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DAY Four - Finals Monday 13th April 2009.

A Final Electric - Leg 2 (we missed leg 1 because we got drunk)

Ryan Maifield got a good start but Riccardo Rabitti and Darren Bloomfield were pushing him hard. Bloomfield dropped back but Rabitti kept up the pressure and didn't lose ground. The field of drivers had a range of skill and there was a distinct speed difference between the leaders and the back markers - which was soon a factor as Maifield lapped a backmarker but Rabitti had to wait for a whole lap for a chance to pass cleanly.

Leaders come down the main straight	Maifield out front - Rabitti and Bloomfield chasing

Maifield - Rabitti	Rabitti dropped back a little with traffic

Lap 14 for Maifield and he'd built a couple of seconds lead over Cavalieri who had jumped ahead of Rabitti for second - Rabitti hot on his tail though. Maifield was coming through the infield and going for a pass on a clearly out-of-control car which left him with no room to move and saw him punted into the fence. The marshal was on his car last and as he rejoined the track he was alongside Cavalieri with Rabitti right there also.

An out-of-control car 14 'Mark Bump Bailey' cuts Maifield up and sends the pair into the fence	Maifield marshalled last and Cavalieri up to second coming up fast in the background.

Maifield and Cavalieri go side-by-side over the double as Rabitti bides his time.	The three almost on top of each other - ITS ON!

The three went toward the last BIG jump of the track with Rabitti in third and biding his time - which paid off on the landing as Cavalieri and Maifield tangled and Rabitti went through, never to look back - taking the second leg ahead of Maifield and Cavalieri.

Rabitti holds off, not wanting a collision	....and it pays off as he sails through leaving Cav and Maifield to dance together in the dust.

Electric A Final leg 3 - sort of.

Maifield pulled away from the start line cleanly and held the lead from start to finish, Rabitti in 2nd place kept close behind to begin with, and didn't allow Maifield much breathing space. Bloomers in car 4 swiftly moved into 3rd place, whilst on the first half lap Lee Martin who started in 11th place, was straight up to 4th place and proceeded to apply pressure to Bloomers' rear end. Bloomfield blocked Martins advances but as Martin went for the pass down the main straight, Cavalieri took advantage and moved into 3rd place, with Martin and Bloomfield close behind.

Lee Martin and Darren Bloomfield duke it out	Maifield won - but didn't seal the overall victory and would have to run again

With 2min to go Maifield had pulled a 4 second lead ahead of Rabitti, and whilst Martin was trying to reel in Rabitti Bloomfield rolled it coming around a corner in the middle section. Cavalieri rolled it and Martin made his move around the outside - moving up to 3rd place with 1 minute 20 seconds to go. Maifield leads Rabitti, Martin and Cavalieri.

The battle for 2nd place stepped up a notch coming up for the final lap, Rabitti took the landing wide coming over the double jump

WTF
Oh, hold on.... What the heck - 5 minutes is up and Maifield won! but this is a 10 minute race boss! isn't it?

There was a terrible mistake in race control - someone pressed the wrong button we assume so the race will be re-run later in the day.

Interview with David Isherwood

Where do you currently live?
Iowa city, Iowa USA.

Where are you from, thats not an American accent!
Hampshire, Southern England

What is your job?
Barrissta, I work in a Coffee Shop - it's not permanent, I'm between jobs.

What is your favourite coffee to make?
Caffe meile.

Donut dunkin', right or wrong?
Wrong! They get too soggy!

What did you do in the UK?
I was an arable farmer, growing wheat.

Do you miss the sheep or anythhing about England?
I miss roundabouts, bitter, crunchy biscuits - they have cookies, savory bread, english sarcasm!

What was your first R/C car?
Tamiya ford ranger.

How long have you been racing?
This time round only 3 years, but I raced as a kid, just had a 20 year gap.

What is your best R/C achievement so far?
Consistently being allowed entry to the Neo.

What is the deal with American chocolate, do you need to ship over Cadburys?
No, I don't really eat chocolate. But I do miss Colmans mustard, chutney (they don't do chutney?! Oople team is in shock!), obviously I miss my family and friends too, not just food stuffs!

Helliwellgate
Sadly for some it was already far-far too late. James Helliwell of the oOple team HAD made the grade he discovered - and should have been in the electric A finals, finishing 8th in his Semi according to the printed and published rules he would have gone into the A final with a faster time than in the 7th place driver in the other Semi. The problem is that instead of the published 6+ 2 fastest bumping up, they went with 7 from each semi without telling anyone and James was slightly displeased with this.

Mark Bailey who'd been promoted to the A 'by accident' (no offense Mark! lol) instead of James Helliwell, kindly offered James his car for the re-run of leg three of the A final Electric. James was a bit chuffed with that but declined all the same. We salute you Mark and James - get a room you guys.

Electric A Final Leg 3, the re-run:
Maifield danced off like he'd done in the previous 'third leg' which was voided. He was throwing some massive shapes in spectacular fashion over the jumps, he was on fire. The real battle was for second between Rabitti and Cavalieri - for the majority of the race Cavalieri was all over the back of Rabitti, dancing like a good 'un and trying to jump over, under and even thru the Italian Losi hero.
Off the big jump, Nathan Ralls was trying to smash into Darth Vaders death star - he was going that high. -: Stu.

Rabitti didn't sweat - he just held his line and eventually Cavalieri was the one to make the mistake which allowed Lee Martin through for the numer three spot.

Ryan won - and with two leg wins he took the neo electric 8th title. Ricardo Rabitti finished second with the Losi bubblecar and his 1st and 2nd place finishes saw him placed 2nd overall. Lee Martin took third in leg and third overall with a 2nd and 3rd place finish.

LRP 8th Brushless System
Unlike most systems around - the brushless stuff that Ryan Maifield used was tiny by comparison. Yes that's really the same ESC as the popular 1/10th LRP 'ISTC' controller, with some changes to allow it to cope with the power and abuse of 1/8th. The controller is prototype but should be out soon.
The motor is the same diameter as regular '540' cans but a little longer and with a beefy shaft - its smaller than that uses in most other cars and uses the exact same sensor innards as the latest X12 generation 1/10th scale motors. Ryan used an 8.5 wind like the prototype one shown here.

Random Quotes:

Derek Bradby thinks that this weekend has been very much like a PIG, just because 'that's how it has gone', however Stu Evans suggested it has been similar to a Zebra, which looks like a horse but isn't - this meeting looks like a serious race meeting on the outside, but really we are just here to have fun.

David Isherwood thought carefully and eventually suggested that the weekend has been like a CHEETAH, not because he's an adulterer, but because it's passed so quickly 'woooosh'. He was however quite bemused whilst answering this question as he had just been presented with a can of Green Giant sweetcorn and a satsuma, which may account for his deliberation.

Scotty Ernst described the weekend as being like a BADGER, as the track is fierce and hard, but it can be beaten, Jimmy oOple suggested the best way to beat a badger was in a ford fiesta, and Scotty readily agreed, stating - 'that's even smaller than a focus!'

Ben Jemison compared the weekends events to a LION ON COCAINE, as it has been off its tits, we think he may have been referring to the evenings activities, rather than the racing.

Manolis suggested it was like a sheep, because it is quiet, we are now very concerned about his hearing and recommend a full auditory screening as soon as possible.

Exert from the oOple girls conversation:
Vicky oOple: Cara, do you like my neotard?
Cara oOple: Yes, it's lovely, do you like mine?
Vicky oOple: Yes, it's fantastic, I think we should wear them more often.
Cara oOple: I'm not sure Huddersfield is ready for neotards.

oOple Team
We thought it'd be a good idea to have our own 'girls' at this years neo - Vicky oOple and Cara oOple went shopping for some suitable outfits in Camden, London. We think they look very niiiiiiiiiice.

The girls did a great job of promoting oOple and our sponsor for the report, SMD.

Top Row Left to right: Vicky oOple, Damian Whittle, James Helliwell, Graham North, Jim Dixon, Cara oOple.
Bottom Row: Stu Evans, Jimmy Storey.

Jamie Booth of SMD with out ladies

The ladies love Degani

The Answer-RC / Caster Racing team borrowed our oOple girls - many tried!

Atsushi Haras Chocolate Review.

Cadburys Creme Egg - no comment

Cadburys Jaffa Cakes -3rd best

McVities Jaffa Cakes -maximum best

McVities Jaffa Cake Bar -2nd best

These are Haras ACTUAL WORDS typed on this keyboard - we'll be auctioning these words on ebay later.

Semi Finals - A

with 2 minutes to go Jared Tebo took the lead - tebo, maifield, bayer. Darren Bloomfield moved into 3rd

Maifield passed Tebo as Tebo rolled in the back corner, 2nd to last lap, Maifield went too wide on the next corner, Tebo tboned him out of the way, Tebo got through, Maifields car cut and an immense effort from Marc Rheinard marshalling the car and throwing it high in the air to the waiting arms of Associateds Brent Theilke saw Maifield quickly restarted and back on the track but having lost a lot of time. Maifield clearly thought it was all over as he drove like an absolutely NUTTER - crashing two times on the same corner like a animalistic wildman as he tried to keep a chance of bumping into the Main.

Tebo follows Maifield	EVERYBODY PANIC - Maifields engine cuts - last lap!!

hero-Rheinard runs and launches the car high & long	hero-Theilke catches as others duck for cover - cool

A tense few moments and it didn't seem Maifield had finished before the all-done buzzer sounded - but apparently it was already enough - JUST, and Maifield squeezed through in 6th place - changed to 7th afterwards, although it wouldn't be the position on the grid he was hoping for.

Jared Tebo was on fire still - taking the semi ahead of Bloomfield and Martin Bayer in third. Our friend Hupo missed out on the main which made us sad.

1

1

Jared Tebo

31/20m 14.58

2

4

Darren Bloomfield

+ 10.00

3

8

Martin Bayer

+ 11.07

4

2

Ryan Lutz

+ 20.10

5

5

Lee Martin

+ 20.12

6

7

Atsushi Hara

+ 23.21 c*

7

3

Ryan Maifield

+ 1.61 c*

8

9

Hubert Hönigl

-1/ 20m 32.43

9

11

Craig Drescher

-1/ 20m 40.26

10

6

Borja Hernandez Cordoba

-2/ 20m 3.49

11

12

Mathias Larsson

-2/ 20m 22.00

12

14

Richard Taylor

-3/ 20m 8.97

13

10

Tyler Vik

-7/ 16m 20.26

14

13

Daniel Reckward

-14/ 20m

Cara Meets Hara Interview. - oOple girl, Cara, meets Atsushi Hara!

What is your favourite hair colour?
White, it is very popular in Japan a long time ago, I had long hair, when I was 20 or so, 10 years ago. I like a mohawk style as well.

Congratulations on winning the 1/8th scale worlds in September '08, Do you like pie?
I don't eat a lot of pie, it isn't a big thing in Japan. The pastry on the pie (photo below) was nice, but it needed some soy sauce.

Are you enjoying racing in England, have you been here before?
This is my third time racing here, 1st time was in 1993, the off road worlds, that was my first time at the World Championships. I think I 45th place. My 2nd time was in 1998 - for the World Championships on road.
Before I thought every day it rains. Good food, I like the fish and chips.

What do you think of the track here at Neo09 - what are your favourite features and which is the most difficult part of the track?
The track is excellent, this is the first time I have driven a track like this. This is like electric off-road style in the US. Very nice track.
One thing I dont like is there are some blind corners I can't see.

Have you encountered any problems with your car at this race?
No, the car has been good.

Have you raced any electric 8th scale yet? We heard you were going to borrow an electric car for this event but that it was destroyed last weekend, what happened?
I have the car here but I have had problems getting the electrics for it so havent raced that class.

Are you running any new products you can tell us about?
Only a few option parts - everything is already on the market. Long rear shock and shock tower, and mostly lightweight parts, like main chassis and lightweight gearing and new driveshafts.

As you are at the top of your sport, do you have any tips for drivers wanting to get better?
Of course most important is practice, and purpose, and thinking. Like homework, make more friends, sometimes you can learn experience from friends.

Have you drunk any English beer yet.. what's your favourite drink?
Yes, John Smiths. It is funny, like there is no soda inside. Proper english beer. In Japan I always drink Japanese beer.

Who is your stylist?
I have my favourite stylist in Japan in tokyo, she is very niiiice.

Do you have a celeb hair idol?
Japanese people see hair styles in hair catalogues, not really famous people. I like to change hairstyle all the time.

What was your first ever R/C car?
Kyosho Optima.

Semi Finals - B

Neil Cragg had a good start and after 3 minutes Cragg had pulled a good lead using his advantage of being stood on a step so he can see above all the smoke! Cragg dropped to 2nd place, Robert Battle took the lead after Yannik Aigion had a good start but dropped back due to a chicken walking across the track (not really but we didn't know the real reason)

1/8th BRCA National Champion leader Elliot Boots who'd bumped up from the 1/4 finals moved up from 14th place to 7th place. 14 minutes, Neil Cragg moves back down to 3rd place, with Yannik taking 2nd place.

With 13.5 minutes to go Battle had a 9 second lead. Jorn Neuman passed Cragg with 13 minutes to go, taking 3rd place. only 3 seconds seperating 3rd-6th places.

Neil Cragg getting a little air on his way to winning the B Semi

Neil and Battle passed Jeorn on lap 12, with 11.5 minutes left in the race. Pitting time in this 20 minute final and there's 23 seconds between the top 10 drivers or about half a lap on the track.

9 Minutes to go and all drivers pitted - Battle, Aigon, Cragg, Rabitti, Jeorn. Neuman moved down to 7th place.

With 5 minutes left to race - Neil Cragg to back the lead but only 3 seconds seperated the top three drivers, Cragg-Battle-Aigion. Elliot Boots droppe down to 11th and out of the bump zone. Richard 'the hair' Saxton moved up to 6th.

Neil pulled a 7 second lead on battle with 30sec to go. Battle and Rabitti switched places on the last lap, but it was rabitti who took 2nd place and battle 3rd. Aigion 4th, Saxton 5th, Gomez 6th - all of whom qualified for the main final.

1

6

Neil Cragg

31/20m 35.05

2

2

Riccardo Rabitti

+ 8.72

3

3

Robert Batlle

+ 9.48

4

1

Yannick Aigoin

+ 10.53

5

8

Richard Saxton

+ 21.32

6

9

Richi Gomez

+ 23.31

7

11

Jerome Aigoin

+ 24.33

8

10

Jerome Sartel

+ 31.68

9

5

Jorn Neumann

+ 31.78

10

7

Dani Vega Frias

+ 40.62

11

14

Elliot Boots

-1/ 20m 38.10

12

12

Kevin Brunsden

-2/ 20m 19.61

13

13

Christoffer Svensson

-6/ 20m 5.27

14

4

Miguel Matias

-8/ 16m 9.07

Interview with Hubert 'HUPO' Honigl.

Hallo, ich heisse Cara, und meine freunde ist Vicky oOple,

Sie mogen meine trikotanzig?
(Do you like my Leotard? - We soon found out that this translated to absolutely nothing)
*Shrugs* Why not!

Auf Englisch das name Hupo is sehr dumm, ist das storend?
(In English, the name Hupo is silly, does this upset you?)
It's just a nick name, not my real name, I've never heard it is very silly before.

sie mogen stricken?
(Do you like to knit?)
No!

Sie genossen die jaffa-kuchen?
(Did you enjoy the jaffa cakes?)
Geile scheisse!

wie mein deutscher ist? gut oder schlecht?
(How is my German? Good or bad?)
schlecht! du bist ein dummkopf!
(Bad, you are a fool!)

we realise at this point - babel fish is sh!t.

Have you had a nice time?
Yes!

If you could describe this weekend as an animal, what would it be?
A frog - it's had its up and downs.

If you could be any fruit, what would you be?
cabbage,
That's not a fruit.
OK, a Banana.
That's a herb, according to Cara (We're researching this currently)
OK, strawberry then!

As a closing remark, Hupo added:
ihr seid ein wenig wahnsinnig
Which translates to 'You are a little mad' - AWESOME!

A brief encounter with Chris Doughty - 1/10th off-road European champion 2002, National race wins, including Eden Park national 2008.

Qualified 52nd at Neo09 - 6th in 8th B-final. running 2nd for 14 mins, then engine cut due to stones!

Are you happy with your perfomance here at the neo?
Yes I am reasonably happy, I'm an electric newbie to this class.

Do you see yourself being the European champion in the nitro off road?
No, no I don't, it's clearly very hard to get anywhere in this class.

One ways in 1/8th off road should be legal, don't you think Chris?
Yes they should but you wouldn't be able to stop at the end of the straight!

What do you think of the night life at the neo?
It's good yea, it's nice. You don't have to drive to the hotel because it's on site, and you don't have to drive here
in the morning.

Any further comments to add?
I'd like to thank my sponsors. LRP, JConcepts, SMD, Dragon Paints, Ino-lab servos, CML, MK-racing.

The Big FINAL.

The drivers lined up to be called onto the rostrum in reverse order - after which they decided to re-order on qualifying preference, which was easier said than done with disaray in the pit lane as the crews bumped and worked their way under their respective drivers for the second time. A bried complaint from one of the lower placed drivers representatives shouting 'this is unfair' - qualify higher next time bud!

After a few minutes warmup on the track the drivers lined up on the grid to be refuled and - on the call the cars were dropped and the couple of seconds wait before the off showed just what an advantage qualifying 1st means! - 2ft of space, and that's about it. With Tebo getting off cleanly, Bloomfield and Bayer were along side each other behind.

Chaos in the pits	Everybody waits for the track to be open.

Tebo leads them off, Bayer almost alongside Bloom	Bloomfield follows Tebo - Losi v Kyosho.

Tebo lead the cars away from the start line in pole position, Bloomers following hot on his tail. A couple of minutes into the race the order was Tebo, Bloomfield, Martin, Cragg.

Lutz passed Rabitti at the 40 minute mark to make it into 5th place. Atsushi Hara, qualified 7th place, but moved down to 9th place.
With 37 min to go the order was Tebo, Bloomfield, Cragg, Lutz, Maifield, Martin - Hara moves back into 7th place, passes Maifield, taking it into 6th place. Maifield moves back up the order, passing Hara and Martin.
Hara moves up to 5th place - and with 35 min left, passes lutz into 4th place on the next lap.
Maifield takes back the 5th place from Hara at 33.5 min to go, Lutz is back into 4th.
Tebo holds the lead, Bloomers 2nd, Cragg, Lutz, Maifield, Hara - at 32 min to go.

Bloomfield kept Tebo in sight	But Tebo wasn't scared and kept 100% composure

Darren Bloomfield into the lead at 29 minutes - lap 25 - due to pitting stop, but Tebo hammered it away from the pitting lane and soon caught the UK superstar up, with 27 minutes left on the clock.
At the 25 minute mark, Tebo and Bloomfield held onto the 1st and 2nd place respectively, whilst Maifield had worked his way into the 3rd place, and Cragg down in 4th. With 21 minutes left to race, Tebo held a 14 second lead over Bloomfield.
With 12 minutes left on the clock, Rabitti had moved into the 4th place, seeing Maifield shifted down to 5th. Yannick Aigon had made his way from the 11th place starting point to 5th place in the race by the time 11 minutes were left on the clock.
At this point Maifield became a tad excited whilst trying to overjump another car, and a rough landing caused his engine to cut out, resulting in a drop to 8th place. Hara also had difficulty towards the end of the race, having worked his way up the order he was down to 10th place with just 2 minutes left in the race.

Maifield goes down the straight like a pure MANimal - and stuffs it big style. Ryan Lutz got scared for a second but made it thru cleanly.

With only 2 minutes left to race it was Jared Tebo closely pursued by Darren Bloomfield - then Lutz, Rabitti, Aigion. World Champion Hara down to 10th place. Neil Cragg broke a rear drive shaft and had to retire. Maifield with a broken lower front shock mount also out of contention - two engine cuts didn't help.

1	2

Maifield goes all out again - trying to pass Bayer by over jumping - landing very hard, his car slowed to a halt with an engine cut, but was back underway quickly.	Bayer himself - flying the big jump.

While all the excitement was going on in the main hall - the neobuggy guys were busy preparing the UPGRADE RC trophy mats and other stuff. Sounds boring!	Quick memory card change and back out for the RACING! Hero-Lutz coming up to pass car 13, Gomez.

Jared Tebo held on for the win but was chased all the way from start to finish by Darren Bloomfield - less than 10 seconds behind after 45 minutes of racing. Tamiyas Ryan Lutz was equally impressive a mere 25.96 seconds back from Tebo after the 69 laps. Only these three were on the same lap - with Rabitti a lap down in fourth and fith place Yannick Aigoin a couple of laps down in 5th.

Our sponsors on this event - http://www.s-m-d.co.uk

Some of the oOple support team watch the final through a haze of smoke and dust.

Yannick landing the big double.

Tebo - a few couple of corners from winning the neo09.	Jared Tebo - eyes still bleeding - with our sexy oOpleSMD girls and erm, Stu Evans.

Interview with Jimmy oOple.

Graham North was running two classes at the Neo 09 and that combined with his total professionalism and dedication to the sport that he loves meant that he was a bit slack in the oOple reporting. So after he’d finished racing he did the mother of all interviews with the man behind the lens/keyboard/mouse, the big dog himself Jimmy oOple.

Jimmy, we all know you for your ace photo’s, mad hair, awesome website and general madness, but can you tell us a little bit more about you, about how Jimmy the boy became Jimmy THE MAN?
LOL, not sure how to answer that as I'm not quite a man yet.  I like doing stuff that makes people go 'wow' so I've no interest in coming to the neo to do a report thats as good or worse than anyone else. It's got to be awesome or give up.  So that's what I'm about - I want to do stuff that's better than what's been seen before / currently.  I'm always frustrated with one thing or another and it’s always only after the report / review / whatever is done that I'm happy with it.

How did you first get into the whole toy car scene, and how did this escalate into the racing scene?
I had R/C's when I was a kid - Hornet in about 1985 when I was 11 - my dad wanted to take me racing but I was a really shy sort and didn't think I would ever be good at anything like that.  I just read the mags like RRCI, car action and RCMC - about Drescher and Jamie, so it's a big honour to have been sponsored by Jamie himself this weekend to come here.

I got back into R/C in about 1998 with a Tamiya M03 Mini Cooper - which I got for my birthday.  I hammered it and used to race at work against friends with their similar cars.  I found ebay in about 1998 also and started collecting the cars I'd lusted after when I was a kid.  Like the Yokomo YZ870C and Optima.  I built a really nice collection.  I used to take my other YZ870C to the local woods for a blast around but it was too old and fragile - so I bought a 2nd hand Losi XXXBK on ebay - which came with a huge amount of spares.   After a brief play I decided it was time to try racing which I'd always wanted to do - 1st September 2002 was the first race I'd ever competed in, and I was hooked.

Do you actually ever race?
Big events where I want to do the best coverage possible I prefer to concentrate on that.  If I try to race as well then I find it ruins the race report and my racing suffers.  The best events for me are regionals as I don't really report on these much any longer and concentrate on racing.
I'll be racing all the BRCA 1/10th Nationals in 2009 - only 4WD though.

Why not 2wd?
I started with 2WD and preferred it - but I had a bad day at Batley National in around 2006 and never really raced again since then.  4WD you can drive as easy or aggressive as you want - I just find it easier I guess.

What cars do you run at the moment, and are you tied to a “team”? Or are you a slut for any manufacturer that will give you free shizzle?
I'm racing the Xtreme Predator X11 at all big races like the Nationals - but I'll also be racing review cars as/when needed so I can write about them.  I raced the Tamiya TRF511 last weekend as part of that review. I don't have any other cars I regularly race other than the Predator.

What has been your best result to date when you have actually bothered racing?
2006 F345 Championships  - I had another bad day in 2WD but in 4WD I just scraped the A final and that was it - never had such a good feeling at racing.  I didn't care about my results over the three legs, I was just happy to be in the A.

Are these questions ok boss?
Yes boss.

Why is you voice a bit badgered?
I had a bad cold over the neo weekend and the fumes didn't help -so at times I could barely talk at all.

You’ve done a lot of travelling now boss, reporting from races all over the world and such, but which race was your favourite and why?
Races like the 2007 1/10th buggy Euros in Finland were awesome - such great organisation.  But the best for me was the 2007 World Championships in Japan - I met so many awesome people, and it was an awesome place to visit.

What do your ‘in laws’ think to you taking their daughter all over the world taking pictures of toy cars and generally writing madness for your website?
I think they think I'm a nob boss. No, just kidding! I think they think it's cool in a funny sort of way - but probably don't quite understand it.  But then, I don't understand why we do it most of the time anyway.

Do you think web forums are “stupid”?
Haha, nah - not at all.  I think forums like mine or rctech are a great place to learn and inform.

What is your favourite meal?
I don't really like food - give me a Burger King 'ocean catch' and I'm happy.

How many sachets of heinz vinegar is optimum for a burger king ocean catch?
Three - I don't like to saturate the bun with vinegar - only the fish.

What is your favourite alcoholic beverage?
Easy, Vodka and diet cherry coke.  Also known as a 'Chod' .

What has been the most enjoyable part of the weekend for you?
Drinking in the student bar, laughing at our own race report and getting some nice photos.

Do you get recognised walking down the street?
No, as I'm usually behind the camera.  But I got recognised in McDonalds once during a 10th National - the guy serving us had visited oOple.com but wasn't an off road racer - I think he raced touring cars.

You and Mrs. oOple make up an awesome double act at race meetings, but are there any more behind the scenes warriors? Do you have like a building full of staff and stuff?
Some people think we do this full time or even make money from it.  The truth is I make computer games and Vicky is a nurse.  We spend a lot of money keeping oOple going because we love it.
Stu Evans I'd say is my number 2 man - even if he weren't to actually do anything he keeps me interested in taking photos and reporting just because of how nuts he is.  The neo09 report would be about racing if it weren't for Stu, so blame him.
Vicky is my number 1 man! Lol, Vicky does a lot of behind the scenes stuff - gathering data etc and she does a lot of great interviews. Those neotards were ace boss.

Will you literally do anything for money?
I'm very grateful to our sponsors and advertisers who've made things possible this year.  Schumacher, SMD, JEspares to name the  main ones.
When it comes to races like World Championships, those do need money - and it's sure very frustrating that we can't attend most of the big races simply because of money.  I would definitely  'sell out' to go cover a big race for a sponsor.

Why is your hair always a random colour? Are you grey under there or a ginger?
Yeah I have some grey hairs but not that many.  Nah, I just like some mad colour.  A Japanese R/C magazine showed a photo of me which said "despite the looks (hair), he is taking very nice photos" - which was nice of them.

Do you like dags?
No, but Rich Barton does I heard.

What would you trust Stu Evans with most:

1. Your wallet.
2. Your life.
3. Your red 501X
4. Your ever so slightly soiled pants.

My life.  I'd not trust him with the red 501X - he'd spill something on it or drop it or something equally 'Evans like'.

What has been the key to success in your life/reporting/writing bollox so far?
I think the key is to make things that I would like to see/read myself.  If I like it then someone else might as well.

Which was your favourite Neo-oOple girl?
They were both gorgeous.  I thought they were much nicer than the official trophy girls.

Have you ever fingered a dog?
LOL.

Is that a no?
No.

So is that a yes?
Lol, NO I have not fingered a dog! You mad bastard.

Many people think you are a hero (especially Shane and PW), but who are your heroes on and off the track (can be different)?
I don't really know - there's plenty of racers that I admire for the way they race and conduct themselves.  I don't know if I have heroes though.

Can you tell us more about your ‘special bib’? Do the girls like it?
Ah yes, I was told I needed a yellow bib so I didn't get mistaken for a jump whilst photographing on the track.  But I don't like yellow and I got an orange one instead, airbrushing an oople logo on the back. I think it makes me look more PRO. However I don’t think it has been responsible for any sexy time.

Who is your favourite famous Barry?
I can't think of any, sorry.

Who is your favourite monkey?
Speshy2. The 'ITV Digital' / PG Tips munkeh

What do you think to the report you have created this weekend?
We had problems at the start of the meeting and the organisers were slow to help us out and I personally felt a little unwelcome at the start.  We had problems getting results and I couldn't see the projector screen at all due to my crap eyes - I thought it was a lot better at neo08 as far as reporting went, it was just a lot better setup and smoother.
I wasn't happy all through the report with the lack of racing content - but I thought it got a lot better on the final day.
The organisers had their own coverage, sponsors and media partners - we weren't really any part of that and maybe it was a disadvantage but I still thank Phil and the DXR team for putting on a great meeting despite some glitches it ran well and we had an awesome time. Thanks also to BBK Rob for putting on a great meeting.
(Thanks also to SMD for sponsoring the report, and making our random bullshizzle possible!)

If you were running an event like the Neo what would you do differently?
I don't think I'd want to run an event as big and popular as this one - it's a huge responsibility and it's more about business than racing at the end of the day.  I'm not a business man and I don't have the skills of getting what I want from manufacturers as it is.

So no oOple event in the future?
No plans for one and I work full-time so organising would be hard around all the other oople stuff I already do.  With the right help and support from a track / club / co-organiser then you never know.

Boss, why do you call everyone “Boss”? Have you ever been called “Boss” outside of racing, and did you enjoy it? Did it make you feel the big doggie?
I was called Boss in a KFC and at my local shop - it made me laugh boss.

Did you ever think anyone would have a tattoo of your website?
Ah, Shane!  No, I never imagined that.  Shane loves oOple even more than me - that's awesome.