Race: Points Race #10
Date: 9-11-2005
Location: Richmond, Va.
Track: 360 West Shopping Center
Temperature: 91°F but Low Humidity

Finally a break from the summers heat! Even though temps reached the nineties it was relatively cool as a constant breeze and low humidity kept most participants from sweating to death when doing the simplest of tasks like thinking. Club members setup the usual layout (see below). Angel opened registration following set up and soon two rounds of controlled practice were run. Once practice was concluded Angel then held a short drivers meeting and qualifiers were setup and posted.

Track Layout

Qualifying: In 1/8th Scale Mark Poore won his first pole of the year with a 20 lap run on a 5:06.71just edging out Mike Bowman by .02 of a second. In Electric Touring John Laster returned to the front position earning his eighth pole of the year. Nitro Touring Sport saw Paul Knab secure another pole with a fast run of 17 laps on a 5:05.02. The Nitro Touring Pro class saw Sean Tabor get his first pole of the year as well as James Giles in the Nitro Truck Division. Wrapping up qualifying was Aaron Bartlett who bested Clevland Bey for the TQ spot in the Nitro Monster Truck class.

1/8th A-Main: On the waving of the start flag in this event, Mike Bowman and Kevin Randolph quickly moved around a sleeping at the line Mark Poore to move into the lead as the rest of the field of Stan Medlin, John Laster, Ken Harris, in line behind. Tim Aberg had troubles on the start and had to start late ending any chance he had of victory. Back up front Mark had recovered from his slow start and moved around Kevin with his sites set on the back of Mike's Mugen. On lap 6 Mark had pulled up on the back bumper of Mike and was ready to make a move when Bowman touched a corner and got hung up. Mark moved quickly around with Kevin, Stan, and John in tow. At the first fuel stop Marks receiver must have gotten fuel in it as his car went nuts leaving the pits and pounded several walls before a quick reacting Lamont Dunson tackled it and choked it out. Mike mean while had recovered from his woes and caught back up to Kevin. The ensuing battle left Mike out front with Kevin close behind in his rear view mirror. Behind them, Stan & John had moved around hard driving Ken and appeared to be on a tear all the while Harris' motor appeared to be going south. Back up front Bowman had some trouble late in the race causing a lengthy pit stop. When the final horn blew Kevin would get his first victory of the year with Mike finishing some three laps behind him followed by John, Stan, Ken, Mark, and Tim in that order. Chuck Lienbach failed to start due to a pre-race warm up incident.Congratulations to Kevin Randolph on a well deserved win!

1/10th Electric: In Electric Touring John Laster continues his dominance of recent by fending off a hard driving effort of Tony Carthon who finished just a lap behind John. Finishing third was Joe Harler, fourth was Edsel Pinpin, fifth was Tommy Ingram in the first of the "little cars" in the field, followed by wife Angie in sixth.

Nitro Truck: In Nitro Truck, TQ James Giles & Joe Harler picked right up where they left off in qualifying. They battled long and hard while Tommy Ingram and Ryan Warren had their own battle waging just two laps behind. Earl Ingram had early race woes and parked his truck just 3 laps into the event. When all was said and done Joe bested pole sitter James by just seven seconds while Tommy held off Ryan by eighteen seconds for third. Earl closed out he field in fifth.

1/10th Touring Sport: Paul Knab had visions of back to back wins in the Sport class. He had secured the pole and started the race with only Aaron Bartlett & Craig Jones in his rear view mirror. These three drivers raced close for the whole event exchanging the lead a few times as slower traffic played into the equation often. Behind them Joe Harler found a soft spot in the running order and went into cruise awaiting something to happen up front. For Lamont Dunson, the engine woes would continue. He would have a great run going only to be forced into the pits for restarting. Craig would fall victim to mechanical gremlins and be forced to retire at about half way. Josh Wallace and Edsel Pinpin also would have to retire early as the attrition added up quickly around half way through. When the smoke cleared, Aaron beat out Paul by six seconds, Joe was rewarded with third, fourth was Lamont, fifth went to Craig, Justen earned a sixth, Josh a seventh, and Edsel in eighth. Cleveland Bey and Scott Harrell did not start the event.

1/10th Touring Pro B: In keeping with the bump-up format six drivers set out to earn the last spot starting in the A-main by winning the B. These drivers consisted of Darnell Washington, Johnny Pritchett, Mike Bowman, Tony Carthon, Tim Aberg, and Josh Lancaster. When the starting tone was heard and the flag waved they started to do battle. Mike and Darnell quickly moved up front and away from the field but both drivers ran into trouble early forcing them to the pits. Pritchett also had troubles forcing him to retire leaving only two cars to battle as Josh failed to make the start. When time expired Tim Aberg would be victorious followed by Tony, Mike, Johnny, Darnell, and Josh.

1/10th Touring Pro A: Tim Aberg declined to bump-up for the A, so this left seven drivers to work it out between them. At the start, Sean Tabor showed that his TQ run was not a fluke and moved away from the rest of the field almost immediately. John Laster and Terrance Brown tried to hang on but after a few minutes they were almost dead even in lap times. This kept either one from getting a clean breakaway form the other making for some exciting racing. Behind them Terry Goodwin, Charlie Wilson, and Darrell Hurlind had their own battle waging and fought hard just to protect their own positions. Austrian, Michael Meisinger found a corner hard to move early in the race and was forced to retire just before the first round of fuel stops. Meanwhile back up front Sean was laying down the fastest laps of the day in Touring and thus moving away from the field. With good pit stops and such a good racing line only he could get in his own way of winning. That he didn't, after 20 minutes Sean would secure the victory easily, with the rest of the field finishing like this; Terrance, John, Charlie, Darrell, Terry, and Michael.

Nitro Monster Truck: With Nitro Monster truck having only one driver starting, pole sitter Aaron Bartlett had to make only one lap to win as driver Cleveland Bey didn't start.

Remember, the next points race is September 18, 2005
Hope to see you there. Until then,
---Mark Poore


Copyright © 2005 V.O.R.R.A. (Virginia On Road Racing Association)