Finals

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Sunday, October 12th, afternoon/evening

Following the last run of the qualifiers, the racers were treated to a long lunch break while the final races were set up. This gave them a chance to rebuild, tweak and tune, plus grab a bite to eat!

Each electric class A Main was split up into what is called a "triple A Main". This means that three races are run at the normal duration (5 minutes for touring car, 6 minutes for Micro). The finishing positions in each race are scored as 100 points for first place, 99 for second, etc. If a racer won the first two races they were asked to sit out the third race, otherwise the points for each racer were totaled after the third race. The racer with the most points is declared the winner, the racer with the second highest total is second place, etc.

Other than that, all the racers were ready to battle it out for trophies and plaques! With Scotty watching over the races and Rich from the 4 Aces club watching the pit area, we knew we were going to have clean racing from start to finish!

Electric Sport

First A Main
The race started cleanly with TQ Werner Puchas rocketing off to a huge lead, followed closely by countryman Werner Spannbruckner. These two led the field around the track, lapping nearly everyone in succession. Werner Puchas finished with an easy win, with Herr Spannbruckner right behind. Joe Cook moved up from 7th spot on the grid to take third, but still far behind the two Austrians.

Second A Main
In the second race, both Werners took off together again, however this time UK racer Joe Cook had taken a tip from their battery charging methods and was able to keep up with Werner Spannbruckner, staying close behind but not enough to really challenge for second place. The top three spots finished in the same order as the first race, with Herr Puchas taking the win and earning a spectator's seat for the third and final race, rooting for his friend!

Teching the winner Pro 2 car

Third A Main
For the final race, everyone started in the same positions on the grid again. Joe Cook was able to once again get around the racers in front of him to really challenge Werner Spannbruckner for the top spot. The only trouble was, Kouki Ishiwatari didn't want to give up and roll over - he was fighting for the win also! A win for Kouki would enable him to get a podium spot and one of the cool HPI prizes for the top 3 positions. With Joe, Werner and Kouki battling it out for the win almost the entire race, the tone sounded, catching Werner and Kouki. Joe, however, had crossed the line already and thought he was still battling with the other two, even breaking his car on what he thought was his last lap! His car was able to cross the finish line under its own power, enabling Joe to complete the extra lap.

In the end, the tight battle came down to second place. With Joe winning and coming in third, he had 198 points. Werner Spannbruckner's total points came to 198 (99 + 99). With both drivers at 198 points, the tiebreaker became their eliminated points, but both drivers had a 98 point result for their elimination points. The second tiebreaker became Joe's final lap, which let him finish with 48 laps in his two best runs, while Werner finished with 47 laps in his best two runs.

Very close but a great battle to watch! (By the way - the battery charging secret that Joe borrowed from the Werners was to use 2 chargers to charge one pack at 14-15 amps...tempting disaster and shortening the life of the batteries significantly, but providing amazing speed from the sealed endbell Saturn 20T motors.)

For complete results (including main event lap times) of all the main events in this class, click here.

9mb - you need the latest version of Quicktime to play this movie
this links to a .ZIP file - if you cannot open it, select a PC or Mac utility

Electric Pro

First A Main
With one Austrian taking home his first HPI Challenge World Final championship trophy, Werner Spannbruckner was determined to take home another trophy for Austria in the Electric Pro class! In the first race of the triple A Main, Werner exploded off the line. Although followed closely by Takayoshi Kawano, he maintained a 3-second lead throughout the race and was able to cruise across the finish line for victory. Sebastian from Germany and Wayne Beebe battled it out during the entire race, with Wayne's bright orange Stratus and Sebastian's Murcielago going back and forth.

Second A Main
In the second race, Werner again took off with a big lead, followed closely by Takayosi. Both drivers pulled off their fastest laps during the mains while running this race - although they both nailed in a single 16.1 second lap each, Werner had just a bit more horsepower and was able to cross the line to pick up the only 19-lap run of the A Mains. Takayoshi was just over a second too slow to pick up the extra lap himself, but still came in second, solidifying a second place finish. Balint Rajki came in third once again but Sebastian had problems somewhere, finishing 7th, two positions behind Wayne.

The winning Pro 2 car	The winning motor, borrowed from an American racer

Third A Main
With Werner sitting out the third A Main, Takayoshi Kawano took the early lead in the final race and never let go. He came close to lapping the entire field but took it easy, wanting just to finish to ensure he got a podium finish. Sebastian got things sorted out early and finished in second, battling with Balint right to the line and finishing only 0.7 seconds ahead of Balint!

This time there were two tiebreakers needed, and since Balint had a more elimination points than Sebastian he was able to secure 3rd place by a narrow margin.

For complete results (including main event lap times) of all the main events in this class, click here.

Micro

First A Main
As racers, we would have liked to see a close battle in all the racing classes during the weekend, but it's cool to see someone just dominate a race class like Wijaya Lim did to the Micro class all weekend long. By lapping the field in all four qualifiers, we were pretty sure that Wijaya would easily secure the trophy cup. In the first race, Wijaya was the only driver to get 16 laps and Japanese racer Atsushi Hasegawa was the only racer to get 15 laps, setting up a solid 1-2 procession for the next A Final.

Second A Main
The A2 Main was almost a carbon copy of the first race, with Wijaya nailing down 16 laps and Atsushi getting 15 laps. Mike Collins had some problems getting power out of his car so his buddy Randy happily took over the third spot and lapping Mike while doing so.

Third A Main
With Wijaya and Atsushi sitting out the final A Main (mathematically, third place was the highest anyone else could achieve), it was up to the rest of the field to fight it out and see what they could do! Daniel Kuo came out of nowhere to command this race, lapping the rest of the cars and getting 15 laps in the process. Randy and Mike again fought it out amongst themselves to see who would get second place, with Randy coming out on top once again.

For complete results (including main event lap times) of all the main events in this class, click here.

Nitro Stock

20 minute A Main
This race promised to be a real close one between TQ Balint and new Electric Sport champion Werner Puchas since they qualified just 2 seconds apart in their 5-minute runs, but right from the start Balint started ripping off sub-21 second laps, about half a second faster per lap than Werner could pull off. With the traction going away as the heat from the track subsided and more oil was laid down, that may have been the cause and Werner could have adjusted his driving to make up for the changes, but only a few minutes into the race Werner had to pull into the pits a couple of times, losing valuable spots. His car's problem got worse and worse until halfway through the race when he pulled off the track for good, a pullstarter problem ending his run. This left Toshiaki Kouketsu to occupy second spot for the rest of the race, with New Jersey's Todd Marshall in third place only 3 laps down to Toshiaki. Balint ended the race 2 laps ahead of Toshiaki, securing his first-ever HPI Challenge World Finals trophy cup!

For complete results (including main event lap times) of all the main events in this class, click here.

9.7mb - you need the latest version of Quicktime to play this movie
this links to a .ZIP file - if you cannot open it, select a PC or Mac utility

Nitro Modifed

30 minute A Main
With Setsuya Kobayashi taking the TQ spot with a commanding 1 lap lead in just a 5-minute run, it would be easy to think that he'd end up with a 6-lap or more lead over the rest of the field in a half-hour race. That wouldn't be the case this time, however, as he flamed out by running a bit too long before his first pit stop. A couple of mistakes during the race let a couple of racers get tantalizingly close but it just wasn't to be. Although Wayne Beebe and Patrick Garbi finished relatively close behind Setsuya, one and two laps down respectively, Setsuya's sub-17 second laptimes would ensure that he would stay out in front. For one super fast lap, Setsuya laid down a 16.1 lap time, equaling the fastest A Main lap of Electric Pro race winner Werner Spannbruckner! For a nitro car to equal the fastest laptime of the fastest electric car on a short track is quite an accomplishment!

For complete results (including main event lap times) of all the main events in this class, click here.

9.7mb - you need the latest version of Quicktime to play this movie
this links to a .ZIP file - if you cannot open it, select a PC or Mac utility

Super Nitro Modified

30 minute A Main
The last race of the weekend, the Super Nitro Modified race was sure to be a close one. Like any good movie, it started with a bit of drama: top qualifier Setsuya Kobayashi had trouble getting his car started! When his pit man was able to get it going, the other pit men were already lined up and ready to start the race, but when the cars were set on the ground Setsuya started to go, causing a false start and forcing him to start at the back of the grid! Things went from not good to worse rapidly as Setsuya experienced a couple of flameouts during the race. In the meantime, American Mike Collins took over the lead and never looked back! With his wife Melissa and racing buddy Timm Wooley in the pits and looking on, Mike started picking off all the cars ahead of him and began lapping the field, even TQ Setsuya! There were several battles on the track during the half-hour A Main, but in the end everyone finished on their own lap. Mike ended up 4 laps ahead of Swiss racer Loic Zimmerman and 7 laps ahead of fellow Invitational driver Roland Shao. The drivers who finished in 3rd through 9th all finished approximately one lap apart from each other (see the chart below), still showing that although there were no direct door-to-door battles at the end of the race, it was a tough fight, requiring racers to keep their cars running and off the boards!

For complete results (including main event lap times) of all the main events in this class, click here.

After passing out the trophies, packing everything up, saying our goodbyes to all the racers, we headed off for dinner and one last night on the Strip! (see the pictures to the right)