Held over the weekend of November 4th and 5th at the West Coast Model RC (WCMRC) track in Perth Western Australia, the 2017 Essential RC Australian Ep On Road Nationals will go down as one of the closest Nationals in recent memory.
The WCMRC track located in the industrial suburb of Bayswater in Perth is a very impressive facility. Originally built for 235mm 2WD IC cars in the 1980's, the track provides a challenging mix of flowing, high speed corners with a high grip undulating surface and an exciting banked corner at the end of the main straight.
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1/12th Modified results:
1. Ed Clark - XRAY X12
2. Mark Wallin - XRAY X12
3. Paul Sims
Ed Clark set a fast pace during the early rounds of qualifying but suffered some reliability issues later in the day which allowed Mark Wallin to relegate him to 2nd on the grid for the finals. Paul Sims had to work hard to hold off Warren Buttriss for the 3rd place grid spot for the finals.
Sims took advantage of errors made by both Wallin and Clark to take an early lead in leg one final. However he was not able to hold off Wallin or a recovering Clark who went on to take a victory in leg one. Clark followed up his win in leg one by taking the 2nd final after a race long dual with Wallin which gave Clark the title. Wallin secured 2nd and Sims finished 3rd.
Formula 1 results:
1. Michael Clark - XRAY X1
2. Graham Hayward
3. Brian Stewart
Graham Hayward took top qualifier (TQ) by one point from Michael Clark who qualified 2nd from Brian Stewart in 3rd. Hayward wasn't able to convert his TQ in the finals as Clark found some pace and won the 1st two legs and took the title. Hayward was able to hold on for 2nd overall by winning the last leg from Stewart.
