Sunday 22nd March 2009

The final round of the 2008/9 Schumacher Indoor Off Road Masters series at Worksop was held on Sunday the 22nd March - just a week before the big 'Players' meeting at the same venue. Doors opened early as usual and drivers were greeted with some rather large jumps on a fast and flowing track.

The main feature was the huge table top in front of the drivers stand - followed by a double and single 'humps'.

Contrary to the usual high attendance figures at previous events throughout the series, many lazy bums chose not to show up on the day, creating more work for super race controller Muzzy, and resulting in the heat listing changing prior to racing commencing.

Due to this, it will be necessary in future series for entrants to pay prior to the event, and to give a weeks notice if they aren't going to be turning up. With entry lists topping 180+ drivers, it seems unfair for some drivers not to get entry into the event if people are booked in who have no intention of turning up.

Round one saw Paul Bradby take the 2WD class - Tom Cockerill put in a great run and briefly took the lead off Paul, putting in the fastest laps to that point and finishing second in round. Neil Cragg was quickest on the track but had to settle for fourth behind Grant Williams.

The Legend Jamie Booth - Back in action for the his first 4WD electric off road race in many years. Jamie likes all this lipo and brushless stuff he says.

Richard Lowe took the win in 4WD - but only barely. Paul Bradby had a late charge and took over the lead but Richard scraped through by just 0.2 of a second ahead of Bradby who had to settle for 2nd in round.

The top four were seperated be just over 1 second, with Simon Moss and Grant Williams 3rd and 4th respectively. Neil Cragg stuck in the third fastest lap time but broke a rear hub on lap 10 and had to retire.

Grant Williams concentrates hard on his CAT, which he deftly flies past Dave's crotch.

Paul Bradby again took the 2WD top spot in round two, and was looking good for the TQ. A couple of seconds off his previous time on 14 laps 308.56 seconds. James Helliwell finished second in round with a 14/311.30 and Grant Williams finished third in round.

Paul Bradby was looking on top form again in 4WD - quickly passing round one winner Richard Lowe, who himself was having a poor run and having some big-air fun to compensate. Paul looked the class of the field but Neil Cragg wasn't far behind coming from the back of the field. Paul took the round, Neil Cragg second and Simon Moss took third with the quickest lap of the race.

Neil Cragg stepped up with the first 15-lap run in the 2WD class, with 15 laps on 321.65. Grant Williams finished second with a great time of 14 / 304.44 and James Helliwell third.
Paul Bradby had some bad luck in round three - taking the large tabletop and attempting a mid-air pass, he landed on another car which incurred a 10-second time penalty, at which point he decided to retire as it was already almost the end of the race.

Paul had better luck in 4WD and took round three with a new fastest time - jumping up to 16 laps, on 318.95. Simon Moss finished second and Neil Cragg third.

Jamie Booth was racing the CAT SX

Neil Cragg took the final round of 2wd qualifying - and was able to clinch the overall TQ from Paul Bradby by virtue of his faster time in round three. Paul Fox took second in round and Paul Bradby third.

In 4WD, Richard Lowe managed to regain the form from round one, taking the round by a narrow margain from Bradby, with Simon Moss third. With two wins a piece for Lowe and Bradby, it was the round three time of Paul Bradby which saw him take the overall TQ.

2wd A final.

Cragg lead the way from the grid with a clean start, an early mistake from Grant Williams allowed James Helliwell into 3rd place, and for a few laps Cragg, Bradby and Helliwell remained in that order. Bradders followed Cragg, hot on his tail pushing for the lead (and hoping to win the prize helicopter for putting in the fastest lap), with only 3/10ths of a second seperating the pair at one stage. Cragg managed to extend his lead, and a mistake from Bradders enabled James Helliwell to take 2nd place. By this stage Cragg was flying away, 4 seconds ahead of his peers. An error made by local superstar James Helliwell allowed Bradders back into 2nd place, where he continued to push for the win.

Cragg leads them round the first corner	Cragg over the small table top

Bradby closes the gap	Coming over the large table top - Bradby piles it on

By 4 minutes into the race, floppy-haired sheepy-student and X-factory hero Tom Cockerill was a whole two laps behind the lead after a series of schoolgirl errors, and his supportive mates suggested he might as well leave the race. Bradders and Helliwell crossed the finish line as the buzzer sounded, finishing in 2nd and 3rd place respectively, Neil made it through for a 15th lap, and crossed the finish line to take the win, making the fastest lap of the race (19.06sec)at the same time to take the helicopter clean out of Bradbys clammy hands.

Cragg on the way to take the win

Neil Craggs Associated RC10B4 ran the latest X12 based Nosram 6.5 motor with 12.5mm sintered rotor - 22t pinion / 81t spur. Associated XP1510 servo, Nosram EVO brushless ESC, Reedy Lipo.

Round 7 of the Schumacher Indoor Masters 2008/09 concluded the series, Neil Cragg took the win 5 points ahead of mid-west hero Mat Dodd, who had attended all 7 events in his bid to become master.

Paul Bradby and Worksop Superhero James Helliwell tied on 739 points, but it was Bradby who bagged 3rd place for supporting the bacon buttie van best.

Neil Cragg collects his colourful trophy for his series win. MASTER.

Dan Greenwood was rather ecstatic about his 7th place overall in the 2wd series.

4wd A final

Bradders led the way in pole position for what was going to be a race full of swapping and changing, a mistake coming off the first jump set Bradders back down the order, and Lowe took the lead, followed closely by Moss, Cragg and Helliwell. Bradders didn't hang about working his way back to pole, and by the following lap was up to 4th place. Moss pushed hard and soon took the lead from Lowe, whilst Cragg and Bradders swapped place in 3rd and 4th. Moss worked hard to keep his car in first place, but Bradders was keen to make it back to where he started, and soon reclaimed his first place. Right: The start of the 4WD A final was delayed slightly after Neil Cragg broke during the warmup lap.

Bradby and Cragg out front, Lowe chasing.	Lowe straight to the front - lap one.

Bradby had a bad time of it on lap one, dropping down to 8th.

Skelding takes a roll, Superhero Northy to the rescue	Moss took the lead on lap three.

Cragg past - then not past, oops.	Bradby back to second - chases Moss

The order continued to change with Cragg, Moss and Bradby all fighting for the win, final fishing order was Bradby, Cragg and Moss, despite Craggs transponder retiring prior to the race finish.

Moss gets hung up - Cragg passes	Bradby went on to take the win after a bad start

Indoor warrior Richard Lowe walked away with the 4wd title, 8 points ahead of second place man Paul Bradby.

Nathan Waters slipped his CAT SX into 3rd place overall, whilst James Helliwell in yet another tie was demoted to 5th place behind Adam Skelding, who stole 4th place.

Dan Greenwood nearly wee's himself after making top 10 places in both classes. Here he performs an XFactory 'X'

Local farmerboy James Helliwell forces a smile after being robbed of two places in tie-scenarios.

4wd B Final

Nathan Waters in pole position lead the B final throughout most of the race duration. The race order to start with was Nathan Waters, Ben Jemison, Ben Riley, Jamie Booth. Riley, always a considerate fellow, chose to drop back a few places to allow some of the other chaps in with a chance of winning. Jamie Booth moved up to 2nd place by one minute into the race, and David Gibson was up to third. BenJem was competing with himself over the large tabletop, launching some BIG AIR jumps, which is probably why he retired 7 laps into the race.

Jamie Booth pushed Nathan Waters hard for 1st place, but Nathan never faltered despite Booth being less than 1 second behind him. Riley eventually made his way back up the order, and by half race distance found his way into first place, followed closely by Nathan Waters, Jamie Booth, and Northern Warrior Dan Greenwood.

Anthony Potter was racing the Tamiya DF03 'Keen Hawk' - I honestly thought this guy was 'taking the piss' and so did other people who asked me the question during the B final 'did he use that during qualifying?'. Anthony is more of a super talented racer than a 'joker' and really did race the alloy wishboned DF03 all day, even improving his 9th place qualifying position by finishing 4th in the B final. AMAZING. The car was heavy and under-dampened - too short, zero caster, zero antisquat, lots of unsprung weight - running a centre one way and DF03 hopup dampers. Anthony is a god of racing and we bow down to his skills.

Northy, using his supreme driving SKILLZ had a poor start to the race, but ended up battling through the traffic to finish the race in 3rd place, ACE. Errors made by Ben Riley pushing his B44 too hard left him back down in 7th place where he began, and he didn't recover from this. Excitement on the last lap as Chris Long sneaked past Anthony Potter on the last lap, taking his CAT into 2nd place.

Long Jump Competition.
Race boss Mark 'Muzzy' Musgrove announced one final competition of the series at the end of the day - the LONG JUMP, despite the name suggesting, this event has nothing to do with Chris Long, but in fact prizes were offered for the longest-biggest-air-most-stylish-jump off the huge tabletop.

Competitors lined up on the rostrum to show off their MAD SKILLZ, and after being warned all day and handed penalties for landing their cars on peoples heads, and mounting the rostrum - taking out other drivers mid-jump, the racers were finally able to go OFF THEIR PUPS.

Leon abuses MUNKY with is vehicle....

....And attempts to swing from the rafters.

Helliwell demonstrates some ceiling driving as he takes his CAT through the perfect backflip, landing on its wheels.