BC takes Round 3 of NOOB 2011 2WD Buggy!

Event : NOOB 2011 1/10 2WD Buggy Round 3
Location: RaceCraft Infinity Offroad Track, Bottle Tree Park, Singapore
Date : 15 May 2011

Race Day

After weeks of wet weather the skies once again cleared up on race day for Singapore's only 1/10 offroad series. As the pit area filled up it was obvious that Tamiya TRF201s and X-Factory X-6s were out in force ready to continue the ongoing rear-motor vs mid-motor debate. All eyes were also tuned on the handful of TLR 22s that would be racing locally for the very first time.

Qualifiers

As the qualifiers kicked off it was the rear motor cars that set the pace with veteran on-road driver Alvin Koh setting a blistering pace with his TRF201 and finishing with a 15-lapper on his first heat. He was followed closely by a speedy Johnson in his B4. On the slightly loose track the rear-motor cars appeared to rotate exceptionally well to tackle the in-field with a vengeance.

Second round of heats and many racers were clocking good 14-lap runs - including first time NOOB participants Paul Martin with his X-6 and Joakim Stjernberg on his RB5. As always Hellangel proved the importance of good consistent driving clocking good runs on a trusty, decade old RC10B3. Winner of Round 2 Tein barely missed out on 15-laps with a 14-lap 5:00.096 run on his mid-motored X-6.

As round 3 of the heats kicked off, it seemed almost a certainty that Alvin Koh would TQ for the day as others tried hard to match his pace. Johnson managed a 15-lapper but was still 2 seconds off Alvin's 5:19 first heat run. But as the dust settled on the qualifiers, it was BC who pulled off a 15-lap 5:17 run - after struggling through his first 2 heats - to come from behind to take the top qualifier position.

Qualifying Positions

A-MAIN
1. BC
2. Johnson
3. Kum Yew
4. Alvin
5. Tein
6. Hellangel
7. Ray Lan
8. Paul Martin
9. Adi

B-MAIN
10. Joakim Stjernberg
11. Mark Jason
12. Alan Chia
13. Jericho
14. Roger
15. Calvin Tan
16. alexander
17. Kamen Koh
18. Stephano

Finals

A Main
The A Main finals saw 3 exciting races as race leaders kept swapping positions. Run 1 saw Top Qualifier BC land his first jump slightly off balance which resulted in a pile-up. Johnson, Tein, Paul Martin and Kum Yew emerged as the early race leaders after this as BC found himself at the back of the pack in 8th place. Johnson pulled away to win Heat 1 as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th place racers battled each other for most of the run. Mistakes made allowed BC to claw his way back to take 2nd and Kum Yew 3rd.

Run 2 saw BC getting a clean start and leading the race from start to finish in his custom mid-motored RB5. The action was the fight for 2nd-4th positions as Johnson and Hellangel battled it out with Tein who was quickly finding his race pace. In the last few laps Johnson fell from 2nd to finish 3rd and it was Hellangel's consistent driving that saw him move from 4th to finish in 2nd. Tein had to settle for 4th place.

In Run 3 BC got off to another great start and pulled away from the field with more than half a lap of room ahead of 2nd place Kum Yew - that was until lap 10 when a tangle with Adi's X-6 flipped his buggy over and erased his lead allowing Kum Yew, Alvin and Johnson to pass him. Kum Yew never looked back as he raced to his first NOOB run win (Congrats!) and BC claiming 2nd place in the very last lap after battling Johnson at every corner to secure his overall win. Alvin finished 3rd.

(from left to right) 3rd-Kum Yew (X-6), 1st-BC (Custom RB5), 2nd-Johnson (B4)

A-MAIN (Final Results)

1. BC
2. Johnson
3. Kum Yew
4. Alvin
5. Tein
6. Hellangel
7. Ray Lan
8. Paul Martin
9. Adi

B Main

NOOB is probably the first ever event to award medals to B-Main podium finishers and not the A-Main guys - so all eyes were on the B-Main as guys battled it out for bragging rights!

As Run 1 got underway a pile-up on lap 1 gave Stephano a chance to find his way from the back of the pack all the way to take the lead with Joakim giving chase. But the early race leaders were overtaken with some consistent driving by Jericho and Roger midway through the run. It was an exciting battle as Jericho ran laps 4 to 10 with Roger shadowing his every move. But a mistake allowed Roger to overtake Jericho just as the race clock ran out to see Roger taking 1st, Alan Chia 2nd and Jericho 3rd.

From start to finish run 2 was a battle between Mark Jason, Roger and Joakim. A mistake mid-race by Mark Jason allowed Roger to take the lead which he fought hard to preserve all the way till the end of 5-minutes. Joakim took his time to chase the 2 race leaders for the first half of the race and a lap after Roger takes 1st position from Mark Jason he made his successful pass to claim 2nd place in this heat. Mark Jason finished 3rd.

After securing the B-Main victory, Roger chose to sit the last run out leaving the rest of the field to battle it out for 2nd and 3rd. Alan Chia in his rear-motored TLR22 lead for most of the race with Mark Jason and Kamen Koh hot on his heels. Mark Jason was not about to let this run get away from him and some strong driving finally saw him take the lead in the final laps of the race to take 1st, Alan Chia 2nd and Kamen Koh a very respectable 3rd.

(from left to right) 2nd-Mark Jason(TRF201), 1st-Roger (X-6), 3rd-Alan Chia (TLR22)

B-MAIN (Final Results)

1. Roger
2. Mark Jason
3. Alan Chia
4. Joakim
5. Jericho
6. Kamen Koh
7. Calvin Tan
8. Alexander
9. Stephano

Summing Up...
An exciting day of racing that saw strong driving all around. It's interesting to note that every 2WD race since the NOOB series began last year has been won by a mid-motored car. While today's race continued that trend, what stood out this race was the extremely competitive pace of the rear-motored cars today which clocked the fastest laps and came very close to taking the win. The extremely fast Alvin Koh clocked the second fastest qualifying time even without taking the triples with his TRF201. Rear-motor guys were commenting about how the mid-motor cars simply jumped better but conversely, the mid-motor racers were impressed with how the rear-motor cars made up precious time in the in-field with their quick cornering and acceleration out of corners.

It was an awesome day of racing for everyone - Joakim Stjernberg who's racing for the very first time was overheard saying that he's looking forward to the 4WD event that takes place in 2 weeks' time!

See you guys there!

Check out more race pictures here!

About NOOB
The NOOB Series started in 2010 and is currently the best attended and only 1/10 electric offroad series in Singapore. It is designed to grow the off-road RC community by providing an efficient, light-hearted, family-friendly race environment for racers, bashers and newcomers to have fun.