It was a beautiful sunny weekend at England Park Raceway for the 2017 IC Queensland titles. With a newly resurfaced track and a brand new XRAY NT1 I was more than excited to dial in some perfect laps. Beginning on friday with open and controlled practice we were able to dial in the NT1 and the Novarossi engine amongst a good crowd. Protoform was the body of choice and after some testing the SRSN was the go. The car felt amazing and I was ready for qualifying.
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Qualifying
The early saturday morning began with a swift pass through short drivers briefing. The moral was high and I was feeling prepared for qualifying. The first round of qualifying went very smoothly, the car was consistent and on pace. Consistency and finishing each round is most important to me, especially with the new format eliminating the rocket round. I was excited for the following rounds. The car was dialed for all five rounds of qualifying. And my consistent pace put me in 3rd position behind Jeff and Ricky.
With an unfortunate fuel line issue taking me out of the final round of qualifying, I was just giving the car a break before finals. After 6 rounds I qualified 3rd which released the pressure of the semi and let me get ready for the finals.
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Mains
Qualifying came to an end and the finals begun. I was feeling confident with the car and myself. I knew if I just went out and did my thing everything would work out. I got a great start from the third position on the grid holding third behind Rick Kradolfer and Jeff Hamon. I was in cruise mode. At the 4-minute mark I hear my fuel call, we decided to do a 4 minute strategy and play it safe. After the first pit stop, there were no changes in position which is always a good feeling. As the race went on I was still in third holding off Mugen driver Tim Moylan. At the 15 minute mark tragedy struck for front runner Jeff Hamon with a gearbox issue putting him out of the race. This would move his team mate Ricky Kradolfer to the front and I would move into second not far behind. He was lapping fast whilst I was trying to stay consistent and save tyres. On the 79th lap, Ricky suffered some mechanical problems having to pull into pits two times. This now moved me to the lead I knew all I had to do is just keep circulating and I would take home the Queensland titles for 2017 and that's what I did. With Andrew Shapland fellow electric racer on the mic called me around for my last lap I just cruised to the finish followed by Andrew and Tim.
I would like to thank my Dad (Harry) for pitting for me all weekend, Jspec stickers for all the stickers, XRAY Australia for the car, OZRC MODELS, Walter RC for the Ulti tyres and Novarossi engines and a massive shout out to the club and volunteers all weekend great event.
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200mm Pro Touring Final
1. Luke Sinanian - XRAY NT1
2. Andrew Gillespie
3. Tim Moylan
4. Ray Griffiths
5. Ricky Kradolfer
6. John Taynton
7. Jeff Hamon
8. Clinton Chambers
9. Richard Chun
10. Michael Kirby
