The 2011 Victorian Titles were held over the weekend of August 5-7 at the Mildura track in North Western Victoria. With almost 200 entries this was the biggest EP off road race of the year, and combined with a fantastic track layout, slick organisation and variable weather conditions it was one of the most memorable Vic titles in recent years!

Big Show, PK and the rest of the Mildura clan had prepared an awesome track with a perfectly prepared surface and fun layout with plenty of places to pass. The track combined fast sections, flowing jumps and a very tight ess section. The new surface held up well despite weather which varied from hot black groove conditions in practice to rain on race days.

In addition to the track, the club had put a lot of effort into the planning of the event itself. Touches such as vinyl stickers, food on all days, clearly marked pit spaces and a grandstand were all gladly received by the competitors and the event has set a very high standard for all future events to follow.

Big thanks also to Bob Tierney for volunteering to be race referee for the weekend instead of racing. This is an unglamorous and thankless position, but he helped keep everyone on track.

To me, the most impressive part of the event was that we were able to get racing finished by 430pm despite the very high entry count and a few rain delays. The races were run on time with virtually no hiccups all weekend.

The Field

The modified buggy classes had competitive fields down to the C final, with the big news the return of multi-time national champ Matt Griffin who had recently been concentrating (very successfully) on nitro. Doing their best to stop him would be long-time rival Ray Munday (AE / JConcepts / Novak), Ben Sterling (Kyosho / Nosram), Logan Symes (Losi), Andrew Abbott (AE), Scott Cameron (Team C), Scott Pettet (X-Factory) and Adam Alexander (Losi). There were some new names in the field with the likes of Adam Foord and Jarrod Currie from SA (both running Losis) making a return to EP and racers from as far away as Perth and Queensland all looking to make the elusive A-Main. The biggest names missing were Leigh Cheeseman and Ash Peeler, who attended the world titles in Finland only a few weeks earlier.

The stock classes were also stacked with local Shaun Thiel (Team C) hot favourite but facing stiff competition from the likes of Mick ‘The Doctor’ Salis (X Factory), John Watkins (AE / Fantom), Scott Rawlings (supported by the awesome Bendigo cheer squad) and Scott Giles (AE/Fantom) making a return to racing. The biggest omission from the class was Glenn Wilson, unable to attend due to work commitments.

This event was also to see the emergence of Short Course as a serious race class in Vic, with over 20 entries received including top class drivers Ben Sterling, Scott Giles and Logan Symes.

Victoria also runs classes for Seniors (over 40) and 540, making a total of 10 championship classes plus SCT (demo class).

For this event, Pro-Line Holeshot V2s were chosen as the control tyre for buggy classes, Pro-Line Holeshots for the truck class and Pro-Line Snipers for SCT. Thanks to HEI (Pro-Line importers) for their support of the event.

Who would come out on top after 3 intense days?

Thursday and Friday: Practice

Practice started on Thursday, with racers treated to unusually hot conditions of almost 30degC and blazing sun. Mildura had been hit by a winter heatwave for the previous week, with temps close to 30 for about 10 days in a row. The track had developed a black groove with high traction and was a little dusty off line.

Come Friday morning, and the hot conditions had been replaced by a cool breeze and overcast conditions, reducing traction and tyre wear. The track was busy with a constant line to get onto the stand for practice, all drivers clamouring to get the perfect setup for the race weekend.

Just after lunch, the rain arrived, totally changing the track conditions as the surface first went slippery, then gripped up as marbles appeared. About 3pm the heavens opened, stopping practice for good and giving all drivers a chance to get their cars prepped.

Rays Comments On Practice

Thursday was a run-in day for my 2 new buggies. Usually I don’t like running new cars at big events but ran out of time to shake them down in Melbourne. Fortunately both felt good from the get-go.

I spent most of practice trying to learn how the control tyres responded to the different weather conditions. I experimented with different rear foam configurations – I found cutting them down to 43mm gave the best performance (leaving them full width bulged the sidewalls too much, reducing contact patch).

In 2wd, I mostly played with front shock position and front tyre selection. Bar Codes were best when it was grooved, Rips were best when it was slightly damp, and when it was wet, my custom Double Dee fronts gave insane steering.

In 4wd, I mainly adjusted the front diff and front toe-out to get a balance of steering through the esses and stability onto the straight. I was very happy with how my cars were running by the time the rain came.

Saturday: 4WD and Truck

Racers were greeted with a damp track after overnight rain, but racing started on time at 745 am after an early drivers meeting. The track was heavy for the first couple of rounds, but grooved up quickly and was in perfect condition for the finals.

Race format was 4 qualifiers (best 2 to count), with 3 A-finals.

4wd 540

Dave Engledow took Q1, but from then on it was all Matt West, taking out the following 3 rounds and all 3 finals. Scott Hardwick took 2nd with ‘Pringles’ Engledow rounding out the podium.

4wd Stock

He has only been racing 4w stock for a short time, but that didn’t stop new Keilor president John Watkins from taking TQ with his Fantom / B44.1. He wasn’t able to convert in the finals though, Shaun Thiel proving too strong and taking out the first 2 finals to take the title. John Watkins managed to secure 2nd overall, Mick Salis winning the 3rd final to close out 3rd overall. Nigel Spokes (who led most of A1) and Scott Rawlings finished 4th and 5th.

4wd Seniors

Running 10.5 motors, these guys werent slow despite all the ‘wheelchair’ jokes! The marshals (4w mod A) were given a lot of exercise, especially yours truly who marshalled at the end of the straight and had to dodge more than one flying car!

Keilor stalwart Peter Brady showed his speed by taking Tq with his B44, but couldn’t convert in the finals. It was Daryn ‘The Mallee Mauler’ Gardner who cleaned up in the finals, winning all 3 in a dominant display to take 1st followed by Bruce Cameron. Daryns performance was all the more remarkable as not long before the event his shed burnt down taking all of his equipment with it.

4wd Mod

The fastest class of the weekend! The flowing nature of this track meant that the drivers could open up the legs of their buggies around the track with massive speeds through the sweeper at the end of the straight!

Ray Munday was dominant in the first 3 rounds of qualifying, including taking out a wet round 1 by 6s. In the 4th round though he (like several others) suffered radio problems which was later traced back to the position of the transponder loop wire back to race control. Matt Griffin took out the final round to secure second on the grid.

Come the finals, and it was roles reversed. In A1, Ray and Matt shot off to a lead, with Matt passing Ray a few laps in. Towards the end of the race Ray put the pressure on Matt but it was Matt taking the win by 0.5s.

In A2, Ray and Matt again got away, with Matt trying a move on lap 3 through the esses only to find Ray passing him again a corner later. 4 minutes in and Ray was leading comfortably from Ben Sterling and Matt, only to roll over the small bump in turn 4, dropping to 3rd. Ben was now leading, but Matt had a whiff of victory and after an aggressive move over the back hump, took the lead and the 2011 4w mod Vic title.

In A3, Ray led from start to finish with the only 13 lapper of the whole event, taking 2nd overall with Andrew Abbott putting in a fantastic performance to finish 3rd. Ben Sterling was 4th and Logan Symes 5th.

Truck Stock

Qualifying was a tight affair between Shaun Thiel, Scott Giles and 2010 champ Andre Morton, all taking a round win each. Shaun Thiel took TQ by also winning round 4. Andre started off his title defence in perfect style by winning A1, but A2 and A3 were all Shaun Thiel, pushed hard by Mick Salis in A2 but running away with A3 to take his second title of the weekend. Mick Salis took out 2nd overall from Scott Giles, Andre Morton disappointed to miss the podium in 4th. Paul Kealley somehow managed to race in between running the event and took out 5th from Nigel Spokes.

Truck Mod

Ben Sterling only ran his RT5 for the first time in practice, and only for a few laps, but that didn’t stop him from dominating mod truck qualifying. Ray Munday and Scott Cameron had no answer for his speed, Ben comfortably winning all 4 rounds.

Come finals time and it was a different story though. Ray made a major setup change to his T4 and following an early mistake from Ben in A1, was able to cruise to easy win from Scott Cameron and Scott Pettet.

In A2, Ray was again able to pass Ben early on, but Ben wasn’t giving up and hounded Ray lap after lap. At the 4 minute mark Ben went for a move on Ray through the hairpin at the end of the straight, but the two ended up tangled letting Scott Cameron through to the lead! Scott resisted the pressure to take the win from a hard charging Ben and Ray, the gap from first to 3rd only 1.5s at the end of the race!

Going into A3, all 3 drivers had a chance of the win but Ben knuckled down and pulled out to win with the fastest time of the event. Ray finished 2nd but was not able to challenge Bens speed.

When the points were tallied, it was a three way tie for the win with Ben, Ray and Scott all having a 1st and 2nd placing! Under the new AARCMCC tiebreak rules, the fastest finals time is used which gave Ben 1st overall, Ray 2nd and Scott 3rd. Scott Pettet finished 4th with his X-60 (Mater) and Daniel Robins made his trip from Perth worthwhile by finishing 5th.

Rays comments on Saturday

My B44.1 was awesome all day and a joy to drive. In the first couple of qualifiers the track was really sticky so I went to Blue springs in the front which stopped the car from traction rolling and made it much easier to drive. By round 3 the track had dried out so I went back to silver front springs and loosened the diff off slightly to help turn through the esses.

In Q4 all of us drivers running KO 2.4GHz radios had massive interference which was traced back to the placement of the transponder loop wire back to race control, which was turning the driver stand into a massive aerial. Thanks to the race organisers for solving the problem quickly. My car was undriveable in Q4 but no problems the rest of the day.

It was awesome to race against Matty G again in the finals and it was really close. In the end he was more consistent when it counted – not making any excuses, but I felt my lack of recent race time hurt me in the finals. My car was a bit nervous in A1 with new front tyres, but once they scrubbed in it was very fast. In A2 I had it in the bag until a small lapse in concentration over a very simple bump put me on my lid. In A3 I finally got it together and got the only 13 lapper of the event with 0.18s consistency which I was stoked with.

In truck, basically I had no answer for the pace of Bens RT5. I didn’t do any practice with the truck which hurt me. I couldn’t keep the front end on the ground and ended up having to add a stack of lead to the front which made a big difference. I changed to Bar Code front tyres for the finals which really helped, but I don’t think I got the weight balance right when the grip really came up in A3. Hats off to Ben, and also to Scotty Cam who was right behind us all the time and tied for the win in the end!

Sunday: 2WD and SCT

Like Saturday morning, racers woke up to find that it had rained overnight leaving the track tacky again. Unlike Saturday though, the forecast was for continued rain throughout the day and that proved to be the case. The track started off tacky in Q1, dried out in Q2, was grippy in Q3 but rained heavily before Q4 turning the track into a slippery mess. It was dry for most of the finals but a few small showers meant that the track never fully grooved up, making it a challenge for all drivers to keep an eye on track conditions and setup each race. This was off-road racing at its best!

Entries were once again high, and there was a lot of interest in the SCT class. While this is still officially a demo class (get with the times people!) there was a full B final and included classy names such as Ben Sterling, Scott Giles, Mick Salis, Logan Symes and Scott Rawlings to name but a few.

2wd 540

After a bit of a slow start, Peter Newberry TQ’d with wins in Q3 and Q4, Matt Reichardt and Dave ‘Pringles’ Engledow not far behind. In A1 Matt took a comfortable 8s win over Peter, but in A2 it went to the wire with Matt winning by a scant 0.15s to take the title! Peter backed up TQ with a win in the third final, Pringles rounding out the podium despite a DNS in A3. 4th was Matt Gardner with Joshua Gunn an excellent 5th. Matt West, who dominated 2w 540 at MM5 and won 4w 540, was surpisingly off the paced finishing 7th, Mila Giddings a popular 8th. Finishing 10th was young Carter Sims, an excellent effort. Its great to see the mix of young and old drivers in 2wd 540 all having fun and Im sure we will see some of these names taking out the top class trophies in years to come!

2wd Stock

2w stock is always one of the most hotly contested classes in Victoria. Despite the controversy of the ‘no boost’ rule changes this year, the cars still look quite fast, are much more even and the same cream rises to the top.

Shaun Thiel won all 3 classes at MM5 and was clear favourite for the 2w stock state title, but previous truck stock national champ Scott Giles, Mick Salis and Scott Rawlings had other ideas.

In Q1, Mick Salis took his mid motor X-6^2 to first on the sticky track to signal his intention of taking the crown. Scott Giles countered in round 2, with Shaun Thiel having a DNS and looking in trouble. Shaun bounced back to take Q3 and Q4 in styled and thus TQ.

Come finals time and there was only one name though – Scott Giles. In a dominant display, he took out A1 and A2 by 12s, his B4.1 / Fantom / JConcepts equipped machine looking dialled on the track as he comfortably took out the title and left the others to fight for the scraps. Scott was able to sit out A3 and do a bit of commentating for the other finals!

In A3, Bendigos Scott Rawlings took the win by 3s from Shaun to claim 2nd overall, Shaun finishing 3rd with Pete ‘Wookie’ Wooster a fine 4th.

John Watkins surprised himself with 5th place in 2wd, Doctor Mick down in 6th after some mechanical issues cost him.

Local boys Paul Kealley, Nigel Spokes, Jarrod Jackson and Simon Ryan rounded out the placings in the A. Paul and Simons results were especially impressive given the amount of time and effort they put into running the event. Great job guys!

2wd Seniors

Like the 4wd day, these guys were showing that age is no barrier to speed, the 10.5 turn buggies basically as fast as most cars in modified down the straight. Marshalling was again a busy time, and I think these were the only group to get a stern talking to by race referee Bob Tierney!

Daryn ‘ The Mallee Mauler’ Gardner backed up his win in 4wd by TQ’ing 2wd from Ian Smedmen with his Losi 22. In A1, Daryn led from start to finish from Ian, and it looked like he was going to take the double victory for the weekend. From then on however it was all downhill for Daryn, having terrible luck in A2 and A3.

Daryns bad luck was Ian Smedmens gain though, the Losi driver taking out A2 and A3 with a very smooth driving style, his car looking planted on the track.

Finishing 2nd overall was Dorian Divincenzo, driving superbly with 2 second places, Daryn eventually placing 3rd but still smiling as always. Milduras Bruce Cameron and Keilors Pete Brady rounded out the top 5.

2wd Modified

‘The big one’ in 1/10 EP, 2w modified is the original class, the traditional class, the hardest class and still regarded by most as the most prestigious class. Driving a 2wd modified buggy is an exercise in precision aggression and the Mildura track was nothing short of sensational for the top drivers to push the high powered lightweight machines to the limit.

Like the previous day, qualifying was dominated by Ray Munday, winning 3 out of the 4 rounds with his Novak powered, JConcepts equipped B4.1. Like Saturday, he took out a wet Q1 by 6s. And like Saturday, the finals were going to be a different story.

Ben Sterling (RB5SP2) was the only other driver to win a qualifier, in this case round 2 by 2s over Ray to qualify 2nd overall. Matt Griffin (B4) placed 3rd on the grid, never too far off the pace.

There were lots of ‘new’ names in the A final which was great to see. On-road specialist AE driver Andrew Abbott qualified 4th and was getting quicker with each race. The Losi team had a number of SA 1/8 drivers making a return to EP, with Adam Alexander, Jarrod Currie and Andrew Foord placing in the A with their 22s looking great on the track. NSWs Scott Pettet made it 3 A finals for the weekend with his X6^2, John Grenville continued his good form and probably the happiest man in the A final was Perths Daniel Robins, qualifying 10th against a very classy field.

The B Final was full of big names, none bigger than Logan Symes who had terrible luck in qualifying with mechanical issues and then getting caught out in the rain shower in Q4. It was terrible luck for the promising youngster. Scott Cameron also had terrible luck in qualifying to miss the A, joining the likes of Andrew Giddings, Mark Polistena and Piers Morton in the B.

There was even a full C final, although most elected not to run in the final.

The 3 A finals were intense and close. In fact, not one person got lapped in any of the 3 A finals, with the whole field separated by around 13s in A2. One mistake was enough to drop people several positions. This was real freight-train racing at its best!

In A1, Ray jumped out to an early lead from Matt Griffin, with Ben dropping to the back after an early crash. Matt was hounding Ray through the first half of the lap, and Ray was quicker through the 2nd part of the lap as both pulled out a slight gap on the field. At about 3 minutes the order was Ray, Matt and Andrew Abbott, when ray incredibly traction rolled through the bumps in turn 1 letting Matt into the lead. This dropped Ray back to 2nd, just ahead of Andrew Abbot with Jarrod Currie hounding him. At the line, it was matt 1st, Ray 2nd and Jarrod a fantastic 3rd place.

In A2, Ray got off to a good start, with Ben not far behind. A few laps in Ray ran slightly wide off the back hump, allowing Ben to close right in and he squeezed past Ray at turn 2 a lap later. Through the back ess Ray tapped the back of Ben, spinning him 180 degrees. Ray stopped to let Ben through but this opened the door for Matt Griffin to get into the lead. Another lap later and Ben clipped a pipe and flipped, Ray getting tangled up with him while he was on his lid and from then on Matt was unstoppable as he took A2 and his second title for the weekend. Andrew Abbot finished 2nd and Adam Alexander 3rd in an unpredictable race.

With the result decided already, the pressure was off for A3 and Ray took the win leading from start to finish with the fastest time of the finals, but he was hounded the whole way by Griffin. Adam Alexander finished 3rd again, as Ben Sterling had another unlucky race. Andrew Abbot was not able to make A3 as he had to leave to catch his flight out.

The final results were Matt Griffin 1st, Ray Munday 2nd and Andrew Abbott 3rd, a carbon copy of Saturdays result and a clean sweep for AE cars on the podium. Following them were the Losi’s of Adam Alexander and Jarrod Currie, the Kyosho of Ben Sterling, then Foord, Pettet, Robins and Grenville rounding out the A.

SCT

There was some controversy at the start of the day when it was announced that boost timing would be allowed in this class. Unfortunately there isn’t a concrete rule set in Australia yet, but the proposal is for no boost / 10.5T motors and this was what most racers accepted. Hopefully there is a proper AARCMCC rule set for SCT for the 2012 race season as this class has established itself as a very popular race class which looks great and seems to be great fun.

Big news for this event was Ben Sterling running SCT with his Kyosho SC-R. His bodies (painted by Ryan Maker) looked awesome and he took home concourse. On the track, he was simply unstoppable, winning every race in the day in a dominant display.

Scott Giles pushed hard with his borrowed SC10, but was not able to come within 5s of Ben throughout the day, taking the ‘best of the rest’ prize for 2nd. Dean Michalik and Andy Tonero fought it out for 3rd and 4th places, John Grenville 5th and Paul Sims 6th.

Rays Comments

Like the 4wd day, I had the quickest car on the track but Matt drove better when it counted in the finals. My B4.1 was really good to drive around the track, but suffered a little in the bumps on the exit from turn 2 (later traced to an incorrect slipper setting). I felt I was a little unlucky in A1, my car traction rolling on the waves in Turn 1 while I was in the lead. I really don’t know why that happened as it was fine for the rest of the weekend there. In A2, I made a slight mistake and let Ben in front, then a half a lap later I clipped him which slowed us both down. It was completely unintentional as it was not a passing place, we just took very different lines through the switchback. This gave Matty the lead and after that it was all over.

In Q3 I drove more relaxed and the result was a win.

In Q1, when the track was very wet I ran my cut-down Double Dees and the car just had bulk grip. By Q3 it had grooved up a a little so I switched to Blue Bar Codes. In Q4 it rained during our race which made the track super slippery but a lot of fun!

Matt again reminded us why he is regarded as one of the all-time greats in Australian EP racing. It was great fun to race against him and resume our battle that we have had going for the last few years. Looking forward to the next race already!

Wrap-Up

The 2011 Victorian Titles was probably the best state titles I have ever attended anywhere in Australia. Fantastic track layout and surface, strong competition, great organisation and close racing plus wildly varying weather meant that this was a true test of man and machine. Thanks to the Mildura club for organising such a wonderful event, the event sponsors (Mildura City Council and Pro-Line Australia) and congrats to the new state title holders.

The 2012 Vic Titles will be held at Keilor – see you all there!!

The full race results can be viewed here:

• Day 1 - including 4wd and truck classes
• Day 2 - including 2wd and SCT classes