2023 Hobbystation South Island Indoor Champs Report

Press Release From Hobby Station:
www.hobbystation.co.nz

There are many ways that one can celebrate the recently-added public holiday of Matariki here in NZ - but for local model car racers there is only one way: cutting some fast laps and burning rubber at the South Island Indoor Champs!

Now into our sixth consecutive year running - this is the premier 1/10 off-road event in the South island and attracts racers from Blenheim through to Invercargill ready to throw down and battle for some silverware!

Day One - Setup and Practice

Friday would see the track being setup in the morning and then open / timed practice for the remainder of the afternoon - making sure all the traveling racers got up to speed.

The club had invested in a whole lot more carpet meaning the track was larger than in previous years meaning resident track-design maestro Ian Rickerby could work his magic over the full hall floorplan!

Day Two - Seeding / Qualifying Begins

Saturday would see racers back at the track bright and early - with drivers briefing starting at 8:00am on the dot.

The Grand Master aka Neil White was already hot on the mic in his role as Race Director extraordinaire - rustling up racers/selling raffle tickets, keeping the kitchen busy with orders and most importantly keeping the event on schedule!

The format for the day would see one round of randomised seeding - with racers seeded via the three fastest consecutive laps which would hopefully see qualifying groups of similarly-paced racers, followed by the first four rounds of qualifying.

There was a bit of surprise in that Luke Prattley was dominant in seeding - setting fastest times in both 2WD and 4WD buggy ahead of seasoned champs superstars such as Ian Rickerby, Phil Sandford and Daniel Thompson.

Could Prattley keep ahead of the chasing pack throughout qualifying???

Qualifying

The qualifying format used was race points with the best 3 rounds counting out of 5.

This meant that you had to be consistently fast throughout the full day or so to get ‘er done!  Prattley was impressive in the first round but many others were proving to be a big factor also!

The Grandmaster piloted the event effortlessly throughout the day, finishing at a perfect time to get a wee bit of wrenching done before post race day beers/coke and food at Smoky Ts ! The first 4 rounds of Quals were in the books with one to go early on Sunday!

Day 3 - Finish Qualifying and Finals

Again, we were all at the track bright and early with the heaters going strong to provide some relief from the crispy Christchurch morning!  After some titanic tussles and when the dust had settled after the final qualifying round, experienced campaigner Daniel Thompson with his fluoro Team Associated rides was sitting atop pole in both 2WD and 4WD buggy.

Jamming Jon Cunard was the top dog in Stadium Truck and Willie Sloan was in command of the SCT class!  It was also great to see some of the future RC stars of tomorrow out in force in the under 16 class!

The “A Main” groups were as follows - reading like a “who’s who” of local offroad racers and former champs!

Before the finals began, the “dash for cash” event was up!

This saw eight 2WD buggy numbers called at random based upon qualifying position and starting in a reverse-grid order - no marshalling allowed and the first racer to complete three laps won some cold, hard cash - $100 to be precise!

After some first lap issues, wily veteran Dave Beck (all the way from Invercargill) managed to remain cool, calm and collected - slipping a pass on young Jack Henderson with a lap to go to claim the win!

No doubt the drive-home coffees were on Dave!!

Finals Time!!

The time that everyone had been waiting for quickly came around - and everyone was ready to throw down in their respective triple-mains!

Under 16s would see young gunslinger Kisik Peltzer outduel the more experienced Liam Miekle for top spot with the ever improving Henry Houliston taking third place!  Great job lads!  It will not be long before these guys are giving it to the big dogs!

Stadium Truck was all one way traffic with Jon Cunard cleaning house and taking all three wins in the seriously rapid Team Associated whip - with veteran Hayden Taskar second in the trusty Schumacher and Tim Engel into third.

Short Course Truck only had a small number of entries but young speed demon Willie Sloan came out on top with Danny Lang taking second place home to Invercargill and Clay Sutton taking third all the way north to Murchison.

4WD buggy would see a dominant performance with Daniel Thompson winning the first two races wire to wire in his rapid Team Associated B64 - showing that you really do not need the newest gear to win if the skill is there!

Jon Cunard was feeling the flow after his stadium truck victories and put an X-Ray XB4 onto the second step of the podium with Ian Rickerby charging into third position in the purple and white Team Associated B74.2!

In the marquee 2WD Buggy class we would see Luke Prattley’s Schumacher surrounded by a sea of Team Associated drivers - headlined by defending champ Phil Sandford and wily veteran speedsters like Ian Rickerby and Dan Thompson plus the young and upcoming Zac Rickerby!

After a rough first round, Dan Thomspon again drove away from the crowd taking races 2 and 3 wire to wire in an almost faultless display!

Jamie Van De Laar displayed consistency all weekend and was rewarded with 2nd place with multi-time champion Ian Rickerby coming home like a freight train for third for a full Team Associated podium lockout!  Domination!

This was a fantastic effort from Daniel taking out the two largest classes - well deserved for a top bloke who constantly is the last guy out the door at club nights after packup!  Legend!

Here are Dan’s rapid rides and trophies from the weekend:

Whilst there were many other tough battles, we do not have the space to cover them all in depth - however you can find the full results and times here: Christchurch Indoor Radio Controlled Car Club :: Hobbystation 2023 South Island Indoor Champs :: LiveRC

Thank Yous

As always, we have many people to thank for the continued successful running of this event.  So, in no particular order the club would like to thank the following:

Hobbystation - long time major event sponsor and home of Team Associated in NZ!  Huge huge thanks!  Hobby Station

One 7 RC  - first year 2WD buggy class sponsor and home of great brands such as X-Ray, Serpent, 1UP Racing etc.  One Seven RC — One 7 RC

Mainland RC - long term class sponsor in this event.  Home of Schumacher in NZ and many other brands.  Mainland RC New Zealand

GTRC - have supported the event as SCT class sponsor for a couple of years now.  The go-to for all your crawling and bashing needs.  GTRC Remote Control Cars, Trucks and Boats – GT RC

RC Parts - first year stadium truck class sponsor.  Can cater for almost any RC racing part or setup you could need! RC Car Parts RC Boats (rcparts.co.nz)

Neil White - Thanks for doing such an amazing job as Race Director. So much great feedback!

The Canterbury Kennel Association - we would like to thank our hosts and especially Leslie in the kitchen for keeping the hungry racers fed and watered over the long weekend.

The racers - thank you for turning up en masse from all parts of the island to take part - without you all we have no event!

See you all at next years champs!