Two wins for Pain, 2WD title to Steer at 2016 Australian Electric Off-Road Nationals

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By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Race report from West Coast Model RC Club:
www.wcmrc.asn.au

Race report by Chris Mitchel, WCM RC president
Photos by Kai Jaeger, Leo Lorenzen, Jarrod Smith and Steve Smith

The 2016 Ryper Hobbies AARCMCC EP Off Road Australian National titles were held on the past weekend from November 9-13 at West Coast Model RC in Perth, Western Australia. With over 70 drivers attending, making over 140 entries across 7 racing classes, the weekend looked great to crown the 2016 Australian National Champions.

The West Coast Model RC club put on a great event, with a natural clay track providing plenty of character and undulation, for 'real off road' racing, combined with the AKA Rebar control tire and the mostly consistent weather conditions, racing was set to be exciting and tough as always.

After 2 days of practice, racing finally got under way with 2WD Buggy classes on the Friday. in 2WD Stock Leigh Cheeseman (VIC) and Paul Mason (QLD) would tie at the end of Qualifying with 2 round wins a piece, Cheeseman taking TQ on the tie breaker. However in the finals it wasn't to be for Cheeseman, the Victorian struggling with consistency as Paul Mason stormed to win the first 2 legs and secure the National title, also taking out the 'top senior' (over 40) for the day, ahead of young Local ace Brayden Johnston (WA) in 2nd and Leigh Cheeseman (TQ) in 3rd.

in 2WD modified it became very clear that the young Queensland duo of Mitchell Steer and Alex Bernadzik would be very tough to beat, as Steer (QLD) wheeled his Team Associated B6D to take the overall TQ in the first 3 rounds of qualifying, ahead of Alex Bernadzik who took round 4 TQ in 2nd place and AE team mate Ray Munday (VIC) in 3rd. In the finals Bernadzik pounced early, as Steer stumbled during A1 and Alex Bernadzik took the lead, narrowly holding off Steer at the line to win by less than 0.2s. However in A2 Steer managed to settle himself on track as Bernadzik fell into a battle with Ray Munday, allowing Steer to take the win in A2 ahead of Munday and Bernadzik, forcing a 3rd round decider. As A3 started all eyes were on the fluorescent green B6D of Mitchell Steer and the fluorescent yellow of Alex Bernadzik, Steer led out early, but with 3 minuted to go he crashed and allowed Alex Bernadzik to take the lead with a 2s gap. Just 2 laps later though the impossible happened for Bernadzik, as he crashed and got caught up with Steer briefly, a short moment of excitement as Mitchell Steer managed to get away and capitalize on the mistake to take the A3 win and the 2016 National title in 2WD modified ahead of Alex Bernadzik in 2nd and Ray Munday in 3rd.

4WD Day kicked off on Saturday, in 4wd stock, local ace Brayden Miller (WA) took overall TQ ahead of Leigh Cheeseman and Paul Mason, setting the tone for some exciting finals. The finals didn’t disappoint either, as Miller cleared out to win A1 tone-to-tone from Cheeseman and Mason, but in A2 and A3 Cheeseman managed to take the wins to secure the National title in his last ever interstate event, with some nail biting racing which saw him win ahead of Brayden Miller in 2nd and Paul Mason in 3rd. 

4WD Modified was a show for local front runner Josh Pain (WA) who sprung into action early, taking the overall TQ in the first 3 rounds of qualifying ahead of Steve Smith (WA) and Andrew Gillott (NSW). In a wild final round of qualifying which saw many of the front runners make costly mistakes, WCMRC club President Chris Mitchell took a surprise round TQ by just 0.04s over Josh Pain, to secure himself a spot inside the A final. In the A finals Pain showed no signs of slowing down as he won the first 2 legs in convincing fashion to secure his 4th 4WD Modified National title in the last 6 years, while Steve Smith claimed 2nd ahead of Andrew Gillott in 3rd.

The final day, Truck day! many drivers stayed on for what is typically a quieter day of the Australian nationals but still 3 more national titles to be won. in 2WD Short Course Truck Alex Bernadzik dominated all of qualifying and the first 2 finals to secure the championship ahead of Brady Anthes (TAS) and Mitchell Pratt (QLD).

In Modified Stadium truck, Tom Cockerill (UK) looked the closest to take the fight to Josh Pain in qualifying, as Pain took the TQ. Pain went on to win leg 1 of the finals, but a costly mistake allowed Cockerill to win leg 2, forcing a 3rd round decider. In leg 3 Pain got out to an early lead, before dropping back and having to turn up the heat to close the gap to Cockerill out front, eventually bringing home the win and taking the national title with Tom Cockerill in 2nd and Mitchell Pratt in 3rd.

The weekends 'demo' class was EP8 2S Buggy, also known as super lite E-Buggy, with a strong field of 20 drivers taking to the track, Steve Smith (WA) looked untouchable in qualifying, as he cruised to an easy TQ and backed it up by winning the first 2 finals. Young local Fabio Silvi stepped up the pace to win leg 3 and take 2nd overall ahead of Brady Piggott in 3rd.

Overall the national titles were a great success at West Coast Model RC, the track provided for some great close racing and a very unique character in its design, layout and surface which help up well after 9,500 laps laid down on it. a Big thank you to the event sponsors, organisers and volunteers that made the 2016 Australian Nationals so great!