Ardent ‘Virgin’ Winter Series - Round 1 Race Report

The first round of the popular Ardent Winter Series took place on Sunday the 9th October 2011 with 136 Touring car drivers. With the outdoor season now over many drivers from all over the UK headed to Ardent to compete in the most competitive indoor series in the UK.

New for this year was a new control tyre for 13.5. The Moore-Speed tyre was chosen after a lot of successful testing at the raceway. However is was still going to be interesting to see how drivers would find this tyre, as most drivers in the UK are used to the very popular Sorex tyre which was chosen as the 10.5 class control tyre. The Moore-Speed tyre is more of a typical 'international' tyre that would be used for example at an Indoor Euros, ETS Race etc. They require the correct tyre prep, maintenance and attention to setup more than Sorex, so a learning curve for everyone, however it’s challenges like this that excites the industry into finding those new and upcoming superstars of the future, which is why this series is the one the manufacturers are watching the most in the UK over winter.

The Moore-Speed Control Tyre for 13.5 class proved a new challenge for many racers

Also new for this year were the yellow 'speed bump' track markings. These markings replaced the conventional solid ones and were a lot more forgiving on driver’s cars as if you got it wrong, you would be punished by rolling onto your roof or going off line. Although there was no need to 'ride' them like you would a conventional outdoor curb, many drivers found though that you could clip them slightly and get away with it.

Track markers – Almost curbs, might be skimmed to enable more ‘ride’ability’ for round 2

A lot of drivers were present on the Saturday getting in some practice on the new technical layout at the raceway. Many drivers were getting used to indoor racing again.

The doors opened on Sunday at 7am and the track was open for practice until 8:30. John Dawson gave a quick drivers briefing and by 9am it was time to go racing!

Round One

Round one of qualification got underway starting first with the 13.5 class. It was 2010 BRCA Pro-Stock champion Jonny Bowden who posted the fastest time with his Tamiya looking very good on the Moore-Speed tyre. Zak Finlay was next up with Ian Plimmer 3rd with his Xray T3'11. Michael Johnson was only a few tenths behind Ian in fourth with his Xray, a fantastic debut for this newly signed X-Ray driver, spotted from attending club nights at Ardent and giving the regular top drivers a run for their money. Track owner John Dawson struggled to make the top 10, not a good start to his day.

Jonny Bowden in Action

In 10.5 it was the speedy Olly Jefferies with his Associated TC6 who was fastest in round one followed by multiple BRCA Champion Chris Grainger in second with the new Mi4 looking very good and Chris was also showing some great pace to say carpet racing isn't his preferred surface ;-). Stefan Chodzysnki was third fastest with his Hotbodies TCX running the HPI Flux Pro Motor and ESC. Fourth was Kyle Branson with his Xray who races 1/8th IC. It must have felt strange for him not having to pit for fuel :-).

Olly Jefferies and Stefan in the pits, Chris Grainger finding brilliant pace with the new Schumacher Mi4

Round 2

Round 2 saw a few changes of position in both classes. In 13.5 Jonny Bowden stayed in TQ position but Michael Johnson moved into 3rd position after Ian Plimmer failed to improve on his time. Zak was still in second position and was able to reduce the gap between himself and Jonny to around 1 second.

In 10.5 it was Olly again who was fastest posting a 22 in 303. Stefan Chodzysnki was next up after a good clean run but 4 seconds behind OJ's time. Ben Cosgrove let everyone know he was back racing TC again and posted the third fastest time of the round. Good runs again from Kyle Branson and Liam Brooks meant they were also in the mix in fourth place and sixth place. Chris Grainger failed to improve on his first round time after making a mistake and was bumped down to fifth position.

Round 3

The final round of qualification was the last chance for those drivers languishing just outside of the top ten to try and get themselves into the A main.

In 13.5 TQ went to Jonny Bowden who looked to be in control throughout the whole of qualifying. Ian Plimmer got his pace out the bag and got himself into second position ahead of Zak finlay.

Track Owner John Dawson managed to save his day after being outside the top ten after round 2 and posted the fourth fastest time.

Below is how the 13.5 A-main would line up:

Congratulations to all drivers

In 10.5 Olly Jefferies Secured TQ with his LRP Powered Associated. Stefan Chodzynski had another good run but was unable to mount a challenge to OJ's 22 303 run so qualified second. And Chris Grainger got himself back into third position ahead of HPI's Ben Cosgrove.

The 10.5 class was very competitive as we had the BRCA National Pro stock and Super touring drivers in one class. Making the top ten was a great achievement and many drivers I spoke to were just hoping for that alone.

Here is how the A-main 10.5 would be lining up:

Stefan Chodzynski’s dedication to the late Steve Jobs

There were many drivers between 11th - 20th place who could of easily found themselves amongst the mix. James Hart was showing great pre event pace but just didn't have a good day at the office and was the dreaded BQ. Alan Bickerstaff of Associated also narrowly missed the A-main.

Alan Bickerstaff and James hart

Jonny Aird is also a name you would expect to be up there, but with Jonny recently signing for Schumacher it will be a while until he is fully up to speed and used to the car so expect to see him near the sharp end in the coming rounds. Andy Murray is another who has changed and has returned to Xray. Andy was lacking pre event testing but was getting faster throughout the day with his RC Dynamics prototype ESC Powered Xray T3'11.

Andy Murray Xray with RC dynamics prototype esc

So there we have it, qualifying over and now it was time for finals!

A-main 13.5 leg 1

In leg 1 of the 13.5 A main Jonny Bowden was able to take the win. But it was a close one after he made a mistake and his car appeared to slow down on the dying laps. Zak very nearly clinched it from Jonny but Jonny kept it tight and allowed no room to pass. Ian Plimmer came home in third for Xray.

Leg 1 in 10.5 got underway and Olly led the pack away. Stefan Chodzynski and Chris Grainger were giving chase but Olly was proving too strong and was able to make his lead even greater. Chris and Stefan were having a good battle until the two came together in a 50/50 incident which sent Stef onto the other side of the track. Stef fell down to seventh position but was able to recover back into fourth. Olly Took leg one ahead of Chris with Kyle Branson third.

In 13.5 leg 2 it was again Jonny Bowden who led from start to finish. A controversial incident between Zak and Ian put Ian way down the order, Ian was able to recover into fourth place. Zak came a good second with the famous John Dawson coming third.

After 2 legs this is how 13.5 class looked

In the second Leg of the 10.5 A-main Olly again was untroubled and led the field away. Ben Cosgrove was able to get passed Chris at the start and support team mate Stefan Chodzynski to go after Olly. Olly again proved to be unstoppable and was stretching the gap between himself and Stef each lap. Stefan eventually eased off not wanting to make a mistake as he needed a second after his fourth in leg one to get second overall. Ben Cosgrove however was keen to test Stefan's pace and kept Stef hot on his heels for the whole final. OJ took the win, followed by Stef in second and Ben in third.

Olly took the win overall and drove fantastic all weekend making no mistakes in qualifying or the finals. Well done Olly! Stefan Chodzynski came second and Chris Grainger third.

After two legs the 10.5 A-main looked like this

So that’s round one complete. Thanks to everyone who came and to the crew at Ardent Raceway for making the event a success, for Kris Kennedy doing the MC work and for Roger Cosgrove and James Stewart who gave up their Sunday to run race control and to help issue the pain to those who misbehaved on the track. These guys work incredibly hard to put on a good show and they did a great job.

The Moore-Speed tyre proved to be a challenge to many drivers, but that was always going to be the case if they are used to another tyre. Jonny Bowden with his Tamiya proved they are fast by producing a 21 203 in 13.5 and used only 2 sets all weekend including Saturday practice! Jonny said he did his fastest time on 9 run old tyres and just maintained them throughout the day and applied his additive less when the traction was high. Hopefully many more drivers will go better at round 2 now they have had some track time on them.

Well that’s all for this round, see you all at round 2!

Stefan Chodzynski – HPI Racing

www.stefan-chodzynski-rc.blogspot.com

Team Championship Point winners

13.5

1. Jonny Bowden – Tamiya
2. Zak Finlay – RC Disco/XRAY
3. Ian Plimmer - RC Disco/XRAY
4. John Dawson – RC Disco/XRAY
5. Dean Gibbs – Hpi Racing/HotBodies
6. Mark Hancock – Associated
7. Matthew Lax – Schumacher Racing
8. Michael Johnson – RC Disco/XRAY
9. Mark Burton - XRAY – (Not Signed)
10. Sam Law – RC Disco/XRAY
11. Chris Swallow – Yokomo (Not Signed)
12. Chris Holmes – RC Disco/XRAY
13. Matthew Claxton - Yokomo (Not Signed)
14. Bradley Sellars – Schumacher Racing
15. Jon Robinson ?
10.5 Pro-Racer
1. Olly Jefferies – Team Associated/CML
2. Stefan Chodzynski – HPI Racing/HotBodies
3. Chris Grainger – Schumacher Racing
4. Kyle Branson – RC Disco/XRAY
5. Ryan Edwards – RC Disco/XRAY
6. Ben Cosgrove – Hpi Racing/HotBodies
7. Liam Brooks - RC Disco/XRAY
8. Sam Clifton – Schumacher Racing
9. Matthew White – Schumacher Racing
10. Phil Chambers – RC Disco/XRAY
11. James Hart – Schumacher Racing
12. Alan Bickerstaff – Team Associated/CML
13. Jonathan Aird – Schumacher Racing
14. John Simpson – RC Disco/XRAY
15. Andy Low – RC Disco/XRAY

Feel free to use this report, it’s photos and feel free to distribute. Please just credit Stefan Chodzynski and Merv Wignall. Thank you

For full race results, timings and fastest laps click Here