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| Race report by Ari-Pekka Kyykkä |
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After the 2007 Finnish National Series finished in late August it was time to move to indoors, and on carpet of course. Rebellion Race is the only event in Finland that takes place in autumn and it has become a tradition. The race is organized by the small MMR club in Mäntsälä.
There have been some international racers in the Rebellion Races during the past years and this year was no different. Marc Fisher, Federico Sala and Ivan Laptev (also some other Russians) travelled to compete at this relaxed race held between October 19-21. Like last year, race classes were 1/12 Mod pancars, Touring Mod, Touring Prostock, and Touring Stock.
On Friday it was time for some practice. This year there were about 80 drivers so practice time was limited for different classes. This time there was only two Finnish European Champs among other drivers â“ Teemu and Simo â“ (Juho and Sakke passed for this one) battling against each other - not forgetting foreign superstars Sala, Fisher and Laptev.
Traction was low at the beginning but improved a lot thanks to the pancars and foam touring cars. The layout was familiar to the national race layout in March but was a bit more challenging, with a fast and flowing technical infield. |
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Saturday morning started with one round of timed practice followed by four qualification rounds. As expected, the grip was getting better after some qualification rounds but didnâ™t change so much that the cars would have started to traction roll.
In the Modified class it was a battle between XRAY superstar Teemu Leino and Corallyâ™s Simo in the beginning, but others improved their times. At the end of the day Teemu had the overnight pole.
The Prostock (8.5R Novak or 9.5R Speedpassion) class was also entertaining. Russians Laptev and Karpov were in this class with quite special cars. Laptev had a shaft-driven Russian prototype with a totally different damping system as well as other very unique features. Karpov also had a similar prototype car. Sorry⦠no pictures were allowed of these cars.
The Russians were in class of their own pace-wise, but Pauli Helin driving an XRAY T2â™007 challenged them in the qualification rounds. Pauli was in 3rd spot after Saturday and also Risto Koskinen and Janne Valtanen made up the Top 5. Miika Laurila was also doing very well in his first Prostock race, being in the 8th spot driving a T2â™007. |
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Pauliâ™s 007 in action
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The rules have changed for the Stock class; like all other touring classes, it is run with 5 cells and with a completely new motor rule allowing 13.5R brushless motors. Gearing these motors is quite odd, drivers were using ratios below 4:1 due to BL torque!
It was obvious that these Stock cars were not far behind in lap times compared to the Prostock class. Jukka Kerola with a T1FKâ™05 and Niko Lindvall with a T2â™007 were battling for the overnight pole but at this time it looked to be in Jukkaâ™s hands. Pancars were totally dominated by Vesa Yli driving his very own Carpet Ripper car. Also, Vesa dominated the Modified Foam class with his T2â™007. So after four rounds it was time to call it a day before 6PM.
Sunday
Sunday was the time for making solid runs and improving your own results. As many said, Saturday was just for practising.
On Sunday there were two rounds and the drivers put down their best. I myself was still in a bit of âśsleep modeâť when trying to improve my time in the 1st round of the day; I ended up rolling once and that was it. The second shot did not go well either⦠I DNFâ™d. Young Miko Teponoja made his move and improved to 8th spot with his T2â™007! |
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My T2â™007 before last round
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Teemu Leino âśdrove it like he stole itâť and was TQ with about 3sec advantage over the others⦠a nice debut for the T2â™008 in Finland! After the Top 2 it was very close â“ there were eight drivers within 2 seconds!
In Prostock, Pauli was not able to beat the flying Russians so he was solidly in 3rd place. Koskinen, Valtanen and Laurila made the Top10 easily with their XRAYs. Stock TQ was taken by Jukka Kerola followed by Niko Lindvall. Nothing changed in pancars â“ Vesa was the man to beat there, and also in Modified Foam class. |
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Top 10 Modified drivers getting ready for the start
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| Finals |
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| All finals were run three times with the best two counting. In Mod it was Teemuâ™s show. Others tangled behind him and Teemu was driving on rails the first two finals, taking the victory! Miko was unfortunately a bit out of luck but finished a strong 8th. |
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Teemu sets the pace, while others had to watch his taillights the whole time
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In the Mod B final, I was a bit off the pace and driving not so well, and so dropped from 3rd to 13th.
Prostock went to Ivan Laptev with a clear win in all of the finals. Pauli had some bad luck with the preglued Sorex 28 tires â“ one of the âśfactory gluedâť tires wasn't glued to the rim at all on the outer side, so he had to retire from the first final. Pauli finished 3rd overall and other XRAY drivers had good battles, with young Miika Laurila finishing in 4th place.
In Stock it was Jukka driving his rocketship T1FKâ™05 to take the win. Pancars were in XRAY driver Vesaâ™s hands, who ended up taking home the first two finals. The Modified Foam class was a showcase for Vesa.
Teemu passed on the 3rd Modified final because he wanted to have some fun â“ he ended up taking his IIC foam-winning T2â™008 car and participated in the last Modified Foam final. It was entertaining to watch his performance against others. The momentum and the speed were unbelievable even though he said his car setup was not the best possible for the track! |
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Top 3 in Modified. The day was dialed for Finns. Teemu and Kimi both won!
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| Some observations: |
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⢠Spools were in favour for the top Modified drivers. Well, it is good for racing against each other but cars donâ™t look so good around the carpet track. And what do you think about a car that brakes so hard that the rear wheels lift off the ground? Or some driving styles like the âśScandinavian Flickâť? Maybe better for rally!
⢠Sorex 28R tires pr-eglued on JB wheels with JB inserts were working fine in their debut as regulation tyres for the indoor season.
⢠In every class there is an option to use either brushed or brushless motors. There were so few brushed cars that very likely after a short time nobody will use them anymore.
⢠The 5-cell rule was introduced to slow the cars down. Well, they havenâ™t slowed at all⦠with BL motors the cars go faster and carry more speed in the corners. With this in mind Team XRAY Finland is anxiously awaiting the new T2â™008 â“ the car is designed for 5 cell and it convinced us in itâ™s debut in Finland!
⢠The Russian prototype is quite radical but is indeed fast around the track ⓠat least in cars with milder motors.
⢠Sunday morningâ™s surprise at the pit was no joke â“ there was a problem with the lightning so all of us had to pit using flashlights. One racer put some Christmas lights to the wall, it was fun! Luckily the problem was solved quickly and everybody was able to tune their equipment in proper conditions.
⢠The race ain't over â til the chequered flag â“ this was proven by âśFlying Finnâť Kimi Räikkönen who took home the F1 World Championship when almost nobody believed in his chances anymore.
⢠Finally Teemu won a race with an XRAY ride in Finland. Hopefully his domination continues in the upcoming National Series in 2008.
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Top 3 in Prostock
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Many thanks go out to organizers and XRAY for support!
We will see again when 2008 National series begins in late January at Kuusankoski.
All images copyright by Matias Kuusinen and Henry Salmen.
Results:
Modified:
1 Teemu Leino T2'008
2 Marc Fisher
3 Viljami Kutvonen
4 Teemu Rytsy
5 Ivan Laptev
6 Simo Ahoniemi
7 Federico Sala
8 Miko Teponoja T2'007
9 Christer Andersson
10 Sebastian Tzarska
11 Joni Minkkinen
12 Kalle Lehto
13 Ari-Pekka Kyykkä T2'007
14 Ari Heinonen
15 Tomi Mairue T2'007
Prostock:
1 Ivan Laptev
2 Vitali Karpov
3 Pauli Helin T2'007
4 Miika Laurila T2'007
5 Risto Koskinen T2
6 Jyri Konoila
7 Janne Valtanen T2
8 Arto Heinonen
9 Tommi Wikstén
10 Naumov Alexandr
Stock:
1 Jukka Kerola T1FK'05
2 Niko Lindvall T2'007
3 Joni Suni
4 Eetu Luukkonen
5 Petteri Kauppinen
6 Veli-Pekka Taimioja
7 Karri Salmela
8 Anssi Savolainen T1FK'04
9 Toni Niinivirta
10 Ville Rönnqvist
Modified Foam:
1 Vesa Yli T2'007
2 Matias Kuusinen
3 Teemu Rytsy
4 Tomi Mairue
5 Risto Rönnqvist |
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Top 3 in Stock
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