Welcome to Part 2 of our reports from Spa Francorchamps. This time we will hear the Division 3 report plus a brief from Division 4, 5 and 6. Division 3 had a breakthrough this round, using garyw61's fibre connection as a fixed room sorted out the lag issues that had been plaguing the room up until this point. As a competitor who has been struggling with connection issues and unknowingly taking out other drivers with lag, I was much relieved to run a race without having to worry about taking anyone out, and the racing was better for everyone else as well. So enough about me, here is the Division 3 report. GRID: razor4797, whisky_kilo, garyw61, Stumbles01, X-3vi1m00n, FloodSim, andrew_f_41, BERNSY001, Ad2mny, AERO_HDT, hosie09. whisky_kilo got the best start, jumping straight into the lead, but behind him, Stumbles01 missed his braking point and slammed into his rear, pushing him wide into turn 1 and spinning him around. garyw61 got away well, challenging razor4797 straight away into turn 1, but dropping back running a little wide. X-3vi1m00n followed garyw61 and razor4797, slotting into 3rd. BERNSY001 lost a few spots to hosie09 and AERO_HDT, but just managed to keep FloodSim at bay. razor4797 in 1st, andrew_f_41 in 4th and hosie09 in 6th all gained cut penalties not holding the line at Eau Rouge, and Ad2mny ran wide on exit but slowed so as not to gain a penalty, dropping 2 places. A lot of jostling for position for the next few corners, but it soon settled down and the drivers began testing each others braking spots for places to move up. Somehow razor4797 stayed alongside garyw61 at the Bus Stop and got better drive out, taking the lead. hosie09 took advantage of BERNSY001 and whisky_kilo having a slow exit, moving up to 8th. Stumbles01 had a shocker of a first lap, gaining a heavy penalty for ramming whisky kilo, then a shortcut penalty at Radillion running wide, and a huge spin at Stavelot put him 16 seconds off the tail. FloodSim outbraked AERO_HDT at La Source, moving up to 4th. BERNSY001 came alongside hosie09 trying to regain his position at La Source too but had to drop back on exit. AERO_HDT got a good draft out of Eau Rouge and got alongside to outbrake him but Ad2mny, in both of their drafts, split them down the middle taking both their places into 4th at Les Combes. whisky_kilo also went for the double overtake at Les Combes with less success. He'd gotten past BERNSY001 and hosie09 but hosie09 got a little twitchy on the switchback, tapping whisky_kilo's rear wheel. whisky_kilo started to slide and lose drive, and both he and hosie09 dropped back behind BERNSY001. BERNSY001 drafted past andrew_f_41 at the Bus Stop, moving to 7th. whisky_kilo managed a pass on hosie09 at the Bus Stop. A small slide by X-3vi1m00n exiting the Bus Stop moved him back within reach of Ad2mny, and the leading pair of razor4797 and garyw61 began to pull a gap on the field. garyw61 gave razor4797 a good wallop at La Source, losing drive. FloodSim got better drive on Ad2mny at La Source, moving up to 4th, but a bad line at Eau Rouge gained him a penalty and dropped him back 2 places to 6th behind AERO_HDT. whisky_kilo drafted past andrew_f_41 at Blanchimont, but running up towards the Bus Stop, he ran a little wide touching the outside grass and skidded wildly into the corner. He collided heavily with the wall and recovered in 10th behind hosie09. Lap 4. BERNSY001 passed FloodSim with a good run out of Eau Rouge, moving to 6th. garyw61 drafted razor4797 into Les Combes, taking the lead. AERO_HDT had a slide on the brakes at Turn 11, losing touch with X-3vi1m00n and Ad2mny, and dropping him back towards BERNSY001. razor4797 drafted back past garyw61 at Blanchimont, retaking 1st. AERO_HDT lost some drive running a wheel on the ripple strip exiting the Bus Stop, losing 5th to BERNSEY001. Lap 5. whisky_kilo in 9th and hosie09 in 10th seemed to be struggling a bit. Stumbles01 had had a couple more spins and was now 22 seconds off the tail of the field. razor4797 gained a shortcut penalty exiting Eau Rouge, letting garyw61 back into the lead, and Ad2mny passed X-3vilm00n into Les Combes. Behind them, BERNSY001, AERO_HDT, andrew_f_41 and FloodSim were going at it hammer and tongs, with AERO_HDT regaining 5th in the draft at Les Combes. X-3vi1m00n repassed Ad2mny at Blanchimont, while AERO_HDT lost 2 places at the Bus Stop to BERNSY001 and andrew_f_41. BERNSY001 had a weird glitchy moment in the middle of the Bus Stop but carried on fine. He moved ahead of andrew_f_41 at La Source Lap 6, and FloodSim passed AERO_HDT at the same corner. Lap 6. Ad2mny drafted X-3vi1m00n and outbraked him into Les Combes. andrew_f_41 held off an attack from BERNSY001 and FloodSim at Les Combes, but FloodSim came out ahead of BERNSY001. whisky_kilo was starting to catch up to the back of this pack, while hosie09 was still struggling in 10th. Stumbles01 had found some rhythm but was still nearly 20 seconds behind. AERO_HDT had a moment at Campus, dropping back towards whisky_kilo. FloodSim drafted and passed andrew_f_41 around the outside at Blanchimont, with BERNSY001 following him through at the Bus Stop. BERNSY001 got better drive onto the start straight and passed FloodSim into 5th. Lap 7. X-3vi1m00n outbraked Ad2mny into La Source moving back up to 3rd. andrew_f_41 got a penalty at Eau Rouge, dropping to 9th behind AERO_HDT and whisky_kilo. razor4797 was all over garyw61, drafting alongside then outbraking into Les combes. Ad2mny did the same to X-3vilm00n behind them, but touched the ripplestrip on the left flick and spun out into the wall. whisky_kilo got an awesome slipstream and dove up the inside of FloodSim, who was in turn up the inside of BERNSY001. There was not enough room for 3 wide at Les Combes, so the game decided they could all use the same bit of road. FloodSim came out ahead followed by whisky_kilo, BERNSY001, AERO_HDT and andrew_f_41 as they all passed a recovering Ad2mny. FloodSim ran wide at Turn 11, fishtailing wildly on the little strip of grass on the outside and careening across the track to collide with the wall. He recovered in 10th behind hosie09 who was starting to make up some ground and catching Ad2mny. Unfortunately for him, he ran wide at Campus and struggled to regain traction. He fell back towards FloodSim who drafted and passed him before they entered Blanchimont. BERNSY001 passed whisky_kilo around the outside entering Campus, moving to 4th. AERO_HDT drafted them both exiting Blanchimont, making his pass at the Bus Stop. whisky_kilo lost another place to andrew_f_41 in the middle of the Bus Stop after having to slow from pushing BERNSY001 too deep and wide. whisky_kilo slotted in behind andrew_f_41 and Ad2mny was right on his tail to start lap 8. Lap 8. Ad2mny ran too hot into La Source, pushing whisky_kilo wide and nearly taking out andrew_f_41 too. Ad2mny slowed to let whisky_kilo back past with an apologetic flash of the headlights. andrew_f_41 ran wide Turn 11 and lost drive letting whisky_kilo through into 6th, but it was short lived as whisky_kilo touched the inside grass at Pouhon, letting him back through. whisky_kilo had a dive up the inside of andrew_f_41 at the Bus Stop, giving him a little tap but pushing him wide. he slowed to avoid causing a spin and Ad2mny saw a gap. He drove it around the outside and put himself right on the apex of the exit. whisky_kilo must not have realised he was there, turning down on him, but once he realised he was there after they touched he swerved back the other way, running a little wide and having a half spin on the ripplestrip, but recovering without losing any more places. So at half race distance the race order was: razor4797 and garyw61 so close together you could barely tell them apart, X-3vi1m00n 10 seconds behind, AERO_HDT and BERNSY001 6 seconds further back, andrew_f_41 and Ad2mny 1 second behind them. whisky_kilo was 1 1/2 seconds further back in 8th, hosie09 and FloodSim 3 seconds behind, while Stumbles01 struggled and was now 30 seconds off the tail of the race. FloodSim outbraked hosie09 into La Source, moving to 9th, but then seemed to hesitate on exit, giving the place back. garyw61 took 1st place at Les Combes, and AERO_HDT found himself on the grass along Kemmel Straight after a tap from BERNSY001. BERNSY001 let him stay ahead as he rejoined the track and they entered Les Combes. FloodSim drafted past hosie09 back into 9th at Les Combes. andrew_f_41 also found himself under attack from Ad2mny at the same corner, but managed to hold him out from the outside, outbraking Ad2mny and holding on to 6th. garyw61 ran a little wide at turn 11, letting razor4797 alongside. garyw61 tried to hold him off but razor4797 got better drive out of Poulton and held onto 1st. andrew_f_41 ran a little wide at Poulton, getting into a fishtail and losing his 6th place to Ad2mny. He recovered well though and managed to hold off an attack from FloodSim. BERNSY001 drafted alongside AERO_HDT leading up to Blanchimont. AERO_HDT blinked first, braking to let BERNSY001 through, but as AERO_HDT exited the turn, he touched the outside ripplestrip and spun out, heavily colliding with the inside wall. Ad2mny zoomed past but AERO_HDT was right in the middle of the track when whisky_kilo having just passed andrew_f_41 at Blanchimont arrived on the scene. whisky_kilo dove for the inside and andrew_f_41 the outside, clipping AERO_HDT on his way past and sending AERO_HDT into another spin. whisky_kilo touched the grass with his evasive manouever and fishtailed all the way to the Bus Stop, where andrew_f_41 slipped past up to 6th. By the time AERO_HDT recovered he was 10th. Lap 10. whisky_kilo drafted back past andrew_f_41 on Kemmel Straight, retaking 6th. garyw61 passed razo4797 entering Bruxelles. andrew_f_41 ran wide exiting Blanchimont, doing an almost exact replica of AERO_HDT's spin the previous lap. FloodSim and hosie09 scraped past moving to 7th and 8th respectively. Lap 11. hosie09 had had enough and parked up at the end of this lap just after the Bus Stop. Lap 12. Gary gained a penalty at Eau Rouge, losing touch with razor4797 and falling far enough back to be out of his draft.. By this stage in the race, the rest of the field was fairly well spread out, with the only real battle being for 5th, 6th and 7th. Lap 14. Just as Stumbles was starting to see some people on his map, he was DSC'd. Bad luck. whisky_kilo was closing slowly on Ad2mny as he was trying hard to make up some ground on BERNSY001 ahead. Ad2mny touched a little grass at Campus which allowed whisky_kilo even closer. whisky_kilo tried a pass at the Bus Stop, but Ad2mny saw him coming. He ran himself a little too deep into the first part and having to slow so much on exit, whisky_kilo was past before La Source starting lap 15. FloodSim was closing on this battle too. Ad2mny was not giving up 5th easily, and stuck to whisky_kilo's tail. As they came to the Bus Stop again, whisky_kilo touched the outside grass on entry, running in with the wheels locked way too deep, but still managing to come out the other side ahead with no penalty. He slowed to let Ad2mny past as FloodSim got ever closer. Ad2mny tried to cover his line at Les Combes Lap 16, but whisky_kilo drafted through. AERO_HDT moved up to 8th leading up to Les Combes ahead of andrew_f_41. Lap 17. Ad2mny in chase mode ran too hot into La Source, touching the outside ripplestrip and spinning out just in front of the pit exit, losing 1 position to FloodSim. whisky_kilo could now fully concentrate on catching BERNSEY001 without Ad2mny's BRZ looking for a way past at nearly every turn. FloodSim also put his head down and stayed with him. Lap 18. andrew_f_41 gained a shortcut penalty at Eau Rouge but managed to keep AERO_HDT in his sights. BERNSY001 ran wide at turn 9, letting whisky_kilo get a hold of his slipstream. whisky_kilo drafted past leading up to Blanchimont. They entered side by side and there was some rubbing but nothing major. whisky_kilo came out in the lead and held BERNSEY001 off to start the final lap. Lap 19. AERO_HDT ran wide at La Source, but andrew_f_41 tapped his rear on exit, losing his better drive. He stayed on his tail and drafted past at Les Combes into 8th. BERNSY001 got good draft up Kimmel Straight coming alongside whisky_kilo then seeming to take all the track with him, forcing him out onto the grass. As whisky_kilo tried to rejoin the track, his car slid sideways and he collided with BERNSY001's rear wheel sending him sliding out and onto the grass. whisky_kilo just about came to a stop on the track as BERNSY001 careened along the grass leading up to Les Combes. FloodSim came roaring up behind whisky_kilo. BERNSY001 managed to rejoin the track in time to make the corner, and whisky_kilo just managed to hold off FloodSim. whisky_kilo quickly caught back up to BERNSEY001, and threw his BRZ down the inside line at Bruxelles, braking very late and pushing BERNSEY001 wide. FloodSim saw an opening and slid through on the inside of the battling pair. whisky_kilo had another dive at campus and again there was contact but BERNSEY001 stayed steady and ahead. whisky_kilo ran wide at Stavelot, sliding wildly and losing enough time to drop far enough back that he couldn't make up any more positions, sealing 6th. BERNSY001 had a good run at FloodSim into the BusStop but was too far back to make a pass. AERO_HDT had one last run at andrew_f_41 into Blanchimont, but hit his rear losing his drive. They entered the Bus Stop side by side, bashing and bumping, but AERO_HDT managed to keep the cleaner line coming out ahead in 8th. Action packed, all the way to the last lap. Well done razor4797 for the win, and also to garyw61 and X-3vi1m00n for the final podium positions. Division 4 results: 1st Disturboed 2nd DRZ_Hatfield 3rd GTP_Dutch Congratulations to disturboed for his first ROOZ win. Well done also to DRZ_Hatfield and GTP_Dutch on the final podium positions. Division 5 results: 1st Tovey_4saken 2nd xxDARKOxx 3rd JAKO155 Well done to Tovey_4saken taking the win, and to xxDARKOxx with JAKO155 rounding out the podium. Division 6 results: 1st capatowned 2nd Rumbleshorts 3rd farbs33 Well done capatowned on your victory, and Rumbleshorts with farbs33 finishing off the podium. Next round is Trial Mountain. Stay tuned for our next report. Division 3 Reporter/Photographer/Editor: Jamie (Ad2mny) Division 4 Photo's courtesy of Doogledave Division 5 Photo's courtesy of T_Vue.
