The final race day of the 2006 season started out a little cool and damp but the skies cleared and the sun came out in time to dry the track and set up another good day of racing.

Wayne Vince was called away to work leaving things wide open in 19T and Mod. Andre Rocheleau responded with a solid 17 lap run in 5:04 to take TQ in 19T followed by Bart Garner in 5:08 and Steven Vangalen in 5:16. Jason Balfour made it out for one last run with RROL before he moves and qualified 4'th in the A Main.

In the 19T A Main, Andre was running away from the field with a very clean run, consistently turning laps in the 17 second range, but tagged a wall and broke after 13 laps. Jason had gotten by Bart in the first lap as Bart struggled for grip under power and stayed ahead for the win with a 2.5 second margin. Steven broke after only one lap and finished 4'th. It was a great way for Jason to close his career with RROL. Good Luck with you move Jason. We're happy for you, but you will be missed!

In the B Main, Kevin Hill got things sorted out after a very frustrating qualifying session and checked out on the field running 17 laps in 5:16 - nearly a full lap ahead of the A Main pace. Richard Garner followed with 15 in 5:03, followed by Clark Wallace who borrowed the third Vangalen Racing Team car and made a very respectable showing. Con's hard luck continued in the main where he never finished a lap.

In Electric Open Dan Engelbreth TQ'd and followed up with the win as is his custom when Wayne is away. Kevin Hill ran a strong second, missing a 16 lap run by less than 2 tenths. Bart's motor tightened up on the first lap and he fell out, settling for third.

As tight as the points were for many positions going into this race little changed in the end. Steven managed to move past Kevin for 6'th in points. He started the day 4 points behind and ended it up by 2.

What a great day of racing. There was no surprise at the top of the heap this week in Mod or 19T but that does not mean there was no news this week. Newcomer Clark Wallace finally made it out with his Nitro car all in one piece and running. Dan was only too ready to go with his Nitro having left it on the shelf for much of the summer. It was good to have a round of Nitro's in the mix today as it spread out the schedule a bit allowing more prep time for the electrics. Clark ran well too. There were lots of people interested in helping him out and he listened well, improving throughout the day. Dan TQ'd and won the Nitro class.

The real surprise of the day was Richard Garner. After last weeks disastrous results, his dad, Bart, retired the mod and gave the FK04 to Richard to replace his T1R. Richard capitalized on the better car by not just running well, but by qualifying 4''th with a stellar run in his second qualifier and making the A Main for the first time with a personal best 17 laps - 5 laps better than last weeks qualifiers and 2 better than last weeks B main. Bart made the most of not having to prep 3 cars, qualifying 2'nd in the A and finishing second to Wayne Vince who continues to click off laps week after week with almost flawless consistency. Andre Rocheleau is quickly becoming a force in 19T and gave Bart all he could handle for much of the A main before fading late in the going to finish 3'rd. Richard ran a clean race, stayed out of trouble and finished where he started. No-one in the A main had to be marshalled.

Con Vangalen started the B Main on the pole followed by Steve Vangalen, Kevin Hill and Dylan Christo. Con got off to a rough start though allowing Steve and Kevin by. Kevin slipped by Steve on the 3'rd lap and led a 3 car train for much of the way with Steve and Con hot on his tail. On the 13'th lap he somehow lost 3 hood pins and with the body starting to flop around and catch on the wheels Steve and Con both quickly slipped by. Once Steve was out front again it was all his show as he steadily pulled away. Kevin stayed on the throttle and managed to finish 3'rd, just 3 seconds behind Con. Dylan was fourth.

In Mod Wayne ran 20 laps in 5:01 to take TQ. Dan Engelbreth followed with 18 laps and Kevin Hill ran 16. They finished the main in the same order. It's sounding like this will pretty much be a brushless class for next year as the motor maintenance has been a lot of work. Dan, Kevin and Bart have run much of the year with 19T motors in the open class. Won't matter, Wayne will likely kick our butts all over the track then too.

At least he's nice about it ;)~

October 1 will be a Points make up race, weather permitting.

Rain spoiled our fun on August 27 but all the regulars were back for todays race. We used a new track layout today, leaving out the outer walls again. We reversed the layout so that the long back straight now heads downhill. Everyone thought the track flowed well and the lap times dropped. Dan shook up the Heat lineups a bit this week, mixing newer and more experienced drivers. This makes the racing interesting and gives everyone more experience with traffic. It's a credit to the newer drivers in our club that we can do this and still run such smooth qualifiers. There is a lot of give and take in every race.

In Mod, Bart won the drag race with his 6 turn, but unfortunately couldn't turn and never finished a race all day. Wayne again TQ'd and won with a 20 lap Qualifier in 5:06. Every lap but but his last one was under 16 seconds. He did it again in the main with 14 of his 21 laps under 15 seconds. Dan qualified and finished second with Kevin Hill 3'rd. Bart managed an astounding 11 laps total all day and was credited with 4'th.

In 19T Andre Rocheleau had another strong run taking second in the A Main behind Wayne Vince. Kevin Hill also had another great run taking 3'rd with 19 laps and just 9 seconds behind Andre. Steve Vangalen, who is becoming a regular in the A Main took 4'th. Bart, who only finished one race all day (except his transponder quit counting in that one!), seized a motor and finished last.

The B Main had some great racing in spite of Con running away with the win. Con struggled in qualifying and started 4'th but took the lead on the second lap and never looked back. If he had, he would have seen a great battle. Dylan Christo, who started the B Main on the pole, and Richard Garner traded 2'nd place no less than 5 times officially had a great race that finished with a drag race down the back straight. Dylan had the inside going into the sweeper forcing Richard to make the pass on the outside. Richard grabbed second by just over 6 tenths. Newcomer Cory Claypole rounded out the field with a good consistent run.

Between vacations and unbearably hot weather a small field this week had only one heat in 19T and one in Mod. With fewer heats though we were able to run 3 rounds of qualifying. We also tried something else new this week and that was to build the track without the outer barrier that we have been using. Setup was done in less than an hour, giving lots of time for practice and racing. Teardown was quick too with the site vacated by 4:30pm.

In 19T, Wayne TQ'd and won with an 18 lap run in 5:10. Kevin Hill nipped Bart Garner for second by just 1.4 seconds at the line, followed by Andre Rocheleau on the same lap. Con Vangalen, the sole VRT member present today, and Barry Alexander rounded out the field.

In Mod Wayne again TQ'd and won missing a 19 Lap Q by just 1 second. Dan qualified 2'nd but troubles on his 3'rd lap left him trailing the field. Dan managed to get back to 3'rd allowing Bart to snag second. Kevin Hill broke early while running 3'rd and failed to finish.

Today's race showed just how tight the competition is at RROL, aside from Wayne Vince's dominance. Bart Garner, last week's A Main winner didn't even make the A Main this week, settling for the win in the B Main. Newcomer Barry Alexander had a stellar run to take second in the B when Kevin Hill broke in the late stages.

Wayne once again TQ'd and took the A Main win in both Mod and 19T. In spite of his dominance, Wayne is a pleasure to race with. He is always cheerful and ready to lend some help or advice to whoever needs it. Dan Engelbreth made a rare appearance in 19T, taking a drop in Mod and showed his strength by qualifying second and placing second in the Main. Steve Vangalen made his second straight A Main and came home a strong 3'rd, eclipsing Jason Balfour by 7 seconds at the end.

In a reduced field with Dan running 19T, Bart ran 2'nd and Kevin was third in Mod.

Perfect weather brought more great racing to RROL for the fifth points race of the season. Front-runners Wayne Vince and Louis Vanderway opted to run the trophy race at Fastcats and both did us proud. Wayne TQ'd and won the 10'th scale Open Touring class and I believe Lou ran 4'th in Nitro. Their absence changed some of the names at the top of the heap this week.

The field may have been light, but we still had cars for 2 19T heats, a Mod heat and a Nitro heat and the races clicked off quick enough that we were able to get 3 rounds of qualifying in each and a 15 minute Nitro Main. Thanks to all for the help with setup and teardown and for being ready at race time!

In 19T, Bart Garner capitalized on the missing heavyweights (Wayne, Andy Vetor and Nate Talaskavich) by grabbing his first ever TQ and A Main win. While Bart was never challenged for the win, the 5 car field was on the same lap for the first 14 tours of the track and only a miscue by Steve Vangalen coming around the hairpin in front of the drivers stand allowed Bart to close and put him a lap down. Con Vangalen also lost a lap with a last lap problem. At the horn Brian Crosby was 2'nd, followed by Jason Balfour, Steve and Con. Andre Rocheleau won the B Main followed by Dylan Christo with a nice clean 12 lap run. Richard Garner struggled much of the day with an electrical glitch and finished 3'rd.

In Mod Electric, Dan Engelbreth fairly easily lead Bart around all through the qualifiers even though his car was suffering from a seriously deteriorating rear drive belt. When the main was called though things changed. Finding his mod motor with a brush thrown out of it, Bart put a new battery in his 19T, swapped the transponders and dropped it on the track. While there were only two cars in the class it turned out to be a great battle with Bart leading the first 4 laps. There were no less than 7 lead changes in the 5 minute main with Dan taking it at the end by less than 3 seconds. It actually should have been closer had Bart not quit at the line on the 2'nd last lap due to thinking the race was over.

The nitro's were back and while like the Mod class there were only 2 cars we are sure to increase the number by our decision to guarantee the nitro's a 15 minute main. Dan lead qualifying fairly handily and eclipsed Brian Crosby by 4 laps in the main. With the open track both drivers had lots of open track and turned in some great laps with no need for marshalls.

Next up is a FREE day on July 9 with lots of practice and some fun races (no points) on the schedule.

Also missing today was Kevin Hill. Kevin had an accident at work and is having trouble with his eyes. We're thinking of you Kevin - get well soon and we'll see you at the track.

You could not have ordered nicer weather for the 401 TC Challenge.

Unfortunately there were too many options for Nitro drivers on June 4 and we were not able to get enough to field a race. The racing was hot though, with both the A and B Mains in 19T Electric being decided by under a second. Andy Vetor TQ'd but a 2'nd lap of over 22 seconds allowed Jeff Beaule to slip by for the win. Falling all the way to 4'th, Andy put on a clinic to come back but came up just short at the end. It was a tough task, 17 of Jeff's 18 laps were under 17.6 seconds, with many in the 16's. Jeff also benefited from a rare crash by Wayne Vince that took him out of the lead and out of the race after only 7 laps. Nate Talaskavich, who is looking pretty comfortable as the best of the rest of us finished just one lap back followed by Bart Garner and Kevin Hill to round out the top 5. Mike Moore, in his first run since mid winter also crashed early managing only 9 laps. Andre Rocheleau who had to battle Jason Balfour and Con Vangalen to get into the A managed only 3 laps.

The B Main was an amazing race with Jason edging Con by less than a second, followed closely by Steve Vangalen. Steve led for laps 2 through 11 with Con and Jason right on his tail. You could have thrown a blanket over the three cars at any point; it was that close. Robert Coleman was 4'th and Richard Garner, whose battery dumped after only 8 laps finished 5'th. Brandon Showler, who struggled in all 3 qualifiers had no better luck in the main registering a DNS.

Wayne TQ'd in mod and went on to beat Andy in the main by nearly a lap in one of the few convincing wins either of these guys have had over the other all year. Lou Vanderway broke after only 11 laps and finished 5'th. Dan Engelbreth and Bart were left in a race for last place with seriously underpowered cars. Dan managed to nurse his to 3'rd leaving Bart 4'th. Kevin Hill had a DNS.

10 points separate 1'st from 3'rd in Open Electric with Wayne leading Andy and Lou. With Wayne's rare crash this week Andy now leads the 19T points by 5 with Bart in 3'rd. Nate is 9'th but took a zero in the first week. He has out-pointed everyone but Wayne and Andy since he joined us and would be third if we dropped a week. We will drop 3 weeks at the end of the year.

The weather was a bit cool but Dan's new 'Secret Sauce' had the pavement ripping rubber from the tires. Traction was high enough we saw traction rolling in practice.

Andy Vetor took TQ in Open Mod this week but couldn't hold off Wayne Vince and his immaculately prepared XRay in the main. Wayne took the win by just over 2 seconds with a 19 lap run in 5:09. Lou Vanderway was off the pace this week by a lap and finished 3'rd followed by Dan Engelbreth, Kevin Hill and Bart Garner in his first Mod appearance. Bart was running as high as 4'th at 3:30 but dumped a battery due to an insane roll-out number

Turnout for Nitro was light with only 3 cars. Lou took the win with a 17 lap run followed by Dan (15) and Brian Crosby (14).

In the 19T Electric B Main, Kevin Hill held off Richard Garner by less than 2 seconds to take the win in 14 laps. 3'rd place, Kevin Parsons was 4 laps back. Brian, Robert Coleman and Steve Vangalen all fought ill handling cars and finished well back.

Wayne TQ'd in 19T but in a reverse of the mod class, it was Andy who took the win with an 18 lap run in 5:07. Wayne was 8 seconds back, with 3'rd place Nate Talaskavich turning in 16 laps. Jason Balfour and Andre Rocheleau rounded out the top 5, trailed by Bart (who left a lap on the track) and Con Vangalen.

The tight racing continued at RROL on May 7. In A Main Electric Touring Wayne Vince was TQ and went on to win the Main with 19 laps in 5:04. Andy Vetor was 11 seconds behind Wayne but only 1.5 seconds ahead of Lou Vanderway. The Open Electrics are clearly the fastest cars on the track at RROL and these three put on a clinic driving them. It should be a great points battle. Wayne and Lou are tied at 198 and Andy is just 4 points behind.

Lou took TQ for the second week in a row in Nitro but this time he followed up with the win turning 18 laps in 5:08 and driving to a one lap win over Ray Cappel. Dan Engelbreth took third leaving Mark Graham in 4'th. Mark broke this week but with last week's strong performance he is still second in points. Brian Crosby broke in the qualifiers and was unable to start the main but good sport that he is, he stuck around and let us borrow his gen set to finish the day out. Thanks Brian!

19T Electric was again the biggest class on hand with field of 12 cars. Wayne was once again TQ and took the A Main with 19 laps in 5:11, just 7 seconds slower than his Mod main. His fast lap  of 15.6 was .7 seconds slower than his Mod time of 14.9 seconds. Andy Vetor was again right on Wayne's bumper for much of the race but finished nearly a lap back with 18 in 5:07. RROL newcomers Ray Cappel and Nate Talaskavich were 3'rd and 4'th respectively with Bart Garner and Brandon Showler rounding out the field. Brandon ran 5'th for much of the race before breaking his new car on his 13'th lap.

Dan did a great job of setting up the 19T heats. Speed and talent was distributed well making traffic a breeze and the racing close in both. No-one from the slow heat managed to move up to the B but the racing was awesome. Richard Garner took one of his two qualifiers with a personal best run of 15 laps, 2 better than last weeks run but his mechanic made a bad call on the front springs relegating him to a 3'rd place finish in the B Main. Jason Balfour took the B with 15 laps in 5:10, half a lap up on Con Vangalen who was the lone Team Vangalen member this week. Richard edged Andre Rocheleau by 3 seconds, turning the tables on their exciting finish of last week. Kevin Hill and Brian Crosby both had troubles and were unable to start. The way things are going, the B Main is not a race you want to miss. Any one of these guys can win. All of them are driving clean, driving well and putting on a great show.

Wayne holds a 6 point lead over Andy Vetor in 19T, followed by Bart Garner and Brandon Showler tied for third. Con Vangalen is 5'th.

There were no Micro races this week due to a lack of cars. It would appear that this is a winter only class as the interest has been very light.

May 22 will find us hitting the pavement again for a Test and Tune day. We may run some races but there will be no Points awarded. The next Points Race is May 28, followed by our annual 401 TC Challenge on June 4.

See you at the track!

A funny thing happened at RROL on Sunday, Wayne Vince did not win the 19T Electric A Main and Louis Vanderwey didn't win the Nitro Touring Main. Andy Vetor has arrived to give Wayne some competition and started out in a big way, winning by nearly a lap. Lou suffered a rare breakdown on the last lap of the Nitro Main and had to settle for second.

Wayne and Andy both toured the track in the mid 16's with their 19T cars, 3/4's of a second quicker than the Nitro's. They went even faster with their mod's with Wayne taking the win with 18 laps in 5:06 and a fast lap of 15.551 seconds.

The best race of the day was the B Main Electric. Richard Garner drove a steady, clean pace and held a 1 second lead at the start of the last lap. Andre Rocheleau had come from nearly a lap down and was not going to be denied. There was a lot of contact on the last lap, culminating with one final hit coming to the line. Andre crossed the line upside down and backwards with a front wheel flapping, a mere 3/10'ths ahead but everyone, including the drivers had a great time with it. It was a classic finish.

The Micro's debuted on a temporary track that changed throughout the day. The stock Micro's handle beautifully on the sugar coated pavement but straights longer than about 24 feet tend to seriously separate the field. Several laps separated each position in the heats and the main. We will add barriers and turns to tighten up the racing some more next week. If you want to run a Micro this summer, you'd better make an effort to be out this week. The class holds a lot of promise but will not last with only 4 cars.

Weather forecast for this Sunday's RROL Season opener is 15C and sunny. Pack your sunblock, unless you need the space for parts! The points race gets under way with 19T, modified electric, stock micro and Nitro Touring cars. It's a full schedule so please remember that if you are a member, you are on the setup crew and we need you there by 9:00 am. Let's go RACING! Week 2 will be the following Sunday. Full Schedule is HERE

Sunday April 23 marks the start of the 2006 RROL Touring Car Series. Weather forecast looks a little iffy at the moment but we only suffered one rain out all last year and have ducked the clouds twice already this year for our two practice days so stay positive and we'll see you at the track. Final call on whether racing is a go or not is made on Sunday morning by 8:00 am and posted on the forum http://forums.londonrc.com/forumdisplay.php?f=36

Sunday is the last chance to get $5.00 off your RROL club membership. You can sign up at the track.