Well this turned out to be one of the biggest
turnouts for the event without our european competitors in a long while.
Thanks to the Goodwines for an excellent venue as always, the track prep crew,
thanks to the sponsors and thanks to Victor. We had racers that hadn't
competed since Covid started and some even further back
than that. It was good to see some new additions to the 5th Scale Racing
Family, The Velez's, Panda back for another round, Dereck Butterfield giving
up his Spec 5 for the big boys. The Sarnelle's returning, Kenny Watkins and
Frank Pena. Anthony Cope, Andrew Alden and the RAMS and Texas 5 contingent.
If you were here on Friday the wind was a challenge. From your car on the
track to being on the drivers stand thinking at any time this was going to
take flight. Saturday was better with some breezes and you couldn't ask for
better on Sunday for the Mains.
F1
The biggest turn out of F1 in
years saw some new drivers and old rivalries rekindled. It was good to have
Hugh in Town, Bob Sarnelle showed up to rekindle that battle, BUT WAIT, now
the rivalry is complete Bryn Foskett is also here, Mr Podium Hau-Ching, old
timer Kenny Watkins and the new crew of Jansen Ng and Texas 5 driver Marquell
Osborne.
We
start off with the F1 A Main, Jason Markley would start off from Pole and not
look back. Marquell Osborne would hold down 2nd until about lap 26 until a
wing issue would relegate him back in the field. Then the rest of the race
became a battle for 2nd between Hugh Lawson, Cedric Collins and Welcome Back
Bob Sarnelle. Your top 5 in F1 was Jason Markley, Hugh Lawson, Cedric Collins,
Bob Sarnelle and Jansen Ng.
SPORTSMAN
Now it's time for
Sportsman, it was the Tom Wong show from the drop of the flag. We thought it
was going to be a good battle between Tom and Frank Pena (retuning to
racing) but Frank had issues on Lap Two and would soon retire. Then 4th to 2nd
Danny Pacho tried to give Tom a run only to fall to 3rd by lap 16 and then it
was Mr Podium Hau-Ching Liao jumping from 7th to 2nd on lap 17 and would stay
there. The surprise and making the trip worth it was his brother Huan-Ching (who actually
out qualified Hau) who made it into 3rd on lap 39 to make for a great family
photo op. Danny Pacho and Samuel Bronson round out the top 5
EXIBITION
Then it was the exibition race. The Stadium Trucks
and yes they looked like the real ones on a roadcourse. The Supercross start
was a good touch and provided some early race drama, by end of lap 1 things had
changed and your pole sitter Dereck Butterfield by lap 3 found himself in
last. 4th place starter Jason Markley was now in the lead followed by David
Wang and Jason Sheerer on the move. By mid race it was Jason Markley, Dereck
making his way back to 2nd and Jason Sheerer in 3rd. By the drop of the flag
it was Dereck Butterfield , Jason Markley and David Wang.
SPEC 5
It's
down to the last two mains, Spec 5 being first. With a coulpe of drivers not
making the start, it was a fairly uneventful race with everyone finishing
status quo. Paul Smith takes the win, Pepe Velez in his first 5th scale start
takes 2nd and Jason Scheerer giving the on road a shot finishes 3rd.
STC
Its time for the finale, STC The start was a little
rough but everyone made it through with Kyle Goodwine getting the worst of it
and going from 2nd to 5th. He would have his job cut out for him trying to
make it back to the top. Satoshi Takesako seemed to have the race well under
control. Tony Tam gave a valiant effort and ran 2nd until lap 30 and then
eventually finishing 4th. Kyle had made his way back to 2nd by lap 30 but
there was no way he was going to catch Satoshi. The battles then became Craig
Kaplan and Tony Tam for 3rd and Dave Stroud and Luis Rinzivillo for 5th. Those
battles would run to the end of the race. Your top 5 in STC was Satoshi, Kyle,
Craig, Tony and Dave.
2. Jason Markley 1. Dereck Butterfield 3.
David Wang
Stadium Trucks Start
GT8
2. Matthew Myers 1. Bill Lin
3. Tyrone Robinson
It is Saturday and Welcome to the 2021 Bill Margolis
West Coast Championship presented by the RAMS, the longest running 5th scale
OnRoad race on the West Coast. This race will usually draw people from around
the country and Canada. With some folks still recovering from this crazy year
and a half, some haven't gotten their traveling wheels back and so the turnout
was a little low for this years race, but THAT DID NOT take away from the
intensity. With most of the F1 guys not going to show until Sunday, that class
did not run until then which made that one qualifier all the more important.
The competition on Saturday was spread across Sportsman, SuperSport and STC.
In the first round of Sportsman it was Brian Rodrigues followed by Brendon
Foskett and Byron Soublet. By Round 2 Brian had improved his pace by a lap and
Brendon and Byron held station, Round 3 Brendon found his grove beat Brian's
previous TQ by 1 lap to get the top spot. But now the sweating had to start
because there were more drivers coming out on Sunday. On Sunday it was one and
done in Round 4 for Al Gerace as he grabs TQ. In SuperSport your weekend
started off with a Round 1 win for Kurt Jamrus running 32 laps with a 10:05.056
followed by David Tamira and Jojo Bayabo. Round 2 your winner would be David
Tamira followed by Jojo and Brandon Soublet. David's time wasn't fast enough to
bump Kurt but put him in 2nd for the moment. Round 3 your winner was Jojo
running a 31 along with Kurt. This would put Jojo is spot #3. The final round
everyone meant buisiness in SuperSport. Kurts TQ was in serious jeopardy from
Danny Pacho, Hau-Ching Liao and Jojo. All drivers ran 32 laps and Danny just
missed out on TQ by 0.525. In STC the competition was hot and heavy. Victor
Garcia still coming to grips with the short chassis found something
this weekend as he set the unofficial track record on Saturday and then backed
it up on Sunday running a 15.886. If you were not running low, low 16's, you
were fighting for 5th in the main. In Round 1 it was John Burnett grabing the
early TQ running 36 laps with the top 4 seperated by 8 seconds. In Round 2 it
was Tony Vega running fast with a 36 in 10:01.406 beating Johns previous mark
by 4.3 seconds, followed by Burnett and Dave Stroud. In Round 3 it was Vega
and Burnett going one lap better running 37's and Vega holding on to TQ. On
Sunday, Round 4 it was Victor Garcia that grabbed pole in his last qualifier
and it was touch and go for Vega, but he eventually beat out Victor for TQ
running 37 in 10:08.028.
1) Fernando Jose 2) Cedric Collins
3) Hau-Ching Laio
Super Sport
1) Danny Pacho 2) Hau-Ching Liao 3)
Tim Gerace
Sportsman
1) Brendan Foskett 2) Al Gerace 3) Brian
Rodrigues
STC Battle
F1 Battle
Super Sport Battle
5th Scale US Nats
As the Applebees song goes.....Welcome back
We had a decent turnout for the race with
everyone starting to emerge from their bunkers due to Covid. Unfortunately we
had a date conflict and lost out on Texas 5 guys coming but that did not take
away from the title bout. Like the Fight of the Century (Last Year), Super
Fight II (This Year) we have the Thrilla in Manilla to look foward to either
in 3 months or next year. The battle between Kyle Goodwine and Satoshi
Takesako is reminissense of Ali and Foreman. Kyle got the better of Satoshi
last year with a 98.18% consistency run. Satoshi returned the favor this year
running 98.00% consistency. We cant wait for round 3.
Well it was good to see three of the five 5th scale areas represented in the
main event. Socal , NoCal and Miami and some guy named Panda (Kevin
Cole) making his first start in a 5th scale STC car. Satoshi and Kyle
dominated the event but Kyle gave Craig a brief moment of exhilaration when he
got by him for 2nd but that didn't last long. Kyle would get back to 2nd by
the next lap and stay there till the end. The biggest mover was Tony Vega,
starting in 8th and getting up to 5th in 6 laps and getting as high as 4th at
one point in the race. Victor Garcia (Q5) and Tony Tam (Q3) had early race
incidents that ended their day. The Miami Gang ran a good consistent race and
both drivers made up multiple places from their starting positions. George
Velazco would finish 4th and Luis Rinzivillo would finish 6th. Your
finishing order was:
Mr Podium, it always
happens. Congrats to Hau-Ching Liau on his F1 Victory.
2nd - Jason Markley 1st - Hau-Ching Liau
In Sportsman it was your pole sitter James Stuard
that lead most of the 52 laps the race was run by the eventual winner.
But things got interesting on lap 38 when James went from 1st to 2nd, Z Isayan
from 2nd to 1st then one lap later Z woulld go from 1st to 3rd, James back to
1st only on the next lap to fall to 2nd and Tom Wong would go from 3rd to 1st
and stay there till the end for the win. Mr Podium would sneak in for
3rd with Jojo Bayabo 4th and Z finishing 5th.
In SPEC 5 it was Garen Hagobian in the Goodwine
prepared ride laying down some great laps in qualifying. In the main he
started second behind TQ Paul Smith, by lap 6 everyone had their shot at
leading with Gary taking the lead for a stint on lap 6 and holding it until
lap 36 when Garen would take the lead for good. Both would finish with 53 laps
with Gary 7 seconds behind for 2nd.
It's race time and you could tell racers were ready to
leave the couch and the walls of the house behind to come out for some good RC
racing.
It was a great turnout for the Protoform GP and
congrats to the Goodwines for hosting another great race. But we are here to
talk about 5th scale so lets get to it.
It's Friday and Round 1 is about to get going. Some of
the racers either could not get the day of or figured they would hit it hard
Saturday with rounds 3 - 5. In SPEC 5 you had Tom Prokop running a 26
10:06 with Eugene Osburn's 26 10:20 followed by Gary Kyes,Paul Smith and Rich
Reybok. You just know as the rubber gets down they will get faster.
In STC Kyle Goodwine laid down a 29 10:09 with a fast
lap of 20.427 letting everyone know he means business. Phill Goodwine
would run a 27 lapper and Bill Lin a 26 in round 1. You know those would
improve with time and rubber.
Round 2
Gary got his car together and ran a 27 10:12 with Tom
right behind him with a 27 10:20, Eugene fell a little of the pace and David
Figueroa got his frst laps in.
In STC Kyle was alittle off pace, 0.05 seconds...lol.
Running another 29 and putting his stamp on the event as the man to beat.
Phil running another 27 and Ken Gerberding getting on the board edging out
Bill Lin for 3rd qualifier.
Round 3
Paul Smith gets on track with a 27 lap run to get in
the game with Gary and Tom. Rich and Josh run 26's.
Kyle continued his assault on the 29's this time
with a 10:05 showing his consistency. Phil improved on his time running a
28 with Rich, Bill and James all running 26's.
Round 4
Round 4 and the drivers you expect to be on top in
SPEC 5 are there all running 27 laps seperated by 0.15 secs. Josh Alton
and Rich still getting the feel for the car came in with 26's.
With the
rubber getting laid down Kyle found some extra speed in this run and put down
a 30 10:14 with Rich, Craig and Ken all running 28's improving their
standings. Kyle will definitely be headmaster unless the others find some
speed in their cars.
Final Round
Round 5 No one in SPEC5 improved on time with only
three drivers taking to the track for this round.
Another Kyle slightly
off pace putting in another 30 lap run. Craig Kaplan improved to a 29 and
Victor Garcia got a good run in with a 28 still trying to come to grips
with the short wheelbase car.
It's the Mains
Gary Kyes starts on Pole and with clean and consistent
driving would never relinquish the spot running a fast lap of 22.150, he
would finish 3.5 seconds over surprise 2nd place finisher Rich Reybok.
After some tips from on and off SPEC5 driver Ken Gerb the light bulb came on
and Rich had the car down, Rich's fast lap of 22.225 was 0.75 seconds off
Gary's pace and he looks to be a threat in future SPEC5 races.
Paul
Smith would come home in 3rd with Tom Prokop 4th and Josh Alton 5th.
Kyle would start on pole and had this race well in control. The first few laps
saw Kaplan put up a good fight trying to stay close but a couple tenths a
lap start to eek out a gap. Even with an assist later in the race from lap
traffic it wasn't enough for Craig to get close to Kyle.
Craig would go
on to claim second over Victor Garcia who would come home in 3rd. Post race
with Victor he said he has to get the consistency in the car and he will
be there. That is the current challenge. Bill Lin would come home in an
impressive 4th over Ken Gerberding in 5th.
