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With the Concours Challenge over, it was time to start concentrating on the main events for the weekend. With three races left to run in the Electric Rally points championship, three more were run during the finals, one Rally race before each leg of the Electric Pro triple A-Main.

The first three Rally races didn't single anyone out as dominant, which is to be expected. On a totally new track layout no one racer had an advantage, so the competition was spread out, with three different winners in three different races. With the winner getting 95 points towards the series total and the points dropping rapidly from there (80 for second, 70 for third, etc.), it was easy to see who was in the lead at any time but the racers further back in the rankings looked like they were doing worse than they actually were.

Here are the results from the first three of the Rally races:

Results were determined by each racer's number of laps and time in each round compared to all the other racers. Each race was against the clock, using staggered IFMAR-style starts to simulate the time trial aspect of full-size SCCA Pro Rally or WRC racing.

If you look at the points and how they were spread out during the first races, it was still anyone's race, mathematically! Sunday afternoon was sure to bring some anxious moments!

The first final races to be run were the Nitro Stock races, starting with the C Main.

The Nitro Stock A Final was arguably the best single race of the entire weekend! Top qualifier Cameron Wagner and Ohio racer T.J. Wilcheck sliced and diced for 9 minutes, almost the entire race, until T.J. flamed out right near the end of the race time! Luckily his pit crew Matt Carone was right there to help out, and he was able to get T.J. back on the track. Although Cameron and T.J. had lapped the field twice already, T.J. had fallen back enough that he had to stay in front of the rest of the racers to keep second spot. When the tone sounded to end the race, Cameron had 31 laps, and T.J. had 28 laps, just two seconds ahead of third place Rodney Angelito!

The next set of races to run were the Nitro Modified mains, and with 60 racers in the class, everyone settled in for a long bout of dueling Nitro cars!

The A Final for the Nitro Modified had a couple of restarts, however everything got off smoothly after a hasty repair by the Japanese HPI Challenge winner Toshiaki Koketsu. Due to the language barrier, Toshiaki wasn't aware that the pit men for each racer were supposed to hold the car in the air until the "go" signal started the race, and he was already stopped in the appropriate spot on the track when someone on a hot lap hit him from behind and broke a critical part of his car. This forced a restart after several laps had gone by, which drew complaints from some of the racers but hopefully they understood after the race when the situation was explained to them.

Top qualifier Johnathan Dobney was running away with an easy victory and led by 2 laps when he clipped a pipe in one of the chicanes and broke! This allowed Tracy Grieger and Ken Prue, both running very close together, to get their laps back and take the top two spots. Ken Prue was a man on a mission, qualifying 7th and finishing 2nd! Mario Caba wasn't far behind after starting from 10th spot, he finished 3rd!

The Super Nitro Modified class was exciting to watch, as always. With the larger cars, they couldn't fit into the same spaces as the 1/10 scale touring cars, so some drivers had to make adjustments to their driving style! 

Like the 20-minute A Main for the Nitro Modified class, the Super Nitro Modified race for the top ten was very intense to watch! Top Qualifier Setsuya Kobayashi from Japan showed his stuff early on, pulling away from the pack and setting his sights on a win. Dan Discenza was never far behind, and Rich Taylor and Dean Baker battled it out pretty closely for the whole race. At the halfway mark Setsuya had a comfortable lead but could not afford to let up his pace. Dan was waiting to capitalize on any mistake! 

At the end of twenty minutes, Setsuya had taken the win, one lap ahead of Dan, who was four laps ahead of Rich and Dean, who finish just two seconds apart! Rich was in third, however, and was able to share the winner's podium with Setsuya and Dan at the end of the night.

The Electric RS4 class were just as fiery and intense for the racers and spectators as the Nitro classes were. The first electric race to run was the Electric Mini class, which to this point had been completely dominated by Karlheinz Scherer of Germany. Most of the spectators who had been watching considered it a foregone conclusion that he would win, but eyebrows were raised at the start of the Electric Mini A Main when Karlheinz had frequency problems. Although new 40-band frequency clips had been made during the weekend for the race, a combination of the language barrier and frequency use practices had prevented the use of frequency clips by most racers on 40-band. Karlheinz quickly changed his frequency, but he still had major problems going straight on the back section of the track. It was determined by most to be problems with his receiver, which to this point had worked flawlessly. Karlheinz, who had taken the Mini class in his native Germany and in an exciting triple A Main at the European finals in Switzerland, was absolutely crushed, and finished only one lap of the race.

For the rest of the drivers, it was going to actually be a challenge and a fight to see who would come out on top. Five minutes to determine would would be the 2000 HPI Challenge World Champion for Electric Mini! Ian Aquino inherited the top spot after the race started because of Karlheinz's troubles, but was rapidly knocked to the back of pack. Josh Tran, starting in 9th spot, made a terrific run to get in the top spots and battled with Joe Bestor and Nestor Rinonos, who had qualified 5th and 3rd, respectively. At the end of a furious five minutes, Joven Madriaga had taken the win from the 4th qualifying spot, with Josh Tran finishing second and Joe Bestor in third!

The next Electric class to run finals was the Electric RS4 Sport class. These cars consisted of any HPI 1/10 scale touring car chassis, using an HPI body, spec HPI tires and a mild modified motor (limited to at least 17 turns of wire). Most racers chose to buy a new 17 turn motor. We had the option to provide each racer with specially made ball bearing-equipped 17 turn motors from LRP, but the costs would have been too high and we would have had to charge for the motors or increase the entry fees to an unacceptable level. The turnout was sufficient for us to consider this class as a standard class for next year's HPI Challenge USA races, however, so we will see how the class continues to grow. Many racers started running modified at their home tracks just to practice for this race!

When you put the best drivers in a class and make them all run together, you'll get close, exciting racing, no matter what. But we didn't expect the racing to be so close in this A Main! Top Qualifier Kristophoer Ritchie from the UK was less than a second ahead of Michael Gebel from Germany after three rounds of qualifying, which always means that the front runners will be fast and furious for the whole race. Both had run 18 laps in qualifying, with Mark Rebeck the closest challenger in 3rd qualifying spot, one lap behind.

With everything hinging on one last race, luck was in and consistency was out. The first several turns were a hammerfest, with each racer trying his best to get out in front to avoid the carnage. After everything was sorted out, Kristophoer Ritchie and Michael Gebel were in the lead but at the end of the run it was Michael from Germany with the win, local racer Ian Aquino in second and Kristophoer in third!

ELECTRIC RS4 RALLY

As promised, the Rally racing turned out to be fun to watch and exciting to track in the points race. The racer to watch in the last half of round-robin competition was young Fraser Low, who won each of the races with the fastest time! Ling Tong came up from third place to score 2nd place finishes in each of the races, while former second place racer Dave Long scored two 5th place finishes and one third place. The racer who made the biggest jump in points was Joe Macasero, who after 3 rounds was in 9th place but scored consistent points to move up to fourth overall. T.J. Wilcheck also made a big jump from 7th place to 5th with good runs.

In the end it was Fraser Low, arguably the youngest driver at the event, who took home the big trophy and a reservation for one of the very first Super Nitro RS4 Rally kits out of the factory! 

The Electric Pro class featured the fastest electric HPI drivers around, including racers from South Africa, Scotland, England, Switzerland and Australia. These racers were under the same rules as the Electric RS4 Sport class, except they were allowed to use faster motors. A 12-turn motor was the fastest motor allowed, which is significantly faster than a 17-turn motor. 

The top ten racers in this class, as well as the crowd of spectators, were treated to a triple-A Main event that promised a lot of close racing! The first race of the triple-A was run at the beginning of the main event block of races, early in the afternoon on Sunday. The second race was run in between the other races, roughly in the middle of the block of other main events, and the third race was the last race of the evening.

In the first race it was all TQ Kristophoer Ritchie and German Markus Greter, who jumped out ahead and never looked back. Towards the end of the race Kristophoer made a few mistakes which let Markus pass him, then Kristophoer fell back just enough for Michael Cometti to nearly get by also. Markus got an extra lap while Michael was less than a second behind Kristophoer across the finish line!

The second race was very intense, since another win by Markus would seal up his victory. This race was extremely close, with six of the ten racers on the lead lap at the end of the race. Australian Vincent Chu made a strong charge from 8th qualifying spot to finish fourth, but Michael Cometti was in third, just 2 seconds behind Markus, and a surprised Fraser Low took the win.

In the very last race of the evening, it was do-or-die for Fraser and Markus. A win by either of them would give them the overall title, but neither could afford a mistake. Kristophoer Ritchie could easily capitalize and take the points lead and the win if he finished in first place. The start was clean for the most part, and the hunt for the championship was on! Masaki Yamauchi, starting from 3rd spot, maintained his position throughout the entire race, where before he had fallen back to 5th and 7th in the previous A Mains. Vincent Chu again was on a charge to finish well, and made his way from 8th starting spot to 3rd position, while Kristophoer and Fraser finished 4th and 5th, respectively. Markus Greter was again able to get one last lap before time ran out, to capture his 18th lap and the overall win! 

These are the final results from the Electric RS4 Pro Triple-A Mains. You can see how tight the points lead was by looking at the 3-way tie for third! Each driver's worst finish was used to determine the final finishing order. Because Kristophoer had 96 points as a throw-out, he finished ahead of Michael (with 93 points to throw-out) and Vincent (with 92 points to throw-out).

Come back later this week for more pictures and our "Thank You" page!