HoBao HyperStar takes Fastrax Summer Series Round 1

The weather man?.he say yes?. to sunshine so a good days racing was on the cards, The venue was once again the free flowing excellent track at Stoke Nitro with Jared, Mick and the team in a six round series with the best four to count. A good line up in both buggy and truggy greeted my arrival on Sunday morning so I was hopeful of a close days racing?..blah blah over now to the report of the day?. Truggy Graham Grice was the early pace setter in the first round after a tight battle with Stuart Mckeller qualifying a mere six hundredths of a second ahead to take the honours, Sean Bailey coming in third after a poor first and second laps. John Clay and Kev Mac making up the top five in round one. Round two saw Sean get a better start and post the only eight lapper of the round with just Kev Mac the only other driver to improve significantly in the round, moving above John with a very quick seven laps but still just behind Graham and Stuart. Round three came and went with the only mover being the excellent Stuart Mckeller pushing into second spot behind Sean with only the second eight lapper of qualifying in the truggy section. I have watch Stuart in last years series and over the winter and for me he is the most improved pilot at Stoke track over the last year, fully deserving his assisted drive from RC BITS.COM. ?on to the finals As there were only twelve trucks on the day they were all in the ?a? final Sean got away cleanly and stayed there for the whole twenty five minutes, the battle was for second place in this final with six drivers all holding the slot at one time or another, Stuart, Kev John, Graham and two previously not mention drivers Andy Tobutt and Keith bellamy all going hell for leather for a top three spot. With the final such a long one fuel strategy was important, the lead passing from man man as the cars came in for fuel. No one could get away and it seemed all mistakes made were made in tandem with all drivers following suit. It was close spectacular racing and reminds us why we do it. It is impossible to name who was ? leading ? the race for second and at what time because I haven?t enough space but it looked like John was going to be triumphant with two laps to go but he tipped his truck allowing Kev Mac through.. The ?warble? went with Kev just through the loop giving him the extra lap and second place with John Clay third and a great effort by Andy Tobutt after an indifferent qualifying coming in fourth. Graham and Keith in fifth and sixth respectfully. The whole final from second down to sixth were split by half a lap after twenty five minutes which is some racing and a great advert for the sport?. Well done to all concerned?.A mention must be made to the winner Sean Bailey who had an excellent final and drove without a hitch to win by two clear laps, he has only been driving for a couple of years but was very quick and above all consistent all day with the superb RC8 Truggy from Associated. Well done mate?..the man to beat this year me thinks?? Buggy Round one saw big hitter and Hobao number one Jon Howels take control from the off with a pole eight lapper, Mark Redmond was the best of the rest some fifteen seconds behind but still with an eight lapper, Second down to eighth place were split by just ten seconds so all indications were for another close class of racing. Second round was just as close, John never improved but second spot was taken by Carl Dixon cutting Johns lead to ten seconds with Mark still third. Big movers in the top ten were Lloyd Pitt (team Hobao) in fourth, James Bullivant and Abi Dean eighth and ninth respectfully. Third round saw John fiddling with his car ready for the final so no improvement from him again, Mark continued his personal battle with Carl to snatch back second spot on the grid cutting Johns lead to just six seconds. Darren Wood having an excellent run bumping Lloyd down to fifth by just one second. Glen Howard also storming straight into the ?a? final at the last pushing out Adrian Dean by One second again??let the race begin?. Top two in each final to bump up to the next one so competition was fierce??. ?D? final was won by Jamie Brown with stoke nitros own Jared Rogerson in second driving a Hobao HyperStar?..some of the funniest racing I have witnessed by these two in all my time in rally x. Best moment when they were vying for the lead only to see Jamie tip and jared drive round Jamies car in circles until it was marshalled!!!!!! Proving we all like to win but we do it for fun as well, well done lads, quality racing. ?C? final was hotly contested ?crash a lot? Ashley Haynes , Chris Ingis Stuart Mckeller and Ben Doyle all looking to move up a final. Ash winning even though he had a one hundred sixteen second lap!...How???? Chris Ingles coming in second and taking the final place for the ?B? ?B? final was a straight forward affair with Adrian Dean a clear winner taking the top spot with an awesome drive from Shaun Reeve moving from seventh on the grid, down to last after a poor start and then up to second on the last but one lap after a risky fuel strategy allowed him one less stop than his rivals. The ?A? main was an eventful race for all but team Hobao?s Jon Howels. He led from start to finish winning by an awesome two laps, He had an average lap time only three seconds higher than his best and that includes fuel stops, a quick drive with NO mistakes?.watch and learn people, watch and learn?.. Mark Redmond held the lead for second place until lap twenty three when he had an unfortunate engine flame out, quick thinking and running by his pit man saw him back on the track but he had dropped to third behind Carl Dixon with team Hobao driver Lloyd Pitt in fourth. Racing was tight and clean but this remained to order until the unlucky Mr Redmond suffered another engine cut on lap thirty three to let Lloyd into third. A valiant effort by Marks pitman saw him again re- enter the race but just behind the ever quickening gambler Shaun Reeve, this gave him about one minute thirty to catch Shaun if he wanted to gain the extra place. Carl and Lloyd were having a right royal ding dong with the hobao driver trying everything he knew to pass Carl but the man was not for moving and he kept his second place with an average lap time just three hundredths quicker than Lloyd?.awesome?Mark never gave up and shot passed Shaun with half a lap to spare! So round one over and what a days racing?..Hobao team with the new Hyper Star dominated all day with four in the main final?a car to watch I think for 2011. Congats to all final winners and a big thanks to Jared and Mick. Special mention to CML?s Southern Sales Representative Jason Huntley who made the trip north driving a buggy for the first time ever and with a steer wheel to boot, he never came last and provided us all with some quality comedy moments?..well done mate Till next meeting on the 15th May?. check the CML website for details ?.