Round 2 of the Just Hobby Nitro Challenge took place on March 8, 2009 at the Just Hobby Race Circuit. The day turned out to be a perfect sunny day!
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Qualifying
The first round of qualifying started at about 10AM. Traction was very good during the first round of qualifying and Erwin Luhur set the top qualifying position for that round. By the second and the third rounds of qualifying, traction was not as good and so nobody got a better run; Erwin managed to hold on to his TQ position. At the end of the qualifying, there were five XRAY cars in the top 10:
Qualifying results:
1) Erwin Luhur XRAY NT1
2) Nelson Lee 3) Tom Goh XRAY NT1
4) Jesse Wu XRAY NT1
5) Philip Lee
6) Ben Seet 7) Don Chng XRAY NT1
8) Goh JK XRAY NT1
9) Aidi
10) Nordin
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Final
In the 45-minute A-main final, Erwin, Nelson and Tom managed to pull a distance away from the rest of the cars during the start. Erwin and Nelson led, followed closely by Tom. At around the 20-minute mark, Erwinâ™s 2-speed had some problem and he had to retire from the race.
In the meantime, Tom was driving hard and managed to overtake Nelson. Goh, with his consistent driving, was moving up slowly but steadily from 8th place to 5th place, while Jesse and Don managed to hold on to their positions.
Tom was leading all the way and was never challenged until there was only 8 minutes left to go when his manifold spring broke and he had to pit. His mechanic did a great job of sliding the manifold back to the engine but it was too late as Nelson managed to overtake him and assume the lead; Tom dropped to 2nd place. Tom tried very hard to catch up to Nelson but time ran out.
Final results:
1) Nelson Lee 2) Tom Goh XRAY NT1
3) Philip Lee 4) Jesse Wu XRAY NT1
5) Goh JK XRAY NT1
6) Aidi
7) Nordin 8) Don Chng XRAY NT1
9) Ben Seet 10) Erwin Luhur XRAY NT1
