2007 Top End Nitro Buggy Championships
Warm Up
Proudly sponsored by
6 April 2007
It looks like the Dry season is finally upon us, it was great to prepare a track that didnt need to have thousands of litres of water pumped out. With 2007 Top End Nitro Buggy Championships only 3 weeks away, this event was good opportunity for the drivers to get up to speed and practice pit stops and refueling procedures. The format was very similar to what will be run at the Championships, with 8 minute qualifying rounds and a 30 minute A Final. The Championships, being run over 2 nights April 27th and 28th, will consist of at least 5 rounds of qualifying on Friday, a minimum of 1 round of qualifying on Saturday, cumulative points from all the qualifiers will give grid positions for the Finals, the A final being a 60 minute race, with all other finals being 30 minutes.
Anyway back to the warmup, Round 1 saw Team OCR driver Shannon Thissen (HN X1CR - RB) take the win ahead of Tony Knauth (HN X1CR - RB) Tony held the lead for most of the race only to run out of fuel on the last corner, with Gary Bui (Xray Boss) in third.
Round 2 had Marc Christianson ( Losi 8 - Novarossi) and Tony Knauth battling for lead with Tony setting the fastest lap of the event 28.531secs, and Marc the only other driver in the 28 second bracket on 28.832 secs, Shannon Thissen came in a close third.
Round 3 was another awesome race between Marc and Tony, with Tony taking the win just 5.73 secs ahead of Marc with another Team OCR driver Neil Ingram (MBX5R - Go Tech) 21.92 secs behind in third place with another Mugen driver Phillip Ciccone 2.3 secs behind him in fourth.
Round 3 being the last of the qualifying races, the grid positions for the finals were now set with Marc Christianson gaining Top Qualifier for the A Final. The 15 minute B Final was the first to run and to mix things up a little the finals were run in reverse direction to the qualifiers, Skip Jackson (HN X1CR - RB) pretty much held the lead from start to finish, with the minor placings changing regularly early in the race between Gary Puttock (MBX5 - RB), Andrew Hutton (Sacker Pro - Force) and Brett McNair (Sacker Pro - STS), but in the end it was Skip Jackson taking the win 3 laps ahead of Gary Puttock, with Brett McNair coming home in third.
The 30 minute A Final, was going to be a tough race with the top 3 qualifiers Marc, Tony and Shannon very equal in terms of speed and consistency, the nice clean start saw Tony get the holeshot with Marc close behind and Shannon getting a little tangled up in the pack, with Marc and Tony out a head of the pack it was Marc in the lead until a couple of small mistakes let Tony get away, which also allowed Shannon to make up the gap, Tony held the lead until the first fuel stop on lap14 where Shannon took over the lead, only to come in for fuel on lap 15 giving the lead back again, it was neck and neck between the top 2 until the next fuel stop where both drivers came in on lap 29, both drivers crews performing super fast fuel stops saw both drivers going back out head to head, with Tony in front only to succumb to a diff failure on lap 31 taking him out of contention, letting Shannon run away with the lead putting together an almost faultless run to the finish with only a couple of small mistakes marring what was a perfect display of driving. Shannon Thissen (HN X1CR - RB - Proline) took the A Final win on 56 laps laps with fellow Team OCR Driver Neil Ingram (MBX5R - Go Tech - Panther) on 53 laps and TQ Marc Christianson ( Losi 8 - Novarossi - Proline) in third on 52 laps.
If the display of driving at this event is anything to go by the 2007 Top End Nitro Buggy Championships 27th - 28th April is going to be one hell of a battle between the Top Gun Pro Buggy drivers, but with another 10 drivers all within a matter of seconds behind it could be anyones title, this will be a race not to miss!!!!!! And also not to forget the other classes that will be contested at the championships, being Junior Nitro Buggy and RTR Buggy.
So dont miss out on one of the NT's biggest Nitro Buggy races this season the 2007 Top End Nitro Buggy Championships, which is proudly bought to you by OCR PITSHOP, Darwin Auto Electrics and HOT 100.
Click the links below to see all the results: