PETR KRCIL BEST WING CAR RACER 2009

3RD GERMAN OPEN, BRÜHL (D), DECEMBER 3-6 (G7 IOC-RACE level 2)

AGAIN SCHÖNE (G7) -  GUSTAFSON (G12) SILÉN (G27) POUTTU (OMO)

December 5, 2009 - The German Open of this year is perhaps more exciting than the previous editions. Main reason for this is that, if Vladimir Horky (CZ) - the world's best racer, having won no less than 28 world championships - can win the Open G7 Race, he'll collect 20 new IOC points, enough to bring his year total upon 197.5 points instead of 177.5, enough to be for the third consecutive time man of the year. The total to beat is 196 points. For the moment we don't know if Horky the Terrible will show at Brühl, but we believe that he, Petr Krcil (best wing car racer) and Zdenek Benes will all three be present to counter Mario "MSP" Schöne.
The meeting started with the Box Stock G12 race where twelve Germans and two Swedes took the start. Good old Klaus Wickert was believed to win that race, but for some reason he finished only sixth. Victory went to Sweden's Anders Gustafson, with Christian Zug as second and the indestructible Burkardt Werner as third. More tomorrow.
One day later Sweden's Mikael Silén won the G27 race, letting Leo Hongisto (SF) and this year's Group 7 star Jari Porttinen (SF) behind. There were only two Germans in the main final, finishing behind Zdenek Benes (CZ) fifth and sixth. "Gugu" Bernardino (BR) and Anders Gustafson (S) came home as seventh and eighth. That we saw no Mario "MSP" Schöne in the G27 race may be no surprise, as he's a typical G7 racer. But no Vladimir Horky (CZ) and no Petr Krcil (CZ), even no Vlado Okali (SVK). That suggests that they didn't make the move to Brühl, because all three are (also) fervent G27 racers. Should they have been present, they certainly should have entered that race. At once all thrill concerning the man of the year has disappeared. For Open G7 winning chances of Jari Porttinen, third best wing car racer of 2009, only preceded by Petr Krcil and Paul "Beuf" Pedersen, increase. He's my favourite if you ask me who's able to beat Mario "MSP" Schöne next Sunday.
On Saturday the Finnish racers, having shown with six racers, stop the Swedish successes (the Swedes are present with three racers). Surprisingly it's not Hype's Leo Hongisto who wins, but Jyri-Ville Pouttu. Second place went to Zedenek Benes (CZ) who TQ-ed for this race in 1"805. Porttinen was third, Hongisto fourth. Three Germans made the top-8: Heiko Thinschmidt, Klaus Wickert and Blie King owner Peter Fröbel (terrible progress in wing car racing this year). Only now it becomes obvious that Vladimir Horky is not present, so that the title of 2009 Man of the year goes to "Piki". In the Open G7 race the Finns Porttinen and Hongisto, the Swedes Silén and Gustafson and Brazil's "Gugu" Bernardino are tipped as most dangerous challengers for last year's winner, ex-world champion Mario "MSP" Schöne. Typical for the progress of German wing car racing - they call it Flugelrennen - is that not only Schöne reaches the main, but also three country mates: Heiko Thinschmidt, Ulli E. Pietsch and Peter Fröbel himself. Hongisto and Porttinen do what they can to hold Schöne behind, but he wins again with Hongisto and Porttinen with him on the podium. Peter Fröbel shows his good shape by finishing fourth overall.  [JPVR]

21ST CAMPEONATO BRASILEIRO, BELO HORIZONTE (BR), NOVEMBER 13-15 (G7 IOC-RACE level 2)

TAVARES (G7), SIGNORETTI (OMO G7) & LUCA BERNARDINO (G27)

November 20, 2009 - text follows later.

FINNISH WING CAR NATS, HELSINKI (SF), ARH, OCTOBER 22-25 (G7 IOC-RACE level 2)

JUHA YLI-SIPOLA BEATS JARI PORTTINEN & PETTERI PIRHONEN

November 20, 2009 - Having been absent at the Wing Car Worlds in Brazil and at the USRA Div I Nats, the wing car racers from Finland and Sweden were only seen in interna-tional competition at this year's ESROC EuroNats. There they collectively failed at the G7 EuroNats, and scored only at the G27 and the OMO G7 races. The Finnish wing car nationals were a good occasion to see the Finnish and Swedish wing car racers again in action this year. We also hope to find them back at the German Open in Brühl, where Juha Yli-Sipola, Jari Porttinen, Leo Hongisto, Petteri Pirhonen and the Swedes will find the terrible Vladimir Horky, Mario "MSP" Schöne and other Vlado Okalis on their way.
The Finnish wing car nats were the last but two wing car event of the season. Meanwhile the Campeonato Brasileiro has been contested (and won by Filipe Tavares), but five days after the event we still received not the smallest result. Completely different is the way followed by Tuomo Iso-Aho of the brand new AHR race centre, where earlier this year the ISRA Worlds were contested. Still on Sunday evening we rceived from his hand complete results. We noted 17 entries for the G7 race, even 24 for the OMO G7 race. In the last race Leo Hongisto (ex double European champion G7) was the fastest, ahead over good old Per Persson (S) and Jiry-Ville Pottu (SF). Entries of the G27 race were low, with Jari Porttinen (SF) s winner. In the G7 race he was only preceded by ex-world champion Juha Yli-Sipola. Porttinen made the last years serious progress. In the season ranking for wing car racers - which will be published after the German Open - he's actually fourth with 47 IOC-points, only preceded by Petr Krcil (CZ) with 111.5 points, "Beuf" Pedersen (USA) with 96.5 points and Vladimir Horky (CZ) with 56.5 points. For the German Open - where I hope Porttinen will show - he remains my main favourite, despite a strong entry by the Germans and the Czechs. If Horky should win the German Open, he should be for the third consecutive time (eighth time overall) "Man of the Year" as explained on another place of the IMCA site. For Juha Yli-Sipola (17th OA on the IOC-list) it was his first win of the season. [JPVR]

HaGood venue at the Finnish Wing Car Nats, despite the fact that Kimmo Rautama and Anders Gustafson were absent. Juha Yli-Sipola of HYPE won his first wing car race of the season, but Petteri Pirhonen (fourth best wing car racer of the year, at the left) becomes a new star in int'l wing car racing. Petteri Pirhonen (3rd) at right.

Survey Group 27 Racing (1980-2009)

VLADO OKALI IS BEST G27 RACER ON EARTH

G27 World Cup, USRA G27 PRO & ESROC G27 updated to IOC Races - IOC list was updated

39th USRA DIV I NATS - OMO G7 RACE, G27 PRO, G7 SEMI-PRO - FARMINGVILLE, NY (USA), July 30, 2009 - (IOC RACES)

OMO G7 ANDRE VILLAR - SKINNER II  G27 PRO- R. PARK G7 SEMI-PRO

Craig Landry Memorial to Bill Skinner - Warm-up Race to Les Wright

39th USRA DIV I NATS - OPEN G7 PRO - FARMINGVILLE, NY (USA), August 2, 2009 - (IOC RACES level 1)

"BEUF" PEDERSEN WINS, NOT WITHOUT LUCK, HIS 6TH USRA NATS

Broken lead wire, when leading "Beuf" by 10 laps in segment 6 costs P. Krcil potential win!  Brad Friesner does what Campbell could not: he puts Canada on the slot-racing world map

August 2, 2009 - Today is the big day at the USRA Nats. Can "Beuf" Pedersen win his sixth USRA Nats? Can P-A Watson win his fifth USRA Nats? Or does "Chubby" Salzman wil it make three in a row? At the group's picture above I see at the top "Beuf", but no "Chubby" and no P-A. Will they be there? And what Les Wright, Reggie Coram and Petr Krcil can do? Can Krcil make it a fourth European win at the Nats? Due to the 6 hourstime lag with New York, first results of the Qualifications must not be expected before midnight GMT. So I go first of all to the soccer match of my favourite team (Cercle Bruges) and I'll come back on midnight GMT, to inform you during th complete night.
No panic, they are all three there. I mean: "Beuf", "Chubby" and P-A. We have 32 entrants. We have 19 racers from the USA, 6 from Brazil, and one from Czechia, Canada, Sweden, Slovakia and Sint-Maarten. That means that Tim Tyler (AU) didn't make the trip from Toronto to Port Jeff.

QUALIFICATIONS: "BEUF" TAKES TQ IN 1"461
After the first qualification round, before the "byes" Emerson Fishler was fastest in 1"485. During the bye round, however, he was passed by "Beuf" Pedersen, realising 1"461. This is an end away of his world record of 1"404 realised on March 3, 2007 at Buena Park Raceway. With 1"461 "Beuf" stays 2/1000nds of a second under the WR realised on June 19 by Benny Justice (now a golf player and no longer active). Only four racers stayed under 1"5. The two others are Roney Fishler (1"497) and the always fast Texan: Gary Puetz in 1"498. P-A Watson and "Chubby" Salzman realised res. the 21st and the 26th time - seeming not interested in top times.

QUARTERS: OKALI AND LES WRIGHT ALREADY OUT
At the Quarters we loose four of our six Brazilians, among them the two Fishlers, having realised the second (Emerson) and the third (Roney) qualification time. Andre Villar (the rising star having won the OMO G7) and Jose Mario Serra are also eliminated. But the biggest drama is the non qualification of the IOC #1 wing car racer Vlado Okali, who comes in his Quarter only one lap short to make the move. With 473 laps, however, he realised the ... sixth rank overall of the Quarters. Unfortunately not enough to make the move. In the last segment Vlado broke his chassis, otherwise he always should have made the move. Nine American racers are also eliminated, among them Thomas Shelby (still podium at last year's Open G7 PRO), Ron Herrera, Gary Puetz and the unlucky Les Wright (eliminated after only 67 laps). Sweden's Per Person is out too.

SEMI B: SKINNER, BOYT JOHNSON & REGGIE CORAM ELIMINATED
The Semi B is dominated by the very local Mike "Erkle" Tylinski (USA), child on house at Port Jeff, realising 702 laps. That is five more than P-A Watson, who qualifies for his ... 22nd main final at the Open G7 PRO. In wing car history absolutely nobody, even not Paul Pfeiffer, realised such performance. Qualified too is Forrest Watchers, realising his sixth main at the USRA G7 PRO Nats. Biggest surprise is that Brazil's Rodrigo Mastrochirico realises - just as Erkle did - his real first main at the Nats. Bill W. Skinner II and Rick Salvino were already eliminated after technical woes before half race. Reggie Coram and local Boyt Johnson (several times winner of the Barn at Port Jeff) are eliminated too.

SEMI A: "CHUBBY" IN DIFFICULT POSITION HALFWAY
Having started on blue world champion Petr Krcil looses 18 full laps during the first segment, so that after three segments he's always last (now at 19 laps from leader "Beuf"). However, after a brilliant run on blue, he returns in third position after four segments, now only five laps down to "Beuf", always leading. More difficult is the situation of the winner of the two previous Nats. Indeed, halfway "Chubby" Salzman is only fifth, 18 laps down to "Beuf". Canada's Brad Friesner is nine laps ahead in fourth position. Will he be the third Canadian in history making the main? That was done by the late Ray Nunes in 1983, 1985 and 1986, and by Greg Mills in 2003 and 2004. At mid-race Brad is only one lap down to the third place of Petr Krcil and two to the second place of the stirring Mike Graverson. Is "Chubby" playing cat and dog with Graverson during the last half of Semi A? He's closing quickly up with him during the two following segments, and then, at once, it seems as he's holding in. Eventually he'll take the fourth spot, only a couple of segments ahead over Graverson. Winner is "Beuf" with 706 laps. But the most fantastic news is that Brad Friesner is putting Canada on the world map (yes, Brad, in his own, and not Mark Campbell!) He finishes as second, following at one lap by Forrest Watchers and at two by world champion Petr Krcil. Out with Graverson are "Gugu", Joh Bauer and Zac Grinstead.

DREAM MAIN FINAL
It's true: this year's USRA Nats seemed a minor edition. But after the Semis for Open G7 PRO we can only conclude that this is one of the best wing car finals of the last decade. With "Beuf" Perdersen (already his 17th main at the Nats), P-A Watson (his 22nd main at the Nats), Forrest Watchers (his 6th main at the Nats) and "Chubby" Salzman (his 3rd main) we have the four best American wing car racers of the moment all in the main. Add to this the reigning world champion, Petr Krcil (CZ, making his second main at the Nats: he was earlier 6th in 2005) and we have all ingredients for a real dream final. But there is more: with Brad Friesner we have the best actual wing car rookie in the main! And there are two more rookies: local "Erkle" and the astonishing Rodrigo Mastrochirico from Brazil. We have thus five Americans as finalists, one Czech, one Canadian and one Brazilian. Another stirring point is that track owner Doug Bauer proved once more that he's a very experienced organiser, one of the best in the world. He respects scrupulously his time schedule and there are no endless discussions with an incompetent race direction as at the Toronto Masters where the schedule and the race directors were a pure joke, just as the whole event of Mark Campbell. The difference between a top class organiser and a would-be organiser can be hardly greater than that.
Having started on orange Canada's Brad Friesner finishes the first segment as leader, followed at two laps by Petr Krcil, seven by "Beuf" and eleven by "Chubby". Very bad start for P-A on red, loosing 25 laps in the first segment. His chassis was bent after the Semis and he had to rebuilt his car completely, but couldn't finish his work in time. During the second segment young Brad falls back into seventh position with only the very unlucky P-A 27 laps behind. Petr Krcil is now leading, with Beuf (5th) at 14 laps and Chubby at 24 laps. Mastrochirico is a surprising second at 6 laps, Forrest Watchers 3rd at 8 laps. Beuf and Chubby make a big mistake if they believe that it'll be easy to win laps back from Krcil. He's a very consistent driver and a born winner. Will he be the fourth European after the late Martin Gramann (1995), Mario "MSP" Schöne (2001) and Mikail Silén (2003) to beat the best Americans on their holy home ground???

On black Petr Krcil looses several laps, but holds 3 in hands over "Beuf" and 21 over "Chubby". Brad Friesner, on rank 7, has only one lap over P-A with the impossible car. Watchers leads Krcil now by 2 laps, with Mastrochirico still as 3rd on 3 laps. Brad is now already 35 laps down to the leader. During the fourth segment Mastrochirico burns out his motor, whilst Petr Krcil sets the pace, followed at 2 laps by Watchers, at 6 by "Beuf". Brad is 5th at 38 laps, P-A 6th at 41 laps and "Chubbie" at once one but last at 44 laps. Erkle is a fine fourth at 8 laps. During the fifth segment Krcil increases his advance over "Beuf" (now second) to 7 laps. Erkle is third, Brad fourth. "Chubbie" is definitively out: last at nearly 100 laps. Halfway the sixth segment Krcil increases his lead to 10 laps over "Beuf", but then, after 104 has to come in the pits with a broken lead wire, loosing 47 laps. "Beuf" is the new leader with two segments to go. Brad and Forrest follow as 2nd and 3rd at 37 laps. Krcil is 4th. Erkle looses 80 laps in the pits. "Chubby" is still last.
During the one but last segment Watson has to pit, losing his fourth place to Erkle. Krcil's car looses speed and is passed by Erkle's; Watchers is second, but at 37 laps from "Beuf". Brad Friesner is still third. "Beuf" goes directly into victory lane. Friesner is now threatened by Erkle for the third place. At the end of the segment Erkle is only 2 laps down to Brad Friesner on rank 3. Krcil and P-A drive wounded cars. When the last segment starts nobody still doubts that "Beuf" will realise his sixth USRA Nats win. He has always 37 laps over Watchers, 51 over Friesner and 53 over Erkle. During the last segment Friesner looses 13 laps in the pits and is passed by Erkle who attacks Watchers second position. Eventually "Beuf" Pedersen wins his sixth Nats, with Forrest Watchers as second and Mike "Erkle" Tylinski as third. By finishing fourth overall Brad Friesner does as well as the late Ray Nunes in 1986 and Greg Mills in 2004. They too finished fourth. Without the bothers of Petr Krcil in the sixth segment he could have won, because he was the lonely finalist able to compete with similar weapons as "Beuf". P-A Watson (6th) and Joe "Chubby" Salzman (7th) were victim of a wounded car. [JPVR]

28th G7 WING CAR WORLDS - SÃO PAULO (BR), May 13-17, 2009 - (IOC RACE level 1)

PETR KRCIL NOW ALSO G7 WORLD CHAMPION

Beating "Beuf" & Mario MSP Schöne he realises a new WR: 1225 laps!

May 18, 2009 - Czechia's Petr Krcil is the 26th racer who, in the history of slot-racing, won more than one official world championship. In 2004 he won already the Scale Racing World Championship in Sweden. Now in Sao Paolo he won his first Wing Car World Championship at the new Red Fox Blue King in Sao Paolo (Brazil). He's only the fifth racer in slot-racing history having won more than one official world championship in more than one discipline (wing cars, scale cars, model cars). Only his country mates Vladimir Horky and Josef Korec won the Worlds in two different specialities together with America's Jan Limpach and with Italy's Salvatore Noviello.
There was a good venue at the Sao Paolo Worlds as no less than 38 racers entered the Open G7 competition. Among them five former world champions: Vlado Okali (SVK: 1997), Mario "MSP" Schöne (D: 1999, 2003), Paul "Beuf" Pedersen (USA: 2001, 2004, 2007), Joaõ Geraldo (BR: 2006) and Vladimir Horky (CZ: 2008). Of them Geraldo, no more seen in international competition since his victory in 2006, was already eliminated after the Consis, finishing as a poor 37th on 38 racers. There was a good venue of German racers with no less than six entrants, among them Klaus Wickert (D) and Roland "Assi" Maisenbacher (D) no more seen at the Worlds since res. 1987 and 1999. From Czechia Vladimir Horky (CZ), Petr Krcil (CZ)  and Zdenek Benes (CZ) showed, but no Josef Korec. Of Austria we found Oliver Sonnbichler (A) at the start. For the first time since the first Wing Car Worlds in 1978 we found no Swedes and/or Finnish racers at the start. Lasse Åberg, Anders Gustafson, Mikail Silén, Juha Yli-Sipola, Leo Hongisto, Jari Porttinen, Kimmo Rautama, Veli-M Kantamaa, finalists at former Wing Car Worlds, were all missing at the start. USA racers at the start were up to 7, but no Chubby Salzman (having won the two last editions of the USRA Nats G7 Pro). Of Slovakia we had Vlado Okali (SVK), always present. No racers from Australia, even not Tim Tyler. Of Sint-Maarten Reggie Coram is present. The 20 other racers are all from Brazil, but no "Dracula".

At the Qualifications the Czechs realise a 1-2-7 with TQ in 1"494 for top favourite Vladimir Horky, 1"510 for his runner-up Zdenek Benes and 1"543 for Petr Krcil. Paul "Beuf" Pedersen (USA) realised the fourth best time, followed by Reggie Coram (StM) and very surprisingly Al Chuck (USA). Double wing car world champion and the actual European champion, Mario "MSP" Schöne (D) is eighth. Andre Villar (BR) is the first Brazilian at rank nine. The fourteen racers having realised the weakest times are condemned to two Consis with 7 racers. Consi B is won by Vinicius "Gonçalves" Martinho (BR) ahead of "Assi" Maisenbacher (D), Hamilton Veroneze (BR) and Alexandre Leite (BR). Here we loose Emerson Fischler (BR), Rainer Borsutzki (D) and the 2006 wing car world champion Geraldo (BR). Consi B is won by good old Klaus Wickert (D), heading José Mario Serra (BR), Filipe da Silva (BR) and Norberto Arrivabene (BR). Out are Gary Puetz (USA), normally always an excellent qualifier, but not now, Rodrigo Mastrochirico (BR) and Fabio Signoretti (BR).

The coverage of the 2009 Worlds in the specialised slot-racing media was even worse than in 2008. Two days after the event we had not the smallest results of the Quarters! On the NPRA web site the results were only published two days after the race. The Quarters were a real church yard for no less than nine racers, all nine eliminated on technical woes. Among them Vlado Okali (SVK), Forrest Watchers (USA), Les Wright (USA) and "Gugu" Bernardino.  
At the Semis Paul "Beuf" Pedersen (USA) with 7157 laps, Vladimir Horky (CZ) with 715 laps and Mario "MSP" Schöne (D) with 705 laps are the fastest. Two surprises: Alexandre Leite (BR) and Klaus Wickert (D), two survivers of the Consis,, succeed to realise the move to the Main Final. Other finalists are Marcio Paschoalin (BR) and Bruno di Dotto (BR).  Bill Skinner (USA) misses the move, due to technical problems after 460 laps. The Germans Peter Fröbel (ninth overall!), Heiko Thinschmidt (twelfth overall) and Roland "Assi" Maisenbacher (fifteenth overall) miss all three the move, just as the last winner of the Brazilian Nats: Filipe Tavares Da Silva (finishing tenth overall).
At the Main Final the first segment goes to Mario "MSP" Schöne with 156 laps, followed by Leite and Di Dotto with 151 laps. During the second segment we loss the defending world champion Vladimir Horky, when, after a crash, the chassis of his car is broken and beyond repair. Schöne leads now Krcil with 308 laps against 305. One segment further Krcil passes Schöne and holds one lap of advance in hand. At mid-race the difference is always one small lap, but "Beuf" is now third at only three laps. At segment five Schöne is a strong leader, heading Krcil by eight laps and "Beuf" by eleven laps. Krcil reduces his arrears to three laps at the sixth segment, where "Beuf" looses 26 laps and seems definitively out for victory lane. During the seventh segment Krcil passes Schöne and goes to the last segment with nine laps in hand. Beuf realises a fabulous 164 laps in this segment (an average of 1"83 per lap!). He's now third at seventeen laps. During the last segment "Beuf" can pass Schöne for the second places, but "dies" at six laps of winner Petr Krcil. With 1225 laps he realises a new world record. The old world record stood on 1185 laps, realised by America's Carlos Aloise. Noteworth is that "Beuf", Schöne and Marcio Paschoalin also improved the old WR. I have to apologize that, due to the stupid question of the unlicensed bodies in model car racing, I found no time to make a Worlds Preview this year. [JPVR]

5th OMO Group 7 WORLD CUP, 24th Group 27 WORLD CUP, 1st G27 Spray World Cup - SÃO PAULO (BR), May 13-17, 2009 -
(IOC RACES level 2)

KRCIL, BEUF & OKALI ARE THE WINNERS

40th EUROPEAN G7 WING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP - PLZEN (CZ), March 14-15 - [Level 2 IOC RACE]

MARIO SCHÖNE WINS HIS 5TH WING CAR EURONATS

March 17, 2009 - At the 40th European Wing Car Championship Germany's Mario "MSP" Schöne won his fifth European Open G7 Championship. Earlier he won in 1990, 1991, 1997 and 1998. He now is again the best all-time wing car racer, preceding the former leader, Vlado Okali (SVK) by two small points. In total 32 racers showed at this ESROC Nats, but not the defending champion Leo Hongisto (SF). Other stars missing are the triple European champion Lasse Åberg (S), former USRA winner and 2005 champion Michael Silén (S), 2006 winner Kimmo Rautama (SF) and last year's revelation Atte Lyyski (SF).
Of the 32 racers at the start, eight are from Finland, six from Germany, six from Sweden, four from Czechia, four from the USA, two From Brazil, one from Austria and one from Slovakia. 
Vladimir Horky (CZ), the 2008 wing car world champion, was fastest at the Qualifications in 1"595, ahead over Mariio "MSP" Schöne (D), Zdenek Benes (CZ) and the totally unexpected Jyri-Ville Pouttu (SF). At the Quarters we lost 16 racers, among them the two Brazilians ("Gugu" Bernardino & Jose Mario Serra), but also the former world- and European champion Juha Yli-Sipola, together with Gary Gerding & Jeff Mack from the USA and four German racers (Peter Fröbel, Ulli-Edgar Pietsch, Klaus Wickert and Rainer Borsutzki). The Quarters were won by Vladimir Horky (CZ), Mario "MSP" Schöne (D), Oliver Sonnbichler (A)! and Petr Krcil (CZ). At the Semis Zdenek Benes (CZ) won the Semi B ahead over Petr Krcil (CZ), Pekka Sippola (SF) and Anders Gustafson (S). Mario "MSP" Schöne (D) won Semi A ahead over Josef Korec (CZ), Vladimir Horky (CZ) and Jari Porttinen (SF). We lost Vlado Okali (SVK), Stefan Törnfeldt (S), and our two fastest Americans Les Wright & Bill W.H. Skinner, both eliminated after technical woes.
The Main Final was a gruelling combat among Mario "MSP" Schöne (D) and Jari Porttinen (SF), who seemed on his way to a first major international win. Both finished in the same lap, but Mario Schöne was 84 segments further than Finland's top racer when the chequered flag came down after 40 minutes. Fight for the third place was a pure Czech affair with Petr Krcil (CZ) realising the third place on the podium. Josef Korec (CZ) was fourth, Vladimir Horky (CZ) fifth. The four Czechs at the start all reached the final as 3-4-5-6 as Zedenek Benes (CZ) succeeded to let the 1999 European champion Anders Gustafson (S) behind. [JPVR]

27th EUROPEAN G27 WING CAR NATS & 2nd G7 OMO ESROC NARS - PLZEN (CZ), March 13 - (IOC RACES LEVEL 2)

HORKY WINS G27 EURONATS & ESROC G7 OMO

March 17, 2009 - World champion Vladimir Horky (CZ) won without problems both the ESROC G27 EuroNats and the ESROC OMO G7 Race with res. 31 and 41 entrants. Runners-up are res. Vlado Okali (SVK) and Petr Krcil. Jari Porttinen (SF) proves hs progress by finishing s. third and fourth. Progress too among the German racers, active at the new Brühl Blue King. Klaus Wickert (D) reaches the Main Final at the G27 EuroNats, whilst Rainer Borsutzki (D), Peter Fröbel (D) & Heiko Thinschmidt (D) realise a 7-8-10 at the ESROC G7 One Motor Race. After the ESROC Nats Vlado Okali (SVK) is the second best all-time wing car racer, only two small points down to Mario "MSP" Schöne. Curious if at the upcoming Worlds in Brazil Schöne will be able to hold Okali off the first place: the Slovak enters all wing car races whilst the German restricts his entries to Open G7.  The G12 race at Plzen was won by Jaroslav Recek (CZ) ahead over Pavel Flaisig (CZ) and Christian Kehl (D).  [JPVR]

33rd AUSTRALIAN G7 WING CAR NATS - WAITRARA, NSW (AU), March 22-23 - (IOC RACE LEVEL 2)

PETER DIMMERS AT LEAST!

May 18, 2009 - With Tim Tyler and Wayne Bramble both absent Ivan Wearne had a unique opportunity to prolonge his title as Australian G7 Wing Car Champion. We noted sixteen entries, among them Brazil's Jose Mario Serra, good old Charles Rickards and Garry Johnson. We received no results of the Qualifications. At the Semi B Peter Dimmers of Hornsby - where he won hundreds of races in all classes - was fastest with 500 laps. Ivan Wearne, Tony Pye and Lindsay Byron all made the move to the Main (which was missed by Mike Thorby for two laps and by Garry Johnson for eight laps). At the much slower Semi A Cody Bramble (son of) was fastest with David Fitzgerald as second and two laps ahead over Keith Wade and Geoff Little finishing in the same lap. Here Charles Rickards was eliminated. In the main Peter Dimmers was pulling away from the rest of the field, winning his first Nats ahead over Geoff Little  and Keith Wade. Ivan Wearne came no further than fifth. G27 went to Charles Rickards, beating Mike Thorby and John Favorito. G15 went to Geoff Little, G12 to David Fitzgerald with Peter Dimmers finishing as runner-up. [JPVR]