The 'Winter Race Ireland' is the first of what the organisers hope will be an ever-more-popular annual event for 1/10th off road buggies. Indoor winter off-road series and big one-off events have become popular over the past few years.

	Hows the craic? Craic or CRACK is a term for fun, entertainment and enjoyable conversation - particularly prominent in Ireland. It is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked and is the most addictive form of cocaine. It affects the brain chemistry of the 'enjoyer' giving a feeling of euphoria but after 5 minutes the dopermene levels drop off leaving the user feeling low and depressed with occasional full blown psychosis.

A smaller than expected foreign entry - a result of the little-known nature of this first event coupled with the current economic climate shouldn't be enough to dampen what's sure to be a great event - to be sure.

Our trip over to Ireland began at 17:45 on Thursday but strong winds were apparently disrupting all the ferries and even cancelling some. The bbc were reporting 130mph winds up in Scotland - but that was likely the usual dramatic embellishment and didn't put us off.
Still, the roads were pretty bad with traffic moving at 30mph on the motorway due to the cross winds.

Ferries from ports all across the country were being suspended, still we raced across to Liverpool to catch our 9pm departure. On arrival we were informed that the ferry wouldn't be leaving before midnight due to the high winds and extreme waves within the lock system, but that we'd be boarding soon. I've seen deadliest catch and we don't even have to haul crabs onto the boat, so how bad could it be? Our chosen route from Liverpool meant a longer stint on the ferry, but the timings worked out better than the Holyhead option, with us both having worked all day.

As a bonus though we discovered at check in that meals were included in the ticket price, ace :) With nearly three hours to familiarise ourselves with the boat prior to departing we settled into our cabin and set off to find the buffet. Bellies full and photo opportunities maxxed out, there was little left to do other than sleep and await our morning arrival in the city port of Dublin.

The weather however had other ideas, and our sea-vessel was soon battling through head-winds of double what it would usually expect, about TEN. There were also some huge waves, much higher than our cabin. On a number of occasions it was looking uncertain whether we'd make it to the other side of the river, but alas we were informed just before 7am that we'd shortly be arriving in the land of Ire.

Fluffy-Dee feels the wind on his face, through the window of a stationary vehicle.	On first impressions the ship didn't look very big.

Men with poor postures are employed to tow containers onto the boat.	Reporting-munkehs preferred mode of transport.

Ireland was little heard of before the discovery of 'Father Ted' in 1995, after which the small country shot to fame - and tourism, along with its economy, boomed.

Probably most famous for producing (and consuming) Guiness in large volumes, Ireland mustn't be forgotten for its lesser known claims to fame, such as the Titanic (built in Belfast in 1909-1912), Pierce Brosnan (featured in Mrs Doubtfire, 1993), four leaf clovers, and the Irish Accent which was developed in the 1960's after seperation from the Queen.

Dublin is the most densley populated village in Ireland, home to around half a million occupants, and is twinned with Liverpool, although its name translates to 'Blackpool'. So if you fancied travelling over from England but can't find sufficient time / resources to boat/fly/swim over, then visit either Liverpool or Blackpool to satisfy the urge.

The History of Irish Model Car Racing.

Irish model car racing was invented by Graham Parkes in the 1980's after a freakishly vivid daydream about toadstools; the Dublin Model Car Club (DMCC) was born.

Father and son team Dave and Mick Bolger soon cottoned on to the latest Craic, and their enthusiasm has never dwindled. The club has seen various venues, both indoors and outdoors throughout its lifetime. Initially they raced by the seafront, not far from where car ferries dock at Dublin port; however they were soon driven away by the wind chill factor in winter.

For some time they then raced in Marley Park, a public area well known for hosting large events such as rock concerts. This arrangement worked tremendously well until the new M50 motorway was built straight through the middle of the track, and health and safety boffins deemed the venue as being too high risk for marshalling activities to take place. More recent arrangements have seen indoor winter racing held in a local parish hall at Taney, and up until last year an outdoor track at Griffeen Valley, Lucan, a venue which was provided for free by the council.

The team started searching for a modern indoor venue, when quite by chance a farmer stumbled upon them studying a map for barn spaces. The farmer showed the guys to this building which up until recently had been used as a warehouse for servicing helicopters. Sadly since the global recession took hold, helicopter ownership in Ireland has been eradicated and the 7000square foot venue had been left empty for some time. Astroturf was sourced from someones backyard and provided for the cost of delivery, and thus was born the track for this weekends Winter Race 2011.

Dave was particularly excited to announce that 5 years ago the number of club members matched the number of people on the committee, however more recently membership numbers have increased by so much that insurance cover has had to be increased to reflect this. This could be partly attributable to the recession, but perhaps moreso to increased exposure on the internet.

A dedicated committee ensures the smooth running of DMCC, which up until recently was chaired by Dave Bolger, but he has stepped aside to let loose the fresh talent. Michael O'Leary is the newly elected chairman as well as race director. Vicky Fagan is the secretary, and Ken Gordon is treasurer. Committee members Graham Parkes, William White, Ian Hunter and Tony Kavanagh have taken responsibility for the planning of this weekends event.

Following our early disembarkment in the locality, we set about finding our way to the rurally located track. With no map or printed directions, fortunately the race organisers had had the foresight to place phallic shaped balloons to point us in the right direction. A key-coded locked security gate repels any unwanted visitors, we were lucky enough to arrive at the same time as race developer William White who introduced us to the venue.

A rather chilly start to the day resulted in ice-block-toe syndrome, but a fuel-burning-heat-blaster soon started to thaw out the extremities.
As the event starts on a Friday, and many drivers were unable to take the time away from work to attend, the day began quietly. Well it would have been quiet had DC and Nathan Ralls not arrived so early ;).
As the day drew on, luggageless Tom Cockerill and his team GB buddies descended on the venue, along with a number of more local drivers.

Condemned! TomCocks dangerous luggage.	The media hall.

Not many people could make it for Friday and since it was just practice day - it didn't matter too much for the locals.

Tom Cockerill - surely a shoe-in for the top three in both classes?

The layout is fast and challenging enough to make it fun - without being over the top enough to make it hard work. Still, there were plenty of broken bits to be seen as people pushed their luck to the limit to find extra seconds.

The huge double-tabletop in front of the rostrum wasn't particularly challenging as such but if you rolled the first and jumped the tabletop part then you were aiming for the ceiling and destined for a nasty landing. The next double that lead onto the straight however needed a fine throttle control as under-jumping would lead to a horrific barrel-roll into the wall. Over-jumping would see pretty similar results. Get it just right and you were set up for the main straight quite nicely.

Cougar SV	DEX210

Dave 'Poulet' Poulter - gently feeds his pit chicken	Bart and Derek compare their CATs

Once temperatures at the track had dropped to below-unbearable, everyone decided it was time to pack up for the day and find a traditionally Irish way to warm up. This indeed includes indulging in 3 of Irelands finest features, a cosy pub, Guinness, and Irish stew. In that order. Our chosen venue for the evening was the local Cock Tavern.

The Guinness was really just as you'd expect, dark and moist. Strangely enough in Ireland they serve stew in a loaf of bread, an interesting idea but in future I'll stick with dumplings. Mike Williams (pictured) described his stew as 'Thick and Tasty'.

As chosen by Cockerill	It's mandatory in Ireland to use knives in place of forks.

When the bill came, Mike struggled to get to grips with the Yo-Yos.	Some new local friends we made Seamus and Nora O'Callaghan - Top o' the morning at ya.

Saturday 10th December 2011 - 2WD

Saturday was 2WD day and things got off early with just under an hour and a half of open practice for the competitors to get used to the track. There were a lot more drivers in attendance than on Friday - with plenty more of the Irish contingent in evidence.

Mick Bolger made space for us in his spare room.	Micks back garden

After practice was over a drivers briefing was called and the basic rules of the event were laid out - basically no swearing (at which point, everyone looked at William White) and marshall after you race - penalties would be given to those not on their marshalling point 30 seconds before the start. The actual penalties to be handed out weren't mentioned! (spank)

The official stuff kicked off around 10:30am with a quick round of controlled practice in heat order. All the competing drivers had a 3 minute run and from that run their three fastest laps would count toward their starting order in the first qualifier. It was also a chance for the racers to get used to racing alongside their fellow competitors for the first time.

Fastest guys over the three laps in practice were David Home in the clubmans class - three seconds up on Sam Scott in second with a time of 61.977 seconds (for three laps). Meanwhile in the modified class it was Mark Penney - brother of Paul Penney who's a well known racer doing the nationals over in the England every year. Mark was 1 second up on Nathan Ralls with Tom Cockerill just fractions of a second further back. Mark was on 53.070 seconds for the three laps.

Racing is split between 'clubman' running 10.5 turn brushless motors and no timing advance allowed (which IS checked!) and the modified class, running any motors. 16 drivers booked in to race the clubman class, and 18 drivers for the modified group, making this event Irelands largest race turnout of the weekend.

When Nathan Ralls ordered the new pit mat from his sponsors - HPI Racing - he wasn't aware it was made for matchbox cars.

Qualifying Round 1.
David Home couldn't match his performance from practice and had to settle for 3rd in round - Sam Scott taking the win ahead of Eoin Keating.

	2WD Clubman - round 1 top 10
	pos name result 1 Sam Scott 14/ 298.670 2 Eoin Keating 14/ 317.811 3 David Home 13/ 303.489 4 Kevin White 13/ 311.132 5 Ross McCullough 13/ 323.500 6 Grahan Parkes 13/ 324.429 7 Lee Mcguire 12/ 300.553 8 Wayne McGuire 12/ 325.725 9 Ken Gordon 11/ 303.106 10 Conor Reilly 11/ 304.461

Mark Penney driving the Associated C4.1 had no trouble repeating his form and stormed the first round nearly a lap up on everyone else. Tom Cockerill looked quick early with his Schumacher Cougar SV, but couldn't hold it together - quite literally as his bodyshell fell off and then he went into the wall for a brief moment to finish 8th in round.
Nicholas Risser from Belgium took up the race for 2nd with David Poulter taking it steady in third. The dastardly duo of Irelands true heros - Mick Bolger and William White went 4th and 5th respectively.

	2WD Modified - round 1 top 10
	pos name result 1 Mark Penney 17/ 311.170 2 Nicolas Risser 16/ 306.514 3 David Poulter 16/ 314.796 4 Michael Bolger 16/ 317.575 5 William White 15/ 302.220 6 Tony Kavanagh 15/ 302.543 7 Derek McCloskey 15/ 309.590 8 Tom Cockerill 15/ 311.603 9 Michael O'Leary 15/ 315.216 10 Ian Hunter 14/ 302.133

Qualifying Round 2.
The FTQ - 'fastest time qualifying' format is in effect and neither of the previous round winners - Sam Scott in clubmans or Mark Penney in modified were able to improve their results. Eoin Keating improved in the clubmans class but not enough to challenge Sam for the top spot.

	2WD Clubman - round 2 top 10
	pos name result 1 Sam Scott 14/ 308.860 2 Eoin Keating 14/ 311.895 3 Ivan Thompson 14/ 312.048 4 David Home 14/ 316.093 5 Kevin White 13/ 307.516 6 Grahan Parkes 13/ 323.587 7 Lee Mcguire 12/ 304.919 8 Conor Reilly 12/ 311.494 9 Ken Gordon 12/ 314.328 10 Dave Bolger 11/ 304.719

Mark Penney's round two time was three seconds off his previous pace but it didn't matter anyway as Tom Cockerill kept it together to take the round and improve TQ time by three seconds with 17 laps in 308.792

Nathan Ralls also improved his time but still lay in third - one second back on Marks time. William White bumped up into the big leagues of 17 laps. Canadian hero Dave Church was down in 81st place but looking to raise the bar.

	2WD Modified - round 2 top 10
	pos name result 1 Tom Cockerill 17/ 308.792 2 Nathan Ralls 17/ 312.565 3 Mark Penney 17/ 314.389 4 William White 17/ 318.431 5 Derek McCloskey 16/ 305.525 6 Nicolas Risser 16/ 312.206 7 Michael Bolger 16/ 316.149 8 David Poulter 16/ 317.961 9 Andrew Rennick 15/ 316.242 10 Tony Kavanagh 15/ 318.085

Qualifying Round 3.
Sam Scott improved his time - setting a new FTQ time as both he and David Home in second, made it through for the extra lap for the first time - 15 laps in 318 for Sam and 320 for David. Dave Bolger, dad-of the infamous Mick Bolger of MSD models, was ruling over several lesser drivers.

	2WD Clubman - round 2 top 10
	pos name result 1 Sam Scott 15/ 318.968 2 David Home 15/ 320.991 3 Eoin Keating 14/ 305.840 4 Kevin White 14/ 310.429 5 Ivan Thompson 14/ 312.051 6 Conor Reilly 12/ 301.677 7 Grahan Parkes 12/ 301.793 8 Lee Mcguire 12/ 303.328 9 Ross McCullough 12/ 313.308 10 Colin Morrison 12/ 313.718

Tom Cockerill ground his skills into the face of the other drivers as he again improved - this time by a whole 7 seconds as he took a new fastest time. Mark Penney still lay in second overall with his round one score and Nathan Ralls kept his position with his round two score.

	2WD Modified - round 2 top 10
	pos name result 1 Tom Cockerill 17/ 301.938c 2 Mark Penney 17/ 312.640c 3 Nathan Ralls 17/ 315.423 4 Nicolas Risser 17/ 317.295 5 David Poulter 16/ 300.812 6 Derek McCloskey 16/ 301.430c 7 Michael Bolger 16/ 304.899 8 William White 16/ 314.657 9 David Church 15/ 317.341 10 Niall Cromie 15/ 323.850c

Dave Poulter was driving the new Durango DEX210

Irish Amish - Colin Morrison
Irish Amish is decorated with an abundance of facial hair, following a lack of success during mens health month 'Movember' due to beard-rash, Irish Amish decided to join Chris Evans in his 'Decembeard' plight to raise awareness of bowel cancer. Check out: http://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/get-involved/own-events/decembeard/ for more information.

Qualifying round 4.
The top three in the clubmans class didn't improve on their round three scores so it was Sam Scott that takes pole for the triple-legged final. David Home second - both on 15 laps. Eoin Keating qualifies 3rd overall.

	2WD Modified - round 4 top 10
	pos name result 1 Lee Mcguire 14/ 308.554 2 Ivan Thompson 14/ 309.871 3 Sam Scott 14/ 312.936 4 David Home 13/ 297.455 5 Kevin White 13/ 303.982 6 Grahan Parkes 12/ 309.339 7 Colin Morrison 12/ 314.253 8 Wayne McGuire 12/ 316.036 9 Ross McCullough 12/ 316.156 10 Ken Gordon 12/ 320.462

It was going to be hard for Tom Cockerill to improve on his great score in round three - and he didn't. Mark Penney improved his best time by a couple of seconds but was still a way off Toms TQ pace. Nicolas Risser mounted a late challenge as he put in his fastest time for 4th overall and should be a feature at the sharp-end of the triple-leg finals.

	2WD Modified - round 4 top 10
	pos name result 1 Tom Cockerill 17/ 305.345 2 Mark Penney 17/ 309.347 3 Nicolas Risser 17/ 315.923 4 Nathan Ralls 17/ 316.831 5 William White 17/ 320.765 6 Michael Bolger 15/ 301.090 7 Derek McCloskey 15/ 306.352 8 Tony Kavanagh 15/ 307.151 9 David Church 15/ 313.881 10 Niall Cromie 15/ 323.084

The Irish Winter Race 2011 Munch Challenge.

In celebration of the successful national and international attendance at this race, and to mark the launch of RC

Domination (the brainchild of David 'DC' Church and Nathan 'Niggs98' Ralls), drivers gathered round to take part in the Munch Challenge. Participants were asked to try two varieties of spicy flavoured baked corn snacks; English Monster Munch Flamin' Hot, and Irish Mighty Munch Hot & Spicy.

The tasty morsels were anonymised and each contender tasted both samples, and then suggested which snack they thought was which - also selecting their favourite variety. DC from RC Domination handed out prizes from the recently developed supplier, who will be trading through their online website (www.rcdomination.com - with thanks to Brian Shardlow of Lardshow design for the website) to begin with and should be visable trackside at various race meetings throughout the up and coming season. DC hopes to market the company as an invaluable helpful trackside resource for drivers of all abilities, and aspires to support the hobby to continue to expand in popularity. Follow RC Dominations forum section on oOple for announcements of new product lines and special offers.

The results of the Munch Challenge: 70% of participants selected the correct origin of their snack, with a 50/50 split in favour - so everyone's a winner.

Thanks to RC Domination for giving out some great prizes!

A final modified leg 1
Tom Cockerill lead them away and looked FAST. Tom, Mark Penney and Nathan Ralls quickly broke away from the rest but a mistake from Tom over the big tabletop when he landed to the side and dropped to fourth, gifted the lead to Mark Penney.

Tom Cockerill leads them round lap one	Down to 4th, Cockerill chases Risser.

Mark Penney leads Nathan Ralls around

Mark was quick to take up the challenge but had an eye on Nathan Ralls who was now pressing him hard for the lead. Nathan made a mistake and gave Mark a little breathing room but now Tom Cockerill was pushing his car to the limit and catching Nathan. The three soon bunched up again with the order staying the same - now Tom Cockerill took up second after another mistake from Nathan. Tom put pressure on the leader but it was short lived as he rolled onto his roof.

Nathan Ralls goes big	Mark Penney avoids an upturned Mick Bolger

The story of Tom Cockerill's race	Good laughs even in the A-Final - WRI is fun!

The leaders were now well spread out on the track and Mark looked faultless. Tom and Nathan were both putting in quicker laps but too many mistakes had cost them dearly throughout the 5 minutes and they had to settle for 2nd and 3rd respectively - Tom a whole 6 seconds down on the winner.

	A Final Modified - Leg 1
	pos name result 1 Mark Penney 17/ 310.946 2 Tom Cockerill 17/ 316.886 3 Nathan Ralls 16/ 300.818 4 Nicolas Risser 16/ 312.117 5 David Poulter 16/ 313.535 6 William White 16/ 315.265 7 Derek McCloskey 15/ 300.498 8 Michael Bolger 15/ 302.347

A final modified leg 2
The second leg of the 2WD modified finals saw the four front runners break away this time - Tom Cockerill, Mark Penney, Nathan Ralls and Nicolas Risser. After a couple of laps it was Tom and Mark out front battling together whilst Nicolas and Nathan had their own fight for third.

Tom Cockerill had an error in the middle of the track coming up to the corner tabletop jump but Mark had nowhere to go and the pair collided - positions didn't change but it marked a new level of driving from Mark as he looked to apply pressure to Tom.

Mark looms large in the rear view of Tom Cockerill	Mark Penney makes a mistake, losing ground

Tom held up well and Mark simply couldn't get past in time. Tom took the win with Mark less than a second further back in second. The battle between Nicolas and Nathan was done - Nicolas cruised to third with Nathan missing out on the extra lap.

	A Final Modified - Leg 2
	pos name result 1 Tom Cockerill 17/ 305.786c 2 Mark Penney 17/ 306.360 3 Nicolas Risser 17/ 316.487 4 Nathan Ralls 16/ 300.194 5 Derek McCloskey 16/ 303.343 6 William White 16/ 310.601 7 David Poulter 16/ 311.448 8 Michael Bolger 15/ 302.305

Overall A-Final clubman results

A final modified leg 3
Tom Cockerill lead from the start, followed closely by Mark Penney who would be challenging the poleman for overall victory - each driver with a 1st and 2nd place finish. An early error from Mark saw Tom pull a sensible lead to take the leg and overall win, followed by Nathan Ralls taking 2nd in leg.

Tom Cockerill races off	Mark gets it wrong first time over the tabletop - drops to 3rd

Nicolas Risser gives Mark Penney a gentle nudge	Nicolas was on top form early on

Sunday 11th December 2011 - 4WD Modified and Clubman.

Another 8.30am start saw a small turnout to begin with, as drivers celebrating the previous days success recovered from a late night of festivities.

The format for 4WD day was set for very much the same as 2WD, starting with free practice and hot food. There was the same quick 3-minute timed practice is heat order as 2WD, and this sorted out new heats for the qualifying so everyone changed.

Qualifying round 1.
Clubman class was divided into two classes - 2wd and 4wd, with 10 entrants in total. For the first round of qualifying it was Belgiums Iris Van Echelpoel who slipped her borrowed Schumacher Cougar into the top slot with 13 laps in 321.584. In the 4wd clubman group, Ivan Thompson came out tops with 15 laps in 316.426.

In the real 4wd class, 17 drivers booked in to race. Tom Cockerill proved that a night on the tiles would not impact on his performance and took the fastest time in round one, two seconds ahead of Irish hot-star Mark Penney. Newly signed Team Durango driver David Poulter was the only other racer on 18 lap pace in this round.

	2WD Clubman - round 1 top 10
	pos name result 1 Sam Scott 14/ 298.670 2 Eoin Keating 14/ 317.811 3 David Home 13/ 303.489 4 Kevin White 13/ 311.132 5 Ross McCullough 13/ 323.500 6 Grahan Parkes 13/ 324.429 7 Lee Mcguire 12/ 300.553 8 Wayne McGuire 12/ 325.725 9 Ken Gordon 11/ 303.106 10 Conor Reilly 11/ 304.461

	4WD Modified - Qualifying round 1 - Top 10
	pos name result 1 Tom Cockerill 18/ 312.035 2 Mark Penney 18/ 314.162 3 David Poulter 18/ 315.442 4 Nathan Ralls 17/ 301.671 5 William White 17/ 313.368 6 Bart Van Echelpoel 16/ 302.994 7 Michael O'Leary 16/ 317.828 8 Michael Bolger 16/ 323.119 9 Ivan Thompson 15/ 305.817 10 Tony Kavanagh 15/ 306.353

Qualifying round 2.
In the second round of qualifying, noone in the clubman class managed to improve on the times set in round 1 by Iris and Ivan.

Nathan Ralls in the Tamiya 511 was the only 4wd modified driver to threaten the top scores from round one, finishing just ahead of Mark Penneys round 1 time.

	4WD Modified - Qualifying round 2 - Top 10
	pos name result 1 Nathan Ralls 18/ 313.994 2 Mark Penney 18/ 316.668 3 Tom Cockerill 17/ 306.848 4 William White 17/ 310.194 5 Michael Bolger 17/ 310.609 6 David Poulter 17/ 311.301 7 Bart Van Echelpoel 17/ 316.794 8 Aaron Vance 16/ 309.955 9 Tony Kavanagh 16/ 323.822 10 David Church 15/ 302.246

Qualifying round 3
No new top times set as no one made it through for 18 laps in this round. Mark Penney took the round followed closely by Nathan Ralls and Dave Poulter.

	4WD Modified - Qualifying round 3 - Top 10
	pos name result 1 Mark Penney 17/ 300.576 2 Nathan Ralls 17/ 303.089 3 David Poulter 17/ 304.064 4 Aaron Vance 17/ 314.134 5 Derek McCloskey 16/ 290.717 6 William White 16/ 300.663 7 Bart Van Echelpoel 16/ 303.455 8 Tom Cockerill 16/ 313.388 9 Ivan Thompson 15/ 301.224 10 Michael Bolger 15/ 305.829

Lots of fluff from the track - indoor racing isn't clean!

Qualifying round 4

Jimmy finished his first race - sticking a one-way diff in the front of the DEX410 was the secret, though he still crashed lots, and lots. He crashed lots.

Tom Cockerill came back to stamp his authority on the meeting and set a new fastest time - with Nathan Ralls also coming through under the previous FTQ but not quick enough to eclipse Tom. Dave Poulter came in third but was a long way off the leading pair.

	4WD Modified - Qualifying round 4 - Top 10
	pos name result 1 Tom Cockerill 18/ 309.607 2 Nathan Ralls 18/ 311.850 3 David Poulter 18/ 320.662 4 William White 17/ 310.823 5 Derek McCloskey 17/ 318.971 6 Bart Van Echelpoel 16/ 302.836 7 Aaron Vance 16/ 314.228 8 Ivan Thompson 16/ 316.805 9 Michael O'Leary 15/ 306.930 10 Jimmy Storey 15/ 316.564

A Final Leg 1

The first leg of the A final saw Nathan Ralls put pressure on early for the lead as Tom fought hard to stay in front.

Tom Cockerill leads Nathan Ralls round for a while	Mark Penney in full-concentration mode

Nathan out of the picture for a moment - Penney and Poulter chase down Cockerill

It seemed to be all about these two until Nathan landed badly from the small double coming onto the main straight - losing several positions in the process. Mark Penney took up the chase

	4WD A Final Modified - Leg 1
	pos qual name result 1 1 Tom Cockerill 17/ 300.764 2 4 David Poulter 17/ 301.360 3 2 Nathan Ralls 17/ 301.845 4 3 Mark Penney 17/ 302.130c 5 5 William White 17/ 312.167 6 6 Michael Bolger 17/ 317.313c 7 8 Bart Van Echelpoel 16/ 315.732 8 7 Aaron Vance 14/ 304.141

A Final Leg 2

Tom lead them away again and 4th place qualifier Dave Poulter forgot to feed his secret chicken and got nailed from behind by chicken-loving Will White. Will let him back past when Poulter had caught up but it was a bad start for the Durango driving brit.

Up front it was a train - Tom Cockerill, Nathan Ralls and Mark Penney all together on the track. Nathan looked supremely smooth this time and was looking for an opening on several occasions over the opening two thirds of the race.

The pressure was high and eventually Tom caved in, making an error on the tabletop jump which resulted in a mini pile-on; things were looking bad now as Nathan ralls took up Toms lead, but an error half a lap later from Nathan saw Tom move up again and sail smoothly around the final lap on his own, to take the second leg win and the 4WD winter champion title with it.

Tom Cockerill leads Mark Penney

	4WD A Final Modified - Leg 2
	pos qual name result 1 1 Tom Cockerill 18/ 317.016 2 3 Mark Penney 18/ 322.650 3 2 Nathan Ralls 17/ 300.854 4 4 David Poulter 17/ 304.682 5 5 William White 16/ 306.691c 6 6 Michael Bolger 16/ 310.000c 7 8 Bart Van Echelpoel 16/ 314.930 8 7 Aaron Vance 15/ 305.305

A Final Leg 3
The last leg started well for Tom Cockerill, but a few laps in a grip-roll saw Nathan Ralls take up the lead. Nathan followed suit however and made a schoolboy error, which saw Tom Cockerill switfly pass through into the top spot. Toms new lead was short lived however, and just one lap later Nathan Ralls took up the lead once again and he never looked back. A series of errors saw Tom drop further down the order, and towards the end of the race Nathan was looking good to come through and lap Tom, but he didn't want to push his luck and went nice and steady to take the third leg.

Nathan Ralls took control of Leg 3 and performed some 'RC Domination' with the fastest winning time of all the finals.

	4WD A Final Modified - Leg 1
	pos qual name result 1 2 Nathan Ralls 18/ 316.733 2 1 Tom Cockerill 18/ 330.862 3 3 Mark Penney 17/ 302.501c 4 4 David Poulter 17/ 307.555 5 5 William White 16/ 300.738 6 8 Bart Van Echelpoel 15/ 303.842 7 6 Michael Bolger 9/ 266.041 8 7 Aaron Vance 5/ 103.584

Dave Church celebrated his poor performance at the meeting with some serious air skills after his final.

Overall results: Mark Penney 3rd - Tom Cockerill 1st - Nathan Ralls 2nd

	Overall A-Final modified results
	pos qual name result chassis 1 1 Tom Cockerill 2 [ 1 1] Schumacher CAT SX3 2 2 Nathan Ralls 6 [ 3 3] Tamiya TRF 511 3 3 Mark Penney 6 [ 4 2] Associated B44.1 4 4 David Poulter 6 [ 2 4] Team Durango DEX410 5 5 William White 11 [ 5 6] Team Durango DEX410 6 8 Bart Van Echelpoel 12 [ 7 5] Schumacher CAT SX3 7 6 Michael Bolger 14 [ 6 8] Associated B44.1 8 7 Aaron Vance 15 [ 8 7] Team Durango DEX410

The Track Team
These good people invested a huge amount of time and energy to bring us the Winter Championship Ireland 2011, and they've put on a great show. We heard a lot of positive feedback about the event, and would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been so friendly and hospitable. We'll hopefully be able to attend next years Winter Race which should be even bigger and better, it would be great to see this become a popular and successful annual event. Thanks for a crackin' show.

And finally... spot the difference. Thanks to Dave Bolger for the olden-day photos.