2010 Victorian Offroad Titles - 10-11 April 2010 - Knox, Australia.
Report by Glenn Wilson, photos by Leigh Cheeseman and Peter Brady
The 2010 ORCCA Victoria Offroad Titles were hosted by the Knox club at their track in Carrington Park Scoresby over the weekend of 10-11 April. The club made a bold decision to make some major changes to the old layout around the end of 2009 / early 2010 and this was the first major race meeting test to gauge their success. All drivers commented on an improvement in the overal technical nature of the layout with highlights including several elevation changes, a moguls section, and a series of double jump sections.
In the week leading up to the event, the surface was extremely loose and dusty however due to the valiant efforts of the Knox track crew and some well needed rain, the track presented had an abundance of grip and was relatively smooth (remembering that this is an offroad titles).
112 entries were received across the four chassis classes on offer (encompassing 540, stock (down to 17.5T brushless or 27T brushed, modified (open motor) and seniors (down to 10.5T brushless of 19T brushed) motor classes):
- 2wd - 51 entries
- 4wd - 34 entries
- Truck - 27 entries
Weather conditions were near perfect for offroad racing on Saturday with temperatures in the low 20's C. Sunday however was a different story with periods of heavy rain and hail followed by clear skies and sun shine - typical four seasons in a day Melbourne weather.
The format for the event was four qualifying rounds for each class followed by three finals. Staggered starts were used for all qualifiers with a regrade done after two rounds. Grid positions for the finals were determined from the best two qualifiers. Finals were decided by the best two of the three final rounds with the third round used to separate racers tied on points. Due to poor weather on Sunday, only two finals were run with the fastest run counted.
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| Staggered start qualifying | | Jeff Primmers Durango |
Concours
Concours was held prior to the start of racing on both days. Some impressive paint work was rolled out with the eventual winners as follows:
- 4wd - Jeff Primmer
- Truck - Matt Chisholm
- 2wd - Bruce Rollins
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| Concours contenders | | Jeff Primmer's winning 4wd Durango |
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| Matt Chisholm's winning truck | | Matt and Jeff with their cars |
4wd Chassis Class
540
The 540 class produced some great racing from some of the up and coming drivers. Jai Davis asserted his authority from race one and solidified the TQ position with another great run in race three. David Engledow pushed him all the way but was the victim on too many mistakes. Daniel Simms Tekin equipped car was a missle but he too fell victim to the technical Knox layout and suffered from poor consistency. In the finals, Jai narrowly beat Dave across the loop to claim the extra lap and the victory. He backed that up with a fastest time of day in final 2 to take the title.
Stock
The highlighly competetive stock class was as predicted, extremely quick with lap times about half a second off modified (with the exception of Australian champion Matt Griffin's times). Logan Symes drove with confidence and made few errors all day to guide his B44 into the TQ spot ahead of Shaun Thiel and Jeff Primmer. In final 1, Logan led from start to finish, briefly challenged by Glenn Wilson in second. Race two was a different story with Symes driving off on the field to take a comfortable 14s victory and the title. In race three, Thiel broke his car on the warmup lap but thanks to a quick repair by team mate Scott Cameron, he was returned to the grid to take the win and overall second place. Jeff Primmer showed consistent improvement across the day to claim third in his brand new Durango.
Seniors
After a one year absence, seniors class returned to the Vic Titles and almost a full field assembled. With more than half the field equipped with visual and audible aids, racing got underway with Bob Tierney showing some early form. Race 2 saw the emergence of Dorian Divencenzo who went on to claim TQ. Shane Walters also demonstrated some consisent driving to sneak into position 2 on the grid. The finals saw some aggresive driving with Dorian taking Round 1 by a sizeable margin recording the fastest time of day. Dorian went on to lock away the title in Round 2 with another impressive drive, pushed all the way by eventual second place getter Shane Walters. Theo Theodorou returned from a long break from competetive offroad RC racing to claim third overall.
Modified
All eyes were on multiple Australian Titles holder Matt Griffin in the modified class. At his first major race meet since taking delivery of his new Kyosho, Matt dominated every race being the only driver all day to record a 12 lap run. Leigh Cheeseman was the surprise packet of the day, driving a Jeff Primmer prepared Hot Boddies D4 which he had never driven before. Cheeseman improved throughout the day to sneak into second overall, edging out local gun Bruce Rollins and his Kyosho.
The top ten finishers in each class of 4wd were:
| No. | 540 | Stock | Seniors | Modified |
| 1. | Jai Davis (20) | Logan Symes (20) | Dorian Divencenzo (20) | Matt Griffin (20) |
| 2. | David Engledow (18) | Shaun Thiel (18) | Shayne Walters (19) | Leigh Cheeseman (18) |
| 3. | Daniel Simms (16) | Jeff Primmer (16) | Theo Theodorou (17) | Bruce Rollins (17) |
| 4. | Chris Davis (14) | Glenn Wilson (16) | Bob Tierney (16) | Ashley Peeler (14) |
| 5. | | Andrew Crowe (15) | Gerry Maya (14) | Mark Polistena (13) |
| 6. | | Matthew Chisholm (11) | Peter Brady (13) | John Grenville (11) |
| 7. | | John Caval (11) | | Andrew Giddings (8) |
| 8. | | Nigel Spokes (8) | | Alan Lui (6) |
| 9. | | Jovis Cardente (6) | | Peter Wooster (5) |
| 10. | | Piers Morton (5) | | Scott Cameron (2) |
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Truck Chassis Class
Stock
With a quality field assembled to contest the title, new commer Andre Morton stamped his authority on the class from race 1. With a custom made Losi, Morton drove with incredible consistency to master the Knox layout and improve almost every round, winning all but one. Local favourite Matt Chisholm in his Kyosho was second and never far behind Moron. Shaun Thiel snuck home in third ahead of John Caval on countback.
Modified
With Matt Griffin choosing to focus on 4wd and 2wd, the modified class was wide open with several local drivers in contention. Early speed was evident from Ash Peeler and Ash Seward with Peeler eventually prevailing to take TQ. Scott Cameron showed some speed but lacked the consistency to challend the front runners. In the finals, Seward came out firing, passing Peeler in race 1 to take the win. Seward broke his car in race 2 allowing Cameron to drive through the field for the win ahead of Peeler. With everything on the line in race 3, Seward showed why he is one of the best drivers around, taking the win from Peeler and sealing the title. Cameron could only manage a fourth but it was enough to secure his third overall.
The top ten finishers in each class of truck were:
| No. | Stock | Modified |
| 1. | Andre Morton (20) | Ash Seward (20) |
| 2. | Matt Chisholm (18) | Ash Peeler (18) |
| 3. | Shaun Thiel (16) | Scott Cameron (17) |
| 4. | John Caval (16) | Peter Wooster (16) |
| 5. | Michael Salis (15) | Jason Morris (13) |
| 6. | Simon Ryan (12) | Dorian Divencenzo (11) |
| 7. | Paul Sims (9) | Gary Caithness (11) |
| 8. | Nigel Spokes (8) | Max Brouggy (7) |
| 9. | Jovis Cardente (5) | Dylan Perry (5) |
| 10. | David Engledow (4) | Chris Kyriacou (3) |
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2wd Chassis Class
540
After the disappointment of 4wd day, Daniel Simms came out firing with a fastest lap time almost a second quicker than the rest of the field. His speed however was not enough to overcome the consistency of the two front runners Matt West and TQ David Engledow. Nothing separated Matt and Dave all day and in the end, Matt took the title by 2.7s from Dave on countback after both drivers had a round win each. Jai David backed up his good 4wd result to come home in third.
Stock
Fresh from his domination of the 4wd class, Symes picked up where he left off, monstering the field to take TQ ahead of Glenn Wilson. In the finals, Symes again demonstrated why he is a star of the future to win both round and wrap up his second title of the weekend. Michael Salis came from third on the grid to guide his X-Factory to second overall on countback, finishing only 2s behind Symes in final 2. Local gun Marcel Morton collected third place.
Seniors
Pete Crowe had the early speed in the Seniors class, taking the Round 1 win. Round 2 and 3 saw Dorian Divencenzo get his car and driving sorted out to take TQ. Dorian went into the finals and improved on his qualifying results in both rounds to take the win from Crowe. Bob Tierney narrowly edged out Gerry Maya to take third.
Modified
Matt Griffin again dominated from start to finish, easily securing the TQ position and eventual title. The battle for second was hotly constested with Leigh Cheeseman, Ash Seward and Scott Cameron all showing glipses of brilliance. At the end of the day, Seward narrowly edged out Cheeseman with an 11 lap run in final 2. Cameron wasn't far behind in fourth.
The top ten finishers in each class of 2wd were:
| No. | 540 | Stock | Seniors | Modified |
| 1. | Matt West (10) | Logan Symes (10) | Dorian Divencenzo (10) | Matt Griffin (10) |
| 2. | David Engledow (10) | Michael Salis (9) | Pete Crowe (9) | Ash Seward (9) |
| 3. | Jai Davis (8) | Marcel Morton (9) | Bob Tierney (8) | Leigh Cheeseman (9) |
| 4. | Daniel Simms (7) | Mat Chisholm (8) | Gerry Maya (8) | Scott Cameron (8) |
| 5. | Jason Haby (6) | Simon Ryan (6) | Peter Brady (7) | John Grenville (7) |
| 6. | Bill Karakatsanis (6) | Glenn WIlson (6) | Theo Theodorou (5) | Mark Polistena (6) |
| 7. | Chris Davis (4) | Nathan Burge (5) | Neil Russell (5) | Bruce Rollins (6) |
| 8. | Lachlan Caithness (3) | Paul Creevey (4) | | Peter Wooster (5) |
| 9. | Max Brouggy (2) | Andrew Crowe (3) | | Wayne Thomas (3) |
| 10. | | Shaun Thiel (2) | | |
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Special thanks to the Knox club for hosting the meet. Special mention should be made of the individual efforts of Michael Campion, Pete Crowe, Sue Crowe, Antony Howard and the track crew.
The full race results can be viewed here:
- Day 1 - including 4wd and truck classes
- Day 2 - 2wd class
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