Full Race Report 2021 Geelong Challenge Cup
The first big event for a long time the 2021 RAB Hobbies Geelong Challenge Cup was sure to be big and it did not disappoint 83 entries with 57 drivers spread across 7 classes the racing was sure to be close and fast. Saturday practice day allowed people to fine tune setups and get to know the Geelong track.
TAMIYA CLASS
Qualifying top spot was taken out by Bendigo driver Dwight cheeseman but was closely contested by locals Aaron Morris and Paul Iversen in 3rd.
Round 1
Was a battle between Dwight and Aaron for much of the race but once the dust settled it was Aaron who come out on top to take the lead and eventual win from Dwight. Paul drove consistent to retain his 3rd spot.
Round 2
Dwight made sure he was going to be at the pointy end of the field making his way to the front of the pack early in the race. Aaron kept up his pace but Robbie Hutchinson was showing some consistent pace to move up from 4th on the grid and place himself in 2nd spot after a late pass on Aaron who eventually finished in 3rd.
Round 3
Dwight yet again made sure he was the benchmark for the round leading the race from start to finish, and also cracking into the 15 lap zone for the first time of the day. Aaron recovered well from an incident early to make his way back into second spot but was chased down and passed by Robbie who took out second position and Aaron in third.
Round 4
Aaron had the pace in the last round making his way to the front and did not look back charging into the 15 lap zone. Dwight topped off a super consistent weekend with a 2nd in the final round and Henri Rossi avoided the drama and drove well to go from 5th and finish 3rd.
Final results
1st Dwight Cheeseman
2nd Aaron Morris
3rd Robbie Hutchinson
MINI CLASS
Tim Boundy, Jordan Lowery and Tim Keillor where all on the pace early, all averaging laps within less than a second of each other but it was Tim taking the honours, with Jordan in second and Tim K in third.
Round 1
Tim Boundy lead from start to finish a super clean run by him. A battle for 2nd between Jordan and Tim K saw Tim get past late in the race to claim 2nd and Jordan finish 3rd.
Round 2
Tim was off again, Tim K had a few mishaps during the race which allowed Jordan to get by and try to chase down Tim but show consistent laps showed a 4 second between them at the end. Tim K recovered well after a few dramas finishing in 3rd.
Round 3
Dejavu for Tim continuing his pace leading from start to finish. Another battle between Jordan and Tim K, Tim made his way past early but late pace by Jordan he reclaimed the 2nd spot.
Round 4
Tim B making it a clean sweep 4 from 4 again leading the race from start to finish. Jordan also having another clean consistent race starting and finishing 2nd once again behind Tim B. 3rd spot was taken out again by Tim K. The trio where definitely the bench mark for the event.
Final results
1st Tim Boundy
2nd Jordan Lowery
3rd Tim Keiller
KYOSHO CLASS
The Kyosho class is the first time it has been ran at GRCCC, with its success being heavily driven by the Bendigo Radio controlled car club. Qualifying was tight with Nic Michaelides taking TQ spot with Brad Gale 2 and Karl Popkorn 3.
Round 1
A tight battle with Nic in front with Brad gale hot on his heels, the many lead changes between the two then a mistake and rollover by Nic allowed Brad to get infront and take the win with Nic finishing second and Karl Popkorn in 3rd.
Round 2
Brad was out infront but a mistake mid race made way for a battle this time between Nic and Karl. Nic managed to hold of Karl till the last lap where nic traction rolled on the back sweeper allowing Karl to take the honours in first position with Nic in second and Brad holding the 3rd spot after the early mishap.
Round 3.
An early battle between Brad and Karl had Brad settle in the 1st position and hold it all the way to the line with Karl in 2nd. A early incident from Nic had him at the back of the pack but he managed to battle his was back up to take out the 3rd spot. Young gun Noah Jenkins had a great run working his way up from 7th to finish 4th behind the top trio.
Round 4.
The last round of the day had some major panel rubbing from the top 3. The start was carnage with the top 3 dropping and swapping places until lap 7 when the racing settled down and Brad Gale getting in the zone and taking out the final race ahead of Karl and Nic
Final results
1st Brad Gale
2nd Karl Popkorn
3rd Nic Michaelides
TCR
TCR qualifying was super close with Matthew Jenkins taking TQ from Tim Boundy by only 0.004 seconds with Jason Milbourne less then 0.4 behind the pair.
Tim Boundy was in a league of his own winning all 4 rounds. Matt Jenkins and Jason threw everything including the kitchen sink at Tim but he was cool and didnt crack under the pressure.
Final Results
1st Tim Boundy
2nd Mathew Jenkins
3rd Jason Milbourne
21.5 CLASS
21.5 was a one sided affair with Glen Wilson showing why he is the man to beat showing amazing speed and consistent driving, Clearly the fastest taking TQ spot. Tim Forster seeding 2nd and Luke Gunnell in 3rd.
Round 1
Glen Wilson was out and gone. A early mistake by Tim left the door open for Luke to jump to second but a late mistake had Joel Ricketts come from 5th to take second spot with Luke finishing 3rd.
Round 2
Glen was off again lapping the field by the end of the race. 2nd was super close with a great battle between Tim and Joel and a move late in the race saw Tim take second spot with Joel 3rd separated by less than 1 sec.
Round 3
Glen doing his thing and off again. Joel Ricketts had great pace and taking 2nd a Tim after some early troubles taking 3rd
Round 4.
Glen making it a clean sweep leading from start to finish to top off an excellent weekend. Racing was tight between Joel and Tim and come down to this race to see who would take the honours behind Glen, Joel maintained second position with Tim not to far behind for nearly the whole race but a late mishap by Joel allowed Tim to get by and take 2nd position and Joel settled for 3rd.
Final results
1st Glen Wilson
2nd Tim Forster
3rd Joel Ricketts
13.5 CLASS
13.5 qualifying was tight, The top four qualifiers where only separated by 0.5sec so TQ was really anyone's for the taking but Dave Calwell took the honours with Lui Sola 2nd and Cooper Davis 3rd.
Round 1
DC continued his form from seeding and did not look back, he lead the race from start to finish. Incident early saw cooper drop from 2nd to last but he managed to recover well and work his way back up through the traffic to finish 2nd. Luis sola had a consistent race keeping it in the top 3.
Round 2
Was hampered by body tucks. John krillis made his was from 6th to 2nd only to be slowed down by a tuck but still managed a very respectable 4th. Cooper Davis had trouble early but not able to replicate his round 1 effort finishing towards the end of the field. DC again lead from start to finish with Luis sola keeping it at the pointy end finishing second and Michael Powell recovering from the back of the field to finish in 3rd.
Round 3
A great run by Brendan sola. Trouble early in round 1 saw him drop into the second group but a by round 3 found himself at the back of the grid in the top group. Brendan made his way up to second position behind DC. Dave had a spin on the back sweeper which allowed Brendan to close the gap even further but a few mishaps by Brendan seen DC hold on and take the win with Brendan finishing 2nd and some consistent driving by John Krillis saw him finish in 3rd.
Round 4
The last round was a Sola affair. DC caught up in traffic early was unable to take out a clean sweep but already had the day wrapped up. Brendan starting 5th battled his way to the front of the pack but with a mishap from Luis saw Brendan and John get by but he managed to battled his way past John who was consistent again maintaining his 3rd position.
Final results
1st Dave Calwell
2nd Brendan Sola
3rd Luis Sola
OPEN MODIFIED
Matthew Jenkins set the pace early for the fast guys. The Bendigo racers where out in force taking the top 3 positions with Karl Popkorn in 2nd and Brad Gale in 3rd.
Round 1.
An early mishap by Matt saw him drop to 3rd position which opened the door for Karl to take the lead, Blair Cradick made his move early into 2nd spot. But by mid race Matt worked hard and made his way back into the 1st spot, Karl had a few dramas and slid out of the top 3 which had Brad Gale finish in 2nd spot and Blair holding onto a 3rd.
Round 2
Was the round of Broken cars. Matt Jenkins made a break early out in front but 3/4 through the race he broke which allowed Blair from an early mishap to make his way from the back of the grid to take 1st spot, Brad Gale was solid and consistent taking the 2nd spot and Steve Vakalis after a DNF in round 1 taking 3rd on the grid.
Round 3
Much the same but this time Blair's was victim to a failure, a super clean start he was out in front but was short lived loosing steering on his car. Their was practically no passes and everyone had settled in the position above after Blair's mishap which had Brad Gale hold out Matt Jenkins for 1st crossing the line into the 20 laps zone and Jamie finishing in 3rd not far behind Matt.
Round 4.
A few tussles early with Matt making his was to the front early on and did not look back. Finishing in the 20 lap zone. Second was closely battled by Brad and Blair only being separated by less than 1 sec at the finish line.
Final results
1st Mathew Jenkins
2nd Brad Gale
3rd Blair Cradick
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