Top Dog Dash For Cash - Stage II

07/12/2007

Well another fantastic season of Radio Control Motorsport has come to a close at OCR Raceway, with the running of the Top Dog Dash for Cash - Stage II, on friday night. At this time of year in Darwin with the monsoon season upon us its not always a certainty that an event will happen, and this one was no exception with a huge downpour before lunch, but with the tireless efforts, of Jim, Brett and Tony the circuit was in fine form to start the night. The surface was somewhat heavy but was giving up a good deal of traction for the 22 drivers competing for the $200.00 prizemoney pool, kindly put up by Laurie our friendly resident caterer who we must thank for his support during the 07 season not only with keeping the spectators and drivers in food and drink but also for his sponsorship of events throughout the season, and venue owner Tony Knauth who donated his winnings from Stage I of the Dash for Cash 2 weeks ago. Round 1 had Tam Bui and Tony Knauth get out in front, having an awesome head to head battle for the first 10 laps, swapping the lead again and again until lap 10 when a clutch bearing failure put Tony out of the race, Tam went ahead with it only to come to grief on the last lap to let the flying Phil Ciccone MBX5R - OS take the win, Phil finishing a lap ahead of the rest of the field, Tam Xray XB8 in second and Gary Bui Xray in third. Round 2 proved to be a great race for Losi 8 driver Marc Christianson who took the lead off the start and never looked back finishing the race 14.29 seconds ahead of Tam Bui in second and Gary Bui in third, Neil Ingram recording the fastest lap at 34.915 secs. Top 3 qualifiers after 2 rounds stands at Tam Bui 4 points, Marc Christianson 6 points and Phil Ciccone number 3 qualifier on 7 points. Round 3 the final qualifying round, proved to be another one of those great races to watch with close wheel to wheel action between Neil Ingram MBX5R - RB and Tony Knauth HN X1CR - RB, with Neil taking the win in the end 10.44 seconds ahead of Tony, and with Tam Bui coming home in third. Tam taking the TQ spot for the 15 minute A Final. The B Final ran first with Henry Bui Xray, Aaron Snowball X1CR and his father Paul Snowball X1CR battling it out the whole race, finishing in that order with Henry 22.75 sec ahead of Aaron and Paul breathing down his neck just over a second behind in third. The A Final got underway just after 10 pm, with $200.00 and the honour of taking out the last event for the season at stake, it was always going to be full of action. The 10 car mass grid start was nail biter with a sprint down the front straight to the a very tight rough hairpin turn one, saw the whole field get through unscathed. Phil, Tony and Gary fairing the best making a break for it through the middle esses, to get a very small gap on the field, until coming under the bridge for the first time Phil got tagged from behind dropping him to almost rear of field, this let Tony and Gary get away putting about 15 seconds on the rest. With these 2 battling together this let Marc, Neil and Tam close the gap leading up to the fuel stop. Tony's RB unusually flaming out at the stop and then to lose his transponder on the circuit somewhere a number of laps later after clawing back the time lost in the pits put an end to his fight for the lead. This left Marc, Neil, Tam and Gary in the run for the finish, with Neil Ingram - MBX5R - RB taking the win and $125.00 just 8.87 seconds ahead of Marc Christianson - Losi 8 - OS ($50.00) and Gary Bui - Xray - RB ($25.00) doing well to come back just 23.94 seconds down in third after copping a stop - go penalty because of a Pit Lane infringement. Finally we need to thank all the drivers, sponsors, spectators and supporters that have made the 2007 season something to remember, we look forward to seeing you all in 2008.

BRING IT!!!!!!!!

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 Another great Picture Gallery thanks to Alan Teague, a big thanks also to Alan for his awesome photos this season, we are sad to have to say goodbye to Alan and his family, they are off for a 12 month trip around this big brown land of ours. Good luck, be well and safe and we look forward to seeing you again someday.

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Race Results:

Round # 1 - Heat # 1 - 2 - 3

Round # 2 - Heat # 1 - 2 - 3

Round # 3 - Heat # 1 - 2 - 3

B Final

FTD Result

A Final Results

Position	Car #	Name	Laps	Time	Fastest Lap	Average Lap
1	3	Neil Ingram	23	14m55.642	35.670	38.941
2	2	Marc Christianson	23	15m04.516	34.811	39.327
3	6	Gary Bui	23	15m19.583	34.449	39.982
4	1	Tam Bui	22	15m12.488	35.836	41.477
5	9	Kyle Hodges	21	15m03.478	37.453	43.023
6	8	Tim Nicol	21	15m09.632	34.932	43.316
7	5	Phillip Ciccone	21	15m26.230	35.953	44.106
8	10	Nigel Ellis	19	15m22.194	37.980	48.537
9	4	Tony Knauth	12	8m53.984	35.531	44.499
10	7	Anthony Jackson	9	8m40.549	37.365	57.839