Welcome to part 3 of our League racing reports, this time with the Division 5 and 6 reports. The rain was no friendlier to the lower divisions, and made for some intense battles. So we'll jump straight in, here is VARDZ31 with the Division 5 report: BJH1012 SAYS 2 OUT OF 3 AIN'T BAD Round Three of Division Five was at what many people regard as the “HOME OF MOTORSPORT”, the very fast and somewhat treacherous Monza. Throw in the fact that the rain clouds had settled in over the Imola track and all drivers were in for the greatest examination of their patience and skills of the season thus far. When the 10 minute qualifying session had come to an end it would be BJ with a blistering time on the time sheets of 1’48”719. Next to BJ on the front row would be Copperj32, who continues to improve every week. He finished qualifying a full 2 seconds in arrears of BJ with a time of 1’50”724. On row 2 was VARDZ31, just .036 off the front row and JAKO155 a further .7 secs back. Row 3 was Capatowned and CastrosfriendChe. Rounding out the field of 8 on row 4 were mmm_homebrew and, in his first start of the season, mickdundee308. A notable non starter for this round was Laguna Seca's victor RanoK3n. Also of the regulars, Revhead_1000 didn’t make his way to the start line. With the rain continuing to fall, the red lights went out but not before Capa, Castro and homebrew all jumped the start and suffered time penalties as a result. The front 4 all got away cleanly, except for Vardz who bogged it down (resembling Mark Webber in the RBR car), which allowed Jako to pass him on the run to the first corner but Jako would go in way too deep and collide with the barriers. Copper and Vardz also went a little deep, cutting the corner and would suffer short cut penalties. So with all this mayhem going on, BJ was off into the distance, never to have his front running position threatened at any stage of the 26 lap distance. In the early laps Copperj32, Vardz and Jako were in pursuit of BJ and it wouldn’t be long before Vardz and Jako would leave Copper alone in 2nd, when on the exit of Ascari they would have their first of many off's, taking time out to play with their bucket and spades. The chasing pack of Mick, Capa, homebrew and even Castro for a few laps were settling in for their own battle, not only with each other, but also the ever worsening conditions. By lap 5 BJ had established a massive 23 sec lead over Copper who was 3 secs clear of Jako. Capa and Vardz, who was having problems through Ascari, were dicing a further 4 secs back, and were 9 secs in front of a dueling homebrew and Mick. Trailing off even at this early stage by some 58 secs was Castro. At half race distance, BJ had set a fastest lap of 1’47”387, which you'd certainly think would see him being competitive in higher divisions. Still in 2nd was Copper, now 38 secs back, followed by Jako then Vardz, Home, Mick, Capa and Castro. Castro was unfortunate to arrive in Italy later than he would have liked, and by his own admission said that the lack of practice prior to this week’s event wouldn’t help his cause, and by lap 15 he would go a lap down. At the end of lap 16, a mistake by Jako on the exit to the parabolica gave Vardz an opportunity to take 3rd spot, which he duly accepted. This was very short lived though, when just 2 laps later at what was his achilles heel for more than half of the 26 times, through Ascari he ran wide and gifted Jako back 3rd place. The running order entering the final lap was BJ, Copper, Jako, Vardz and followed by Homebrew, who would eventually record a DNF when inexplicably his Macca gave up the ghost, running out of fuel. He did say in the after race comments that he could see his fuel getting low but didn’t think for a moment it would run out. So in 5th was Mick, who was happy with his debut performance in such tough conditions, followed by Capa then Castro, the final car across the line. All in all a dominant display by BJ finishing 53 seconds in front of 2nd place and taking his second chequered flag in 3 rounds. Copper, for the second week in a row, finished on the podium and improved on his 3rd place finish at Laguna Seca. On the final step was Jako, making up for his unfortunate DSC last week. Vardz was 4th, the same finishing spot as the previous week. Round 4 sees the 2nd visit to Japan and a change of format, being 2 sprint races of 17 laps each at the Twin rings of Motegi just north of Tokyo. RACE QUOTES: bjh1012 (1st): Thanks guys for letting me passed it was a good race Pretty quiet race for me got off to a good start and got around turn 1 before the rest of the pack got there must of been a lot that out braked themselves so I just put my head down to get a bit of time up on the guys manage a 1.47.3 only had 2 off's one trying to lap capa and the other trying to find my ash tray both on the front straight lol all & all it was a good race thanks guys. copperj32 (2nd): Great win bj. I can see you going up a division next season. Great race all round although I think most of us stuffed the first corner up and thanks to the back markers pulling over. Awesome effort everyone. Nice report there VARDZ31. Well done bjh1012, another driver with maximum points here, pole, race win and fastest lap. Congratulations also to copperj32 and JAKO155 for the final podium positions. Now for our final report, lets hear from Clevohead and the Division 6 race: Round 3 we find ourselves in an environment similar to that of a Tasmanian summer's day, a wet Monza round. We had a slight increase in drivers this round with 6 contenders filling the field, even Clevo made it after alluding to a possible no show earlier in the evening. With Clevo cutting it fine with the room set up getting it up by 8.00, we made the decision to make the practice time the Qual period. We waited for Motho who had some initial connection issues, and once he joined the field we commenced the race. The grid from front to rear: Peaches, Pat, Purple, Feenix, Clevo, and Motho. The 3P's: Peaches, Pat, and Purpledog Feenix with a hungry Purpledog on his tail. Clevo making the ol' inside out on Purpledog to take 4th spot on the final lap. The racing was good and fair as always with this bunch, Clevo did give Feenix a little love tap on T1 Lap 1, and yielded his position to make up for it. Meanwhile up the front Motho, Peaches, and Pat, with some additional contest from Purpledog were duking it out for the first several laps for an elusive spot on that hallowed podium. The rest of the race was pretty much without incident (other than some lag issues) until the last lap when Purpledog surrendered 4th position to Clevohead after having a spin on the last turn. In the end Peaches came out on top, followed by Motho, Pat, Clevo, Purpledog, and last but not least Feenix who with all against him in racing with a controller stuck it out and finished the race, an admirable effort indeed. NOTICE TO DIV 6 DRIVERS: Next week we will be holding the event in Pat's room in an attempt to alleviate some of the lag issues some people have been experiencing with each other, so please keep an eye out for Patg65's room when entering. Until next week "Keep shiny side up" Cheers Clevo. RACE QUOTES: CPTNPEACH (1st): I was surprised I even polled. I didn't do any more than 10 laps before tonight's practice and just found my braking points and went from there. Motho (2nd): What a great race, well done Peach especially after only 10 laps practice! I had a nightmare time of it, Was in a practice room beforehand no worries, then come race time, can't see the room. Running around the house rebooting routers, ps3 etc, had almost given up then made it into the room just in time for race start, giving me last position. This may have worked in my favour as it let me hang back from any carnage at turn one. Managed to get up to 2nd within a few laps (more through other peoples error's than my skill ) and tried to hunt down Pat with Peachy hot on my tail. Got close enough to taste his exhaust then made an error which let Peach past and I struggled to recover my mojo after that. For the next 10 laps or so I couldn't do anything right, spun 3 times and hit the wall at least twice. The last 4 or 5 laps I got my act together and started gaining on Peach but it was too little too late. All in all still very happy with the result considering I thought I wasn't going to start at all. Clevohead (4th): Would of been close if I didn't have so many off's in the first 5 laps, suppose that is what you get for not practicing Purpledog (5th): Congratulations to @CPTNPEACH on the win, and @motho and @pat65 for filling out the podium. Well done to @Clevohead on catching up enough to overtake me on the LAST PARABOLICA when I tripped up on a backmarker... feenix777 (6th): ...That race was a hard one for me, not having the back end step out on me was my primary focus. I look forward to the next race and being a bit more competitive. Nice report Clevohead. Congratulations to CPTNPEACH, gaining maximum points with pole, victory and fastest lap. Well done also to Motho and Patg65 finishing in the final podium positions. Another round complete, and early comments about the next round at Motegi say there was more predictable grip here in the wet!! See you all next time! Division 5 Reporter/Photographer: VARDZ31 Division 6 Reporter/Photographer: Clevohead Tables: DRZ-Hatfield Editor: Jamie (Ad2mny)
