Welcome to part 2 of our League race reports from the Motegi East Short Course sprints. This time we will hear from the division 3 and 4 reporters. Here is the Division 3 report, brought to you by smokinscotty: Nine drivers from Division 3 were present for an attack on Japan's Motegi East course for this seasons sprint round. With two races, one with qualifying and the second a reverse grid race, working your way through traffic would be equally as important as outright speed. With the lap times very close amongst the drivers, there was bound to be plenty of tight battles and close racing. In qualifying, the lead changed several times during the ten minute session, Eventually it was Scotty who nabbed pole with a scorching time of 1:11.97 setting a new PB. The field gridded up ready to launch into action with Slambo on the front row. Beau did a great job in qualifying getting third on debut. Dutch slid into fourth and S_Close took fifth. Hatfield, groover, Gary and Stumbles rounded out the field. As the field got away, Scotty and Slambo made equally good starts heading side by side into turn one, with Scotty holding him out to carry the lead under the bridge for the first time. The best of starts came from Hatfield and Groover who would get through to third and fourth after the first corner, but Groover wasn't content with jumping 4 spots and started applying pressure on Hatfield immediately, passing him before the second overpass. At the same corner, Slambo came in way too hot and found himself beached. He rejoined at the tail of the pack. To his credit, he would drive like a man possessed to try and regain his place at the pointy end of the field. Meanwhile, Dutch and Beau were all over each other trying to gain an advantage. Beau was doing a great job to keep a level head under pressure from Dutch and Gary. S_close was right in the middle of the battle as well until he went in hot at turn one, losing time and places. By lap 6 Slambo had begun fighting through the main battle pack, passing S_Close and pushing harder than most. Gary, who was doing very impressive lap times, had a small moment on said lap and fell back into the sights of Slambo, who would execute a pass coming into turn one the next time around. Gary dropped a wheel at the exit of turn one and the McLaren turned sideways putting him into the wall, leaving him to recover and start all over from the back of the pack, a long way behind. Lap 9, Hatfield and Beau charge down the straight side by side. In a standoff under brakes, it's Hatfield that holds the position. With Beau off line, Dutch pounced and jumped up a spot. At the end of the back straight Dutch went in hot and tagged the back of Hatfield turning him around, dropping Hat back from 3rd to 7th. Slambo took advantage, and half way through lap 10 moved up to third and set about hunting down Groover and Scotty 8 seconds up the road. With four laps to go, Dutch had a spin in fourth and would get passed by four cars while waiting for a safe time to rejoin. S_Close was having a great climb back up the leader board now running in fourth from Hatfield who had also recovered well. Dutch and Beau made a few small mistakes in the dying laps of the race trying to get to the line. On the final lap tragedy struck the all around good guy S_Close who would get disconnected just shy of a great result. As the flag dropped, it was Scotty who would greet it first, taking his first win in a ROOZ Sunday League race. Five seconds back was Groover who did a phenomenal job keeping Scotty honest and finishing five places higher than he had started. Slambobagan would complete the podium closing the gap to groover to just 1.9 seconds by the time they reached the flag, putting up a tremendous fight all race. Hatfield had overcome a lot to finish a respectable fourth, ahead of Stumbles who had done well to recover from the tail of the field. Beau, Dutch and Gary had hard luck during the race with a couple of small off's costing them both dearly and they would complete the finishing order. Fastest lap went to the pole sitter Scotty, with a 1:12.301. Race 2 saw S_close unable to rejoin the field and the division was forced to carry on without him. With Dutch and Gary on the front row, the drag race was on to turn one. Dutch, although getting the better launch, was outgunned under brakes and Gary held the lead out of the opening turn. Groover got a good start, and while the pack was defending the dive bomb up the inside, he shot down the outside, rocketing from the tail of the field to third without hitting anyone. A fantastic move! Unfortunately he and Stumbles would come together metres later, relegating both of them to the rear of the field. Race one winner Scotty looped it exiting the chicane complex and watched the remainder of the pack race off, Beau doing a great job to avoid the spinning Orange McLaren. With the two front runners well and truly behind, race 2 was up for the taking and Slambo started his push to get up front. By lap 5 Dutch was out in front but under pressure from Slambo, with Gary and Hatfield loosing positions in minor off's. Scotty caught Gary but before he could make a move, binned it again and let Groover through. On lap 9, Slambo got a run on dutch exiting the Chicanes and passed him on the back straight. On the same lap, Groover had a spin, letting Scotty back into fifth. With all of the frantic moves and accidents of the opening ten laps, the field settled into a spaced out procession. Scotty would close on Gary then surrender the time in mistakes, but it was Beau who had the blow torch out hunting down Dutch, sticking a great move on lap 14 around the outside under brakes at the end of the back straight. In a night of first time winners, Slambo would go on to claim the win ahead of a hard charging Beau by a measly 2.2 seconds. Dutch secured third 6 seconds later then a gap to Gary who had kept cool throughout the pressure applied by Scotty at several points in the race. They would come home a distant fourth and fifth. Hatfield took advantage of Groover spinning a couple of times to claim sixth and Stumbles completed the field. Fastest lap of the second race went to Groover with a 1:12.329. So in a bizarre turn of events, the two most consistent drivers in the first race were hampered by errors in the the second. Although the round win is taken by Scotty, it was Slambo who had made the most moves and shown the most race pace across both heats. His performance at this round has given his championship hopes and his confidence a real boost. As we reach the middle of the season, things are really heating up in Div 3! RACE QUOTES: smokinscotty (1st/5th): Some great racing out there tonight. Not without its fair share of drama though. I had done all of my practice on a clear track and it showed. In qualifying, I set a new PB to grab pole, the first race I led from go to whoa. When it came time for the second race I got a nasty shock as to what this thing is like to drive in dirty air! It felt like I still had the tyres on from race 1!! Big understeer then snapping into oversteer. It was a real pig. Unlucky S_close, you were on for a good result. Great work by Groover for keeping me honest in race 1, unlucky in race 2 mate. Fantastic job by Slambo, with a race win and great pace all night, he deserves to claim the round! Slambobagon (3rd/1st): Well finally a win.. The best racing I've ever done I must say, so much fun loving the soft tyres, after a good practice and qually Scotty nabbed pole off me last minute with a 1.11.9 great lap. I started from 2nd spot got a good start but missed my brake marker at turn 6 and decided to make sand castles at the beach will I watched the whole field pass me by. This is when the fun started just put my head down and charged my way back up to 3rd spot with 8 laps to go 10 sec gap to the leader cut it down to 5 by the end, good job Scotty for the win, would of liked to battle with ya. Race 2 started from 6th, another solid start had a bit of a fight with beau on the opening laps he puts a good pass on me on the main straight only to run wide a few corners later, I pushed on and found myself in 2nd a few laps later, tagged on to the back of Dutch and put a good run on him through the 2-5 turns got the spot, then just gave myself a comfy margin, and drove it straight home congrats beau for your debut podium you were quick on those last laps, feel gutted for s close lost the championship lead with that d'c wish you all the best for the next round. Stumbles01 (5th/8th): Not a great night for me. Race 1... Started last after qualifying, and was surprised to see Slambo go off building sandcastles halfway around lap 1. As expected though, he passed me on lap 4 as I went a tad wide at turn 2. A spin coming onto the straight after turn 5 saw me 5 seconds back from 8th place on lap 5... (bloody 5's...lol) Then I think Gary felt sorry for me and ran wide out of turn 2 as Slambo was making his way past so he slipped into last spot. Awesome racing between Dutch, Beau, Slambo, Hatfield and Serg in the middle of the race, great to see in a car that just wants to chew you up and spit you out. On lap 13, Dutch had a moment at turn 1 and allowed me past, I was up to 7th and happy to be getting a few points. The next lap, Beau had a lose at turn 5 and gave me another spot. Then, disaster for Serg, disconnect on the final lap coming out of turn 3 and his car slowed and drove off into the sand after turn 4 and disappeared. This moved me to 5th. Race 2... Got a decent start but Groover out-braked nearly everyone at turn 1 and was beside me (on the left) going through turn 2, he ghosted then spun and although I didn't feel it, thought I must have nudged his back right qtr panel, so re-dressed, which took me from my 3rd position on track to dead last. After watching the replay, he went wide and spun on his own. Probably for the best anyway, even though I really like the Motegi tracks, just couldn't hook it up in this car. More spins and mistakes meant that I stayed last by a long way. garyw61 (8th/4th): Not a good night for me either Sunday night. In the first race I put the outside 2 wheels off the track coming out of turn 1, and couldn't get it back on cleanly before turn 2, spinning out. This put me in to dead last place place where I stayed. Second race I had no instrument display for the whole race, so was changing gear on feel/sound. Not a biggie, but annoying. The biggest problem with this happening though is losing the sense of where the nose of the car is, making turns 3, 4 & 5 particularly tricky! Bad luck Serge, those last lap disconnects are especially painful. Really felt for you mate, hopefully it will be your dropped round. S_CLOSE (DSC/DNS): Disconnected on the last lap whilst running fourth...aaaaaand had to restore files because the stupid game killed my PS3. Tried to rejoin only to get incompatibility error.... sometimes I just feel like going back to casual racing.... It just bloody hurt it happened on the very last lap, when I was quite clear of Hatfield. Thought, that's ok, can start from pole at least and salvage points in the next race, but PD had other plans and would not let me join the room again. Back to square one on any championship ambitions... Nice work smokinscotty, and congratulations for taking the round win. Slambobagon and groover33 fill out the final podium positions. Well done. Now we move on to Division 4, brought to you by DoogleDave: Division 4 drivers made their way to the Motegi East track this week for an action-packed double-header sprint round that would sort the men out from the boys. Several drivers were having trouble finding pace in practice during the week and come qualification time this shone through. Both Blindman and Doogle who had been hitting above-average lap times in practice led the pack with Turbo not far behind. Doogle managed to secure pole position with a 1.12.477 which saw him head the pack on the grid. As the lights hit green, Doogle had an abysmal launch off the line and fell back a few positions only a few hundred metres into the race. Unfortunately for Blindman his game glitched coming into turn 1 which propelled him straight through and off into the sand, hitting the barrier and coming to a stop. Molch also hit the anchors a touch late and went off into the sand, allowing Emmo, Doogle and Turbo back through to claim positions at the front of the race. Kart also took the opportunity early on to play in the sand with Molch which saw both drivers secure places at the very rear of the field. Kiwi was off to a good start out of turn 1 until reaching turn 2 where he ran wide and touched the sand, losing a position to 3vil. The pack, filled with adrenalin and nerves, continued to hold their lines and push their cars near the limit around this track, hoping the racing soft tyres would do their job at keeping them on the circuit. 3vil went into turn 6 a little too hot, making him run wide which opened the door for Blindman and Ad2 to sneak past and move up the field. Blindman began to put pressure on Kiwi and down the finish straight Blindman moved out of Kiwi's slipstream to take him under brakes coming into turn 1. Kiwi, however had other plans and with a better exit speed instantly regained his position back from Blindman, pushing on to stay ahead and out of trouble. Coming into turns 2 and 3, both Ad2 and 3vil found the sand, allowing Kart to move up and take some fresh air, passing the last place batton to Molch who had also decided being off-track was more interesting than being on it. Kiwi and Blindman continued to battle and Blindman, now sitting right up the backside of Kiwi was really exerting pressure on Kiwi to keep it clean and not make any mistakes. Upon the exit of turn 11, Kiwi's right rear touched the ripple strip, turning his car 90 degrees, right in front of Blindman who, with nowhere to go, had no other option than to drive straight through Kiwi, briefly morphing two cars into one before continuing on to hold fourth position. Ad2 and 3vil had their own battle and Ad2 came out ahead when 3vil ran wide on turn 4, losing momentum and a position to Ad2 who was on his game, powering ahead. Blindman caught up to Emmo and began to give him a hard time, pushing hard around the final turn into the straight, he managed a better exit and passed Emmo under brakes coming into turn 1. Emmo worked hard to try and stay with Blindman but his pace was a little off and Blindman eventually created a gap, on his way to hunting down the leaders. Meanwhile, 3vil and Ad2 continued to battle until Ad2 lost it coming out of turn 10 which saw 3vil move up the field once again. Turbo, running in 2nd place drove hard to try and peg back the gap between himself and Doogle, who was about five seconds ahead and and doing well, until a mishap on turn 6 which saw Turbo go off into the sand. With Blindman rocketing along not far behind, Turbo could only watch as Blindman drove past, claiming second position. Kiwi, who has been working on catching Emmo eventually caught him coming into the final turn and like an instant replay, Emmo was passed (this time by Kiwi instead of Blindman) under brakes coming into turn 1. Emmo, the ever-determined driver continued to apply pressure to Kiwi in the hope to reclaim the position he'd just lost but upon the run through turn 9 Emmo ran slightly wide, touching the ripple strip and losing it completely, falling back to last place as the remaining cars drove by. In the end Doogle won race 01 with Blindman who followed +12 seconds behind for second place and Turbo +21 seconds behind for third place. Race 02 With race 2 being a reverse grid start, Molch who should have been starting on pole was relegated to second place on the grid as Ad2 had been dsc'd out of the room post race 1, which saw him lead the pack off the line. Coming into turn 1, Kart hit the brakes too late and locked it up, sliding off into the sand. Emmo and Ad2 ran through the turn side by side both battling for that lead position early in the race. Emmo who was hard under brakes has the slower exit speed and Ad2 manages to sneak ahead to lead the field around the circuit for lap one. Coming through turn 5, 3vil ran wide trying to run a fast line and spun off-track. Blindman continued to suffer with glitches and fell back to second last place. As the field hit turn 1 again, Turbo lost the rear on the ripple strip upon exit, spearing into the barrier and allowing Doogle to move up into fourth place. Molch also has a brief off-track adventure which saw him fall back behind Kart. This gifted Blindman the opportunity to pass them both and move up into sixth place. Kiwi and Emmo pushed one another around the circuit and Kiwi made a move under brakes coming into turn 1 only to run wide, letting Emmo and Doogle pass by. Turbo made a similar move on Kart not long after and out braked him to move up into seventh place, on his way back up the field chasing down the front runners. Kiwi had an unfortunate incident upon exit of turn 10 when he managed to accelerate hard with his rear left still on the ripple strip. This forced the Macca to spin and he lost control and crossed the track to slide across the grass. This mishap saw Kiwi slide all the way back to last place as the back markers sped on by, one-by-one. Doogle tried his chances at passing Emmo under brakes through turn 1 but went way too deep and locked up the brakes, narrowly missing the sand and staying on track, but failing at his passing manoeuvre, allowing Emmo to keep his position. The following lap Emmo tried to run through turn 1 too hot and found the sand, allowing Doogle to move up into second place. Emmo managed to get back on track but by this time 3vil had caught up and passed by as they battled for third place. Doogle chased down Ad2 who was making himself very wide as he pushed hard to stay ahead and for a couple of laps Ad2 held Doogle's measure. Eventually, Doogle managed to make a move on the final turn and upon entry into the straight moved right up into Ad2's slipstream. With both pushing hard down the straight Ad2 has nowhere to go and Doogle moved out and passed under brakes into turn 1. With Doogle now out in the fresh air he opened the taps and turned his pace up another notch. Ad2 tried his best to stick with Doogle but ran wide coming out of turn 5 and lost it, allowing Doogle to instantly open a gap. Meanwhile Kiwi and Molch battled amongst each other and Blindman and 3vil did the same not far behind, all pushing hard to try and gain a position over their opponent. Emmo made a nice passing manoeuvre over Ad2 coming onto the final straight only to have Ad2 immediately jump onto his slipstream and reclaim his position over Emmo under brakes coming into turn 1. Blindman took the same opportunity and passed 3vil through turn 1 also and the two battled mercilessly, swapping positions back and forth until Blindman eventually got the better of him and stayed in front. Late in the race, Turbo made his own passing manoeuvre over Ad2 through turn 1 and Emmo trailling not far behind pushed to stay in the mix but ended up in the sand, dropping back to sixth place. Emmo, Kiwi and Molch now battled each other late in the race for 6th place, taking turns at leading the group until Molch moved to the front and kept the others at bay. Again, way out in front Doogle crossed the line to make it a back-to-back victory over his Division 4 rivals. Turbo crossed the line in second place (+19 seconds behind) and Ad2 took up third place honours (+20 seconds behind). Most drivers were happy that Motegi was done and dusted and look forward to the next round at Daytona where they will experience a day/night round. RACE QUOTES: DoogleDave (1st/1st): It's hard to be anything but pleased with my two wins last night, though I was disappointed that my pace was far slower than what I'd been doing in practice. I had really set my sights on securing fastest lap for this round and hitting numerous laps in the 11's I thought a high11-very low 12 would do it, but on the night I just couldn't make it happen. Very well done to Blindman for taking FL (by two tenths)! Race 1 I had a shocking launch off the grid which saw me drop from first to third or fourth. Unfortunately for Blindman he went off which slowed the pack slightly and I saw a gap I could take so pushed on through and by turn 2 I had resumed the lead. I took this opportunity with both hands and focussed on hitting my line and markers each lap. For most of the race I kept note of the gap between myself and Turbo, watching the gap hover around the 4-5 second mark lap after lap. I decided not too try and push too hard and worked at maintaining the gap and it was later in the race I saw Blindman's fastest lap. I had opened the gap back to Turbo a little further so I decided to push it for a few laps to see if I could take the fastest lap back, but this proved more difficult with front tyres now down to 8 and then 7. The win for race 1 then meant I had to start race 2 from the back of the grid, an ominous task ahead and I needed to ensure I didn't have a repeat performance off the line. Thankfully this time I managed to get off the line OK and kept with the pack into turn 1. I slowly made my way forwards through the pack and soon found myself behind Emmo and Ad2 at the front of the race. After a lap or two I decided to try and take Emmo into turn 1 but I hit my braking marker way too late and locked it up coming into the turn, almost running off into the sand. Emmo skillfully passed me by and I lost a second or two as I watched him and Ad2 power off down the track. I quickly got going again to make sure I stayed in front of the remaining pack that were coming up very fast behind. I knew if I were to catch the leaders again I would have to drive very well, so I put my head down and thankfully made my way back to them. I passed by Emmo and locked my sights onto Ad2, who decided he was not going to make it easy for me. For a few laps he kept me chasing him and I saw a couple of opportunities to pass him but in sections of the track I thought may get me (and or both of us) unstuck, so I decided to remain patient and bide my time. It was still early in the race so I didn't want to make a move until I was comfortable. Coming into the 2nd last turn I made some time back under brakes and upon exit of the final turn I was right up behind Ad2. I jumped out of his slipstream part way down the straight and managed to hold him out under brakes to take the inside line and into the lead. I kept my pace high and noticed the gap to slowly increase with each lap and with tyres on 9 I had plenty of rubber left to now try for fastest lap, which I managed for race 2, but not for the overall. With a lap or two to go I saw the gap increase to +20 seconds so I eased back (a little) and drove home to victory, making it back-to-back wins. Well done to Blindman and Turbo for your performances during both races and I am keenly aware that you are both right behind me, ready to pounce at at opportunity. Looking forward to seeing what Daytona brings and the day/night scenario will add yet another challenge into the mix for many drivers (me included). disturboed (3rd/2nd): Happy this track is done with now, just couldn't find the groove I needed to be smooth. Qualified in 3rd position behind Dave & Blindman and got a great start off the line swallowing Dave up who Webbered the start. Blindman was in front and then heading into the first turn he went full speed straight ahead into the sand and then the wall. This baulked me a little and let Dave sneak back up on the outside and then I got pummelled a bit by those behind me, and Dave got through. The next corner and I was eaten by Emmo somehow. So into third spot I was. At the end of the first lap, Emmo ran a little wide on the exit of the final hairpin, so I was able to beat him in a drag down the straight. From there I ran the next 12 or so laps in second place, with about a 3-5 second gap to Doogle, but I just couldn't quite match the pace and I was pushing hard to do it. Then the inevitable when I missed my braking marker for turn 6 and went spearing into the sand, the delay getting back on track gifting Blindman second place. For the final laps it was just a matter or trying to protect 3rd spot from a fast closing Kiwi. Second race, got another great start, took a position off the line and moved right up into 4th spot by the halfway point in the lap. Lap 2 turn one, I got smashed again, this time pushing me into the dirt causing me to spin. Facing the other way, I had to let the traffic through before spinning around and carrying on. Down in last place now. Made up some spots by passing and also through other peoples misfortune. By about the mid point of the race had caught onto the tail of Emmo and Ad2mny. Had a good battle with Emmo who was trying to battle Ad2mny at the same time, managed to squeeze my way past and then set after Ad. By the end of the race I had taken 2nd spot and Doogle had run off into the sunset!! So third overall in the round standing. At least I didn't go backwards from last week. Lets see what the day/night brings! Ad2mny (5th/3rd): Will happily accept any penalties for wrong starting position. I was just glad I'd made the race. Not sure what I could have done without getting in someone's way. It was a brilliant second race for me after a mediocre first race, running off track early and struggling to make any headway. Evil sitting in his grid spot all race in a GolfV, and not ghosted either had to dodge him every lap. At the end it turned out he was just behind me. As we discussed the happenings in race 1, evil called us all to the track and as I jumped in it locked up then DSC'd. I scrambled to find the lobby and was resigned to the fact that I had missed the race. As I entered saw the room was still in practice, and as soon as I entered the track evil started the race. Got a blinder off pole and about 3 people zoomed through me ghosting and looked like into the gravel but some must have recovered. Emmo threatened a couple of times and on 3rd lap or so badly outbraked himself dropping back. Doogle came up behind me about 1/3rd distance and I held him off for a while but it was inevitable that he'd get past. Pushed a little too hard and on the 2nd last corner ran wide on exit and fishtailed wildly back on to the track. Emmo was back on my case and turbo soon joined the battle. I need to watch the replay cause I know emmo got ahead of me at some stage, but I somehow got back past. Turbo got past emmo and a short time later got me too. Emmo must have had an off while I was chasing turbo (did my fastest lap in pursuit) and it was just a case of keeping a gap on Blindman and evil behind, who's arrows were moving in all directions on and off the track. It was a good race, even though my results may not count. Bloody psn. emmo46 (7th/6th): I lost 30 seconds on one lap playing in the sand in race one, that put paid to a secure 5th place at the time. Race two I was challenging Ad for the lead but I couldn't get it stopped at turn 1 on two occasions and both incidents cost me two places. Pretty miserable result but for the first five laps or so in each race I was really going pretty well. Oh well. Next is Daytona in the dark and from a pre season run I had there I'm doomed to run at the back there as well. BLINDMANRACING (2nd/4th): A big congrats to Doogle Dave on your 2wins ! I was on the front row with Dave and got a great start came to the first corner then it froze when it decided to come back I was last ! Put the head down and went for it , I think I helped k1w1 have a spin on the 2nd last corner sorry for that k1w1 if I did ! I pressed on but as I started to catch up to the guys in front it would freeze up again and loose 3 or so seconds happened about 4 times in the race. At one point the track had disappeared and I was driving on the sky? Anyway then pushed hard to get the quickest lap. And tried to catch Doogle to no avail. Second race got another great start from the back of the grid and you guessed it, it all started again. So frustrating! Pushed hard again and also had a couple of spins and some how came in 4th place. Well done to all div 4 drives there was some good battles now Daytona here we come. Nice work there DoogleDave, and congratulations on your round win, winning both races. Well done also to BLINDMANRACING and disturboed for the final podium positions. Stay tuned for Part 3. Division 3 Reporter/Photographer: smokinscotty Division 4 Reporter/Photographer: DoogleDave Tables: DRZ-Hatfield Editor: Jamie (Ad2mny)
