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Westerm R/C, Las Vegas,
Nevada - May 13-14 2000
On After 3 days of open practice, 40 Drivers took part in the
warm-up meeting. Qualifying took place on Saturday and
Finals were on Sunday.
Open Practice
 With
3 days to get the setup right, there seemed plenty of time, but
some of the overseas drivers seemed to be having difficulty
getting engines to run. After changing everything they could and
getting nowhere, the locals let the secret out. Las Vegas is hot
(35c), dry (low humidity) and at nearly 4000 feet above sea
level!
Qualifying
 Mark
Pavidis stayed in the shade for the first round then TQed
Rounds 2, 3 and 4, ensuring 465 points and pole in the A Stream
Semi final. Strong in qualifying were Jeremy Kortz and Alex
Lafranchi, both TQing a round. Alex also had the Fastest
Time in Qualifying of 23 laps in 10m24.25s. Mark Pavidis
was the only other 23 lapper, almost 2 seconds slower.
Finals
There has been a change in the IFMAR rules
to ensure that the TQ driver has to qualify through a semi
final. In the past the TQ driver has been automatically placed
in pole of the Final. Now all drivers have to qualify through
the "bump up" system in 2 streams. Mark Pavidis
was not as dominant in the A Stream 20 minute Semi, finishing
3rd, only 6 seconds adrift of Greg Degani, who won with
44 laps. Alex was determined to get pole in the Final and
was almost a lap quicker with 45 laps.
 The
Final was a full hour and was set to be an exciting chase. In
the blazing Nevada sun, 10 men took up the challenge. One hour
later there would be victory for 1 and sunburn for all. Alex
made a very poor start but Mark was in the lead after the
first lap but lost out to Greg on lap 4. Alex was languishing
in 7th place at this time. From 8th on the grid, Jeremy Kotrz
climbed steadily, reaching the lead on lap 15 and after fighting
with Degani and the steadily climbing Lafranchi,
consolidated the lead at lap 23, holding it until Alex
assumed his rightful place on lap 30. Alex did not loose the
lead again, his Thunder Tiger finishing at
1h17.67s on 132 laps, almost 3 laps ahead of Raul Perris
in second. What happened to Mark? Things seemed to start
going wrong on lap 14, when he dropped from 2nd to 5th and on
lap 25 he was clearly in trouble, receiving an uncharacteristic
stop and go penalty, immediately followed by a run-away when his
throttle servo broke.
| Pos |
|
Car |
|
Name |
|
Laps |
Time |
|
AV Lap |
1
|
|
1
|
|
Alex Lafranchi
|
|
132
|
1h17.67
|
|
27.41
|
2
|
|
6
|
|
Raul Perris
|
|
129
|
1h 3.18
|
|
27.93
|
3
|
|
8
|
|
Jeremy Kortz
|
|
128
|
1h 9.16
|
|
28.20
|
4
|
|
2
|
|
Greg Degani
|
|
127
|
1h25.27
|
|
28.55
|
5
|
|
10
|
|
Kris Moore
|
|
126
|
1h12.39
|
|
28.67
|
6
|
|
7
|
|
Greg Waller
|
|
123
|
1h 2.21
|
|
29.29
|
7
|
|
3
|
|
Richard Saxton
|
|
123
|
1h 4.27
|
|
29.30
|
8
|
|
9
|
|
Sabastian Leonard
|
|
118
|
1h25.20
|
|
30.72
|
9
|
|
5
|
|
Yannick Aigoin
|
|
101
|
49m22.32
|
|
29.33
|
10
|
|
4
|
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Mark Pavidis
|
|
25
|
11m34.69
|
|
27.79
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Full results can be downloaded
in ZIP form (only 146kb). These show all the lap times. Despite
a number of refueling stops, Alex's lap times were in the 25-31
second range.
Thanks go to Randy, John and Bo
at Western R/C for hosting the event.
In October?
There will be another 110 drivers, all
trying to become world champion. Will Alex get that one
for Thunder Tiger? Come to Las Vegas and find
out..........
You will, of course, be able to get results on
the Internet as quickly as we can get them uploaded.
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