2007 Top End Nitro Challenge

Australias Biggest Prizemoney Event is ON!!!!!!

21st - 23rd June 2007

Click for a view of the circuit before the big event

And stayed tuned for more videos on the OCR Raceway Channel as they come to hand!!

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Thursday 21st June 2007

Prologue / Qualifying

Firstly we would like to extend a wam welcome to all the interstate racers and visitors that have come to our great city of Darwin to compete in the biggest prizemoney RC Motorsport event in the country. The extended free practice session on the freshly graded circuit was somewhat slippery due to the sandy conditons caused by the unseasonal rains early in the week, but the surface came on fairly quickly cleaning up nicely with the hard pack coming to the top quite early on. The weather being unusually cool for this time of year in fact we had the coldest day ever recorded in Darwin on Tuesday, some of you might laugh but it was 20 celcius, the average at this of year is in the low 30's and this is the tropics so everyone was feeling the chill. Three rounds of heats were run to gain heat start positions for Friday nights start and to give our visiting drivers the opportunity to run the all rounds count pointscore format.

The first round saw some super fast racing on the smooth slick surface with Tony Knauth (X1CR - OS - Proline) on 16 laps taking the win ahead of Neil Ingram (MBX5R - RB - Proline) on 15 laps and Phillip Ciccone (MBX5R - RB - Medial Pro) in third 2 seconds behind. Round 2 another great race had Tam Bui (Xray - Maxpower - Proline) get out to an early lead after some tangles off the start Tony Knauth chased hard to get within 0.42 of a second of him on the finish line, NT #1 gary Bui (Xray - Maxpower - Proline) in third 10 seconds behind. Round 3 saw one of our vistors drivers take the win with Ashleigh Frensham from South Australia getting Nosram powered Hyper 8 on the pace with 16 laps putting a lap on Tony Knauth in second and Phillip Ciccone in third. Ashleigh and Tony the only 2 drivers so far able to complete a 16 lap race, with Tony Knauth coming out on top in the FTD stakes so far with 16 laps - 8m14.082 and Ashleigh Frensham 16 laps 8m26.445, the full FTD results here, and final standings and start positions for friday are here.

Friday 22nd June 2007

Race Report - Rounds 1 to 5

After all the awesome qualifying / prologue action thursday night at OCR Raceway, the first 5 rounds of heats of the 2007 Top End Nitro Challenge were always going to be hotly contested with the big prize money purse at stake, a huge crowd of excited spectators were in attendance all worked up after a day out at the Hidden Valley road race circuit watching round 6 of Australias premier race series the V8 Supercars, the spectators were in for a spectacular show of top class motorsport as the first rounds got underway just on 7.00pm on the awesome hard packed surface. Round 1 saw OCM Factory driver Ian Haley from Western Australia take the win ahead of Hyper 8 Factory driver Ashleigh Frensham of South Australia and local Northern Territory driver Duy Bui fresh from a 4 month stint in the USA driving his Boss powered Xray in third. Round 2 saw Ashleigh Frensham take the win over Haley just over 10 seconds down and Duy Bui 0.25 seconds in third behind him, with venue owner and event coordinator Tony Knauth HN X1CR moving up into fourth place overall. Hyper 8 / Nosram driver Ashleigh Frensham showing a wealth of experience and talent had his Nitro buggy absolutely on the money in round 3, taking the win 15.92 seconds ahead of OCM / Werks driver Ian Haley who battled all race with X1CR driver Tony Knauth swapping second and third spot throughout, but Tony succumbing to Haley's experience in the end to follow him home 0.8 sec behind in third, with Duy Bui a further 3.1 sec behind in fourth. The overall scores after 3 rounds see Ashleigh Frensham out in front on 48 laps, Ian Haley in second also on 48 laps just under 30 seconds behind, Duy Bui in third 47 laps, Tony Knauth fourth 46 laps and Losi 8 driver Marc Christianson from Darwin in fifth on 45 laps. The RTR / Pullstart Challenge Cup also hotly contested stand after Round 3, Scott Newhouse (Sacker Pro, NT) on 40 laps in first, young NT driver Tom Jones (Caster ZX1 RTR, STS) in second on 35 Tom is also leading the Junior Buggy class, and Queensland driver Brad Knauth HN X1CR STS in third on 33. Round 4 again had Haley, Ashleigh and Duy battling it out, with Ashleigh coming out on top just 4.52 seconds ahead of Haley with Duy in third a further 10 seconds behind. The last round of the evening started at 11.30pm, and with a wonderful cool breeze, awesome blue grooved hard packed surface which is really developing some great character, this the last race of the night was going to be a spectacle, with the big spectator crowd enthralled with the action all night they stayed around to watch the action with the top drivers going hard at it, again the faultless Ashleigh Frensham took the win, this guy just doesnt seem to put a wheel wrong, Ian Haley in second 8.41 seconds down and Duy Bui and Tony Knauth battling it out for the final podium spot for most of the race with Duy taking it in the end to come home in third. The progressive results so far are here and the FTD results after Round 5 are here. Stay tuned right here when we go into the last 5 rounds of Nitro Buggy tonight, in this the third annual Top End Nitro Challenge.

Friday 23nd June 2007

Race Report - Rounds 6 to 10

After a huge night of full on wheel to wheel action Friday night and quite a number of quality drivers right on the pace, the final five rounds of the 2007 Top End Nitro Challenge were always going to be very close right till the end with the top positions still within reach, the top placed driver Ash Frensham going into round 6 was on fire on friday night putting on an awesome display of skill, but with Ian Haley right on his wing, Duy Bui close in third and Tony Knauth right on his tail, this was going to be a battle to the end. Round 6 got off a blistering start with Tony Knauth getting the holeshot and getting out to an early lead and driving away from the rest of the field to finish in the top spot a lap ahead of second place Ash Frensham and third Ian Haley, Tony the only driver in the 28 second bracket in this race was able to pull in the overall top 3 drivers getting closer to that final overall podium spot. Round 7, saw another great battle between Ian Haley OCM/Werks and Tony Knauth HN X1CR, with Haley getting the better of Tony in the end who missed the final siren by a very fine margin to go a lap down, and NT #1 Gary Bui making an appearence in the placings after having all sorts of issues throughout the event, Ian Haley now moves into the overall lead ahead of Ash Frensham after he dropped 2 laps in this round, with Duy Bui just holding onto third from Tony. Round 8 saw another great race from Tony Knauth, showing a clean pair of heels to Ash Frensham early in the heat with Ash making some ground on the leader in the closing stages to finish just 3.51 seconds down, with local NT driver Marc Christianson bringing his Nova Rossi powered Losi 8 home in third, Ian Haley dropping a lap on the leaders to finish in fourth which closed up the overall positions again with just 2 rounds to go. After round 8 the overall positions are Ian Haley in front on 126 laps, Ash Frensham second on 125 laps and Tony Knauth moving up into third on 123 laps. Round 9 again had Ian Haley take the win ahead of Tony Knauth with young Queensland driver Joel Walters driving a Ninja powered MBX5R breaking into the Top Ten group after some dramas in the earlier rounds, putting on an awesome display of driving talent to finish in third. The final round begins with WA driver Ian Haley in the overall lead on 142 laps, SA driver Ash Frensham in second on 140 laps and NT driver Tony Knauth in third on 138 laps again Haley showed us his depth of talent driving his OCM faultlessly to a first place spot, with Joel Walters from Queensland in second, Joel setting the fastest lap in this race with a 28.329 and NT driver Marc Christianson in third. Ash Frensham having a shocker finishing down in 9th place after flaming out early. In the end after 3 awesome nights of insane Nitro Buggy action at the 2007 Top End Nitro Challenge it was Ian Haley taking the $3000.00 cash prize in first place with 158 laps, Ash Frensham $750.00 cash in second on 154 laps, and taking the $250.00 third place spot on the podium Tony Knauth with 153 laps. The FTD went to Ash Frensham Hyper 8/ Nosram driver with a blistering 16 laps 8m.05787. The RTR Challnge Cup first place $400.00 went to Scott Newhouse Sacker Pro,second place with $250.00 cash went to young NT driver Tom Jones who also picked up the second place Junior Nitro Buggy trophy, and in third place in the RTR Challnge Cup was Tim Nicol Bazooka taking home the $100.00 cash. Kyle Hodges (Caster ZX1R / RB) took out the first place Junior buggy class, Tom Jones ( Caster ZX1 / STS) in second, young Henry Bui (Xray / Maxpower) in third. The full and final results are here and the FTD results here. In closing we would like to congratulate all the competitors on an awesome event, a big big thankyou to all the interstate drivers that travelled so far to compete, and of course to all our wonderful generous sponsors. Stay tuned over the next few days as more and more pics and videos come to hand.

2007 Top End Nitro Challenge

A huge event, a huge success, a huge prize money purse, what more could you want

BRING IT ON and see you all in 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Thursday 21st - Prologue Results:

Round # 1 - Heat # 1 - 2 - 3

Round # 2 - Heat # 1 - 2 - 3

Round # 3 - Heat # 1 - 2 - 3

Final Result / Starting Positions

Prologue / Qualifying FTD

Friday 22nd - Saturday 23rd - Race Results:

Round # 1 - Heat # 1 - 2 - 3 - 4