11.02.2016
Report by Bruno Eliazord. VRC PRO Reporter & Pro Class Racer.
Hi everybody, we are here at Fort Myers Raceway in Florida, where the sun is shinning, the surfers are riding the waves, and girls are so beautiful.
More seriously, it was the second round of the 1:8 nitro sportscars spec championship, where 61 racers came, representing 16 nations, which make each VRC race a real world event !
The track is very fast, but with sharp turns, and a difficult part in front of the rostrum, where you have to turn early before the corner if you want to be fast without touching the unforgiving metal barriers. In real life the club organize the Winternats, and in 2008 the Roar 1/10th scale fuel on-road.
Now let's have a look at the qualifications :
Club class : on 13 drivers, « Mugen MRX 5 » from Germany is first with 32 laps / 7.01.854. Carl Huxford from United Kingdom is second with 31 laps / 7.00.742, and Jodie Grein from USA is 3rd with 29 laps / 7.21.866.The seven other drivers of the top ten are John Viel, Schott Dickson, Gary Climie, Uwe Roesler, Jason Herbig, Jean Michel Ginet, and Paulo Machado ;
Sport class : on 21 drivers, Robert Yelle from USA is first with 33 laps / 7.08.748. Aron Roach from Australia is second with 32 laps / 7.05.130. In 3rd Francisco Manuel from Portugal with 32 laps / 7.07.814. The seven other drivers of the top ten are Hans Guenther Heitsch, Jacques Blanchin, Johann Jury, Rudolf « Weird Track » Aignier, Johnathan « Big Moustache's Son » Csernak, Romain Lacroix and Mike Bridge.
Pro class : on 27 drivers, Jeffrey « Superman » Rietveld is first with 36 laps / 7.07.286, fllowed by the french driver Kevin « Flash » Rasquin with 35 laps / 7.03.590, and Graham « Charles from X-Men » Raistrick from United Kingdom, with 35 laps / 7.06.848. The seven following drivers are Joshua Bermann, Nuno Correia, Holger Wolf, Maurizio Mazzocchi, Pierre Dumusc, Milan Peka, and Ugo Calaprice.
So my friends, get in the car, close the doors, fasten your seatbelts, and lets take the start of the main finals !
A Main Club :
Mugen Mrx 5's car
Only seven drivers take the start of the final : « Mugen MRX 5 », Carl Huxford, John Veal, Gary Climie, Jean Michel Ginet, and Paulo Machado, so some places are free to make a good result. (Jodie Grein did not record his replay, so I won't be able to talk about his race).Carl Huxford take a wonderfull start, while the others seems to be surprised by the horn. Carl lead during several laps, but « Mugen Mrx5 » quickly close the gap and take back the first spot ; So quickly that before the 10th lap, he is already laping the last drivers. But, nothing is finish, because Carl is following him without loosing faith.
Unfortunately for him « Mugen Mrx 5 » is much too fast for him, and the others, and at the first pit stop, Carl huxford, is 1 lap behind in the second spot. Gary Climie is 3rd at 3 laps, John Veal is 4th at 4 laps, Jean Michel Ginet is 5th at 5 laps, and paulo Machado is 6th at 6 laps.
And things will go worst and worst for the others, because « Mugen Mrx5 » will not slow down at all.
At mid-race Nothing change except for Paulo Machado who succeed in overtaking Jean Michel Ginet for the win of the 6th spot, that he will keep till the end of this race. And things won't change for the others too. The levels were too differents in this race, which is sometime the case in class club. Finaly, with no surprise, « Mugen Mrx 5 » take the win with 5 laps on Carl Huxford.
Club A main Results :
1 / « Mugen Mrx 5 » / 92 / 20.07.740
2 / Carl Huxford / 87 / 20.08.038
3 / Gary Climie / 79 / 20.07.526
4 / Jodie Grein / 78 / 20.07.486
5 / John Veal / 77 / 20.12.198
6 / Paulo Machado / 73 / 20.16.200
7 / Jean Michel Ginet / 66 / 20.15.336
A Main Sport :
Robert Yelle's car
The ten drivers of the ten first places of the qualifications are presents for this final. Things promise to be serious.
At the horn Robert Yelle who is in the first spot, completly forgets to start loosing six positions ! What happened Robert ? You want a coffee to wake you up ? Another driver, Hans Guenther Heitsch takes a strange start, his car spining round. It's the consequence of full throttle and too much steering. Be carefull of that !
So at the end of the first lap, the ranking is completly different than the qualifications : Johann Jury is 1st, Aron roach 2nd, Francisco manuel 3rd, Jacques Blanchin 4th, Mike Bridge 5th, Jonhatan Csernak 6th, Robert Yelle 7th, Rudolf Aigner 8th, Hans Guenther Heitsch 9th, and Romain Lacroix 10th.
From Now, Robert Yelle and Hans Guenther Heitsch have one mission : fix their big mistakes, and the 8 other drivers have another one : not let them do it !
Unfortunately for the others, Robert Yelle, after a good cup of coffee, has woken up, and has been able to put consistents and fast laps, so just before the first pit stop, he has made up for lost time, and has taken back his first position. Things are not going bad too for Hans Guenther Heitsch, who has been able to come back in the 6th spot.
The ranking is Robert Yelle 1st, Aron Roach 2nd at 0,5 seconds, Rudolf Aigner, Jacques Blanchin, Mike bridge, Hans Guenther, Romain Lacroix, J. Csernak, Francisco Manuel, and Johann Jury.
At mid race, if Robert Yelle hangs on to his first spot, behind him things have changed a little, because Jacques Blanchin has taken the 2nd spot to Aron Roach who is 4rd now, because Rudolf Aigner has also overtook him for the 3rd spot, Mike Bridge is 5th, Franscico Manuel 6th, Romain Lacroix 7th, Hans Guenther Heitsch has lost two positions and is 8th now, Jonathan Csernak is 9th, and Johan Jury is still in the last position.
At 15 minutes of the race, Robert Yelle, is really too stong for the others. He continues with a very good pace his robot's consistency laps, and increases the gap with Jacques Blanchin, who is now 7 seconds behind. Be sure these two guys will be in pro class soon. One lap behind them, Rudolf Aigner secures the 3rd spot, followed by Aron Roach 4th, Mike Bridge 5th, Hans Guenther Heitsch 6th, Francisco Manuel 7th, Romain Lacroix 8th, Jonathan Csernak 9th, and Johann Jury 10th.
Until the end, things won't change a lot because, with no surprise Robert Yelle wins this race with 7,5 secondes better than Jacques Blanchin his best challenger.
Sport A main results :
1/ Robert Yelle / 92 / 20.04.530
2 / Jacques Blanchin / 92 / 20.12.000
3 / Rudolf Aigner / 91 / 20.06.884
4 / Aron Roach / 90 / 20.07.616
5 / Hans Guenther Heitsch / 90 / 20.13.166
6 / Francisco Manuel / 89 / 20.04.094
7 / Mike Bridge / 89 / 20.04.830
8 / Romain Lacroix / 88 / 20.06.268
9 / Jonathan Csernak / 86 / 20.09.630
10 / Johann Jury / 82 / 20.05.300
A Main Pro :
You know that now, this class is for the best drivers, who have incredibles skills. They're able to be really fast and quite consistents, and that's the level you can reach, if you practice a lot on VRC PRO.
Nine strong men take the start of this final, without the italian driver Ugo Calaprice. One question : will the unbeatable Jeffrey « Superman » Rietveld fail this time ?
Everybody take a good start, with no change in the positions, but from the first lap, Jeffrey makes a big mistake, hiting the metal barrier just in front of the rostrum , and a second one later in the same lap (maybe, he is finally human ? ). Kevin Rasquin asked not so much to immediately take the first spot, followed by Jeffrey Rietveld 2nd, Graham Raistrick 3rd, Joshua Bermann 4th , Holger Wolf 5th, Nuno Correia 6th, Pierre Dumusc 7th, Maurizzio Mazzochi 8th, and Milan Peka 9th.
Unfortunately for Kevin « flash » Rasquin, he also makes a mistake during the 5th lap, letting Jeffrey pass him for the gain of the first spot. Now Kevin « Flash » rasquin will have to run really fast if he wants to get a chance to come back on Jeffrey.
Behind them, Joshua « Captain America » Bermann has used his inhuman strengh to overtake Graham Raistrick for the 3rd spot, and Nuno « Wolverine » Correia, always ready to fight, shows his claws to Holger Wolf, who certainly afraid, let him pass for the 5th spot. Pierre Dumusc is 7th, Mazzochi 8th, and Milan Peka is 9th.
Everything could be still possible if only one man would like to : Jeffrey Rietveld. But, something tell me he won't agree.
At the first pit stop, he is still at the first spot, and only 4 drivers follows him in the same lap : Kevin Rasquin 2,122 secondes behind, Joshua Bermann, Graham Raistrick, and Nuno Correia. All the others are one lap behind : Maurizio Mazzochi, Milan Peka, Pierre Dumusc, and Holger Wolf, who must have known some problems to fall down at the last position.
At mid-race nothing has changed, except for Mazzochi who has passed Dumusc.
Before the end, Nuno « Wolverine » Correia will be able to frightened Graham Raistrick enough to take him the 4th spot, coming back home this way with a great result.
Pierre Dumusc does the same thing to Maurizio Mazzochi for the gain of the 6th spot, which is also a great result for him. Congratulation Nuno and Pierre.
Untill the end Kevin Rasquin will try to close the gap with Jeffrey, but this last one is flying on the track, as usual, and will be unreachable. « Not this time » he seems to say to him.
In conclusion, it's only the beginning of the championship, but it seems that it will be very hard to beat the « Superman » unless he fails.
One question : who will be his Kriptonite ?
Pro A main results :
1 / Jeffrey Rietveld / 100 / 20.02.024
2 / Kevin Rasquin / 100 / 20.10.224
3 / Joshua Bermann / 99 / 20.05.128
4 / Nuno Correia / 99 / 20.07.650
5 / Graham raistrick / 99 / 20.11.712
6 / Pierre Dumusc / 95 / 20.01.98
7 / Maurizio Mazzochi / 95 / 20.02.86
8 / Milan Peka / 95 / 20.07.476
9 / Holger Wolf / 94 / 20.00.780
10 / Ugo Calaprice / DNS
Interview with Joshua Berman :
VRC PRO : Hello Joshua. You've finised third of this race. Can you tell us your general feeling about your race ?
Joshua Berman : I was lucky to not make many mistakes.
VRC PRO : What do you think about the track, the layout ?
Joshua Berman : Very technical track. Challenges all of your driving skills.
VRC PRO : Tell us about your car, was it perfect, and eventually a word about your set-up.
Joshua Berman : I liked my setup. the car felt very comfortable. which is probably why i didnt make many mistakes but it was lacking the super fast lap after lap times the leader was getting.
VRC PRO : Any advice or any secret for the other drivers ?
Joshua Berman : You have to feel connected. changing my usb adapter got rid of the jitters in calibrating. 144mhz refresh monitor. turned off all graphics for high frame rates. the faster you can see something the quicker you can react to it.
VRC PRO : Why would you recommend VRC Pro to someone who doesn't use it yet ?
Joshua Berman : Big YES! Because of money. I have raced at clubs, but with crap equipment. you cant even begin to compete with sponsered drivers and money. With VRC I have a NEW car for EVERY race. All the tires, fuel, and car bodies I want. AND its the same components for Everyone! And no traveling! Every race is a world event. I now have a new love and respect for RC racing.
