Only one more race to go before the Series Champ is crowned. Remember: Home Cook’n isn’t in the running and all drivers can only include their best results from four (4) races. Right now, the series standings look like this:
Place
Driver
Races
Points
1
Ian Douglas
3
248.5
2
George Peters
4
228.5
3
Brad Sandahl
3
196.5
4
Kevin Webster
4
126
5
Russ Toy
3
119.5
6
Jordan Walker
3
116.25
7
Greg Kondrek
1
57.75
8
Mike Andrews
1
56
Current “Official” Standings After Round 4
[table id=9 /]
The final round could be interesting. Will the G-Man (Greg Kondrek) make an early comeback appearance? Will Mike Andrews make another appearance in the final race? Any of those scenarios happening could dramatically affect the final outcome of the series.
One thing is certain, all drivers can only use the combined points from four of the five series races. Some drivers will finish the series with only points from four races total. Drivers with five race appearances will lose all of the points from their lowest scoring race.
Bottom line is, you have to show up for the final race if you want to defend or improve your current position in the standings. The top three spots aren’t necessarily up for grabs, but all that depends on who’s on the start grid on November 20, 2021.
Round 4 took us back to the road course and the usual 50/50 racing program. We ran three IROC races and one Builder’s Class race prior to a delayed lunch break. All races featured 20-lap heats and 25-lap fuel allocation.
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The big story of the day was Russ Toy’s winning of the “inaugural” Jag Hobbies NC-2 “Lite” race. Yes, we finally raced one of the new car platforms in the series and everyone seemed to enjoy driving the NC-2, especially Russ, of course.
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The NC-2 race was very competitive with Russ besting “Rookie of the Year” candidate, Brad Sandahl, by just one lap, finishing with a 78-lap total. Home Cook’n was not too far off with 75-laps, and Ian Douglass rounded out the top three podium spots with 73-laps in third place.
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In the end, Ian Douglass took the overall race-day victory by just one point! Brad Sandahl finished the day in 2nd place overall with 60 points, and the Gravity Master, George Peters, rounded out the podium in third with 50 points.Â
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Overall Results Round 4:
Place
Name
Laps
Points
Total Time
1
Ian Douglass
458
81
2779.278
2
Steve Stewart
467
80
2731.469
3
Brad Sandahl
444
60
2844.253
4
George Peters
438
50
2815.976
5
Russ Toy
412
43
2801.712
6
Kevin Webster
396
34
2786.317
All in all, it was a hotly contested race day and a fun—but very fast—group of drivers.Â
Race 1 was an IROC set from George Peter’s IROC stable, OS3 TFX “Lites.” These cars started the day out relatively slow but hectic as everybody got a taste for what this exciting new class of car has to offer. The TFX Lite car is basically an out-of-the-box OS3 TFX car with OS3 Black Dragon magnets in place of the stock Gray Dragon magnets. This minor upgrade gives the car a bit more downforce and a whole lot more drivability.
Race 2 was another challenging “gravity” car, the Viper Scale Racing’s Retro-V. This car is a hoot to drive at 12 or 15-volts. We opted for 12v and Ian Douglass quickly redeemed himself for accidentally missing Round 3 and handily won the race with 79-laps. George took the final podium spot with a nice run at 76-laps.
Race 3 was another exciting and very competitive race with Ian continuing to his redemption tour. This race only had at most a 3-lap spread between each finisher–way close racing! Thanks, Kevin for the great IROC set!
Race 4 the very first Jag Hobbies NC-2 “Lite” event of the season. As mentioned, Russ Toy cemented his place in slot car history by besting Brad Sandahl by just one lap in this hotly contested inaugural race. The consensus was that the NC-2 is a keeper car and showed great promise for continued interest and even a Modified class at some point. Nice driving, Russ!
Race 5 was another Builder’s class race utilizing the venerable Viper Scale Racing’s Viper-Jet. Home Cook’n may have stole some valuable points in this one but the rest of the field battled fiercely for the last two podium spots with Kevin Webster very narrowly missing his first podium visit of the series. Great driving guys!
Race 6 capped off Round 4 with Viper Scale Racing’s V-Spec Lexan cars. We gradually ratcheted up the speed so we were all ready for these speedsters. This race was scorching battle for the top spot on the final podium of the day. Ian Douglass was intent on finishing his Redemption Tour on top but Home Cook’n had other intentions. In the end, the two drivers tied on laps but Ian’s Total Runtime was 3-seconds less, cementing his overall victory in Round 4. Equally impressive was Brad Sandahl’s fourth visit to the podium with a solid 3rd place!
Viper V-Spec Lexan
Place
Name
Laps
Points
Total Time
1
Ian Douglass
79
16
291.218
2
Steve Stewart
79
13
294.242
3
Brad Sandahl
75
11
299.378
4
George Peters
72
7
309.227
5
Kevin Webster
65
6
306.121
6
Russ Toy
64
5
289.077
VRS Viper V-Spec Lexan
Thank you all for supporting Stewart Raceway and spending your Saturday racing little cars with me. Stay tuned for “Official” Series Standings after Round 4.
Round 5 is currently slated for November 20, 2021 and will feature the road course but maybe with a chicane added to the inside straightaway, we’ll see.
Up third was another IROC race using box-stock MegaG+ 1.7 chassis’ with Tomy F1/Indy bodies from Kevin Webster’s stable of IROC cars. Everybody enjoyed this set a lot.
The fourth race of the day was yet another IROC set of box-stock MegaG+ 1.7 chassis’ but this time with 1970-ish Camaro hard bodies. Again, from Kevin Webster’s stable of way cool IROC cars.
Race 5 was yet another IROC set of house Jag Hobbies TR-3 chassis’ with un-kitted Augoran hard bodies. Jordan Walker landed a 3rd-place podium spot in this hard fought race.
The last “official” series of the day employed another IROC set of Wizzard Storm gravity cars with dual-compound rear tires courtesy of Kevin Webster. Very exciting cars but unpredictable offs due to the choice of rear tires.
The last race of the day was a fiercely competitive finale using the house Tyco-Jet IROC set. This was a very close one with George Peters besting Brad Sandahl by just three laps and Kevin Webster pipping Jordan Walker by the same number of laps.
