29th OPEN G7 WING CAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, PORT JEFFERSON, FARMINGVILLE, NY (USA), MAY 22 [Level 1 IOC RACE]

FILIPE TAVARES BEATS THEM ALL: BEUF, KOREC, HORKY, BENES

But Petr Krcil was the fastest racer on the track, unfortunately eliminated by woes at the quarters

P-A Watson and Joe "Chubbie" Salzman are not racing. Les Wright, Bill Skinner II, "Gugu" Bernardino and Vlado Okali are all eliminated. Eliminated too is the fastest man in the race, Petr Krcil. In Final A he was stopped on yellow - his first run - after 27 laps, and had to undo a 35 laps arrear to reach the top-4. Heroic defense of Ulli E. Pietsch made that Krcil came four laps short to make the move! More later.

Semi B goes with Horky (CZ), Korec (CZ), Thinschmidt (D), Watchers (USA), Puetz (USA), Gustafson (S), Person (S) and Signoretti (BR). Thinschmidt (yellow) is fastest away, followed by Horky (purple) and Korec (blue). Gary Puetz lost 30 laps. The three leaders achieved all three 97 laps, with Watchers and Person two laps down and fighting for the fourth place. In the second segment Horky looses on black one lap on the two leaders, whilst Gustafson seems to make a come-back; on purple Korec can not follow Thinschmidt and lets him go. Heiko is on orange. White is disastrous for Per Person. At the end of the second segment Thinschmidt (194 laps) has 3 laps over Horky and Korec. Struggle for fourth place goes among Watchers (188 laps), Signoretti (188 laps) and Gustafson (187 laps). Person (185) and Puetz (157) are the back benchers.
On the difficult white lane Thinschmidt can conserve his 3-lap advance over Korec, but Horky (on yellow) loses his third place to Watchers (following on 5 laps). Horky is now struggling with Signoretti (both in the same lap) at 6 laps from the lead. For the Swedes things could go better: both are already 14 laps down to leader Heiko. During the fourth segment Thinschmidt looses his complete advance over Korec (on yellow) and is even lapped by him. Horky moves into third position at 3 laps from Heiko. Signoretti is now fourth, one lap down to Horky, but three laps ahead over Watchers. Positions at mid-race are: 1. Korec 382, 2. Thinschmidt 381, 3. Horky 378, 4. Signoretti 377, 5. Watchers 374, 6. Person 368. Gustafson and Puetz seem both lost for the move.
During the fifth segment Korec (on orange) increases his advance over Thinschmidt to three laps. On white Horky comes at one lap from Heiko. Struggle for the fourth place goes between Signoretti (on black) and Watchers. The last named passed Fabio by one lap. Fabio is now fifth at 11 laps from Korec. Per Person is not completely lost as he's only 3 laps down to Signoretti. What a bull shit the coverage of Port Jeff. The results screen changes every 10 seconds, but most of the time one sees or nothing, or just the top 3. After 6 segments Korec leads with 573 laps, before Thinschmidt (571), Horky (567), Watchers (563), Signoretti (560), Gustafson & Person (555). Everything is open for rank 4. Drama in the one but last segment. Half segment everything seems to have been decided when Watchers has on rank 4 no less than 6 full laps in hands over Signoretti. But then, after 61 laps, Watchers passes no longer, dropping into seventh position. Horky and Thinschmidt have both 666 laps, Horky 659, Signoretti 650. They'll make the move. Gustafson is 6 laps down to the Brazilian, Persons 20 and poor Forrest Watchers 26. During the last segment Korec (760) takes five laps on Thinschmidt (755), whilst Horky (753) is third and Signoretti (740) fourth. Gustafson misses the move for 12 laps, Person for 21 laps. Watchers (624) is out of the race. Puetz is last. Impossible to note all results: (1) Port Jeff's web site is pure shit and (2) 3 seconds after the finish Doug Bauer prints the results and nothing is any longer visible on the screen. What a missing of elementary tact. What is the name? You said "Bauer"? O, that explains everything. "Bauer" is German for "peasant". Now we understand.

Semi A goes with "Beuf" (USA), Eriksson (S), Tavares (BR), Paschoalin (BR), Benes (CZ), Friesner (CDN), Pietsch (D) and Schöne (D). I refuse to work with such bull-shit info on the web site of Port Jeff, where you see more black than anything else: as good as nothing. The result is however predictable: "Beuf", Schöne and Eriksson will make the move. Tavares will probably be the fourth to make the move. I am angry that "Bent Rim" let us work in such poor conditions. He shows no respect for journalists, no respect for the rest of the world. The world? That's Doug Bauer and perhaps some local racers hanging around. Stop. When you come from F1 (I had my own team) where you could control on both cars from your computer screen the pressure in the tyres, the pressure in each of the cylinders, the fuel consumption, the heath of the brakes, etc. and you look at the Port Jeff screen you believe that you're at once back in the time of the Neanderthal man. BTW: very bad start for MSP and Beuf lost 11 laps in the third segment. On the video we see just nothing. The two Brazilians were leading halfway. MSP is fifth at mid-race, 10 laps down to Beuf in fourth position. Brazil will have his three racers in the Main, just as Czechia: Zdenek Benes is third. In 1988 he won a 1/1 Pontiac Fiero at the IMCA Worlds. In 1986 Willy Heerwegh won even a 1/1 Ferrari 308 GTB at IMCA's Pinky Point. Maresca a Peugeot 205 GTi. Six others an old timer Honda S800. After four segments MSP is ... 20 laps down from making the move. After five segments the two Brazilians are leading. Problems for Benes. MSP fastest man. With 3 segments to go he's at 12 laps from making the move. Sixth segment. Mario MSP can forget it: he's 23 laps out from the move. Ulli E. Pietsch is at only 4 laps from the move. Will Heiko be the lonely German in the Main? Although Filipe Tavares (751) was leading most of the time, he was passed in the last segment by Beuf (756 laps). Benes (745) and Paschoalin (744) are the others to make the move. Schöne (721), Pietsch (715), Eriksson (664) and Friesner (106) miss the move.

The finalists are: 3 from Czechia (Horky, Korec, Benes), 3 from Brazil (Signoretti, Tavares, Signoretti), 1 from Germany (Thinschmidt) and only one American ("Beuf"). In the past the G7 Worlds were organised 13 times in the States. In 1984 the USA had ... 8 finalists; in 1980, 1990, 1991, and 1993 they were 7; in 1989 they were 6; in 1988 and 1998 they were 5; in 1996 and 2001 they were 4; in 1992, 2004 and 2007 they were still 3. And now only one. American G7 racing is dying.

Main Final - During the first segment the two main favourites, "Beuf" Pedersen and Vladimir Horky, follow each other as their shadow. Fast shadows, because they achieve 160 laps in the 8 first minutes. Josef Korec and Filipe Tavares follow as third and fourth at 2 laps. Then comes Zdenek Benes (157), Heiko Thinschmidt (156). Marcio Paschoalin (150) and Fabio Signoretti (119) lost valuable time. During the second segment Horky succeeds to take two laps on "Beuf", who is lapped by Tavares, moving into second position, one lap down to Horky. Korec looses time on black, is passed by country mate Zdenek Benes, 3 laps down to Horky. Thinschmidt joins Korec. Both are at 5 laps from Horky. Paschoalin comes 10 laps further, Signorelli even 52.
Third segment full of drama. Signoretti can only achieve 8 laps. Thinschmidt looses 49 laps in the pits. And Horky, Saint Horky, Horky the Invincible, looses 11 laps on black in a crash. So "Beuf" can catch Tavares and Benes, to lap them later. At the end of the third segment "Beuf" has 483 laps, Tavares 482, Benes 481, Korec 476, Horky 472, Paschoalin 461, Thinschmidt 424 and poor Fabio Signoretti 272. Don't give "Beuf" 11 laps, because you'll see him never back. So the Czechs are now behind Benes, the actual European G7 Champion. But the crash of Horky will be fatal.
Again drama in the fourth segment. Beuf looses a first time 8 laps on blue, later another 4 laps. The Czech train can pass him. But the biggest surprise comes from Filipe Tavares, multiplying 1"7s and taking 8 laps on the Czechs. Beuf is 11 laps down to the Brazilian. For Signoretti the game seems definitively over (only 4 laps in this segment).

Splendid defense of leader Tavares on red during the fifth segment. He looses only 3 laps on "Beuf" (purple) and 2 on Horky (orange) and Korec (white). At the end of the segment he has 802 laps against 796 for Korec, 795 for Horky, 794 for "Beuf". Benes (on black) could no longer follow the Czech speed train and is with his 791 laps 11 laps down to leader Filipe Tavares. Fabio Signoretti has retired from the race. Paschoalin is 31 laps down to Benes, but has 23 laps over Thinschmidt. Will Tavares do what nobody expected to be possible: beating Horky (IOC #1), Korec (IOC #2) and "Beuf" (IOC #10)?
Sixth segment and definitive end of the Czech dream. Horky and Korec loose 7 laps on Tavares (965). "Beuf" (956) is now second, but at 9 laps. Korec (952) and Horky (951) are too far away to realise a miracle. Benes (also 951) sits back in the Czech train, but the train misses speed. Tavares is on his way to victory lane!
It's decided! Tavares will be the 28th Open G7 world champion. The Czechs lost again laps on crashes and "Beuf" could take only one small lap on Tavares during the one but last segment. He follows at 7 laps. 1. Tavares 1126, 2. "Beuf" 1119, 3. Korec 1109, 4. Horky 1104, 5. Benes (1085, more than 30 laps lost in the pits), 6. Paschoalin 1060, 7. Thinschmidt 1059 (only one lap down to Marcio). But a big triumph for Brazil, this time they gave the best slot racers on earth a clear beat!
Last segment: despite a series of low 1"7s "Beuf" cannot catch Filipe Tavares. He's the new world champion with 1281 laps. Congrats! "Beuf" Pedersen is second at five laps, Josef Korec third. Then follow Vladimir Horky and Zdenek Benes. Heiko Thinschmidt succeeded to pass Marcio Paschoalin during the last segment.

Filipe Tavares Da Silva, who scored his first IOC points only in 2007, is after his victory the 131st racer in history having won more than 120 IOC points and enters the elite of the real pro drivers. He is at one IOC victory close to enter the famous Hall of Fame. The IOC-list has been updated.

I think that the 2010 Wing Car Worlds was a great and thrilling event, but the coverage was just a shame. Most of the time the video was not working and towards the end one could hardly follow the lap counter, as every 10 seconds we saw only a black screen, followed 10 seconds later by mostly only the two first or the three first. An organiser who respects the slot-racing enthusiasts will certainly not do what Doug Bauer does now since 20 years: publishing only the racer's names as an abbreviation. Reading the results becomes then a puzzle. As PR-man of Port Jeff DDDDDerek is not worth a 1 on 10. He just believes that during days we are always waiting the stupid 10 seconds screen. And as usual we received no qualification times. Very disappointing! [JPVR]

25th G27 WING CAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, PORT JEFFERSON, FARMINGVILLE, NY (USA), MAY 22 [Level 2 IOC RACE]

VLADIMIR HORKY WINS HIS . . . 29TH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Superb Heiko Thinschmidt third - Three Brazilians in the Main Final, six in the top-15

May 23, 2010 - Important day. Indeed, today, Youri (still wounded on his shoulder after a soccer incident from three weeks ago) is 18. At Minden the German Masters are organised after a year of inactivity. At Brno there is the third round of the new FIA GT1 World Championship (where Maserati won yesterday the prequalification race). In the Giro d'Italia they have to race over no less than five mountains today. And at Port Jeff Vladimir Horky is ready to give "Beuf" and "Chubby" a clear beat in the main event: G7 Pro. Should he fail - only possible after technical woes - Petr Krcil is ready to take it over. Wing Car racing is no longer dominated by Americans as it was from 1978 thru the mid 1990s. European and Brazilian racers took it over from the Americans.
Yesterday only seven Americans started at the G27 Worlds, and although Rich Curnutte TQ-ed, we found only him as lonely American in the Main, with the second American coming not higher than 16th (Tylinski) after bad luck for Bill Skinner II at the quarters. Of the USA big guns nobody entered G27: no Beuf, no Chubby, no P-A, no Watchers, no Wright, etc. Much better was done by the Brazilians, also with seven starters, and bringing "Gugu", Paschoalin and Tavares into the Main. Of them "Gugu" was long time third, loosing a podium place for only one lap, and Filipe Tavares - Brazil's best wing car racer - lost his winning chances early in the race after technical bothers. The Germans came with five racers at the start, bringing three home in the top-10. Of them Heiko Thinschmidt was just fabulous, being until the last minute second behind Horky, and reducing at a given moment, when Horky was on red, his arrears on the Czech ace with 10 laps in the sixth heat. Then he was at once only four laps down from the lead, and let hope a German victory. Petr Krcil had to fight until the last minute to pass Heiko and to finish as runner-up. Of the three Swedes at the start Mikael Silén - a former winner of the USRA Nats - lost the move to the semis by just a couple of segments, whilst Stefan Thörnfeldt was among the top-4 until mid-race. On red he lost more than 10 laps and dropped into seventh position. Mister "Group 27", Vlado Okali, didn't survive the quarters, just as Austria's Oliver Sonnbichler. Reggie Coram was eliminated at the Semis, together with three Brazilians and three Germans. And in front, mister "No Nerves", Vladimir Horky, made his Saturday walk, dominating the race from start to finish, to win his ... 29th world championship, already his fourth in G27. Having won once the G7 Worlds (in 2008), he's ready for a 30th title today. [JPVR]

8th G27 LITE WING CAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, PORT JEFFERSON, FARMINGVILLE, NY (USA), MAY 19 [Level 3 IOC RACE]

"BEUF" (WR: 910 LAPS) BEATS PETR KRCIL BY ONE LAP

6th OMO G7 WING CAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, PORT JEFFERSON, FARMINGVILLE, NY (USA), MAY 21 [Level 2 IOC RACE]

ISAIAS JORDÃO BEATS FORREST WATCHERS & "CHUBBIE"

Results at Port Jeff? It's always the same song. Doug isn't interested in the rest of the world

34th AUSTRALIAN ASCRA G7 NATS, ROCKHAMPTON, QLD, APRIL 1-4  [Level 2 IOC RACE]

LYNDSAY BYRON WINS OPEN G7 NATIONALS

This year's Australian Nats have be won by Lyndsay Byron, letting Nathan "Mudd" Colie and Russell Gale far behind at the final. Contrarily to other years there were no European racers and no Brazilian racers. The top-3 proves that things are changing in Australia. In earlier editions none of the top-3 were earlier on the podium. Lyndsay Byron was 7th in 2009, and 5th in 2008. "Mudd" was 15th in 2008, and 13th in 2007. Russell Gale was not seen at the start of the five last editions. 
Peter Dimmers, the defending champion, didn't show. Tim Tyler, having broken several ribs, could not show. And of other traditional entrants such as David Fitzgerald, Cody Bramble, Wayne Bramble, Garry Johnson, John Favorito, Billy "K", Chad Raven, Harry Heyes, Dan Creasy and others no one was present. Favourites before the start were Ivan Wearne, Charly Rickards, Geoff Little and Tony Pye. The two last named didn't qualify and were eliminated by technical woes at the semis.  The main went with serious problems, due to a power failure after two segments. After much discussion it was decide to restart it from scratch. Only five racers were saved from serious technical troubles. They finished at the four first places: Lindsay Byron, Natan "Mudd" Collie, Russell Gale and Ivan Wearne. There were o,nly four laps difference between second and fourth. [JPVR]

41st EUROPEAN G7 WING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP - HELSINKI (SF), March 12-14 - [Level 2 IOC RACE]

AFTER YEARS OF FAILING ATTMPTS ZDENEK BENES DOES IT AT LEAST

March 13, 2010 - The 41st ESROC European Wing Car Championships are still underway. There were 29 entrants with 15 from Finland, 6 from Sweden, 3 from Czechia, 3 from Germany, 1 from Slovakia and 1 from Brazil. Last year's winner, Mario MSP Schöne didn't show. Contrarily to the 2009 edition there are no longer entrants from Austria and from the States. With only five European nations represented, it seems that, except for Finland, Sweden and Germany, wing car racing has nearly completely disappeared in Europe. Indeed, there are nearly no longer wing car racers in Holland, in France, in Italy, in Portugal, in Spain, in Switzerland, in Austria, in Norway, in Denmark, etc.  Czechia has only 4 left, Slovakia 1. So the noble art of wing car racing is practiced by a yearly decreasing number of racers. That seems alarming in all other countries than Finland and Sweden (where number of adepts is still growing).
At the last moment we noted 3 withdrawals, among them the one of ex-European champion Marko Pirinen (SF). Eventually there were thus 26 starters, half of them coming from Finland.  
At the first round of the Qualifications Brazil's José Mario Serra was fastest in 1"595. But at the "bye" round that time was improved by several racers. When Vladimir Horky (CZ) realised towards the end of the session a sharp 1"497 we realised immediately that this was a new record on European soil. Nearly immediately after we saw on our lane screen a fabulous 1"4217 by Jari Porttinen, but that was later corrected in 1"518. Realising the third best time only Mikael Silén came close to that time with 1"526.
Still on Saturday the Quarters were contested. Here we lost among others ex-European champion Anders Gustafson (S), mister G27 Stefan Törnfeldt (S) and ex-world record holder José Maio Serra Pires (BR). The Finnish racers moved up with 8 entrants to the Semis together with three Czechs, two Swedes, two Germans and the inevitable Vlado from Slovakia. Biggest surprises of racers having made the move came from Peter Fröbel (D) - what a progress in two years time! - from Veli-Matti Kantamaa (SF), Jyri-Ville Pouttu and Juho Sippola.

Sunday, March 14, 2010 - At the Semis the reigning world champion, Petr Krcil (CZ) was the fastest on Semi B with 686 laps. Here good old Per Persson (S), Peter Fröbel (D), Kyri-Ville Pouttu (SF) and Juha Yli-Sipola (SF) were all eliminated. Especially the elimination of the last named, an ex-world champion, was a major surprise. But an even bigger surprise was seen at Semi B where the best all-time slot-racer, Vladimir Horky (CZ), winner of ... 28 world championships, was eliminated, together with ex-European champion  Kimmo Rautama and with Klaus Wickert (D) and Juho Sippola.
So we went to the Main Final with four Finns (among them Veli-Matti Kantamaa caused an absolute stir), two Czechs, one Swede and (of course) Vlado Okali (who was the fastest man at the Quarters). For Leo Hongisto (SF) it was an outspoken chance to win his fourth G7 EuroNats.  Anyone expected that he, Mikael Silén and Petr Krcil had the best chances to reach the podium. But the third surprise of the week-end came from Zdenek Benes. He's a good G7 racer since more than 30 years, but in that discipline he never won a podium place during all that time. Today, however, he was absolutely outstanding. Together with his country made he pulled away from the rest of the field, letting Mikael Silén (SF) and the 2009 vice European champion Jari Porttinen struggle for the third spot on the podium. Today Zdenek was too fast for the reigning world champion, completing 1119 laps in total, 22 more than Petr Krcil. In 1988 Zdenek Benes won a 1/1 Pontiac Fiero at the IMCA Worlds in Chicago, up to today his most important win. For all the effort Zdenek has done for G7 racing, he deserves his title of new European Champion absolutely. Let's further stipulate that Tumppi Iso-Aho organised an excellent ESROC Nats, where coverage was perfect. Pics on the 2010 ESROC Nats were all made ny him.    [I.Y.]

28th EUROPEAN G27 WING CAR NATS & 3rdd G7 OMO ESROC NATS - PLZEN (CZ), March 13 - (IOC RACES LEVEL 2)

HORKY WINS AGAIN THE G27 EURONATS, OMG7 TO YLI-SIPOLA 

Pirhonen 121st PRO in history - Let Tumppi organise the 23rd IMCA Worlds in honour of Leo Kinnunen

March 14, 2009 - Earlier this week-end Vladimir Horky (CZ) won without problems both the ESROC G27 EuroNats (21 entrants) whilst Juha Yli-Sipola (SF) saved the honour of the local racers by winning OMG7 (35 entrants). The G12 wing car race for youngsters was won by Tomi Pahula (SF).   The IOC list has been updated. Petteri Pirhonen, in 1990 still the rookie of the year, is the 121st racer in history to join the very exclusive club of PRO racers. As Tumppi is such an excellent organiser JPVR proposed us to prepare a work scheme for the 23rd IMCA Worlds to be hold at the ARH of Helsinki. He finds that any good racer should have been at least once in his life at the slot-racing sanctuary that the ARH of Helsinki is. Moreover it should be an excellent occasion to promote 1973 Interserie 1/24th racing in honour of the great Leo Kinnunen who won three consecutive years the Interserie. And of course his 1/24th car should be driven by nobody else than the great Kai Kivekäs (SF).    [I.Y.]