FINAL ROUND BEL LMS, DECEMBER 18, 2009: DISON (B)  [IOC LEVEL 2]

FALLEN GOD NDW BEATS THE GODS BY NO LESS THAN 33 LAPS

NICK DE WACHTER HAD NOT ONLY THE BEST CAR, HE WAS ALSO  - BY FAR - THE BEST RACER

December 27, 2009 - All scheduled IOC races for model cars were already finished with the last race at the 21st IMCA Worlds. Nobody could expect that the final round of the Bel LMS should be - despite heavy snow - such a big success. Indeed no less than six world champions came at the start: Ralph Seif (D) (1 world title), Björn van Campen-hout (B) (1 world title), Georges Baikry (B) (2 world titles), Michael Niemas (D) (2 world titles), Nick de Wachter (NL) (5 world titles) and "Piki" van Rossem (B) (7 world titles). That means 6 world champions, having won together 18 titles, which is enough for IOC points at level 2 (as explained else). The evening before the race I was informed that the entry field was of excellent quality, because apart of those six official world champions there were also Gabe Inäbnit (CH) who won in 2004 at Uden the non official worlds for amateurs, also Tamar Nelwan (NL) who won in 2005 in Aalst the non official constructor's world championship, and also Fola Osu (NIG) who won in 2007 in Mechelen the non official worlds for amateurs. Present too was Andre Linberg (D), the 2009 rookie of the year with a historical number of won IOC points during his first year as international racer.
Race went at Dison Mini Racing where Piki won in 2003 his nicest race, the 132 Production Worlds, where all entrants received one hour before the start a kit of an NSR car which each entrant had to assemble himself. Track was the one the late Perry Dekker built in 1993 in view of the 1994 ISRA Worlds. Together with Perry and Jan Limpach we set this very track up in Dordrecht and we drove on it as the real first racers a slot-car. At the 1994 ISRA Worlds, on this track, Sergio Maresca (I) was disqualified as winner of the ES32 Worlds by race director Raymond van Campenhout (B) for a too low clearance. Later the track was sold to Olivier Demoget (F) - one of the best French IMCA racers - who sold it last year to André Colson (B) of the DMR. For me enough reasons to show as a spectator.
Except for the Belgians, involved at most rounds of the Bel LMS, the top racers had to start in the first heat over 8 x 15 minutes. NDW showed with his Gil de Ferran Acura, which he raced at the EEC 2009, and which won round #4 in Oslo. He showed with Ralph Seif, Andre Linberg and Sven Manti (D) as team mates. Michael Niemas showed with the same Audi R8 which won at the Alsdorf Spa track the final round of the EEC 2009. He had "Piki" van Rossem and Dirk Baele (B) as team mates. Fola Osu came at the start with his Peugeot 908 which at the final round of the EEC 2009 failed to win the last round for less than one lap. We found thus three excellent cars at the start, and a thrilling race was expected (with 63 starters, despite heavy snow storms).

However, already after less than five minutes, all spectators knew it: today nobody should be able to defeat NDW. O.K., he improved the set-up of his car, where Niemas and Fola failed to do great efforts to improve their car. But that should be a too meagre explanation for their defeat. Having started on lane 7 - a fast one - Nick de Wachter smashed them all K.O. Of all the races I saw him driving, it was in my eyes by far his best race. He deslotted not once and pulverised all track records. His car was a rocket faultless driven during the first 15 minutes. With 111 laps he let the Fola machine 13 laps behind and the Niemas Audi R8 (on the slowest lane, driven by Dirk Baele) no less than 18 laps. How superb NDW was driving is perhaps the best illustrated by the fact that amateur Dirk Baele was at the end of all runs the ... fastest racer on lane 1. During the second run, now on lane 8, NDW continued to destroy all other competitors, now achieving 108 laps. After two segments he alone put the Fola team on 22 laps and the Niemas/Piki/Baele team on 28 laps. NDW - of course that his place is among the Gods - was by miles the best racer at Dison, and this with a perfect legal car. The others had not to search excuses: today they were sharply beaten in an open confrontation. 
During the five following segments the Fola/Nelwan/Inäbnit car lost more than 30 laps in the pits for all kinds of small repairs. Now that NDW was no longer driving Niemas/Piki/Baele succeeded to reduce their arrears. But after 7 out of 8 segments their arrears on the NDW Acura was still 17 laps and they could forget to beat Nick's team. The 17 laps difference was maintained until the three last minutes, when Niemas - struggling with braids problems - lost another 16 laps. At the finish the "fallen God" - NDW who created his own endurance series and planned his own worlds, far from what IMCA does - had no less than 33 laps over the Gods Niemas and Piki. Perhaps the sharpest defeat of their life! In 2010 they'll meet NDW at the rounds for the European Plafit Championship, but NDW gave full evidence that in that series he'll be the man to beat.
A surprise was that the team of Björn van Campenhout finished only seventh overall, just enough to prevent that René "Lange" Vanden berghe/Nando Corral/Robert Massart - who finished 3rd overall with a simple GT car - could win the championship. Fine performance also by Harry van Avensdath (NL)/Robby Worms (B) who finished fifth overall, only one lap down to the Fola/Inäbnit/Nelwan car, but five ahead over Hubert Jacob (F)/Pierre-Yves Deblanc (B)/Didier Ronvaux (B). André Colson (B), racing with ex-world champion George Baikry (B) finished just out of the points, but he can be proud to be the best organiser I saw during the last 10 years. Congratulations.

21ST IMCA WORLDS  OCTOBER 31, 2009: A SYNOPSIS - HERENTALS (B)  [IOC LEVEL 3]

M. NIEMAS WINS 124 WORLDS, DESMOND DEKKER 132 WORLDS & MELLO YELLO WORLDS, B. VAN CAMPENHOUT WINS CITATION CUP

Piki van Rossem (2 x 1st, 2 x 2nd, 1 x 4th) wins most IOC points at 21st IMCA Worlds

October 4, 2009 - My real last IMCA Worlds, already the 21st,were undoubtedly the best I organised in my long career as promoter of slot-racing. The entry field was just a dream, the atmosphere was one of total fun, and at no moment there was even a fraction of a second of stress. The race direction, under the lead of Theo Vanginderhuysen, took this time 8 hours of time to control all cars. Best thing was to split all races, except the 132 Production Worlds, in one for Pros and another for Semi-Pros. It resulted in both classes in extremely close racing where after 32 minutes the difference between the first and the last of a heat was in most races as less as two laps. The battle among the Gods and the Half-Gods, over five rounds, was convincingly won by the Gods with 4 to 1, despite the fact the the Half-Gods - all from Germany - took the three first places at the 124 Sprint Worlds for Pros. Over five races the Gods won 466 points against 258.5 for the Half-Gods. At the Half-Gods Philipp Kremer was replaced by Desmond Dekker, Christoph Kremer by Gilles Dohogne.
The 132 Production Race with the NSR Moslers was - contrarily to the mess of last year - appreciated by all entrants. It seemed that "Piki" should win the race by two segments from Chris Radisich, but in the real last heat Holland's Desmond Dekker had a clear race and did five laps more than "Piki". What happened? An analysis of the realised lap times (lap per lap) showed that "Piki" realised sharper lap times than Des. Unfortunately he had to face no less than 24 track calls against only 3 for Des. At an average track call 3.2 seconds are lost. To avoid such situations the 132 Production Worlds should be organised following the Qualifications-Consis-Quarters-Semis_Main formula. I hope that Raymond van Campenhout, who'll organise the 22nd IMCA Worlds in 2010, will consider this advice.
The two warm-up races for Pros for the Franco Gianotti Trophy were fully dominated by Piki van Rossem and Michael Niemas. Twice Piki's BMW M1 crossed the finish line as first, but at the Nenelux Cup Niemas's car covered a longer distance with the power cut off than Piki's. Close racing could hardly be closer than that, no? Desmond Dekker, Chris Radisich and Paul Gawronski were the other stars at the Gianotti Trophy. In the ranking Piki leads Niemas, Dekker, Radisich, Gawronski and Maresca. The last name realised a seventh place overall at the 132 Production Race and a fourth at the EuroNats. Seventeen years of inactivity required their due.
The main race was of course the 124 Sprint Worlds for Pros. Here Sergio Maresca retired before the start as winning seemed impossible for him - a born winner. Desmond Dekker had bad luck on Maresca's car (being free after Sergio's retirement). In the previous year the #61 Abel Lepitre BMW M1 made a minor crash. Niemas repaired the car, but at the Quarters the problems came back, making that Desmond missed (as highest ranked among the eliminated racers) the move to the semis. Another victim of the Quarters was George Kimber, until then always among the best finishers. At Semi A three cars finished not only with the same number of laps, they also finished together in the same segment. It concerned Gabe Inäbnit (CH), Alexander Ortmann (D) and Michael Niemas (D).

Eventually the 8 finalists were: Paul Gawronski (USA), Fred Hood (USA), "Piki" van Rossem (B), Giovanni Montiglio (I) and Gabriel Inäbnit (CH) for the Gods, and the German trio Ralph Seif (D), Alexander Ortmann (D) and Michael Niemas (D) for the Half-Gods. Having achieved at the semis more laps than Hood, Montiglio and Gawronski, Josef Korec (CZ) was eliminated, just as Chris Radisich (NZ) who was also faster. During the five first segment Giovanni Montiglio was setting the pace. During the sixth segment he was passed on the lead by "Piki" van Rossem. However the motor of Piki's car was dying and in the seventh heat he was passed by the three Germans and by Gabe Inäbnit. Now Michael Niemas was setting the pace with one lap in hand over the two other Germans. As he had to finish on the slowest lane it was far from obvious that he should be the final winner. Ralph Seif and Alexander Ortmann were coming closer and closer, coming all three in the same lap after more than a half hour of racing. But Niemas survived and won the race ahead over Seif and Ortmann. During the last minute Gabe Inäbnit got so nervous that with a faster car he deslotted several times, so that "Piki", now struggling with a motor which was total up, could pass him for the fourth place.

SEMI-PROS: BJÖRN VAN CAMPENHOUT & METRIS WIN IT ALL
On Sunday the semi-pros and the amateurs had to run their three races, nl. the two rounds of the Franco Gianotti Trophy and the 124 Worlds for semi-pros. Here the German Slotringers, helped by the two Kuhns, were the great favourites. Despite great racing of Marc Kurella, Andre Linberg and Ramon Trimborn they were dominated in the three races by Björn van Campenhout (B) and Mike Stahl (USA) taking three times the first and the second place. At those races it became obvious that the Plafit SLP chassis is no longer the top chassis in model car racing. Indeed, the famous Metris Mk IV chassis which Björn received from Gabe Inäbnit, had a superior road holding. Björn won the two rounds of the Gianotti Trophy, just as the Trophy itself with Stahl each time as second. Of the Slotringers Marc Kurella was just a bit faster than Andre Linberg and Ramon Trimborn struggling for the title of rookie of the year. At the 124 Worlds for semi-pros those three Slotringers qualified for the main, having been missed for a couple of sections by Arttu Salomaa (SF). Other finalists were (of course) Björn and Stahl, with the three remaining places going to the surprisingly fast Quinten Vanspauwen (B), to Hubert Jacob (F) and to Kristof Huys (B). The last named could follow Björn and Stahl until halfway, but after a serious crash his car was too wounded to fight any longer for victory. Van Campenhout won easily letting Stahl six full laps behind. Trimborn & Lindberg were now faster than Kurella and struggled for the third place on the podium. During the very last minute Linberg deslotted and was passed by Trimborn. Both finished with an equal number of IOC-points: 119.5. But as Linberg realised during the season 12 top-10 places against 11 for Trimborn Andre Linberg is the 2009 rookie of the year. Never in the history of slot-racing a rookie won so many IOC points. The evening before the race the Slotringer received a visit of Nick de Wachter supporting them. [JPVR]