UPGRADE / RCiD 2008 Points Series - Round # 10

 Xray 808 Dominates the 2008 Series

With the OCR Raceway circuit back in fine form after being rebuilt following the 08 Speedway Champs, the circuit was very similar to the one used at the Nitro Challenge in July this year, albeit with a few technical changes being made and some new surface material being bought in, the circuit looked like it was going to give up some good racing and didnt disappoint, with Gavin Newman Xray 808 Axe Rossi breaking Ash Frensham's fastest lap set at the Nitro Challenge by 0.62 sec to reset the lap record at 31.380 sec, Newman on a roll also reset the FTD with 14 laps in 8m02.482 taking 5.91 seconds off Frensham's time which again was set at the Nitro Challenge.

Round 1 got underway just after 7.00pm on the new surface, which had really started to come on during practice with a nice race line starting to show, Knauth - Xray 808 - RB running the new OCM M1000 tyre got a good holeshot with Newman - Xray 808 - Axe Rossi right behind and Gary Bui - Xray 808 - RB in his first event with the 808 running in third, a great battle ensued with all 3 drivers running in the 32 second bracket, Newman took the win after 14 laps of hard racing with Knauth 11.02 seconds behind, the front 2 putting a lap on third placed Gary Bui, ahead Marc Christianson - Losi 8, Neil Ingram - MBX5R filling out the top five places.

Round 2 saw another awesome battle between the front running Xray's of Newman and Knauth, Newman was on fire in this heat setting the fastest lap and the FTD, taking a well deserved win 16.45 seconds ahead of Knauth, with Neil Ingram home in third.

Round 3 was all Xray again with Knauth and Newman showing the field a clean pair of heels, another hard fought race between the two Xray drivers unfolded with Knauth taking the win 4.46 seconds ahead of Newman, the 2 drivers the only ones to put down 14 lap races, Shaun Rawlings doing a brilliant job to bring his Force pullstart powered Xray XB8EC home in third place ahead of Ingrams RB powered MBX5R with Junior driver Tom Jones - X1CR - RB, Daniel White - Xray 808 - OS, John Chau - Xray 808 - RB, Gary Bui - Xray 808 - RB, Shaun Stewart - Hyper 8.5 - RB rounding out the field.

Round 4 saw some carnage on the start with 5 of the 10 starters getting caught up on the first corner letting Daniel White, Rawlings and Newman to make a break for it, with the front 3 getting away, Gary Bui and Tony Knauth pushed hard to work their way back through the field. Ingram coming to grief on the fast front straight connecting the start line upright was out of the race on lap 7. Newman as always very fast out in front was running in the 31 second bracket as was Gary Bui. In the end after 14 hard fought laps it was Newman with the win Knauth afteyr battling back from rear of field into second just 17.69 seconds down with Rawlings again showing horsepower isnt everything finishing 7.5 seconds behind Knauth.

Round 5 the final round for the night saw Newman going into this round as the points leader with a 2 point buffer over Knauth with Gary Bui third overall with 21 points. It was going to take a big mistake or some form of drama for Knauth to take a win from here with Newmans consistency and pace, Newman would need to finish 2 places behind to lose first overall, but as we all know anything can happen and usually does!!. After making some setup changes during the break, Knauth got away from the start with a big holeshot, and as it happens Newman got caught up early, having it all to do now to get back in touch with leaders, Gary Bui pushed hard to chase down Knauth and Newman coming on through the pack, caught up to swap the lead with Bui and Knauth only to make a couple of mistakes in the closing stages dropping back to fifth to leave the other two to battle for the lead, with Bui's RB powered 808 coming out on top, just 1.49 seconds ahead of Knauth, with Tam Bui - Xray 808 - RB taking the number 3 spot, making it an all 808 finish. Tom Jones, Gavin Newman, Neil Ingram, Daniel White, John Chau, Shaun Rawlings and Shaun Stewart rounding out the top ten.

In the overall 2008 Points Series standings, Gavin Newman is first ahead of Gary Bui in second and Tony Knauth in third, something of note is Xray is holding the Top 6 places overall. Check the overall standings here.

We also need to say a big thank you to Coates Hire for the supply of machinery during the surface refurb and Darwin Fibreglass for repairing the jumps.

Congratulations to:

Pro Buggy

1. Tony Knauth - Xray 808 - 9 Points

2. Gavin Newman - Xray 808 - 10 Points

3. Gary Bui - Xray 808 - 25 Points

RTR / Pullstart Buggy

1. Shaun Rawlings

2. Ryan Tranthem

3. Peter Hutton

Junior Buggy

1. Tom Jones

2. Michelle Snowball

3. Samantha Coffee

UPGRADE / RCiD Points Series Scoreboard

Check out the Picture Galleries of Nitro Buggy Action from OCR Raceway

NEXT EVENT

UPGRADE / RCiD 2008 Points Series - Round # 11

12th September

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