23rd WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP G7 WINGCAR RACING

MAY 23, G7 Wing Car World Championship, Port Jeff (USA)

The 8 finalists: Boyt Johnson (USA), Forrest Watchers (USA), José Mario Serra (BR), Paul 'Beuf' Persen (USA), Vladimir Horky (CZ), Juha Yli-Sipola (SF), Mario MSP Schöne (D) and Josef Korec (CZ).

At Port Jeff Paul 'Beuf' Pedersen won his second world championship wing car racing, ahead of Brazil's Jose Mario Serra de Pires and defending world champ Mario MSP Schöne. Quantitatively and qualitatively it was the best G7 Worlds since Chicago 1988. At the start we found 13 racers from the USA (but no P-A Watson, no Ron Herrera, no Rande Marshall), 3 racers from Finland (but no Leo Hongisto, Kimmo Rautama, no Pekka Sippola, no Fyhr Bros), 3 racers from Sweden (but no Lasse Aberg, no Michael Landrud), 2 racers from Brazil (but no Marcello Triginelli, no Joao Carlos Geraldo, no Bruno di Dotto), 3 racers from Czechia (Petr Krcil didn't enter the main event), 1 racer from Germany, 1 racer from Canada, 1 racer from Austria, 1 racer from Chile  and 1 racer from Slovakia. Broadly spoken we can put that except for P-A Watson, Lasse Aberg, Tim Tyler and the Australian aces, the best wing car racers of the world were all at Port Jeff.
Boyt Johnson - winner of the 2002 Barnburner at Port Jeff - was the fastest qualifier in 1"567 (pretty close to Jari Porttinen's world record). He was followed by Greg Mills (CDN) in 1"571, 'Beuf' (USA) in 1"581 and Vladimir Horky (CZ) in 1"612. Mikael Silén (23rd time), , Mike Swiss (18th time), Larry Blanton (26th time), Jose Mario Serra (22nd time) and Vlado Okali (25th time) disappointed.
With 29 starters it was decided to hold 4 Quarters, 3 of them with 7 racers, 1 with 8 racers - the 4 first of each Quarter making the move to the Semis. Composition of the Quarters was done following the snake principle.

QUARTER FINALS: SWISS, GUGU, OKALI & GUSTAFSON ALL OUT!
Quarter A saw 5 racers pulling away: Boyt Johnson (USA), defending world champion Mario Schöne (D), Vlado Okali (SVK), Bill Skinner II (USA) and surprisingly also Chile's Ricardo Garri, having no problems to follow the pace. Meanwhile Stefan Törnfeldt (S) was out with technical problems, later followed by Rocky Julianelle (USA). During the final stages of the race Ricardo Garri succeeded to pass Vlado Okali, so that he finished 4th, and that the Slovakian ace was out. Top 4 were: Mario MSP Schöne 427 laps, Bill Skinner 426, Boyt Johnson 424, Ricardo Garri 423. Okali came only 1 lap short to make the move.
At Quarter B we lost Mike Swiss (USA), "Gugu" Bernardino (BR) and Larry Blanton (USA). Top 4 here were: Forrest Watchers (USA) 444 laps, Juha Yli-Sipola (SF) 443, Greg Mills (CDN) 437 and last year's USRA Nats winner Mikael Silén (S) 435. All others came 30 or more laps short to make the move.
Quarter C was the fastest and finished as a drama for Anders Gustafson (S) who missed the move, just as Ron van Wagnen (USA) who couldn't confirm his fine performance of this year's Barnburner and Jim "Spove" Sproviero (USA). Top 4 was: 'Beuf' (USA) 455 laps, Paul Ciccarello (USA) 442 laps, José Mario Serra (BR) 425 laps and Jari Porttinen (SF) 407.
Quarter D with 8 racers saw the 3 racers from Czechia all in the same race. Oliver Sonnbichler (A), last year still main finalist at the G7 Worlds in Brazil, was already out after 3 segments. Les Wright (USA) ran in problems at mid-race and was out too. Scott Fisher (USA) lacked speed to follow and was the third man to be out. Struggle for the fourth place went among Benny Justice (USA) and Zdenek Benes (CZ). Eventually Benes - in 1988 still winner of a Pontiac Fiero at the Chigago G7 Worlds! - came 3 laps short to make the move. Top 4 was: Josef Korec (CZ) 400 laps, Vladimir Horky (CZ) 399, Veli-Matti Kantamaa (SF) 372 and Benny Justice (USA) 342.

SEMIS: CHICKY, SILÉN, PORTTINEN & MILLS ARE OUT!
In Semi A defending world champion Mario Schöne (D) was setting the pace from start to finish. From the first segment it was obvious that this pace was much too fast for Chile's Ricardo Garri. But also USRA Nats winner Mikael Silén (S) had problems to follow, just as Bill Skinner II (making one of the best G7 races in his career). That implied that the struggle for the 4 first places went among Schöne, Mills, Watchers, Johnson and Juha Yli-Sipola. The two former world champions (Schöne and Yli-Sipola) had no problems to qualify, just as Forrest Watchers. Struggle for the 4th place went essantially among Koford's Greg Mills and Boy Johnson. Eventually the most American of all ...Canadians, Mills thus, missed the move for one small lap. Top 4 were: Schöne 687 laps, Watchers 678, Yli-Sipola 677 and Johnson 670.
In Semi B Paul Ciccarello - having won the warm-up race with a new world record of 1133 laps - started as the main favourite, together with 'Beuf', with IOC #1 Vladimir Horky and his disciple Josef Korec. However, everybody was curious to see if the fastest G7 man on eerth - Jari Porttinen - could make the move. In Semi B we lost Benny Justice and Veli-Matti Kantamaa with technical problems. The same happened with poor Jari. So 5 contenders were left for 4 places: 'Beuf', Horky, Korec, Ciccarello and Serra. Nobody could imagine that Chicky should miss the move. However, he ran in problems and missed 13 laps to go to the main. Top 4 were: Vladimir Horky 670 laps, 'Beuf' Pedersen 665 laps, Josef Korec 664 laps, and José Mario Serra 661 laps.

So the 8 finalists were:
Mario MSP Schöne (D), world champion in 1999 and 2003, vice-world champion in 1998 and 2002, 3rd in 1994, 4th in 1997, 5th in 1996, realising his 8th final at a G7 Worlds; IOC #3
Juha Yli-Sipola (SF), world champion in 2002, vice-world champion in 1999, 3rd in 1997, 5th in 1994, realising his 5th final at a G7 Worlds;IOC #17
Paul 'Beuf' Pedersen (USA), world champion in 2001, 4th in 1998, realising his 3rd final at the G7 Worlds and never seen in an important race outside the USA;IOC #23
Vladimir Horky (CZ), vice-world champion in 2003, 7th in 2000, 8th in 2002, making his 4th GT Worlds final;  IOC #1
Josef Korec (CZ), 3rd in 2003, making his second G7 Worlds final; IOC #2
Boyt Johnson (USA), 8th in 1998 and 2001, making his third G7 final and never seen outside the USA; IOC #158
José Mario Serra (BR), 6th in 2000 and making his second G7 Worlds final; IOC #71
Forrest Watchers (USA), making his first G7 final and never seen outside the USA; IOC #156.
Of them Josef Korec can be the first racer in history having won the three major world championships: wing-car racing, ISRA scale racing and IMCA model car racing.
With 4 Europeans, 3 Americans and 1 Brazilian we have a race where the final result is difficult to forecast.
Mario Schöne takes immediately the lead, and both 'Beuf' and Korec have problems in the early stages of the race. After 2 segments 'Beuf' is as low as seventh, and without miracle he can no more win. At mid-race it's obvious that not only Korec, but also Boyt Johnson and Forrest Watchers are definitively out for victory. 'Beuf', having done 150 laps on orange, is now 5th, but always 18 laps behind Mario Schöne, leading the field. Positions are: 1. Schöne 552 laps, 2. José Mario Serra 545 laps, 3. Horky 543 laps, 4. Yli-Sipola 541 laps, 5. 'Beuf' 535 laps, 6. Watchers 495 laps, 7. Johnson 484 laps, 8. Korec 466 laps. 
During the second half of the race Schöne has serious problems in the Deadman (too much goop seems to be the problem). 'Beuf', the only of the 8 finalists using Koford arms, no PK arms, seems to avoid the goop problems and bit by bit he comes closer to Serra who is now leading, ahead of Schöne and Yli-Sipola. Horky too runs in problems and is out for victory. During the final stages of the race 'Beuf' passes Horky, then Yli-Sipola, later Schöne and eventually also Serra to win the 2004 G7 Worlds, 10 laps ahead of José Mario Serra and 21 laps ahead of Mario MSP Schöne. For 'Beuf' it was probably the best race of his life. [JPVR]

MAY 19, Warm-Up Race G7, Port Jeff (USA)

New World Record - All finalists realise more than 1000 laps!

May 19 - At a splendid warm-up race G7 Paul Ciccarello succeeded to improve his own WR over 40 minutes. In a main final with 8 top racers he realised 1133 laps, 18 more than at this year's Barnburner of February 21. Czechia's Vladimir Horky - who came over to the States in order to win his first G7 Worlds - finished as runner-up with 1124 laps, which is 9 more than the former world record. There was qualitatively a good venue since apart from Ciccarello and Horky such racers as Vlado Okali, Mikael Silén, Juha Yli-Sipola, Anders Gustafson, Forrest Watchers and 'nationalist' Greg Mills all reached the main. Unfortunately we find no complete results, neither on the OWH nor on the Port Jeff web site. To me it seems a lack of respect for the racers if an organiser doesn't succeed to publish at least the results of the organised races. Don't ask me where were 'Beuf' Pedersen, Mike Swiss, P-A Watson, Josef Korec, Petr Krcil, Jari Porttinen: I have not the smallest info about them. I guess that Paul OWH Kassens is still busy to search the $ 1,500 to cover the bank cheques he gave me two years ago with the firm promise that they should be covdered within a week. I can understand that Doug Bauer is too busy to publish results, but there should be at least someone hanging round there, who could do the job.

Ciccarello realised the new world record using a Zap chassis, a Demon body, a Voki setup with both PK and Koford arms, and Koford tires. Power was up to 14.3 Volt at the start, but went down to 13.1 volt towards the end. It's the first time in history that the 8 finalists of a G7 race realised all 8 more than 1,000 laps. What a pitty that Antti Immonen - who stopeed active racing - was not there. Of the 8 finalists no less than 5 came from Europe, 2 from the USA and 1 from Canada (but living in the States and believing to be more American than president Bush himself).

34th USRA DIVISION I NATS AT TULSA (OKL, USA)

AUGUST 1, G7 Pro USRA Nats, (top IOC-Race) - TULSA (USA)

"BEUF" WINS HIS THIRD USRA G7 NATS!

Mike Swiss, "Gugu" and Greg Mills defeat MSP Schöne

August 2 - At 5.45am (Brussels time) it was official. America's Paul "Beuf" Pedersen won for the third time the USRA G7 Pro Nats. Earlier he won in 2000 and 2002. The #1 wing car racer in the world, Germany's Mario "MSP" Schöne was at no moment able to follow "Beuf". The American ace is actually the best wing car racer in the world. The three lonely racers theoretically able to beat him - Paul Ciccarello, Vladimir Horky and Josef Korec - were all three absent. Last year's winner Mikael Silén did even not show to defend his title. After the Wing Car Worlds "Beuf" won this year thus also the Nats. Chances are great that he'll put the crown on his work by winning on August 24 the Ultimate G7 Race with - except for Mike Swiss - all the best wing car racers of the world at the start, even Dennis Traeger making from Australia his come-back.
It was a complete Koford success with Mike Swiss finishing as runner-up. For Swiss it's already his 10th USRA Nats podium.
"Beuf" was fastest at the Quarters, the Semi and the Main. He was leading that Main from the second segment until the finish. Only once it was feared that he could miss victory: indeed, during the last segment his motor was knocked out. At the moment he tried to solder it in there were no less than three track calls, so that each time he had to put his hands up. He lost more than 30 laps on repairing, but his advance was big enough that victory came never in danger.
Young Greg Mills, already finalist last year, was during six segments in second place. During the one but last segment he was victim of the sharp fight between Mike Swiss and Luiz "Gugu" Bernardino for the third place. The Canadian's car was hit several times, so that Mills dropped into fourth position.
Other finalists as Jose Mario Serra, Carlos Aloise and Forrest Watchers were early victims of technical problems.
But what is wrong with Mario Schöne this year??? His car - a Horky set-up with PK arms - achieved a poor 977 laps, miles behind what Schöne normally does.
PA Watson realised the pole position with a new track record, but at the Semis he missed the move for five laps. Les Wright was even more unlucky, since he missed the final for only one lap from "Gugu" Bernardino. But unluckiest of all was Slovakia's Vlado Okali, whose luggage was lost at the airport, and who had to start with a cat built up from scratch. Great professional as he is he realised at the Quarters 418 laps - even one more than Greg Mills who won his Quarter - enough for the 9th best overall. But not enough to finish within the top-4 of his own Quarter.
OWH-coverage of the USRA Nats was this year just great. Never Paul Kassens & Cie published such good on-line news. One could follow the USRA Nats in the whole world, just as if one was at the race location. At the OWH one finds hundreds of pics on the Tulsa Nats. Only one deception at the end: no world records were broken. [JPVR]

August 1 - Broadly spoken one can put that from 1990 to 2003 the USRA Nats were a much more important race than the G7 Wing Car Worlds. This, however, is no longer the case this year. Doug Bauer organised a splendid G7 Worlds in May with no less than 17 foreign racers on 29 entrants - 12 of them coming from Europe. This year however entry on the G7 Pro Nats is rather poor from the international view. Neither last year's winner Mikael Silén (S), nor his runner-up Josef Korec (CZ) - both earlier this year seen at the Port Jeff Worlds - are present. Absent too is Vladimir Horky (CZ). Eventually only two European drivers made the trip to Oklahoma: Mario "MSP" Schöne (D) and Vlado Okali (SVK). For Okali the trip was a nightmare. His two bags were lost at the airport. Only on Saturday a first bag was found back. That implied that he had to build up his G7 car from scratch. Already before the start he knew that under such conditions he could never perform at his intrinsic value.
A race where the defending champion is not able to defend his title is always a strange afair, especially since Silén wrote me at many occasions that he should be present at the USRA Nats, and that this was the reason he couldn't show at the Ultimate G7 Race. But now that nobody came over from Finland, from Sweden, from Czechia, from Austria, from Australia, etc. this year's USRA Nats are strongly inferior to the G7 Worlds. Of the 25 entrants no less than 19 are Americans. The only other foreign racers than the two Europeans are Luiz "Gugu" Bernardino and Jose Mario Serra (runner-up at this year's G7 Worlds) together with two half-Americans: Greg Mills (CDN) and Reggie Coram from Sint-Maarten. Since 1990 foreign attendance was never that low.
American entry was one of the strongest of the last 15 years, but unfortunately 3 times USRA Nats winner Paul Ciccarello wasn't there. Missing too were Rande Marshall, Craig Landry, George Teman, Mike "Erkle" Tylinksi (why?) and Gary Gerding.
At the Qualifications it was expected that Jari Porttinen's world record of 1"548 should be improved on the swoopy Tulsa Blue King. Candidates to do so were - apart from P-A Watson and Mike Swiss - Gary Puetz, Ron Herrera, Mario "MSP" Schöne and P-A Watson. Of them Ron Herrera disappointed the most with 1"6799 (17th time on 25). But also Gary Puetz didn't meet general expectations with 1"6737 (13th time on 25). Surprisingly Mario "MSP" Schöne was not faster than 1"6394 (10th time on 25).

Mike Swiss proved that he remains one of the best qualifiers in the world, clocking a sharp 1"5965. Carlos Aloise - not seen in competition since a year (but USRA G7 finalist in 1999 and 2000) - caused a stir by improving Mike's time: 1"5756, second best at the qualifications. P-A Watson did what he earlier did at the 2002 USRA Nats at Buena Park: he realised a new track record and realised the pole position with 1"5647.

Concourse was won by Beuf's car in the mid. Pic: OWH Kassens & Co.

Of the 19 Americans at the start, only 4 made the move to the Main: Mike Swiss (IOC-14), Paul "Beuf" Pedersen (IOC-23), Forrest Watchers (IOC-162) and Carlos Aloise (IOC-346). Of the 6 non-Americans 4 reached the Main: Mario "MSP" Schöne (IOC-3), Luiz "Gugu" Bernardino (IOC-7), Jose Mario Serra (IOC-74) and Greg Mills (IOC-227).
Of them only "Beuf", Schöne and Mills reached the final at the 2004 USRA Nats.  "Beuf" and Schöne were also finalists in 2002.
The same holds for Swiss, Aloise, and Watchers in 2002.
For Mike Swiss it's his 12th final? He reached 9 podiums and won twice.
For Paul "Beuf" Pedersen it is his 9th final. He reached 4 times the podium and won twice.
For Mario "MSP" Schöne it's already his 9th final, the 7th consecutive since 1998. He reached 3 podiums and won once (2001).
For Forrest Watchers its his 4th final. He finished once on the podium as runner-up.
For Carlos Aloise it is his 4th final. He finished once as 4th.
For Luiz "Gugu" Bernardino it is his 3rd final. He finished once second.
For Greg Mills it is his 2nd final. Last year he finished 6th.
For Jose Mario Serra it is his first final.
Main favourite on paper was Mario "MSP" Schöne. However, already at the Qualifications, the Quarters and the Semis it was obvious for everybody that Schöne's car was sick: much too slow.
The best impression gave Paul "Beuf" Pedersen who dominated Quarters and Semis.
Interesting was the presence in the main of Jose Mario Serra, the runner-up at this year's G7 Wing Car Worlds at Port Jeff. Below one finds the race table of the Main final. [JPVR]

Three of the finalists: Mario MSP Schöne (D), Jose Mario Serra (BR) and young Greg Mills (CDN), here after Semi A. Pic: OWH Kassens & Co.

August 1 - Marcello Serra (BR) confirmed his excellent second place at the G7 Warm-Up race by winning the G7 Semi-Pro. There were 25 entries: 2 Brazilians, 1 from Chili, 1 from New Zealand and 21 from the USA. Fastest qualifier was the later winner Marcelo Serra, ahead of Tommy Flythe, Philip Larcom, Joe Redmand, Mark Woday and Ricardo Garri. At the Quarters we lost among others Ron Van Wagnen, Bruno di Dotto, Chris Radisich and Tony Hobart, who all were expected to finish at better places. After the Semis, where we lost Erik "Chilli" Chillingworth, Joe Redmond and Larry Langdon, we came to a main with 6 Americans, Chili's Ricardo Garri and Brazil's Marcello Serra.

The four first segments of the Main Final were dominared by Randy Thompson setting the pace. Meanwhile we lost Robert Park at the second segment with a bent chassis. Very fast was Ricardo Garri, but he lost field during the second segment with motor bothers. During the fifth segment he could pass Randy Thompson, but lost this position in the sixth segment, due to two broken axles, dropping him back into third position. With two segments to go Randy Thompson seemed to be on his way to victory lane since he had a 16 laps bonus over Serra.  Gear problems in the seventh segment made him loosing his first place. Eventually Marcello Serra won, 13 laps ahead over Thompson. [JPVR]

Randy Thompson (left), Marcello Serra (mid) & Ricardo Garri. Pic: OWH

JULY 28, G7 Warm-Up Race and Geezer G7, TULSA (USA)

July 31 - Only 12 entries for the G7 Warm-Up Race. No Paul Ciccarello, no Mikael Silén, even no Greg Mills. It's now sure that Vladimir Horky and Josef Korec - prepairing the ISRA Scale Racing Worlds at Lund - will be absent, just as most Swedes and Finnish racers. The fact they had earlier to fly overseas for the Worlds at Port Jefferson may explain such high number of absentees among the European racers.
Fastest qualifier at the G7 Warm-Up Race was (once more) Gary Puetz. I remember Chicago 1988 were he already caused a stir by his TQ. Puetz is somewhat the Antti Immonen of the States: always hyper fast at qualifications, but not fast enough to win during the races. However, such persons give colour to wing car racing.
Semi B, with 6 racers, went to Marcello Serra (BR) with 631 laps, followed on 2 laps by Slovakia's Vlado Okali. Mario Schöne was third on 8 laps, Mike Swiss fourth. Not only Boogie was eliminated but also Mike "Erkle" Tylinski having won earlier G12 Pro and Int'l G15 Pro at this year's USRA Nats. I guess that "Erkle" was victim of technical problems.
Semi A, also with 6 racers, was won by Brazil's "Gugu" Bernardino with 604 laps, followed by "Mr. USRA Nats", P-A Watson from Texas. Good old Vince Brown and Gary Puetz finished as 3rd and 4th. Eliminated were Jaegar Kovich and surprisingly also Forrest Watchers.
In the main we found 4 Americans, 2 Brazilians, 1 German and 1 Slovak.  Schöne and Marcello Serra were co-leaders after the first segment. During the three following segment P-A Watson was setting the pace.

At mid-race we noted following positions: 1. P-A Watson 539 laps, 2. Mario MSP Schöne 538 laps, 3. Marcello Serra 530 laps, 4. Mike Swiss 513 laps, 5. "Gugu" Bernardino 509  laps, 6. Vlado Okali 492 laps, 7. Vince Brown 407 laps, 8. Gary Puetz 392 laps.  During the second half of the race Mario Schöne - using PK arms and for the rest Horky stuff - increased his advance, to win easily. Schöne is top favourite to win this year both the USRA G7 Pro Nats and the Ultimate Revenge Race of August 24.
The G7 Geezer Race was a typical crash fest with exclusively 19 American racers at the start. Fastest qualifier was Ron van Wagnen in 1"6632. The race was dominated by Les Wright who won ahead of Larry Blanton and Benny Justice. Those 3 will be also present at the Ultimate G7 Race. My thread at the OWH, where I asked to prevent that Reggie Coram, Boyt Johnson, Jim "Spove" Sproviero and Ricardo Garri will receive free plane tickets for the Ultimate Revenge Race was unfortunately moved. Why??? [JPVR]

JULY 26, International G15, TULSA (USA)

July 27 - At the USRA Division I Nats the G27 Warm-up Race was cancelled. It's still waiting the big guns in view of the G7 Warm-up Race, the G27 races, the G7 Semi-Pro Race and the main event: G7 Pro. Meanwhile the Int'l G15 races were contested. Why one speaks of "International" is hard to see, since except at the States and in Australia this class is no longer raced in the rest of the world. Entries at G15 Pro and G15 Amateur were low: only 13 in each race.
At G15 Pro Mike "Erkle" Tylinski proved that his win in the G12 Pro race was far from a lucky shot. He dominated the race from start to finish, with TQ-er Boyt Johnson (2"2264) finishing as runner-up 13 laps behind the unequalled "Erkle". Surprising third was the young John Waller. Doug Bauer was fifth. Benny Justice disappointed, finishing not higher than seventh. Winner "Erkle" achieved 534 laps.
Among the amateurs Jonathan Sohl took over the lead from Ray Vanorman in the second segment to keep it until the finish. He achieved 500 laps, 11 more than runner-up Jeff "Big Daddy" Muller and David Key. The last one TQ-ed in 2"2657.
Being out of my office until Saturday - my youngest son Youri is playing a soccer tournament - I'll publish the other results on Sunday and a complete report on the G7 Pro Nats on Monday morning.

USRA NATS BOXSTOCK G12 WING PRO (IOC EVENT)

JULY 25, Boxstock G12 Wing, TULSA (USA)

July 26 - The G12 Pro race at the USRA Nats is one of the two Boxstock G12 Wing races counting for IOC-points (two new IOC-events on the 2004 calendar).  There was a good entry with 31 racers from 6 different countries. Thanks to OWH Paul Kassens we received first class info on the event (pics are courtesey to Kassens and Roger Schmitt). Among the entrants we found Rande Marshall (USRA G7 Nats winner of 1998), Reggie Coram (Australian Nats winner of 1990, 3rd at last year's G12 Pro USRA Nats), Craig Landry (3rd at the 1993 USRA G7 Nats), Greg Mills (5th at last year's USRA G27 Pro Nats, 6th at last year's USRA G7 Nats, 9th this year at the G7 Worlds), Mike "Erkle" Tylinski (runner-up at the 2003 USRA G7 Semi-Pro Nats, 8th at the 2003 Barnburner), Benny Justice (4th at the 2003 G7 Worlds), Ricardo Garri (3rd at the 2003 G7 Semi-Pro Nats), Joe Reid (runner-up at last year's USRA G12 Pro USRA Nats), etc. Last year's G12 Pro winner, Scott Wright, was not present at Tulsa. Underdogs, expected to finish high, were Jonathan Sohl, Larry Blanton and Richard Curnette.
Fastest qualifier was Chile's Ricardo Garri in 2"3824 (two days earlier at G12 Wing for Amateurs Ian Tomlinson from Illinois went even  faster in 2"3735, a new Tulsa track record in this class). With his TQ Garri proved that his 3rd place at the G7 Semi Pro USRA Nats of last year and his semi-final at this year's G7 Worlds in Port Jeff were no lucky shots). Brazil's Bruno di Dotto realised the second best time (2"4699) ahead of Tony Hobart and Greg Mills. Benny Justice, Pat Ularte, Jonathan Sohl, Doug Bauer and Craig Landry all realised times far beneath their intrinsic value.
There were four quarters. Quarter D was won by Greg Mills (318 laps), ahead of Rande Marshall, "Chilli" and Doug Bauer. Eliminatec were Larry Peligrini, Pat Ularte (!), Kent Nigro and Chris Radisich.
Quarter C was won by Benny Justice (315 laps), beating Tony Hobart by one lap, Jonathan Sohl by five laps and Brad Friesner by eight laps. Biggest surprise here was the elimination of Craig Landry (285 laps).
Quarter B went to Reggie Coram (321 laps), beating Larry Blanton, Thomas Bosconi and Richard Curnette. The elimination of Bruno di Dotto - so convincing at last year's Brazilian Nats in the lower classes) came totally unexpected. It was the fastest of the four Quarters since Vaccari and Di Dotto realised res. 315 and 314 laps, in all other Quarters largely enough to make the move to the Semis.
Quarter A went to Mike "Erkle" Tylinski in 324 laps, the best result of all entrants. Ricardo Garri was second (312 laps). Joe Redmond and Garry Haworth were the other two to make the move.
At Semi B we lost three valuable candidates for the main: Rande Marshall, Doug Bauer and outsider Jonathan Sohl. Winner was Greg Mills (323 laps), followed by Benny Justice (316 laps), Tony Hobart (314 laps) and surprisingly Erik "Chilli" Chillingworth (311 laps). Brad Friesner missed only one lap to make the move to the Main.
At Semi B we lost two other favourites: Reggie Coram and Richard Curnette (coming two laps short to move to the Main). Here "Erkle" was outstanding (318 laps), beating Ricardo Garri and Larry Blanton by three laps and Joe Redmond by nine laps.

"Erkle" used a Kelly G3 chassis, Kelly motor with ProSlot 42° arm, Silver Bullet set-up, Koford tires, Faas gears and an O/S body. 

29th AUSTRALIAN G7 NATS

APRIL 11, Thunder Alley Slot Cars Raceway, Toowoomba, Quensland (AU)

Peter Dight absent - Peter Dimmers strong 4th

The 29th Australian G7 Nats have been won by Geoff Little of Queensland, beating in extremis last year's winner Tim Tyler from New Zealand. For Geoff Little it is his first G7 Nats title. Much was expected from Ivan Wearne, the surprising winner of the 11th Australia Day Classic of January 21-25 having beaten Tony Bagnall (better known as "Stumpy") and Tim Tyler in G7. However Ivan didn't make the main. There were 15 entrants, among them the 1997-2001 national champion Garry Fry, racing as usual Koford materials. Also present was the 1989 national champion Charles Rickards of Horsby Slot Cars, another Koford man. Absent was Peter Dight, missing a unique opportunity to win his 5th Australian G7 Nats and coming closer to the absolute Australian champion, Dennis Traeger, who won 6 Nats (the last in 1999).
The 8 main finalists were Tim Tyler on Slick 7; Garry Fry, Charles Rickards and Peter Dimmers on Koford; Tony Pye and Geoff Little on Alpha; and John Favorito and Brad Bennett on mixed set-ups. Dimmers, who won last year with brio the Australian scale car Nats was a strong outsider, together with Pye and Little. But favourites were Tim Tyler and Garry Fry. However it were Tyler and Little setting the pace, with four racers struggling for the third place: Fry, Dimmers, Pye and Favorito. Brad Bennett and Charles Rickards couldn't defend their chances since they were victims of technical problems.
Everybody believed that Tim Tyler should win his second consecutive Australian Nats, but during the final stages Geoff Little came from behind and won (857 laps), two laps ahead of Tyler. Third place went to Tony Pye (838 laps), three laps faster than Peter Dimmers, finishing as a meriting fourth overall.
Several racers were sick after having eaten  bad food. When the organisers were blamed for this, that was absolutely unfair. Indeed, all racers having become sick, came from a small restaurant, having nothing to do with the excellent catering at Thunder Alley Slotcars Raceway.
Let's note that G27 was won by Tony Pye (671 laps), two more than runner-up Charles Rickards. Six laps down, in the same lap, Garry Fry and Tim Tyler finished third and fourth. Neil McDonald, Geoff Little, Warren Jackson and Bratt Bennett were the other finalists. There were 22 entries in G27.
The G12 Wing Car Race was won by Tim Tyler with 347 laps. His country mate Gil Andrews proved he made a terrible progress, since he finished second at six laps. Jim McCann was third. The 10-years old Nick Miller finished sixth overall. There were 22 entries.
International G15 was good for only 8 entries. Winner here was Geoff Little ahead of "Stumpy" and Ivan Wearne. Good old Perry Vaggelas - a legend in Australian racing - was sixth.[JPVR]

14th BARNBURNER OPEN G7 RACE 2004

FEBRUARY 21, Port Jeff Raceway (USA)

Greg Mills wins WR G27, Boyt Johnson WR G15

February 23 - The 14th Barnburner at Port Jeff is the first IOC Race of the 2004 season. As could be expected several world records were improved on Doug Bauer's ultra fast Blue King. The main event, of course, was the Open G7 race contested on Sunday evening and during the night from Sunday to Monday. Here we noted 22 entries, among them the Brazilians "Gugu" Bernardino and Marcelo Triginelli, the Slovak Vlado Okali and the Canadian Greg Mills (living in the States and, following what Mikael Silén told us at the X-Mas Races, the heaviest US-nationalist and anti-European of all racers). Among the Americans Paul Ciccarello, 'Beuf' Pedersen, Larry Blanton, Benny Justice and Les Wright - all invited with money incentives at the Ultimate G7 Race of August 28 - were present, but not Mike Swiss, Ron Herrera or P-A Watson, the other sponsored racers for the U7.
No world record was improved at the qualifications, where no less than 7 racers stayed under the 1"7. Fastest qualifier was Paul Ciccarello in 1'656, followed by 'Gugu' in 1"683, 'Beuf' in 1"685 and 'Spove' in 1"691. The ultra fast Larry Blanton disappointed, not reaching the top-10. It was convened that the 8 first made directly the move to the Semis. Greg Mills - who won the G27 race in a new world record of 836 laps, ahead of 'Beuf' with 830 laps and Mike Krebs with 785 laps - Ron van Wagnen, Boyt Johnson - who improved the G15 WR (2"178) at the International G15 Race won by 'Erkle' ahead of Benny Justice and Larry Huricane - and Vlado Okali were the four other races making the move to the Semis.
Then followed two Consis with 7 racers each, the 4 first moving up to the Semis. Joe SSS, who won the Box Stock G12 race with 502 laps, ahead of Les Wright and 'Beuf - was the first to miss the move. 'Erkle', Marcelo Triginelli, Mike Krebs, Tony Hobart and a certain 'Pete' (Sardella?) were the other unhappy ones.
Although Paul Kassens did great promises on an almost live coverage - 19 months ago he also made promises that his $ 1500 cheques to IMCA should be covered, but we are still waiting ... Godot - up from here it was very difficult to follow the rest of the race, since only the results of Semi B were published, not those of Semi A.