The 7th annual Timezone Grand Prix was held last weekend at Timezone Raceway in Battle Ground WA. Over 120 entries from around North America made for the biggest Grand Prix in the raceâ™s seven year history. This event is very unique in that the track is a European ribbon style design paved into a large grass area. With no real retaining walls to contain the cars, a blown corner can result in âśmowing the grassâť - a helpless fate that takes some getting used to. Huge thanks to Rick St. Cyr and his entire family for hosting this fantastic event in their world class R/C backyard.
Qualifying:
In the 1/10 Nitro Sedan class, former WC Ralph Burch was the class of the field in qualifying by setting an early pace that was more than a full lap ahead of the next fastest driver. The weather got very hot (38C/100F) during rounds 2-4 which made the track a little greasy and it was hard to improve on the pace. That said, Burch found a good setup in Round 3 and reset his TQ effort by setting the only 25 lap qualifier.
Qualifiers were seven minutes which meant all cars had to pit during their qualifying runs. This gave the mechanics some practice in quick fueling before the mains. It also allowed the teams to determine fuel mileage and to start planning their pit strategy for the mains.
Main
After the lower mains and bump-ups, the 45 minute A-Main was set with a full grid of 10 cars. The main started very cleanly and Burch quickly worked up a comfortable lead. Blake Bell, starting 2nd on the grid, ran out of fuel about 50â™ short of pit lane on his first stop which allowed Rick St. Cyr to move up to 2nd place, and Dana McKee to move up to 3rd. Roughly one third into the race, leader Burch ran into some trouble and damaged one of the front corners of his car. He pitted a couple of times to attempt to remedy the damage. This allowed St. Cyr to take over the lead much to the delight of his hometown fans. St. Cyr ran strong at the front for a large portion of the race while Bell slowly started to reel him in. Burch returned to the track and ran some incredibly fast laps as he attempted to climb back up the leaderboard. Unfortunately for him he ran into further mechanical trouble which required him to pit again. Bell eventually caught St. Cyr and moved passed him to take the lead while St. Cyr had to worry about Dana McKee who had put himself in a position to challenge for 2nd place. As the race came to a close, Bell held onto 1st place, St. Cyr secured 2nd, and McKee settled for 3rd.
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Final Results:
1. Bell Blake - XRAY NT1
2. St.Cyr Rick - XRAY NT1
3. McKee Dana - XRAY NT1
4. Super Mario 5. Burch Ralph - TQ - XRAY NT1
6. Newbury Ryan - XRAY NT1
7. Tsang John - XRAY NT1
8. Pittman Luke - XRAY NT1
9. Dinter Edward
10. McKune T-Roy
(click to enlarge)
The Timezone Grand Prix is the âśWoodstockâť of R/C races. The unique ribbon track tucked away in the St. Cyrâ™s backyard is an experience everyone should get. Racing by day, and barbequing and camping by night. Rick and his family are incredible hosts and everything they do is designed to allow the racers to have the best experience possible. Huge thank you to Ryan Newbury for organizing the entire event again this year â“ it was a job very well done! See you next year!
