Welcome to part 3 of our race reports from the Motegi Sprints. In the final part of our reports we will hear from divisions 5 and 6. We will start with Division 5, with VARDZ31 bringing the report: BJH PLACES ONE HAND ON THE DIVISON 5 CUP Round 4 sees the Division 5 teams return to Japan at the Twin Ring of Motegi for the second of three visits during the 7 round season. A change in race format for this round would also greet the driver, they would battle over 2 sprint rounds of 17 laps with the second heat being a reverse grid start from the heat 1 finishing order. When the all important qualifying came to an end once again it was bjh1012 that would be starting off pole, followed by Castrosfriendche, achieving his highest starting position of the season so far. From row 2 was ranok3n and VARDZ31, row 3 would have mmm-homebrew and revhead-1000 and rounding out the field of 7 was copperj32. Absentees for this round were JAKO155, Capatowned and mickdundee308. As the charge to turn 1 and the opening lap commenced all drivers were away cleanly. Assuming his regular spot at the head of the field was BJ followed by Castro, Rano, copper making a blistering start from the tail of the grid, followed by Vardz, homebrew and revhead making an early play for the bucket and spade award. Lap 3 would see a tremendous piece of sportsmanship. Castro and Rano were fighting it out for 2nd spot when Castro got out of shape on the exit to turn 4 and slowed through turn 5. Rano seeing this attempted to cut left and slip underneath Castro but unfortunately for rano he gave Castro " a bump " causing him to lose control and spin. Rano believing he was the cause of the incident made the decision to stop and allow Castro to pass, also giving copper and vardz a free ticket. After 5 laps the race order was as follows: BJ in the lead followed by copper 5.5 secs behind, Castro +10 secs, Vardz +13 secs from the race lead. Rano at +18 secs and at the tail of the field 24 secs behind BJ were homebrew and revhead. By half the race distance BJ was still in front of copperj by 4.7 secs Vardz in 3rd + 12 secs. Castro was in 4th just 2 secs behind vardz. Rano + 19 secs with homebrew and Revhead a further 5 secs back in a battle of their own. Coming into the final lap BJ had a commanding lead of 21 sec and would take his 3rd chequered flag of the season, but the following pack of 3 were all within 1 .3 secs. At turn 6 copperj and vardz thought it a great idea, with just a handful of turns left to run, to enter their nomination for the bucket and spade award. In 4th was Vardz, 5th Rano, 6th homebrew and the final car to cross the line was revhead. Race 2 With the 2nd heat getting underway in a reverse grid from the finishing order the field would get to turn 2 before the first mishap. Vardz had moved from his starting position of 4th and the race leader Rano made his way to 2nd, Castro 3rd, Copper 4th, bj 5th. homebrew had clipped the outside ripplestrip, turned around and would come away in last after revhead would move into 6th. At turn 1 on lap 3, Castro had moved past Rano and made a dive for the race lead under brakes but found himself off into the kitty litter and the diversion caused would take Vardz with him. Rano assumed the race lead followed by BJ, and copper in 3rd. Vardz recovered to be away in 4th followed by Castro, homebrew and revhead. After 9 laps, Rano and BJ were out front, copper was consolidating 3rd spot 9 secs back from the pair out front and 10 secs in front of Vardz. Revhead had made his way into 5th spot 10 seconds behind Vardz followed by Castro and homebrew. Rano and BJ were in the best battle of the race going all the way to lap 13 when inexplicably BJ had a very rare lapse of concentration and found himself pointing in the wrong direction. This would leave rano out in front with nobody to challenge him for the race victory. BJ would keep his perfect record of Podium finishes intact with copper again finishing 3rd on the same podium spot as heat 1. Vardz would again finish 4th for the fourth race consecutively. Revhead placed 5th Castro 6th and homebrew in 7th. Round 5 sees teams off to the East coast of U.S.A. and the Famous Daytona speedway where they tackle the road course. BJ would have to have DNF for the rest of the season for him not to secure the championship. The battle for 2nd in the championship is alive a well with any one of 4 drivers still in the hunt. RACE QUOTES: ranok3n (5th/1st): I was hoping to be able to give BJ a bit of a challenge and try and steal pole off him, but even with all that practice, I couldn't break into the 12's. First heat I started 3rd on the grid. Got an awesome run off the line and was riding BJ's bumper down the straight but broke early to avoid the usual first corner dramas, which let Castro back in front. I sat on Castro's tail for the next lap and a half trying to find a way past and eventually got a run on him on lap 2, turn 3. Just as we were exiting turn 4, I gave him a hard enough tap to unsettle his Macca and send him into a spin which sent him back to 6th place. Wait for what felt like an eternity to redress and that was almost the end of my race. Another few spins over the next few laps saw me drop to last. Shook off whatever nerves were ruining my race and started putting him some solid lap times to catch everyone again. I managed to work myself up into 5th on lap 6 when mmm_homebrew and revhead_1000 both ran wide into turn 5. Over the next 10 laps I clawed my way back onto the rear of the three guys battling for 2nd, copperj32, VARDZ31 and CastrosfriendChe. On lap 15 (or maybe it was 14) I was able to dive on the inside of Castro coming into the second last corner, but ran out of talent and ended up in the sand and ended any hopes of a podium finish. Heat 2 was a little better. Started 3rd on the grid again and managed another great start, albeit a bit of bumping and grinding as I was getting squeezed on both sides on the way to turn 1, this allowed VARDZ31 and Castro to jump ahead. Fortunately for me, on lap 2, they both ran too deep into turn 5 and gifted me the lead. With BJ hot on my heels, we slowly pulled out a gap, with copperj32 finding the pace to not let us too far ahead. With little mistakes every now and then coming from both sides, the gap between me and BJ stayed fairly flat around the 2 second mark. Then with about 6 or 7 laps left, the second last corner caught itself another victim. This time it was Bruce and it wasn't as kind to him sending him into a spin and losing precious seconds. From there on it was just keeping the Macca on the road and off the kerbs. Great racing everyone. Well done to all those that made it on the podium tonight. Well done to everyone for keeping it clean and showing up every week. bjh1012 (1st/2nd): Qually got out on track behind VARD's and could not get past with cold tyres so sat back for 3/4 of a lap and put a couple of fast laps together (my fast lol not lower div fast) managed to just grab pole. Race 1 got off to a good start with SuiCide (ranok3n) just behind me and then he fell back into the pack. Got a 30/40 sec lead then run my self wide into the sand on the last corner. Castro got a bit close but I could pull away if need be. Have not watched replay yet so times and gaps may change. Race 2 did not go as good. Started last, got a good start but got the door closed on me so backed of into first corner a little bit. SuiCide run too deep off in to the sand. SuiCide and I were nose to tail for a number of laps with Copper just waiting for a mistake from one of us so I put my hand up and spun. Man it takes a long time to get going when Copper is closing in for the kill! I manage to get it pointing the right way and made it a very wide car till my tyres cleaned up. By this time SuiCide was gone and so were my tyres. Good racing guys nice and clean. Castrosfriendche (2nd/6th): QF for race one went well, a little too well, as I nabbed second on the grid. Which gave me a few nerves tbh as I'm used to applying, I'll use the term loosley - pressure - from the back of the pack. I was able to maintain 2nd position for a good lap and a bit, but my nerves started to show and my driving line through corners 3/4/5 were a bit off causing me to loose some speed, which saw Ranok3n come up on my tail faster than probably even he expected, enough to clip me and send me spinning out on the back straight. No doubt it felt like an eternity for both of us as he pulled up and waited while I worked my way back onto the track, putting us in positions 5/6 respectively. I was now trailing VARDZ who eventually ran a corner wide on lap 3 which I took advantage of, to then find Homebrew up ahead on the back straight had hit the sand, gifting me 3rd position. But VARDZ was on my tail with Ranok3n not far behind. A few corners later VARDZ and Ranok3n were mixing it up which gave me a slight gap as I looked forward to try and close the gap between myself and Copperj32 but being hesitant to push too hard my focus seemed to drift onto VARDZ who was coming up from behind. Over the next few laps the gap between us was shifting around the 3 second mark (I think) but by lap 7 I finally touched the sand on the first corner which gave VARDZ 3rd and so I had no choice but to keep focused and to try and stay on VARDZ and hopefully apply some pressure of my own. For the next few laps the gap between us two was around 3 seconds. Long enough for me to think we were really well matched for this race. By lap 10 on the second last corner I could see VARDZ take 2nd as Copperj32 had some problems, but only enough to put him in 3rd position as I maintained 4th, meanwhile there was enough time and we all had the pace to nab 2nd on the podium...over a few laps VARDZ and Copperj32 had a slight gap beyond me, but their proximity to one another meant I always had them close by as they probably lost some valuable time amongst the challenge of each other. Meanwhile ranok3n is gaining and it was a matter of time before he'd be close enough to challenge my position with 5 laps to go. On lap 15 Copperj32 had taken 2nd and VARDZ now shadowed him and I saw my first real opportunity to pass VARDZ on turn 4 as he made a mistake but with no room to confidently pass I settled in behind him and watch my rearview to see Ranok3n closing the gap between us. It was now obvious that my fight was to maintain 4th position, and it'd take a mistake on behalf of VARDZ/Copperj32 to finish any better. By the approach of the second last corner on lap 15 Ranok3n saw the opportunity to pass me on the inside and went in too deep and fast and found the sand. Heading into lap 16 I felt I could grab 4th but now felt 2nd/3rd was up for grabs, I was close enough. It was a question of who could stay focused and not give in to the pressure...The first corner of lap 16 had VARDZ go wide, but I just could not find the right spot to overtake and he maintained 3rd position while I lost some pace. Enough to know I should be able to maintain 4th position but I'd need someone in front of me to make a mistake to get myself a podium, I just couldn't get close enough to put up a challenge. By the sixth corner (I assume there was no collision?) both Copperj32 and VARDZ ran the corner wide into the sand, gifting me 2nd position with only a few corners to go, so I eased ever so slightly off the throttle and maintained position till the finish line. It was a great race, despite any hiccup, it again reinforced how well matched our group really is. Bruce (bjh1012) aside of course If you enjoy racing now Bruce, no doubt you'll be getting a kick out of Div 4 next season. Going into race 2, I felt good. Was curious as to how we'd all go off the grid in reverse order (a great idea in itself) and I'm sure we'd all know that first corner would or could be an equaliser of sorts as we all slowed down and tried to manage it as best we could. 3 corners later I think we all had it sorted. I found myself in 3rd position behind Ranok3n (2) and VARDZ (1) and by the sixth corner I found my way past Ranok3n and found myself in a familiar position behind VARDZ, Ranok3n right behind me, and then of course I could see Bj making his way through the pack. By lap 2 I found some speed coming out of turn 5 and was too aggresively chasing 1st position with an inside line on approach to the sixth corner I braked late after just grabbing 1st but it was too late, not only taking myself into the sand, but taking VARDZ with me (I'm not sure if I ghosted during that moment, it looks like I've blocked any realistic line for VARDZ with my car but if I was a ghost maybe he could've stayed on the road? Hard to judge at the time from his POV and making a snap decision, I think most would turn away from my car and not try to drive right through it lol) Either way, Ranok3n and Bj took 1st and 2nd position respectively with copperj32 not far behind them. Once again I found myself shadowing VARDZ. It's only lap 2 but we're all still quite close. Now in 5th position I've got Revhead_1000 and Homebrew not far behind me at all. By the end of lap 3 I had found the sand and Homebrew and Revhead_1000 drove on by, and I really started to consider the challenge on my hands from 7th position. At this point I should say I wasn't at all pessimistic, which means I've improved some lol. I felt the confidence of race 1 and my feel for the track and just felt like if I took it one corner at a time, I'd be fine. Not once did I even think, 'hey if I come off the sand again anytime soon, I'm really going to be stuffed.' lol. A lap or so later Homebrew drove into the sand on the back end of the course which put me in 6th position, tailing Revhead_1000. I shadowed Revhead_1000 and again felt we were overtly well matched. By about lap 6/7(?) I took 5th position now with Revhead_1000 on my tail. On lap 7 VARDZ, in 4th position, made a mistake, but corrected and still had a healthy gap between he and myself in 5th. Meanwhile around lap 8/9/10 myself and Revhead_1000 were switching positions fairly often. Great fun. It was around the eighth corner going into the ninth he unfortunately nudged me from behind and I found the sand. By the next corner, turn ten I went wide and Homebrew drove by and I found myself in 7th position once more. Lap 12 saw Homebrew make a mistake and find the sand, giving me 6th position. By now Revhead_1000 had a good 5/6 second gap on me. My feeling was, with 5 laps to go, I probably couldn't catch him. Again, well matched, I felt he could maintain position. Lap 13 saw a reduction in the gap down to around 1.5 seconds at best and by lap 14 I was right on his tail. I couldn't find the speed to overtake, I was hoping maybe the pressure would force an error. All the way now to the finish line, I stayed put in the shadow of Revhead_1000 and took 6th position in the end. ...I thought it was a really hard course to pass someone on. I mean over both races there were a few times where someone would approach a corner incorrectly and it felt good to take advatage of those brief moments, especially coming out of turn 5 yet sometimes those same spots were a nightmare where there's just no space to move anywhere but behind. Also found the hovering name tags to be a real pain this time around, sometimes masking different brake markers, like on the first straight. copperj32 (3rd/3rd): Race 1. Had a bad qualy. I was trying to get a good lap in with about a minute to go and I got booted from the room . Managed to get back in (Thanks for waiting guys) and started at the back of the grid. Got a good start off the line and was in 4th by the end of the first lap. Into the 2nd lap castro and ranok got tangled up and I shot though to P2. Kept a steady pace and no errors until I put a wheel in the dirt at turn 8 and shot across the track into the opposite barrier. With Vardz not far behind he snatched 2nd and bolted. I got back on the track in 3rd and took off in pursuit. On lap 14 I got a good run out of the last corner onto the main straight and managed to slipstream past vardz into the first corner. I managed to hold vardz off for a couple of laps until on lap 15 we both went a bit deep (not sure which corner) and castro took the opportunity and powered through to take P2. I managed to get back on the track in front of vardz and held him off to take 3rd. Race 2. Got another good start from P5 other than a slight bump with bj (sorry about that) and managed to stay clear of any incidents into the first turn. Vardz and castro grabbed 1st and 2nd with ranok 3rd and a great start from bj moving him from 7th to 4th. Second lap in vardz and castro ran deep allowing ranok into 1st with bj close behind and gifting me 3rd position. I managed to keep a 6 second gap with ranok and bj for a few laps but mucked up a few braking points and the gap just got bigger. Vardz seemed to be catching me slowly but he must off had a moment somewhere as he had disappeared from my rear view mirror. Bj had of had a moment late in the race as I came around the 2nd last turn and he was just getting under way again but he was way too quick for me to catch so I settled in for a 3rd place finish. It was good clean racing from everyone and congrats to all that made it on the podium. Nice report VARDZ31. Congratulations bjh1012 for the round win, and also to ranok3n and copperj32 for the final podium positions. Now we will move on to Division 6. Unfortunately there is no race 1 report, but here are the finishing positions courtesy of patg65: Race 2 Race 2 started off with Motho joining in the action as a late entry on the front of the grid, having just arrived at the track after a bungle in customs saw him miss Race 1. Pat completed the front row, with Neemo and Dog on row 2, and Peach completing the grid after a solid Race 1 performance saw him at the back of the now reversed field. When the lights went out, someone had lit a firecracker under the butt of Neemo’s Macca, and he shot forward to take the holeshot into Turn 1. Peach got a jump on Dog but by turn 4 had surrendered that back to him. At Turn 5, Dog outbraked Pat to grab second, but had over-cooked the entry and ran wide to allow Pat and Peach back up to second and third respectively. At S Curve on lap 2, peach drifted a little wide entering the chicane to give Dog a look in at third, which he duly took, and set about catching up with Pat. On lap 5, the pressure of Peach finally managed to force the Dog into outbraking himself at Turn 5 to allow Peach through on the inside. After 2 laps chasing down Pat, Peach managed to outbrake him coming into Turn 5, and claimed another scalp on that corner, with Dog only a few seconds behind that scrap. This saw the field settle into an order for several laps. It would take until lap 13 for Dog to be close enough to capitalise on a small mistake by Pat coming out of Turn 2, sliding a little off the racing line and slowing enough for Dog to come blasting through back into third place. On lap 15, Dog ran wide in the tricky first chicane, and broke his momentum enough for Pat to start to close the gap to striking distance, only to lose his advantage with a half spin at the last hairpin. The race ended with Neemo a very comfortable 10 seconds clear of Peach in second, and Dog filling out the podium a further 20 seconds behind him. Pat finished a further 17 seconds adrift in fourth, with Motho being lapped. As Motho lamented, a complete lack of practice time leading up to the race had left him with no hope of salvaging any pride. RACE QUOTES: CAPTNPEACH (1st/2nd): Had a good start in the first race with some clean air and just concentrated keeping it on the black. Happy with the win. Come second race back of the grid and just couldn't pass purple or pat without a fight. Got past but the damage was done neemo was 6 seconds clear and I just couldn't close the gap. Well done to neemo on the 2nd race. Daytona next with several overtaking high speed points. PurpleDog (2nd/3rd): I was happy with second place in quali, but botched the start and went right back, but managed to get myself into 3rd after a couple of laps, and then got past Neemo when he screwed the chicane with about 5 laps to go. Had no chance of catching Peaches as he was about 18 seconds up, but happy to get my first podium. Race 2 started near the back thanks to second place in the first race, and again screwed the start. I need to get those lights working for me! Couldn't get the same lines as race 1 and started to fall back a bit, but when pat messed up a couple of corners I swooped and got myself into 3rd for a double podium. Good clean racing by everyone, and congrats to Peaches and Neemo on the wins. patg65 (4th/4th): Hard races for me last night, Started off well in both races but made continual errors which cost me dearly. Lack of practice and skill took their toll. Found it really hard to concentrate last night. Correct result for me as my times reflect that I was almost a second off the pace. Thank god for the two week practice time for Daytona. Congratulations to the podium places, thoroughly deserved and a big thankyou to Motho for joining in the second race and keeping me from last. motho (DNS/5th): What a disaster! Update took 3 hours made it into the room for start of race 2. After being away all week it meant no practice other 1 hr last monday. Was slow as, couldn't get my lines right. Comfortably lapped by everyone. Oh well there's always Daytona neemo55 (3rd/1st): Started race 1 well, Battled with peachy for the lead early on but couldn't keep him behind and he was able to make a good pass through the chicane. From there on I couldn't reel him back in and ended up spinning twice which put me back to 3rd. I got the jump at the start for race 2 and was able to build a lead while the pack was battling. Wasn't happy with the car race 1 so I pumped up the abs and changed brake bias which proved dividends. Nice job PurpleDog. Congratulations to CAPTNPEACH for the round win. neemo55 and PurpleDog took the final podium positions. Well done guys. So that's the Motegi Sprints over and done with. There's a week off for the Queens Birthday long weekend (YAY!!) but the drivers will just see this as more practice time. Off to the U.S of A for the Day/Night race at Daytona Road Course. Drivers will need to remember their sunglasses this round, with the transition between light and dark making some corners almost impossible to see! Till next time...! Jamie (Ad2mny) Division 5 Reporter/Photographer: VARDZ31 Division 6 Reporter/Photographer: PurpleDog - Race 1 Contributor: patg65 Tables: DRZ-Hatfield Editor: Jamie (Ad2mny)
Top reports once again, Thanks Vardz, and all reporters in each division, Awesome job once again on pulling it altogether Ad.
