Round 7 of the Just Hobby Nitro Challenge took place on September 7 at the Just Hobby Race Circuit. The morning began well with sunshine to dry off the damp track caused by the rain during the night. Due to the rain in the night, the traction was bad in the morning.
(click to enlarge)
Qualifying
The first round of qualifying started at about 10:00AM with most drivers struggling to get a good run due to the low traction. By the second round of qualifying, traction was back to normal and Tom Goh was driving his NT1 with amazing speed, setting the single lap track record of 13.571sec for this track putting him in a TQ position. However, by the third and final round of qualifying, Tom lost his TQ position by about half a second. At the end of the qualifying, there were six XRAY cars in the Top 10 and the qualifying order are as follows:
1) Nelson Lee 2) Tom Goh XRAY NT1
3) Jesse Wu XRAY NT1
4) Don Ng XRAY NT1
5) Erwin Luhur XRAY NT1
6) Leslie Baker XRAY NT1
7) Philip Lee
8) Ben Seet 9) James Loke XRAY NT1
10) Daniel Chee
(click to enlarge)
Final
In the 1-hour A main final, all drivers got a good start except for Erwin Luhur who got clipped from behind causing his car to flip over. By the time his car was turned over again, he was in last place with the leading car only 2 corners behind him. Tom and Jesse were driving hard in 2nd and 3rd places trying to overtake Nelson. Soon after, Nelson suffered a traction roll thus allowing Tom to pass for the lead. At the first fuel stop, Tom had a slightly longer fuel stop which dropped him back a few positions. Meanwhile, Erwin was driving a clean and consistent race and by about the second fuel stop he had managed to pass for the lead. Jesse, Don, and Leslie suffered some technical problems half way through the race and could not continue. Erwin continued to drive without any problems and his lead was never challenged. After the 1-hour race, Erwin crossed the finish line and won round 7 with a 1 lap advantage over the 2nd place finisher. Tom managed to catch up to 2nd place in the final minute but ran out of fuel just before the finishing line, thus he finished in 3rd place. James drove hard and managed to finish 5th from his starting 9th position.
Final Result: 1) Erwin Luhur XRAY NT1
2) Philip Lee Tom Goh XRAY NT1
4) Nelson Lee James Loke XRAY NT1
6) Ben Seet Jesse Wu XRAY NT1
8) Leslie Baker XRAY NT1
9) Daniel Chee 10) Don Ng XRAY NT1
XRAY drivers Erwin Luhur & Tom Goh (click to enlarge)
