John's
TQ time, although it looked like one lap ahead of four racers who ended
qualifying with 26 laps, showed that he had barely crossed the finish
line with enough time to get an extra lap, so in reality he was just a
teeny bit ahead of the 2nd through 5th qualifiers, who themselves were
only 5 seconds apart in total time! It would be a close race for sure.
We
again came prepared for a full heat of Super Nitro racers, and we weren't
disappointed. Nine Super Nitro cars showed up for battle, and again it
was John Macintosh in the lead at the end of qualifying! We're wondering
why he didn't sign up for Box Stock if he was going to be this consistent.
Again, John's TQ time allowed him an extra lap on the field, with T.J.
Wilcheck getting 25 laps in exactly 5 minutes. (Slightly faster on just
one lap would have given T.J. 26 laps and potentially beaten John's time.)
T.J. and Walt Gorczowski were less than a second apart at the end of qualifying,
with the rest of the field not too far behind them.
With the mains warming up to be challenging contests of skill and setup knowledge, we knew that Sunday afternoon would be a scorcher, no matter what the weather held in store for us!
An interesting note: After the HPI racing on Saturday, Scotty invited everyone to stay for a free race for anyone who wanted to run. Frank and Troy both brought their cars to match wits and skills with the local racers - Frank with his Pro 2 and Troy with his Super Nitro. But for the lack of cold weather (20R or 23R) tires, Frank might have qualified better than 4th out of 20 or so. The full 10-car main on the tight track under the lights played havoc with his eyes, and Frank ended up in 9th spot after all the carnage was over. Troy fared a bit better but made a bad guess in tire choice as the temperature dropped. Even with T.J. Wilcheck helping him out Troy wasn't able to keep up with T.J.'s blistering page, but still finished in a respectable position.
We'll blame it on the time change (2 whole hours!), the air pressure on our eardrums, lack of practice on the track, the lights, the darkness and the temperature change! ;-)