4th GERMAN WING CAR MASTERS - OPEN G7, BRÜHL (D), DECEMBER 5, 2010  [Level 2 IOC RACE]

KLAUS WICKERT WINS THE MOST THRILLING G7 IN HISTORY

December 6, 2010 - I have followed in my long career dozens of Open G7 races for wing cars, but what was seen yesterday on the internet video of the main final, in the Open G7 race of the German Masters, beat everything, even the main of the 2004 Ultimate Group 7 race at the slow Uden Blue King, where during the two last minutes we noted no less than four different leaders. Until the second last run Finland's Jari Porttinen was a strong leader. I have always been a supporter of Porttinen because he lets me think on his country mate Antti Immonen. In the late 1990s Immonen was one of the most skilled wing car racers. However, he never won a Group 7 race, and withdrew much too early from active competition. Porttinen is one of the best Finnish wing car racers, but, just like Immonen, he never won an IOC G7 race after more than thirty attempts since 1996. He is the highest IOC-ranked racer having thus never won an IOC race: the perfect underdog. Unlike Immonen he refused to stop racing.
Yesterday he reached without problems the main final of the Open G7 race at the 4th German Wing Car Masters. After six of the eight runs he was a strong leader with a comfortable advance over Klaus Wickert, Mario Schöne and Mikael Silén. Without problems he could no more loose that race, and I was sure that this should be his first victory. And this in a race where no less than nine world champions came at the start, among them the reigning G7 world champion Filipe Tavares.
With two runs to go, Tavares was blocked behind the surprisingly strong Rebecca Fröbel defending her fourth place. He could only pass her when at the one but last run she was victim of tech woes. But hardly he had passed her in the standings, when his car too was victim of tech problems, dropping him back in seventh position. Meanwhile Porttinen was a quiet and strong leader, and except for he himself, nobody doubted any longer that he was the winner. But ten I saw him completely helpless when his mechanic took his car off the track. Repairs lasted endless, and he was passed by Klaus Wickert as first, by Juha Yli-Sipola as second and by Michael Silén as third. Mario "MSP" Schöne too should have passed him already earlier, but he too had technical problems. At the end of the one but last run, Porttinen had be passed by all finalists, except for the unlucky Rebecca Fröbel. His dream - at least winning a top-race after fourteen years of idle attempts - flew into million pieces! What a pity after such brilliant and faultless racing during the six first runs. [continued nelow]

4th GERMAN WING CAR MASTERS - G27, BRÜHL (D), DECEMBER 3-4, 2010  [Level 3 IOC RACE]

NINTH IOC-WIN FOR FINLAND'S JUHA YLI-SIPOLA

4th GERMAN WING CAR MASTERS - G7 OMO, BRÜHL (D), DECEMBER 4, 2010  [Level 3 IOC RACE]

TENTH IOC-WIN FOR JUHA YLI-SIPOLA WINNING AGAIN

Why Brühl is so unique in the world: the mystery of the female touch

Entry at the German Masters for wing cars may be considered as the best since the legendary Ultimate Group 7 Race of 2004 at Uden. Peter Fröbel gave full evidence of a seriously recovering German wing car racing. He put German wing car racing again on the map, years after such important racers as Bernd Möbus, Achim Burgmann, Assi Maisenbacher, Norbert Amand, Dirk Hochschwinder, Axel Pomeranz, Erich Lorenz, Hugo Glettenberg, etc. all retired from wing car racing.
At the 4th German Masters we found seven world champions: Petr Krcil (CZ) who won four world championships, "Gugu" Bernardino (BR) who won three world champion-ships, Mario "MSP" Schöne (D) who won two world championships and five European G7 championships, Mikael Silén (S) who won two world championships and one European G7 championship, Juha Yli-Sipola (SF) who won one world championship and three times the European G7 championship, Filipe Tavares da Silva who is the reigning G7 world champion and Zedenek Benes (CZ) who won one world title and who won this year the European G7 Championship. Another notorious starter was Leo Hongisto (SF) who won three times the European G7 Championship.  
The two best racers at the Masters, having finished three times on the podium (!), were undoubtedly Juha Yli-Sipola (twice winner and once third) and Klaus Wickert (once winner, once second and once third). The Group 12 race was won by Ulli Edgar Pietsch (D) and the G27 Lite race by Filipe Tavares da Silva (BR).
The secret behind the success of the Brühl Blue King may be explained by the charismatic personality of Peter Fröbel having created a congenial and cosy race centre, completely different from all other race centres we know in Europe. It's not only a place to race, it's also a place where you easily can organise a party - perhaps the lonely slot-racing centre where even women like to be. Brühl is so much more than just a track and some working benches around. It's bon vivant taste - an excellent taste - makes it classy and funny together. If someone should install such congenial club in the heart of Paris, at the famous Champs Élysées, I am convinced that it should be immediately a new hype. The interior design shows a classy female touch, completely absent in all other slot-racing clubs being too much a pure macho affair. Where else do you find such comfortable easy chairs as at Brühl? I know only one other person with an open eye for interior design than Peter Fröbel: Achim Zanders. When he installed his Spa 124 track for the first time at Übach-Palenberg he tried it with a kind of movie decor, but once the track was sold and moved to Alsdorf, nothing of all that remained and we were at the middle of cheap kitsch. I hope that racers having been at Brühl will remember for ever that they entered the most beautiful slot-race palace of the world. For racers not familiar with Brühl I posted a couple of good pics here. [JPVR] 

22° CAMPEONATO BRASILEIRO - OPEN G7, SAO PAOLO (BR), NOVEMBER 14, 2010  [Level 2 IOC RACE]

"BEUF" BEATS ULLI E. PIETSCH & FILIPE TAVARES

November 16, 2010 - Qualitatively there was a good show at 22nd Brazilian Nats. There were four American wing car racers: five fold world champion Paul "Beuf" Pedersen, ex-Campeonato Brasileiro winner Les Wright, Bill W.H. Skinner II and Al Chuck "Owl" (making a remarkable come-back in wing car races after decades of inactivity). The Germans - all of the school of Brühl - are present with good old Klaus "Wickie" Wickert, Peter Fröbel and Ulli E. Pietsch (well known from scale racing events such as the Minden German Masters and the G12/ES24 EuroCup).

We find eleven Brazilians at the start, but not Luiz "Gugu" Bernardino, himself organiser of the meeting. Other important Brazilian wing car racers are not here: no Jose Mario Serra Pires, no Geraldo João Carlos, no Marcelo "Bambi" Serra, no Bruno di Dotto, no Norberto "Norba" Arrivabene, no Eduardo "Dracula" Gazoni, no Emerson Fischler, no Roney Fischler, etc. Best Brazilians at the start are ex-wing car world champion Filipe Tavares,  Isaias Jordão, Hamilton Veroneze, Fabio Signoretti, Marcelo Triginelli and Márcio Paschoalin (who reached one day earlier the historical league of pro drivers, having won more than 120 IOC-points in their career. He is the 145th racer in history who reached that status). From Argentine we find Canaves at the start.

The twelve best qualifiers were free of the Quarter Finals. Seven others had to dispute those Quarters, where only the four best finishers could make the move to the Semis. First eliminated, with technical problems, was the winner of the 2007 Campeonato Brasileiro: Les Wright. The Brazilians Jamil Haddad jr and Joaõ Carlo Visetti were too slow to make the move. Who had expected video records of the races was surely disappointed. There was even no wifi in the race location, "Owl" Chuck wrote on the OWH. On the same forum Rodrigo "Nokia" Mastrochirico warned that the internet capacity in and round the race location is too low for video recording. But how will it be next year, when the ISRA Worlds will be organised here? One of the users of the OWH writes it as follows: "I really hope is not the kinda coverage we are going to have for the 2011 ISRA Worlds."  Covering a slot-race event was never the cup of tea of the Brazilians. The way they publish results is a nightmare. Who knows that "Nokia" is Rodrigo Mastrochirico, that "Coral" is Luis Carlos Buonafeio, etc. It goes like that already twenty two years and Brazilians still don't know that except for themselves nobody knows who is who. So, we hope that such things will improve before the start of the 2011 ISRA Worlds.

At the Semi-Finals we loose seven Brazilians and America's Bill W.H. Skinner. Although Marcelo Triginelli achieved res. eight and ten laps more than Klaus Wickert and Isaias Jordão, he missed the move as they were in a slower Semi than his. So we went to a Main Final with only three Brazilian racers (Filipe Tavares da Silva, Isaias Jordão and Fabio Signoretti). Biggest surprise was that "Owl" Chump (USA) made the move, as second American. The other American finalist was Paul "Beuf" Pedersen, who earlier this week-end, won G27 Pro ahead over young Luca Bernardino. Splendid performance by the three German racers, who all three reached the Main Final: Ulli E. Pietsch, Peter Fröbel and Klaus Wickert. Of them Pietsch won earlier this week-end the OMO G7 race, ahead over André Villar and Marcio Paschoalin who, both, missed the move.

The Main is dominated by three racers: "Beuf", Pietsch and Tavares. From the start they pull away from the rest of the field. But at no moment it seems as if Tavares and Pietsch can be a threat for "Beuf". At Sao Paolo he wins his twentieth IOC race and is now ranked as eighth and best American in the IOC-list, despite the fact that he enters seriously less races than most of the top-30 drivers. [Yannick Lefèbvre]

22nd CAMPEONATO BRASILEIRO - OMO G7 & G27 PRO, SAO PAOLO (BR), NOVEMBER 12-13, 2010  [Level 3 IOC RACES]

ULLI E. PIETSCH (OMO G7) & "BEUF" PEDERSEN (G27 PRO) WIN

November 17, 2010 - I remember the Yukos G12 Wing Race of 2004 at the (hyper slow) Uden Blue King, a curtain raiser to the famous Ultimate G7 Race (won by Mario "MSP" Schöne). At the qualifications my youngest son, Youri, succeeded to realise the second best time, just beaten by God Paul Ciccarello, but ahead over Super God Paul "Beuf" Pedersen. That day - the same day that Douwe Banning had stolen all the armatures of Ciccarello ànd Youri's brief case; also the same day that at the final of Yukos G12 the drunken Banning destroyed Piki's car on marshalling, second at that moment - that day thus, Youri was proud as a peacock. But what Youri achieved was little bear compared with the performance of Luca Bernardino at the G27 Pro race at the 22nd Brazilian Nats! O yes, young Luca was following until the very end the Super God Paul "Beuf" Pedersen.  At some moments he even passed "Beuf", just as he was a simple Mr. Nobody, let's say a looser in the style of that damned Douwe Banning from Uden.
Until the very last second "Beuf" had to fight like a devil to let young Luca Bernardino behind. O, the day is coming, that Gugu's kid will not only beat easily his dad, but even a superchamp as "Beuf", having won at the 22nd Brazilian Nats his 19th and his 20th IOC race. There were days - long ago - that I could beat my oldest son "Piki" where I wanted and when I wanted. But "Piki" grew up and it became more and more difficult to beat him. Eventually I could no longer win from him. And then came Youri, 14 years younger than "Piki". And I could at least beat Youri. But not for long. So the day came that I could no longer beat Youri at slot car races, that he passed me just as I was a man from nothing but clouds. Should Youri had continued, he should have been even better than "Piki". He was a terrible fast qualifier and an excellent racer. But he preferred soccer above slot-racing, and he withdrew.
The day will come that also "Gugu" - the IOC #6 in the world! - will be happy if he just can follow Luca. That's what's so nice in slot-racing: kids beating their dads. Italian slot-racing, once unbeatable in scale and in model car racing, perished, just because all those former stars had no racing kids. Of them only Sergio Maresca has a young son, and I am convinced that one day he'll come and beat us all, just as his dad did in the 1980s and in the early 1990s. Meanwhile Luca is the star of Brazilian slot. [JPVR]

40th DIV I USRA NATS, OPEN G7 PRO, DALLAS SLOT-CARS, DALLAS, TX (USA), JULY 29-AUGUST 8, 2010  [Level 1 IOC RACE]

"BEUF" WINS HIS 7TH NATS AHEAD OVER KRCIL AND CH. WALKER

August 8, 2010 - In Dallas it's morning; Within a quarter the most important race of the 2010 USRA Nats will go underway. Yesterday evening I asked Shontel if she had any idea about the entries in G7 Pro. She expected 20 entries, what, again is low. Last year there were still 31 entries. Ron Herrera contacted me, telling who were sure starters. It are "Gugu" Bernardino (BR), "Beuf" Pedersen (USA), Petr Krcil (CZ), P-A Watson (USA), Felipe Tavares da Silva (BR), "Chubby" Salzman (USA), Les Wright (USA), Bill W.F. Skinner (USA), Gary Puetz (USA), Roney Fischler (BR), Emerson Fischler (BR), Rodrigo Mastrochirico (BR), Larry Blanton (USA), Al Chuck (USA), Jose Mario Serra (BR), Thomas Shelby (USA), and the two local racers John Batson and Chase Walker. It's not certain if Stu Koford and Oliver Sonnbichler (A) will start. And where is Forrest Watchers? Not seen him during the whole week. Of Richard Curnutte (USA), who won G27 Pro and the Craig Landry Memorial, we know that he'll not start as he'll glue for "Beuf".
9.20am local time. Forrest Watchers is not here. Sherri Pedersen tells us on the forum that he decided to retire. What a pity. Last year he was still runner-up. Tech control started already. Qualifications are scheduled for 9.45am. As the Semi-Pro GP7 was finished so early yesterday afternoon, there were plenty of hours for practicing. I noted no sharper time than 1"1714, but that was under normal race power. 9.30am: the last cars now entered the enclosed zone for tech. 10.00am, but still no qualifications started. Shontel announces that there'll be 23 starters. Among them James Grinstead, Reggie Coram, Rick Thompson and Wally Fleming. Concourse is judged by Eddy McDonald, having himself no body in this race. It's the first time he does so in his life. Eventually P-A Watson wins concourse.

QUALIFICATIONS
First to qualify is Wally Fleming: 1.682. Skinner - 1.688 - fails to do better. Sonnbichler is now fastest in 1.613. Roney Fischler improves: 1.594. Then it's Beuf: 1.532. James Grinstead clocks the second best time: 1.562. Chubby Salzman clocks only 1"618. With 1.538 Emerson Fischler realises the second best time up to now. End of the first qualification round at 11.00am. Four racers realised no time: Felipe Tavares, Petr Krcil, Les Wright and Shelby Thomas. Now it's waiting the start of the bye round.
11.15am and still waiting the start of the second qualification round. The 1.404 WR of "Beuf" seems not in danger. It stands since March 3, 2007. The fastest lap achieved up to now at this year's Nats was the 1.510 by Gary Puetz at the 3rd Craig Landry Memorial Race. Last year "Beuf" TQ-ed at the Nats in 1.461. At 11.30am the bye round eventually starts. Now there are 104 viewers at the video. Not impressive for a country with 300 million inhabitants. The results sheet gives no correct times for the second round. It gives nothing but 99.999s. Shontel should reboot, but she wishes to wait until the end of the round. It's impossible to follow any longer as the results screen is no longer synchronised with the video. What a mess. The bye round ends in complete confusion. It seems as if Felipe Tavares realised no time at all. We have to wait the end of the session to see the correct times after a computer rebooting. More than a half hour after the bye round still no results: one wrong touch on a computer button and total chaos. Is it so difficult to note the times by hand and to send them by mail? Is that the result of cybernetics? Damned, was I wasting my complete Sunday for this? Now I feel bad that I didn't go to my soccer match of the Sunday evening. It starts over one hour in Antwerp. Too late to arrive still in time. At once it appeared that Felipe Tavares realised 1.583 at the first round, whilst the computer screen let us see a 99.999. Some things go definitively wrong.

QUARTERS
Quarter B - At 12.40pm the first quarter starts without possibility to see the qualification results. Krcil and Shelby Thomas set the pace during the three first segments, followed by Watson and Batson. Puetz and Fleming are then already twenty laps down to the leader. Only now the results of the bye round are published on the OWH, not without several errors on the quarters the racers will be in. Chase Walker was given for his first round 2.372 instead of the 23.720 he clocked. Before mid-race Puetz and Fleming are already out to make the move. Batson is now on the dangerous fifth place, one lap down to Mastrochirico in fourth. Shelby Thomas leads Petr Krcil with one lap at mid-race. P-A Watson follows at 6 laps. At the start of the fifth segment Mastrochirico looses ten laps on Batson. His car seems death, unable to go under 2.0 on white. With three segments to go Shelby has two laps over Krcil, fifteen over P-A. Number of track calls is low, much lower than in all former races. On black P-A runs in problems and drops into fourth place. Fortunately for him Mastrochirico and his wounded car are twenty laps down for the fifth place. Shelby always leads Krcil with two segments to go. Batson is now flying and Krcil lost twenty laps. With one segment to go P-A has 12 laps over Mastrochirico in fifth. Shelby leads Batson by 14 laps. Rodrigo's car seems being recovered for the last segment. Batson (problems) could come in danger. He's now fourth. Watson moves into second place. Batson fails to make it. Racers moving up are Shelby (455 laps and winner), Watson, Krcil and Mastrochirico.

QUARTERS
Quarter A - Austria's Oliver Sonnbichler sets the pace. Al Chuck looses 15 laps in the pits. Les Wright also in problems. Larry Blanton surprisingly leading the second segment. The third segment is a track call festival, with Chubby taking over the lead from Blanton, having lost more than ten laps after a crash. Wright and Chuck seem already now out for the move. Blanton still not rejoined the race. He drops into last position. For the fourth place it goes between Coram and "Gugu". Problematic run on purple for Coram during, loosing his safe fourth place. Thompson in bad papers, Coram again fourth. At mid-race positions are: 1. Sonnbichler 218, 2. "Chubby" 215, 3. "Gugu" 206, 4. Coram 197, 5. Thompson 185, 6. Wright 185, 7. Chuck 172, 8. Blanton 145. During the two following segments "Chubby" passes Sonnbichler, followed by "Gugu" and Coram. Thompson is at five laps from the move. The others seem out, Les Wright included (what a poor Nats this year for Les). During the seventh segment "Gugu" passes Sonnbichler and Thompson drops into sixth position. Wright is now fifth, but 15 laps from the move. So Wright, Thompson, Chuck and Blanton are all eliminated. Racers making the move are Chubby (434), Sonnbichler (423), "Gugu" (422) and Coram (416).

SEMIS
Semi B - The 8 fastest qualifiers go all directly to the semis. In Semi B we find four Americans (Watson, Walker, Grinstead, Thomas), three Brazilians (the Fischler Bros and Mastrochirico) and one Czech (Krcil). Roney Fischler and Petr Krcil set the pace, followed by Watson and Walker. At mid-race the positions are: 1. Roney Fischler 343 laps, 2. P-A Watson 335, 3. Krcil 332, 4. Chase Walker 331, 5. Rodrigo Mastrochirico 324, 6. James Grinstead 308, 7. Emerson Fischler 252, 8. Shelby Thomas 237. It seems that only two of the four Americans will make the move to the main, only one of the three Brazilians. Drama for P-A Watson in the fifth segment went his car goes off (rod out). He drops in the standings from second to sixth and is now 24 laps away from the move to the main. Petr Krcil is the new leader, followed at three laps by the surprising local racer Chase Walker. Then follows Roney Fischler at five laps and Mastrochirico at sixteen laps. Can it be so that only one of the four Americans will make the move to the main? With two segments to go P-A is thirteen laps down from the move. He's preceded by three laps by James Grinstead.  In the one but last segment P-A laps always under 1"9. With two minutes left he passes Grinstead and follows Mastrochirico at only four laps. Problems for Grinstead. And then new problems for P-A: pinion off. His struggle is over after 518 laps. Semi ends with 1. Chase Walker 666 laps), 2. Krcil (664), 3. R. Fischler (663), 4. Mastrochirico (634). Grinstead, Walker, Thomas and E. Fischler are definitively out.

With P-A Watson we lost a real USRA-legend. During the three last segments of Semi B he lost it all. No less than five times he was into the pits. With only three Americans in Semi A it's now certain that there can be never more than four Americans in the main. Only in 2003 there were less Americans in the main: three.

Semi A - Oliver Sonnbichler sets immediately the pace, holding the lead until the end of the first segment. Ze Mario Serra and Skinner are tied second at two laps, with Tavares in the same lap. Unlucky start for "Chubby" who lost seven laps, just as "Gugu" and Coram. At the second segment "Beuf" passes Felipe. The four first hold now in two laps. But then "Beuf" comes into problems dropping to sixth position, at once nine laps down. Felipe follows three laps further as seventh. Skinner and Sonnbichler lead with 180 laps. Ze Mario and "Chubby" follow at eight laps, with "Gugu" one lap later as fifth. Except for Coram (last at 25 laps) nothing has been decided. No track calls since the start: very calm group. Ze Mario drops into seventh place. Small problems for Chubby on blue and first track call. Only nine laps difference between first and seventh after three segments. Skinner leads "Beuf" now by three laps, Sonnbichler, "Gugu" and Felipe by six laps. 
No speed for "Chubby" on purple. Even worse for Ze Mario on green. Skinner looses ten laps and Beuf leads now Tavares by eight laps. Sonnbichler is again third. His best race up to now. At mid-race positions are: 1. "Beuf" 349 laps, 2. Tavares 344, 3. Sonnbichler 342, 4. "Gugu" 348, 5. Skinner 339, 6. "Chubby" 331, 7. Ze Mario Serra, 8. Coram. The track call rain, so strongly present during the complete Semi B has now reached Semi A. "Chubby" is the worst victim. Skinner fights with "Gugu" for the so important fourth place. Sonnbichler passes Tavares and is now second. After five segments "Beuf" has nine laps on Sonnbichler, eleven on Tavares, thirteen on Skinner. "Gugu" is three laps down from the move, "Chubby", always seventh seventeen. His car doesn't function at all. Not one lap under 2"1 in the fifth segment. In the sixth segment "Gugu" goes off. He rejoins the race three laps down to Skinner who ran in problems too. The surprising Sonnbichler conquers the lead when "Beuf" crashes. With two segments to go "Gugu" is at three laps from the move, "Chubby", always seventh on fifteen. 
Racers become nervous. A concert of yelling drivers. "Gugu" at one lap from Skinner and the fourth place. Then Skinner crashes and "Gugu" takes place four. "Chubby" at nine laps from the move, but speeding up now. Sonnbichler in continues problems on red. Chubby at six laps from Sonnbichler, now fourth. With one last segment to go Beuf leads Tavares by thirteen laps, "Gugu" by twenty and Sonnbichler by twenty one. Chubby is sixth, at one lap from Skinner. Just one "Chubby" is on the heels of Sonnbichler and the move he goes off. Now Skinner is fifth at six laps from his first main at the G7 Pro Nats. A new storm of track calls. Skinner at four laps from the move with two minutes left. However, he's so nervous that he looses it all in the last minute. Same for "Chubby". "Beuf" wins ahead of Tavares, "Gugu" and a fantastic calm Sonnbichler.

MAIN
For the first time in the forty years old history of the USRA Nats we find only two Americans in the main of GP7 Pro: "Beuf" and the local Chase Walker. There are four Brazilians (Tavares, "Gugu", Roney Fischler and Mastrochirico). Those facts are symptomatic for the net decline of American wing car racing and for the strong progress of the Brazilian school. For "Beuf" it's already his 18th main. For "Gugu" his fifth. For Petr Krcil (CZ) his third and for Mastrochirico his second. Rookies at the main of the USRA GP7 Pro are Oliver Sonnbichler (A) - splendid race - Felipe Tavares da Silva (BR), Chase Walker (USA) and Roney Fischler (BR). It NEVER happened before to find four rookies in the main. This main will be a combat between "Beuf" and Tavares, where the local racer Chase Walker can make the surprise only bigger than it already is. Or will Petr Krcil take revenge upon his bad-luck-worlds, earlier this year.
The main starts with a disaster for Tavares and Sonnbichler, loosing sixty laps during the first minutes. Krcil sets the pace, but "Beuf" is only two laps away. It's all about the glue on red. At the video number of viewers increased to 170. Big problems for Felipe having now already lost ninety laps. "Beuf" is on red but looses not one inch on leader Krcil on white. Chase Walker, fourth, goes off with big problems. Roney Fischler surprises all of us. He's in the same lap as "Beuf". Walker has dropped into sixth position. Early in the third segment Fischler crashes, loosing 15 laps. "Beuf" on green passes Krcil on red. For Fischler the woes don't stop. Chase Walker goes again off. With 40 seconds to go Krcil goes off. He looses twenty laps. Long before mid-race "Beuf" has his seventh won USRA Nats already in the pocket. All thrill has disappeared. The Brazilians are now 3-4-5-6 with "Gugu", Mastrochirico, Fischler and Tavares. At mid-race "Beuf" has twenty four laps in hand over Krcil. Before the end of the fourth segment we loose the live feed. Too many visitors (it was 176)? Without his terrible woes during the first segments Tavares should now lead the race with eleven laps more than "Beuf". He's the fastest of the eight finalists. Oliver Sonnbichler - new woes - is out.
Then "Gugu" goes off together with the live feed. Krcil (on blue) reduced his arrears on "Beuf" to twelve laps. After a fantastic segment Felipe Tavares is on his way to the third place. Without his disastrous first segment he should lead "Beuf" with seventeen laps! Still three segments. Can Krcil bridge his twelve laps arrears? Beuf's car seems having lost power. Time for a new motor? Tech control before the start of the sixth segment. "Beuf" on black, Krcil on purple. After one minute in the sixth segment the difference is down to seven laps. Has "Beuf" no more motors? Felipe is still fifth, but only seven laps down to the third place of "Gugu", following 61 laps down to "Beuf". "Beuf" will need his "special mills" for yellow and orange because Krcil is with a mission. He passes "Beuf" at the very moment that Tavares goes off. Over and out? At the end of the segment the Czech leads "Beuf" with three laps. Time for special mills. But does Krcil has them? "Beuf" certainly has.
And yes, it happens. On yellow "Beuf" puts Krcil on eleven laps. Felipe walked away: still not in the Hall of Fame. Walker passes Mastrochirico and is now fourth. In the last segment Chase passes "Gugu" for a while, but goes then off from third position. However, he's rapidly back to pass "Gugu" again and to finish as third O.A. "Beuf" Pedersen wins easily when towards the end the motor of Petr Krcil is completely dead. The third place of local racer Chase Walker is THE surprise at the Nats. "Gugu" is fourth, Mastrochirico figth. They were the only survivors as Roney Fischler, Felipe Tavares and Oliver Sonnbichler all earlier retired. End of a great Nats. [JPVR]

40th DIVISION I USRA NATS, DALLAS SLOT-CARS, DALLAS, TX (USA), JULY 29-AUGUST 8, 2010

ONE OF THE BEST NATS DESPITE A HISTORICAL LOW VENUE

Unforgettable Shontel Howard - Super Danish lap counter - Great ambiance

August 8, 2010 - What a strange but wonderful USRA Nats this year in Dallas. It's the 40th edition and never entry was as low as now: only 7 starters at Amateur GP27, only 8 at GP7 Semi-Pro, only 10 at GP27 Pro, figures being unbelievable low. What are the reasons? (1) The majority of American wing car racers belong to the low income class. With the long structural economic crisis, the increase of the plane tickets and the high unemployment in absence of a real social security as in Europe, several racers had just not the financial means to show. (2) The USRA Div 1 Nats have lost since years their aura of most important slot-racing event of the year. That status belongs now to the yearly Wing Car World Championship and to the Campeonato Brasileiro, having become more attractive than the USRA Nats. Venue of European racers was not higher than two, with Petr Krcil, Oliver Sonnbichler and good old Eddy McDonald as lonely Europeans. Even Vlado Okali - who normally misses never an important international wing car event - was absent. (3) USRA wing car racing is in a slow but steady decline. outlaw Box stock GP12 exists no longer as step in class, young new comers are not coached as it should be and much too long USRA hesitated to introduce such classes as the cheaper OMO GP7 and GP27 Lite. In Brazil those classes were already introduced in 2000 and 2001 after America's Paul Pfeiffer defended in 2000 his GP7 2000, in the States never followed by others. Hollow axles, several motors, expensive materials were, following Pfeiffer, no longer at their place in wing car racing. They made it much too expensive, certainly for new comers. In Brazil they launched a slightly different version of the new Pfeiffer rules, resulting in OMO GP7 and GP27 Spray, later GP 27 Lite. Whilst number of American wing car racers was diminishing year after year, the new classes were in Brazil the start of a new class of young wing car racers. Best example of a racer issued from those classes is Felipe Tavares da Silva who is since 2007 on his way to become the Brazilian equivalent of "Beuf" and "Chubby" together. But the new Brazilian school revealed also such toppers as Bruno di Dotto, Geraldo João Carlos, Jordão Isaias, Andre Villar, Marcio Paschoalin, Marcelo Originally, Hamilton Veronese, Fabio Signoretti, Rooney & Emerson Fischler, Oswald Vicar, Paulo Henrique "Gaucho", Rodrigo Mastrochirico, Ricardo Carnero, Manuel "Mané", Luca Bernardino, Alexandre Chammaz and so many other new comers.  

Despite the historical low venue, Shontel Howard, who runs nearly alone her race center, succeeded to deliver very qualitative races (except at Semi Pro GP7 where venue was also qualitatively more than poor). With A Watson, Paul "Beuf" Pedersen and Joe "Chubby" SSS Salzman she had three racers at the start having won together twelve USRA G7 Nats: P-A in 1986, 1989, 1991 and 1993; "Beuf" in 2000, 2002, 2004, 200(, 2006 and 2009; "Chubby" in 2007 and 2008. With Stu Koford, Petr Krcil and Felipe Tavares she had the world champions of res. 1989, 2009 and 2010 at the start. Two earlier named entrants, P-A and "Beuf" won six times the Wing Car World Championship (for Open G7), nl. in 1987, 1989 and 1991 for P-A and in 2001, 2004 and 2007 for "Beuf". Add to those champions such racers as Luis "Gugu" Bernardino, Les Wright, Reggie Coram, the Grinstead Bros, Bill W.F. Skinner, Jose Mario Serra, etc., and you can speak about top quality, despite the Absence of Horky, Korec, Okali, Coram, the Swedes, the Finns, etc.
What stirred at the Dallas edition of the Nats was the superb ambiance. Shontel Howard understands as nobody else how to create passion among the spectators. On the mike she transformed them in real choral readings applauding and supporting the entrants during the complete race. I never saw a commentator being able to do so. With such low entries she was continuously short on marshals, but she even succeeded that Joel Montague - a God in American wing car racing - spontaneously accepted to do some marshalling. A great help for her was Eddy MacDonald, having flown over from England, less to race himself, then on bringing most of the concourse winning bodies to the racers. Moreover Shontel was doing everything, not only the mike, also tech control, posting of results at the OWH, posting of recent pics at the OWH and between all that even chatting at the USRA Nats forum. Apart from all this I saw her vacuuming the racing premises when most racers went home, late in the evening. What a woman: the Jeanne d'Arc of American wing car racing!  I never saw one person doing such amazing number of different jobs at one and the same event. The by her created ambiance was probably the best of all 40 USRA Nats. Congratulations. Great was what she did to promote Spec 15 as step-in class. She bought 30 chassis from ProSlot and gave them for free on all entrants who wished to start Spec 15. Great gesture! Her promotion of Spec 15 will continue after the Nats. She sells RTR Spec 15s at $ 150.00. A cool promotion.
Another factor in the success was the use of the Keld Høfler lap counting system, combined with the video and the forum. The introduction of that forum was the work of  Karsten Groenemann of Denmark's Race Fun. The complete Lap Master System can be ordered at $ 500 US in Denmark plus $ 80 US for optical sensors. I think that all organisers should buy such system: it allows to follow races from start to finish and to see at once the results of the races going on. 

The forum - already used at this year's DPM - was a strong plus point. It allowed me to chat with Sherri Pedersen, with Marcelo Triginelli, with Heiko Thinschmidt and a couple of Germans (this time in English!) and even with Paul OWH Kassens, being at the Philippines (where he has the ambition to throw over the corrupt political regime, to become the new president and to introduce slot-racing as the national sport, no?)
The lap counter has a couple of major advantages. (1) At the end of each run it gives you the achieved laps plus the achieved sections, saving a lot of time. (2) It can be programmed before the start for all heats so that no time is lost on finishing 8 segments and to start a new heat of 8 segments (here I use the term "heat" in the European sense; in the States they use the term "heat" for what we call stints or segments). (3) It allows to see the results, lap times and fastest laps on the spectator's computer, changing every ten seconds. Raymond van Campenhout should evaluate the Danish lap counting system. It could be used the first time at the EEC pro of October. Hopely Dirk Baele can install the video system so that everybody can follow the races live;

Another nice performance at the Nats are all those sponsoring banners on the wall. That too helps to create a real racing atmosphere. Tomorrow I'll report from start to finish the most important race of the meeting, nl. GP7 Pro. Meanwhile I decided with members of my statistical staff tu upgrade GP27, GP27 Lite and OMO GP7 at the yearly Campeonato Brasileiro, and this since 2001. That modified the IOC list. After the USRA Nats I'll update the list of racers per nation, the Fame Wall and pics of the racers belonging to the top-250 of the updated IOC list. That's an important work which will cost me two or three days. After that I'll take off to write two new novels, one playing during the first World War at the bohême of Berlin, a second playing during the second World War and the resistance in North-Holland. As I have to go every morning to hospital for 4 or 5 hours, the work will not advance at light speed as in the past. Meanwhile my new editor went bankrupt without having been paid for my two last books. In order to survive financially I decided to sell my complete collection of top model cars (more than 130), being worth over 80,000 euro. I'll sell them as a whole and I am now negotiating with four candidates. Also for sale are my new Blue King track (never used) and a new MTT track (also never used). [JPVR]

DIVISION I USRA NATS, GP7 SEMI-PRO, DALLAS SLOT-CARS, DALLAS, TX (USA), AUGUST 7, 2010 [Level 2 IOC RACE]

THRILLING FINISH CANNOT HIDE HOW BORING THIS RACE WAS

August 7, 2010 - With only 8 starters GP7 Semi-Pro is beating another record. Never before entry at that USRA Nats race was so low. The structural economic crisis made indeed its influence upon several racers being unable to pay a plane ticket to Dallas. Although venue at other races was also low it was compensated by the quality of the entry. With Tavares, Krcil, Beuf, Watson, Salzmann, "Gugu", Koford, Les Wright, etc., one found always the best wing car racers at the start. That, however, was not the case at Semi-Pro GP7, where even not one Brazilian racer was showing, only eight Americans.
During the first two heats Zac Grinstead was a strong leader, initially closely followed by Terry Kunz. At the third heat, however, Kunz achieved only 96 laps, dropping into fourth position. That brought Leo "Chilli" Chillingworth in second position, reducing his arrears on Zac from 21 to five laps. Alan Sulak who was found only as seventh after two heats, had an excellent third heat, bringing him in third position at 22 laps. Local Archie King, having practiced a lot, had technical problems at the very first heat, dropping him in last position. During the two following heats he could close the gap with the man before him from 40 laps to only one lap.
During the fourth heat Waterworth (only 35 achieved laps) and Campbell (only 74 achieved laps) were in heavy problems, offering the unlucky Archie King a possibility to move into sixth position, despite the fact that he realised only 99 laps. In front Zac and Chilli are pulling away from the rest of the field, making a gap of 38 laps between second and third (Sulak). Chilli could undo his five laps arrears, passing Zac, and leading at mid-race, followed at one lap by Zac. Early in the fifth heat Chilli (on purple) lost his leading position to Zac (on blue), loosing twenty laps on crashes. At once all thrill has disappeared, promising a boring second half of the race. To make it more sad, pace is far under what was realised in GP7 by P-A Watson at the GP7 W-U and by Rich Curnutte at the Craig Landry Memorial race. Sulak has to pit, bringing Kunz in third position, at already seventy laps from leader Zac. What a boring race. Moreover it's raining continuously track calls, lowering the overall pace.

Among the back benchers it's a real crash festival with Campbell and Gamble as most serious victims. That offers Archie King a possibility to take the fifth place (despite a heat of only 99 laps). Campbell is definitively out. During the sixth heat Zac increases his lead over Chilli from 61 laps to more than seventy. There is only some struggle between Sulak and King for the fourth place. The track call festival continues. Only when Zac looses thirty laps after crashes, there is still some thrill as Chilli comes back at forty laps instead of seventy.
gain woes for Archie King in the seventh heat, making him loosing his no more expected fifth place. When he's not only passed by Waterworth, but also by Campbell he's seventh, being already five full minutes in the pits. In front Zac slows the pace as his advance over Chilli allows him to do so. At the end of the one but last heat he still leads with 19 laps in hand over Chilli. Towards the end it's Campbell's turn to go into the pits, so that King can pass him for rank 6. Will we have still some thrill at the last heat with Chilli on orange and Zac on yellow? It seems so when with three minutes to go the gap with Zac is down to seven laps.  With two minutes left the gap between Zac and Chilli is still seven laps. Zac's motor is death, but Chilli's seems tired too. With one minute left the gap is down to four laps. Towards the end Chilli comes in the same lap as Zac Grinstead winning the race with a death car. The IOC-list has been updated. [JPVR]

DIVISION I USRA NATS, GP27 PRO, DALLAS SLOT-CARS, DALLAS, TX (USA), AUGUST 6, 2010 [Level 2 IOC RACE]

RICHARD CURNUTTE MAKES IT 3-1 IN USA versus BRAZIL

August 6, 2010 - Only ten starters, the lowest number in USRA Nats history. Economic crisis. Despite the waste of 750 billion dollars to create jobs (Timothy Franz Geithner) and the more than 1000 billion dollars wasted in helping rotten banks and their COD's. And we, naive Europeans, who believed so strongly his nice promises. Despite ten entries qualitatively good quality with the two recent wing car world champions at the start: Petr Krcil (2009) and Felipe Tavares da Silva (2010). Will the Brazilians make it 2-2 now that "Gugu" is also in? But what to think from Rich Curnutte who was so strong at the Craig Landry Memorial? Format will be identical as at the Craig Landry Memorial with the two fastest qualifiers being free from the Semis and moving up automatically to the main.
QUALIFICATIONS - At the first qualifications round Rich Curnutte realised a 1"778 at his first lap. Nobody of the others went under the 1"8. Felipe Tavares was second in 1"806, Oliver Sonnbichler third in 1"826. "Gugu" didn't succeed to go faster than the 1"815 realised by his 12 year old son Luca at the Amateur G27 qualifications. He came no further than 1"863. Peter Krcil - best wing car racer of 2009 - realised no time at all. Where are his superfast motors? At the second round Larry Blanton improved his poor 1"967 of the first round, but not enough to be among the best. Curnutte improved his 1"778 into 1"755. A good bye round of Skinner: 1"752. Tavares too improved his time, but lost his second place. Reggie Coram was the fourth racer to go under 1"8 in the bye round. Eventually Bill W.F. Skinner (TQ) and Rich Curnutte are free from the Semis.
As entry was so low it was decided that the GP27 amateurs and the two fastest qualifiers had to do the marshalling at the semis.
SEMI - It's 4.30pm local time (11.30 pm Belgian time) when, after a short warm-up, the first heat goes under way. Thompson and Kormeluk are in problems right from the start, followed by Sonnbichler. The two Brazilians go immediately out on the lead, with "Gugu" leading Felipe by 4 laps and Krcil by five. The trio Sonnbichler-Kormeluk-Thompson is already twenty laps down after only one heat.
Bad start at heat 2 for Felipe: he's immediately passed by Krcil. At the end of the heat "Gugu" has four laps in hand over Krcil, eleven on Felipe. First American is good old Larry Blanton at 17 laps. In the third heat Blanton drops into last position. Felipe looses again ten laps and is now passed by Coram. Gugu leads with 157 laps, three more than Krcil, 18 more than Coram. First American is Thompson in fifth position, with Sonnbichler in the same lap. No track calls in this heat. Coram in big trouble just after the start of heat 4. He drops into last position. Thompson is now fourth. Coram passes Blanton, moving up to seventh. Krcil reduces his arrears on "Gugu" and is now only one lap down. Felipe is third at 18 laps, Thompson comes one lap further. At mid-race Coram and Blanton are virtually eliminated.
With Krcil on red "Gugu" can increase his advance over Krcil, now second at three laps. Thompson is always fourth, one lap down to Tavares. Coram is still seventh and, just as Blanton, virtually eliminated. He's two laps short to Kormeluk and the move. Sonnbichler passes the Americans Thompson and Kormeluk and is now fourth. And then at once he's out. When he rejoins the track he is twelve laps down to Coram. Meanwhile Krcil has passed "Gugu" and is now the new leader after 6 heats. He's two laps down. Kormeluk is now first American in fourth position, two laps down to Felipe. In the one but last heat Coram passes Kormeluk, going to fourth position. Sonnbichler in heavy problems drops now into last position. Thompson is in big trouble. Sonnbichler passes Blanton and is now at only two laps from Thompson and the move. Krcil leads "Gugu" by four laps. Struggle to avoid the two last places goes between Thompson, Sonnbichler and Blanton, all three less than three laps apart.
In the last heat Kormeluk comes in problems, but he holds one lap over Sonnbichler, who is eliminated together with Larry Blanton. Krcil wins the semis, seven laps over "Gugu". Thompson is first American, finishing as fifth. At those Nats the Austrian architect seems best friends with Mr. Murphy. Each time he starts very well, but each time (except at OMO G7, his victim of bad luck. For Blanton, his trial to make a solid come-back seems deemed to a failure. Sad. Very sad.

THE MAIN
During the short warm-up before the start of the main I see Camen's Joel Montague marshalling! The main goes with four Americans, two Brazilians, Krcil (CZ) and Coram (SM). Immediately after the start "Gugu" takes the lead, followed by Felipe Tavares and Rich Curnutte. But then "Gugu" looses three laps, enough for Skinner to take the lead, ahead of Krcil. Not for long when he deslots. Roman Kormeluk is in problems, loosing more than twenty laps. Felipe is the new leader, now followed by Coram and "Gugu". Krcil follows at four laps. Curnutte at five, Thompson at six. Skinner is seventh, ten laps down to Felipe (who realised 108 laps). Curnutte is first American in fifth position.
Bad start of "Gugu" at the second heat. He lost four new laps. Curnutte is now fourth, "Gugu" fifth. Felipe increases his advance over Coram and Krcil. Skinner, seventh, works on a difficult come-back. Problems for Coram dropping from second to seventh. Curnutte is now third. At the end of heat 2 Felipe has five laps over Krcil, eight over Curnutte. Coram lost fifty laps and is seventh, with Kormeluk twenty laps deeper. When in heat 3 Krcil deslots, Curnutte moves into second position. Thompson passes "Gugu" for rank 4. But "Gugu" fights back and passes Thompson. Curnutte is only two laps down to Felipe, Krcil two to Curnutte. At the end of the segment difference between the two first is only one lap. Krcil follows at three laps, "Gugu" at 14. For Coram and Kormeluk the race seems definitively lost. Skinner (sixth) is 15 laps down to "Gugu" (fourth).
Starting heat 4 it looks as if victory will go between Tavares, Curnutte and Krcil. With Felipe on black, Curnutte takes immediately the lead. In less than no time he takes five laps over the Brazilian. Krcil seems unable to follow the terrible pace set by Curnutte on blue. Nevertheless he can pass Felipe for the second place. Positions at mid-race are: 1. Curnutte 424, 2. Krcil 418, 3. Tavares 416, 4. "Gugu" 408, 5. Thompson 394, 6. Skinner 392, 7. Kormeluk 341, 8. Coram 325. At heat 5 we find Curnutte on purple, Krcil on black, Felipe on yellow. Skinner goes off. When he rejoins the track, Thompson (fifth) goes of, being passed by Skinner. In front Krcil maintains his second place, but seven laps down to Curnutte. Felipe comes one lap later. "Gugu" is already 22 laps down to the leader. Skinner is now fifth at 56 laps. Still three heats to go.
With Curnutte on black in heat 6 Krcil and Tavares can come back. They are now three laps down to Curnutte. "Gugu" - at 24 laps - is too far behind to dream about victory. At heat 7 Curnutte looks a canon ball on yellow. Krcil and Tavares loose ground. When Curnutte has five laps over Krcil he deslots and at once the difference is one lap. But then Krcil goes off and the difference is ... eight laps. He's even passed by Felipe. If one last heat to go positions are: 1. Curnutte 744, 2. Tavares 736, 3. Krcil 731. A 3-1 for the US can difficultly be avoided. In the last heat, on orange, Curnutte flies to victory lane. Without intervention of Mr. Murphy he'll be the winner. On red Tavares can only keep up with Curnutte. The difference remains eight laps and Richard Curnutte wins, with Felipe Tavares as second, Petr Krcil as third. In the struggle USA-Brazil the score is 3-1 with only two races to go. [JPVR]
NOTE: Tomorrow I will not be in the possibility to cover the semi-pro G7 race, as the whole morning I'll be in hospital and in the afternoon I have to go with Youri to his soccer match. The IOC ranking list has been updated. Click here.

DIVISION I USRA NATS, AMATEUR GP27, DALLAS SLOT-CARS, DALLAS, TX (USA), AUGUST 6, 2010 [No IOC Status]

LUCA BERNARDINO MAKES IT 2-1 IN USA versus BRAZIL

August 6, 2010 - Only seven starters. How you can call such a thing a national championship? The main problem is that the USRA never developed a demarcation criterion between pros, semi-pros and amateurs. At the USRA pro is he who believes he's a pro. Rob Garland, e.g., raced at this year's Nats and among the amateurs and among the pros. At IMCA we developed a workable demarcation criterion between pros (racers with more than 120 IOC points), semi-pros (racers with less than 120 IOC points but at least 40) and amateurs (racers with less than 40 IOC points). IOC points can we won at the most important international races, and this since 1964. Since then there were 1116 IOC races going after IOC points for the top-10. There are 141 pros up to now. Of them 33 retired (4 of them passed away: Jon Laster, Martin Gramann, Hans-Peter Sutter and Franco Gianotti). There are 206 semi-pros. All the rest are amateurs. Up to know 1632 racers have been ranked since 1964. Of them 94 reached the Hall of Fame which I updated today. Only who won 4 or more IOC races since 1964 could enter the Hall of Fame. The last new comers at the Hall of Fame were Reggie Coram, Les Wright, Bruno di Dotto and Marcelo "Bambi" Serra. The IOC list can be found here. Should one apply the IMCA demarcation criterion there should be much more racers in GP27 Amateur (incl. the IMCA semi-pros), whilst GP27 PRO could be reserved to exclusively those among the 141 all-time pros.
Luca Bernardino (BR) was the fastest qualifier in 1"815, followed by Tony Griffin (1"901) and Paul Peterson (a friend of Ron Herrera, being himself not here for health reasons). During the first heat Luca lost 15 laps due to minor problems. Peterson toke over the lead, followed on 6 laps by Griffin and on 7 laps by Campbell. Watkins - the hero at GP27 Lite - is already out after 34 laps. During the second heat Luca (on white) comes back in second position, but always far down (11 laps). Griffin follows two laps further. Peterson leads.

DIVISION I USRA NATS, OMO GP7 NATS, DALLAS SLOT-CARS, DALLAS, TX (USA), AUGUST 5, 2010 [Level 2 IOC RACE]

CHUBBIE SALZMAN BEATS TAVARES: USA-BRAZIL 2-0

DIVISION I USRA NATS, 1ST GP27 LITE NATS, DALLAS SLOT-CARS, DALLAS, TX (USA), AUGUST 4, 2010 [Level 3 IOC RACE]

G27 LITE TO "BEUF" PEDERSEN AFTER WOES FOR TAVARES

August 4, 2010 - Good venue at GP27 Lite: 26 entries. Among them those of  actual wing car world champion Felipe Tavares da Silva (BR), of the 2001-2004-2007 wing car world champion Paul "Beuf" Pedersen, and of the 2009 wing car world champion Petr Krcil (CZ). Other great racers at the start are Emerson & Roney Fischler (BR), Reggie Coram (STM), Luca Bernardino (BR), Les Wright (USA), Gary Puetz (USA), Doug Bauer (USA, already twice second in the lower classes) and of Olivier Sonnbichler (A). The last named had - as always - bad luck and was eliminated after only 68 laps. Gary Puetz was still in fourth position at the start of the last stint at the quarters, but Nick Gray (USA) made a fantastic come back and succeeded to pass Gary and to make the move. Of the 26 entrants 19 are Americans. "Beuf" could have been fastest of all racers, but at his first stint he lost more than 12 complete laps. Three fastest after the quarters were Emerson Fishler (BR), Reggie Coram (STM) and Petr Krcil (CZ).
At the Semis we found the four fastest racers at the Quarters all together in Semi B. The four slowest racers at the Quarters all went to Semi A. At Semi B three of the four fastest racers at the quarters were all eliminated by technical woes. Beuf was outstanding. Grinstead was very fast, finishing second. Two other Americans - Kormeluk and Langdon - made the move to the main.
Thrilling A Semi with Luca Bernardino leading from start to finish, and Les Wright already in problems at the first stint. Starting the last stint it seemed that Tavares and Roney Fischler should pass Ed Sohl to make the move. Both ran in trouble and Roney was at once out. Then it seemed that Nick Gray should still make the move, but during the last minute he was passed by Tavares. Doug Bauer and Ed Sohl go to the main - a main with six Americans and 2 Brazilians.
At the main Tavares was leading during the three first heats, with Beuf four laps behind. But then at once something broke. Felipe pulled his controller and walked away. Luca Bernardino was al the time second, but at the end of the third heat he lost 11 laps. So Beuf came on the lead, closely followed by Bauer and Grinstead. During heat #5 Grinstead was in the pits, dropping in the standings. As Larry Langdon ran in problems too, Ed Sohl could move up to fourth position. Luca Bernardino was now a strong third and fastest racer on the track. With three heats to go he was four laps down to Bent Rim who was four laps down to the leader. Luca, who won already GP27 at last year's Campeonato Brasileiro, confirms. Unfortunately he cannot undo the 11 laps he lost at mid-race. During the one but last heat Bent Rim has to let go Beuf. The difference is at once nine laps. With Luca five laps behind.

At the last heat Luca succeeds to reduce his arrears on Doug Bauer. Beuf flies now to victory lane. With three minutes left Luca on yellow is only three laps down to Bauer on white. With one minute to go the difference is down to two laps. But Doug defends his second place as a lion. With 30 seconds to go the difference is down to ... one lap. Luca will finish in the same lap as Doug with a difference of 5 sections. Thrilling race, too early decapitated by the Brazilian woes. USA-Brazil: 1-0. The IOC-list has been updated. [JPVR]

DIVISION I USRA NATS, GP7 WARM-UP RACE, DALLAS SLOT-CARS, DALLAS, TX (USA), AUGUST 4, 2010 [No IOC status]

P-A WATSON WINS W-U G7 - DAVID WATKINS, 2ND, CAUSES A STIR

August 5, 2010 - Normally the GP7 warm-up race should have been started shortly after the GP27 Lite. However, the yearly BSCRA meeting took so much time at at 10pm local time (5am here in Europe) free practice was still on. No sharp times were noted during all those (boring hours) with a couple 1"8s as best. At 10pm nobody could tell me how many entrants were expected. All what was known was that the great P-A Watson - together with Paul Pfeiffer, Mike Swiss, "Beuf" and the late Jon Laster a living legend in American wing car racing - was expected as one of the entrants. Last year there were only nine entries at the warm-up race, having been won by Les Wright after Brazil's Andre Vilar TQ-ed in 1"654.
Shortly after 10pm we are informed that there are 9 entrants. Among them 4 former wing car world champions: P-A Watson (1987, 1991), Stu Koford (1989), Petr Krcil (2009), Felipe Tavares (2010). Only two Brazilians at the start. First heat won by Tavares, one lap ahead over Mastrochirico. Brazil always rules shortly after the start. But can they hold it? At the second heat Tavares is again second. Watson is nearly as fast. Mastrochirico drops in the standing. We are not at WR pace (1144 laps expected, WR = 1282, Tavares at the 2010 Worlds).
Tavares holds the lead after three heats, but Watson is even at a higher speed. Fleming is nine laps down, Watkins 36. Tavares realised a 1"930 at black, Krcil 1"951 on yellow. During heat #4 Felipe realises 1"934 on orange, P-A 1"951 on blue. It rains track calls. No less than ... 27 track calls during the fourth heat. Watson still on winning pace, but thanks tro the sit outs Tavanes leads, now with 48 laps over Fleming.
Long track call in the fifth heat when Watkins' car hung in the t-shirt of Les Wright, so that the motor must be changed. Gary Puetz blows up his motor. Watson is 130 laps down to Felipe but covers easily 145 laps per heat. So, after his sit-out, he is virtually out on the lead!  Another car in a marshall's t-shirt. Another motor change after the eighth track call of heat #5. Sixteen track-calls in this heat. Disastrous run for Fleming. Due to the sit-outs Rodrigo is now again second, but at 89 laps from Felipe. Watson always 130 laps down but one sit-out done, thus still virtual leader.
Poor race of P-A on black whilst Felipe is sitting out. At the end of heat #6 P-A is five laps down to the Brazilian. He achieved only 125 laps on black where 145 were expected.

Up from now struggle for victory goes between Felipe and P-A. The winning chances of the Texan seem strongly diminished now. Watson is on yellow, Felipe on red. There he seems at once in trouble whilst P-A seems flying. After three minutes of racing Felipe lost nearly 30 laps on the Texan. He's now the overall leader, followed at 25 laps by the Brazilian. Watkins is only eight laps down to Tavares. The world champion looses more and more field on racing legend P-A Watson. Towards the end of the seventh heat difference is 30 laps. Disastrous race for Fleming: only 53 laps. Koford is now third, only three laps down to Tavares, but he has still his sit-out to do.
During the one but last segment Felipe reduces a bit of his arrears on P-A. He races on green, P-A on orange. Halfway the heat the difference is twenty laps instead of thirty. However, Watkins passes Tavares for the second place. They are both in the same lap. Sixth one last heat to go P-A has 16 laps in hand over the surprising David Watkins (144 laps in heat #8!). Tavares comes one lap further. Koford drops after his sit-out into one but last position. P-A ends on white, Watkins on black, Tavares on blue. Despite a 1"895 for Watkins, Tavares moves into second position. With three minutes to go he is 14 laps down to P-A. The Brazilian realises 1"890 on blue! Krcil sets the fastest lap of the race in 1"886 on purple. With two minutes to go Watkins and Tavares are again in the same lap. Krcil improves the fastest lap: 1"883. Felipe in problems. Watkins strong second. With one minute to go P-A, racing like a Swiss watch, has 32 laps in hand over Watkins. Felipe out, but also Krcil dropping from third into fifth. P-A Wins. [JPVR]

40th DIVISION I USRA NATS, DALLAS SLOT-CARS, DALLAS, TX (USA), JULY 29-AUGUST 8, 2010

THE SLOW BUT STEADY DECLINE OF AMERICAN WING CAR RACING

August 4, 2010 - Until the late 1990s the USRA Division I Nats were, among wing car racers, more prestigious than the Wing Car Worlds. The USRA Nats were the most important slot-racing meeting in the world. The best European and Brazilian racers showed massively. American wing car racing ruled the rest of the world. During the last twelve years things changed. The USRA Nats lost their aureole of the absolute top event. Year after year the entry of non-American racers diminished. Eventually the USRA Nats became the same typical national event it was 40 years ago, when they were organised for the first time. For organisers winning the bid upon the USRA Nats was the most important thing of the year: it was big money for the bid's winner. Bids were announced to the racers months before the Nats. Of all that nothing remains today. This year the bids for the 2012 USRA Nats were kept secretly. Then it appeared that there were ... only two bids. Probably the lowest demand in 40 years. One came from Chick's Raceway, the other from Mid America Raceway. There was no voting at all because Mid America - too close to Texas where this year's USRA Nats are contested - could not win. So the 2012 USRA Nats will go to Mid America.
Organising the USRA Nats is no longer a question of serious money income. Indeed, the last 10-15 years entries in the lower classes (the step-in classes for wing car racing) are steadily diminishing. Look what happened this year: only 17 entries for Amateur GP12, 14 for Pro GP 12, 10 for Amateur Cobalt GP12, 9 for Amateur Int'l GP15, 8 for Pro Cobalt GP12 and 7 for Pro Int'l G15: that's a poor 65 entries for 6 races, an average under 11. How a track owner can make his life from such poor entry? No wonder that there are nearly no more bids. Compared to 15 years ago the entry in the lower classes is more than 66 percent lower than it was. If the entry in the step-in classes for wing car racing is so low, the result must be that the number of new comers in the higher classes (GP27, GP7) is extremely low. Apart from Joe Chubby Salzman, Greg Mills and Canada's Brad Friesner nearly no new faces were seen in American wing car racing. What a difference with Brazilian wing car racing where we saw such terrific new comers as Filipe Tavares, Isaias Jordão, Bruno di Dotto, Fabio Signoretto, Marcio Paschoalin, Rodrigo Mastrochirico, Flavio Araujo, Marcelo Triginelli, Osvaldo Vicaro, Joaõ C. Geraldo and so many others. If we look at the entries at the yearly Campeonato Brasileiro, number of entries in the step-in classes is increasing year after year, quite the opposite of the trend in American wing car racing. Is it then a miracle that at the recent Wing Car Worlds GP7 only one American racer still reached the main (in the mid 1980s and early 1990s 7 or 8 of the finalists were still Americans!) against 3 Brazilians? The slow but steady decline of American wing car racing is a bare fact we cannot deny. Efforts to promote GP27 Lite or OMO GP7 - being high in Brazil - remain too low in the States. There the F1 class of slot-racing is wasting away with misery.

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

FELIPE 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 1282 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.]