Rogers and Munday split Modified Buggy wins, stock-class double victory for Cheeseman at Victorian Drivers Series opener

ADVERTISEMENT | ADVERTISE WITH US

By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Race report by Ray Munday:

Victorian Drivers Series Round 1: Munday, Rogers, Cheeseman win buggy classes

Round 1 of the Victorian Drivers Series was held in the regional town of Wodonga, 3 hours north of Melbourne. Over 90 entries raced on the fantastic red clay track which had been prepared by the small but enthusiastic club. Rain during practice and hot weather during race day meant that the track grooved up perfectly, giving the racers good grip with minimal tyre wear.

2WD Modified:

Ray Munday (Associated/Reedy/JConcepts) took TQ from Simon Heally (Yokomo/ORCA) and Matt Griffin (Associated/JConcepts). The finals were a 3 way battle with Ray, Matt and Q4 Mark Rogers (Associated/Reedy/JConcepts). It came down to a last lap battle and Mark Rogers came through to take a popular win, Matt second and Ray third overall.

4WD Modified:

Matt Griiffin (Team Associated/JConcepts) took TQ from Anthony Campbell (Associated/AKA) and Ray Munday (Associated/Reedy/JConcepts). The finals were very close with a win apiece, Ray taking the overall win from Matt and Anthony in third.

2WD 17.5:

This was the biggest class of the weekend with 24 entries. Leigh Cheeseman (TLR/Motiv/Pro-Line), current 4WD 17.5 national champ, took TQ then went on to win A1 and A2 for a dominant victory. Mildura’s Dave Engledow (Associated) took a popular second overall after winning A3, while Simon ‘Sticks' McHugh (Kyosho) finished a close third.

4WD 17.5:

Leigh Cheeseman followed up his victory in the 2wd class with TQ and wire-to-wire wins in A1 and A2 to sweep the 17.5 classes. Ben Howard (Schumacher) took a strong second from Simon McHugh, making the podium in both classes.

Modified Truck:

Andrew Adamic gave the new XRAY truck a great debut, taking TQ and winning all three finals for his first TQ/win in the series! Damien O-Dea had travelled all the way from Adelaide and was rewarded with second place with his T5M, with young gun 12-year-old Jordan Isergin completing the podium with third overall with his T5M.

2WD 21.5

In this entry level class, Matt Spencer took the TQ and win with his B6D from Mark Casey and Glen Grinter. Matts story is unique in that his racing gear was stolen in 2016 shortly after he started racing, but the community rallied together to provide him with equipment to race again.

2WD 17.5 Junior

The Junior scene continues to grow in Victoria, with new racers joining all the time. Mildura's Tyrell McKenzie took TQ from Mitchell Isergin and Josh Ryan. In the finals, Tyrell took out all 3 mains but was pressured hard by newcomer Nathan Facciol coming from 4th on the grid in only his second race meeting! Josh Ryan took third overall from Mitchell, Fletch Sims, Cameron O'Dea and Hope Densley. Showing the success of the class, the modified buggy A finals included three racers who were in the junior class only two years ago - Carter Sims (13), Jordan Isergin(12) and Lachlan Munday (11).

Thanks to the club for putting on a fantastic event!