The Central RC and Food Process Engineering

The Keilor Cup is always a favourite on the Victorian Drivers Series calendar and this year was no exception with 71 entries received from across the state.

This year was also the first in which the clubs two major sponsors, Central RC and Food Process Engineering had been on board, securing naming rights for the event.

Unfortunately the event was marred by poor weather with heavy rainfall experienced on almost every day in the week prior. When racers arrived on Saturday for practise, the track was under water but thanks to the efforts of both club members and racers, the standing water was removed before sundown on Saturday, giving the track every opportunity to dry out by Sunday morning. More rain fell on Saturday night which meant not all of the 71 entrants made the trip to the track - preferring the comfort of their teddy bears and Kleenex boxes.

For those that did turn up on Sunday, conditions looked grim, however the track crew immediately went to work with the confidence that the days forecast did not include any additional rain. Work included removing the standing water, spreading some dry dirt over the wettest patches, and applying a 20 odd metre section of blue groove carpet to the main straight. Thanks to the hard work, racing was underway by around 10:15am, meaning only about 1.5 hours had been lost.

At the drivers meeting, the club decided to push ahead with the full program of three qualifiers and three finals and to try and not drop a round. This proved to be a good call and spirits were high as most racers tucked into a J-Hawk bacon and egg sandwich.

2wd Summary

From Q1, a serious battle commenced between Dave Engledow and Daniel Simms which would continue throughout the day. Engledow had a slight speed advantage and exploted it to his advantage, taking out 2 of the 3 qualifiers and locking in TQ from Simms. In the finals, several close battles ensures with Engledow taking the first by 7s. With Simms out of the second final, Engledow wrapped up the win. Simms bounced back to almost edge out Engledow in the third to seal second place with Shameless Shane McKay narrowly edging out Jason Haby for third.

With all eyes on him following complete dominance at the Keilor track for the past 18 months, Mic "The Doctor" Salis did not disappoint, taking out the first two qualifiers and TQ from Glenn Wilson and Simon Atkins. In the finals, it was the young gun from Bendigo Chris Stack driving his green B4 who took the holeshot from position 4 on the grid to blaze past the field and take the first final from Wilson and Scott Rawlings. In the second final, Wilson passed an out of luck Salis to hold off Stack to take the win. With the result coming down to the third final, both Wilson and Stack passed Salis and had a great battle before Wilson made a mistake several laps from the end, allowing Stack to take a well deserved win. Andre Morton drove consitently well in all three finals to secure third from Salis in fourth.

With Ray Munday and Ben Sterling fresh from a tight battle in Mildura, this class was sure to be hotly contested and the two big names did not disappoint. Munday had a near perfect qualifying session, posting the fastest time in all three rounds and made it look easy despite the difficult conditions. Not to be outdone, Sterling was improving with every run and when the finals commenced, the gap between the two was only 3s in the first with Munday just getting home. Munday wrapped up the win in the second with a 6s win over Sterling who sealed second place from an ever improving Logan Symes who is rapidly finding his feet in the premier class.

4wd Summary

Unfortunately due to lack of entries, this class was not run.

With the class aptly renamed 4wd "reprogrammable" stock, some of the speeds observed from teh 17.5T brushless motors were extremely impressive. Wilson got off to a good start taking out the first two qualifiers and TQ from Scott Rawlings who was improving with every round. The surprise packet of the day was Nathan Burge who did not hit the track until round three while he installed electronics in his car but exhibited some extradinary speed from his new Hobbywing system. In the finals, almost every driver made contact with each other on the first lap but when the dust settled, Burge came out on top, leading the race until the final lap where he rolled over with two corners to go, handing the win to Wilson. In the second final, Burge picked up where he left off, taking the win from Nigel Spokes and Rawlings. With the result to be decided in the third, Wilson and Burge had a great battle with Wilson edging out Burge by 0.1s to cross the line ahead. Spokes took out third place.

In a reveral of fortunes from the 2wd class, Sterling had his Kyosho ZX5 FS2 working beautifully, taking out all three rounds of qualifying to seal TQ. Munday was having a lot of problems in qualifying but as we know, he can never be written off. Also of interest was the battle going on for third between Logan Symes, Neil Kovacs and Rudy Rizkalla. In the first final, Sterling took the win from Munday by 1s. In the second, Munday finally got his B44 working and put down an 11 lap run to take the win. With the third being the decider, Sterling managed to hold out Munday and lay down the fastest time of day to take the win. Rizkalla held off his challengers to clinch thrid place with a solid drive.

Truck Summary

Unfortunately due to lack of entries, this class was not run.

This class has been one of the most popular and hotly contested at club level for some time now and the same key players lined up to fight for the cup. Paul Sims had a great qualifying session, taking two of the three rounds and TQ from current state champion Andre Morton and John "J-Hawk" Watkins. In the finals, Morton had his custom modified Losi working beautifully and recorded the fastest time of day on his way to the class win. J-Hawk took out the third final which was enough to clinch second from Sims who was not far behind. Salis continued his forgettable day with glimpses of brilliance but in the end he lacked the speed and handling of the others.

Short Course Truck Summary

SCT was run for the second time this year at a drivers series round and provided spectators with some exciting racing. Pro driver Leigh Cheeseman showed the field how it was done with his brand new Team C ride, dominating both the qualifying and finals to take the win. Scott Rawlings and Neil Kovacs had a great battle for second with Rawlings doing enough in the first two finals to prevail. Hopefully this class will grow in the future as the racing certainly is exciting and drivers are starting to come to terms with setup and handling.

Event Wrap Up

Well thats the Keilor Cup for another year. As always, thanks to those racers that travelled long distances to be part of the action and congratulations to all the winners. Special thanks to J-Hawk on the BBQ for breakfast and the McKay family for lunch, Pete Brady for running the computer, Shane and Leigh for arranging the sensational raffle prizes, and to all those that helped prepare the track.

Click here to view the complete results.

Also special thanks again to the clubs major sponsors and we look forward to seeing everyone again next year.