RACE REPORT: NEO 11

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Race blog:
(See below. Newest entries at bottom)


Friday, 10:30 a.m. (local time)

DAY ONE

After a brief drivers' meeting this morning, the sounds of lit engines soon echoed across the quiet English countryside. Nitro fumes first poured out of tuned exhaust pipes, then out of every opened window and door of the Harper Adams soil building as drivers began to circulate the immaculately-prepared track layout.

Sorry, but a descriptive essay seemed like the only way to do the scene here at NEO '11 justice.

The track and facility here are equally amazing. Situated on the campus of an agricultural college out in the country, the large 'pole-barn' type building that houses the track and pits is only a 'stones-throw' from the dormitories where the racers (and the LRC team) stay. Each dorm hall has a kitchen and communal area, and each room has its own bathroom and shower. This is one of the best track and lodging combos for a race I can ever recall existing. And for nitro off-road, I would render a guess it is the best any of us will ever see in our lifetime.  Furthermore, the college campus is only a mile or so from a couple of quaint English towns, complete with pubs and everything! (Don't go looking to watch a baseball game here, though. The TVs have snooker and darts only!)

Being someone who has never been to England but has always aspired to do so, I have found the trip out to Harper Adams to encapsulate much of what I had envisioned England was like. So for you folks out there looking to take in the English countryside, visit a pub full of surly old-timers, and maybe play with some toy cars as well- this would be the perfect event for you!


Now, a little back story on LRC's journey to NEO '11:

We arrived a day later than we had scheduled due to the fact that Mother Nature is a cruel, evil, wretched old hag that is bound and determined to ruin the lives of people living in Minnesota and Wisconsin forever.

As you can guess by now, the Upper Midwestern United States was stricken by a freak, late-April snowstorm which canceled our original flights and caused us to leave a day later.

Needless to say, our time since arriving at NEO '11 has been filled primarily by stretches of frantic setup! We got little sleep, but we are now broadcasting live!

Stay tuned all Easter weekend (and Monday!) for LIVE coverage from NEO '11!

For more coverage, photos and videos, make sure you also check out Neo-Buggy.net!




Friday, 11:00 p.m. (local time)

Added: Photos to the PHOTO GALLERY



Saturday, 10:30 a.m. (local time)

R1 Update:

Jared Tebo came out of nowhere (can we say that?) to TQ round one of qualifying today. OK, so 'nowhere' is only really relative to the first 6:35 seconds of the race, as the two-time NEO champion lurked mid-pack for the majority of the A-qualifying heat before usurping Ryan Maifield as the race leader and eventual round TQ.

Here are the UNOFFICIAL round one results:

   1) Tebo, Jared (12/7:17.439 R1)
   2) Tessmann, Ty (12/7:17.831 R1)
   3) Maifield, Ryan (12/7:18.807 R1)
   4) Bayer, Martin (12/7:20.108 R1)
   5) Drake, Adam (12/7:23.057 R1)
   6) Bloomfield, Darren (12/7:23.978 R1)
   7) King, Cody (12/7:25.163 R1)
   8) Bayer, Ales (12/7:26.355 R1)
   9) Lutz, Ryan (12/7:27.398 R1)
   10) Honigl, Hubert (12/7:28.341 R1)
   11) Ronnefalk, David (12/7:28.680 R1)
   12) Fischer, Billy (12/7:28.896 R1)
   13) Quagraine, Joseph (12/7:29.514 R1)
   14) Batlle, Robert (12/7:29.666 R1)
   15) Rheinard, Marc (12/7:29.964 R1)
   16) Easton, Billy (12/7:30.129 R1)
   17) Cavalieri, Ryan (12/7:31.458 R1)
   18) Reckward, Daniel (12/7:31.795 R1)
   19) Aigoin, Jerome (12/7:31.867 R1)
   20) Martin, Lee (12/7:32.466 R1)

In case you haven't tuned in yet, Scotty Ernst arrived last night and is your LRC play-by-play man for the weekend. He is a lone ranger behind the mics this weekend, so don't hesitate to log into the broadcast window and chat with him! He needs some company!



Saturday, 2:30 p.m. (local time)

R2 Update:

Jared Tebo again lurked in heat 15 of R2, however, he made is his presence felt at the front of the pack a lot sooner than he did in R1. In the end, though, it wouldn't last as Ryan Maifield led a group of nine drivers who obliterated the fast time from R1 here in R2. I think it's safe to say the track is getting faster...

R3 is up next! The final round for the day. In case you are wondering, there will be six total rounds of qualifying with four of those counting towards the final qualifying order going into finals day.

Here are the unofficial results from R2:

   1) Maifield, Ryan (12/7:03.416 R2)
   2) Tebo, Jared (12/7:05.338 R2)
   3) Lutz, Ryan (12/7:08.384 R2)
   4) Bloomfield, Darren (12/7:09.346 R2)
   5) Batlle, Robert (12/7:10.882 R2)
   6) Drake, Adam (12/7:15.440 R2)
   7) Aigoin, Jerome (12/7:15.610 R2)
   8) Cavalieri, Ryan (12/7:16.600 R2)
   9) Cragg, Neil (12/7:17.002 R2)
   10) Tessmann, Ty (12/7:19.644 R2)
   11) Adachi, Shin (12/7:21.297 R2)
   12) Easton, Billy (12/7:21.730 R2)
   13) Ronnefalk, David (12/7:23.228 R2)
   14) Sartel, Jerome (12/7:23.286 R2)
   15) Neumann, Jorn (12/7:23.966 R2)
   16) Hara, Atsushi (12/7:24.365 R2)
   17) Quagraine, Joseph (12/7:25.168 R2)
   18) Alsop, Graham (12/7:25.237 R2)
   19) Honigl, Hubert (12/7:25.509 R2)
   20) Mitch, Jr (12/7:26.244 R2)





Saturday, 6:00 p.m. (local time)

R3 Update:

The Tebo and Maifield show is no more...at least for round three. The man who stole the show in Saturday's final round of qualifying was Team Durango's Ryan Lutz, who completely crushed all heat long. Lutz pitched his car sideways over nearly every jump en route to top qualifying R3. Lutz would have had the weekend's first 13 lap run, however, some incidents with slower traffic caused his pace to drop off near the end of the race.

The ballistic run by Ryan Lutz mixes things up quite a bit from what it looked like we would see through the first two rounds. Lutz showed everyone that he has the raw speed to drive around anyone, so it will be interesting to see if he can keep that pace up for three more rounds...or more importantly, an entire final.

Here are the top ten in combined qual points after R3 (Keep in mind that those who DNF'ed a round will be lacking enough points to make this list for now...i.e. Maifield):

1) Jared Tebo / 596
2) Ryan Lutz / 588
3) Adam Drake / 582
4) Darren Bloomfield / 581
5) Ty Tessmann / 578
6) Robert Batlle / 577
7) David Ronnefalk / 573
8) Ryan Cavalieri / 569
9) Jerome Aigoin / 566
10) Martin Bayer / 562





Sunday, 2:00 p.m. (local time)

R5 Update:

In round three, they knocked on the door. In round four, the pounded on the door. In found five, Ryan Lutz kicked the door to the 13 lap club in and rolled in alone haven proven that he can keep his R3 pace for more than just...well, R3.

Having TQ'ed 2 rounds, Ryan Lutz (794) now sits two points behind Jared Tebo (796) going into the last round of qualifying with one more throwout to give.

The only other driver to TQ a round is Ryan Maifield, who was knocking on the door to the 13 lap club in R5 as well. Maifield has a DNF and a 13 for his two throwouts already, so he is going to have to put his nose to the grindstone in R6 if he wants to gain overall TQ.


Here are the results for round five:

1) Ryan Lutz 13/7'34.106
2) Ryan Maifield 12/7'0.662
3) Darren Bloomfield 12/7'3.557
4) Jared Tebo 12/7'3.882
5) Ryan Cavalieri 12/7'4.032
6) David Ronnefalk 12/7'4.433
7) Robert Batlle 12/7'5.914
8) Ty Tessmann 12/7'7.449
9) Shin Adachi 12/7'9.908
10) Atsushi Hara 12/7'13.308
11) Neil Cragg 12/7'14.231
12) Jerome Sartel 12/7'15.512
13) Riccardo Rabitti 12/7'15.939
14) Martin Bayer 12/7'16.682
15) Cody King 12/7'17.016
16) Lee Martin 12/7'18.077
17) Billy Easton 12/7'18.080
18) Hubert Hönigl 12/7'18.468
19) Adam Drake 12/7'18.495
20) Davide Tortorici 12/7'19.318


R6 Update:

Following the trend of every practice and qualifying round so far, round six saw the track get faster, as both the fastest heat time and lap time was set in the final qualifier of the week.

As round six chugged along, everyone patientely awaited heat 15 to see if Ryan Lutz could continue his strong showing by snagging the overall TQ, or if Jared Tebo would hang on to the top spot with his nearly perfect qual-points total.

In the end, it was Maifield leading a trifecta of 'Ryans' who clocked in the top three times of the round. For Lutz, his second place finish was unable to move him past Tebo in qual points, but still secured himself the top spot in the B-semi.

Here is how things turned out in R6:

1) Ryan Maifield 13/7'32.090
2) Ryan Lutz 13/7'32.351
3) Ryan Cavalieri 12/7'10.107
4) Neil Cragg 12/7'10.972
5) Robert Batlle 12/7'11.185
6) Adam Drake 12/7'11.631
7) Jorn Neumann 12/7'11.901
8) Jerome Aigoin 12/7'11.911
9) Kyle McBride 12/7'12.340
10) Ty Tessmann 12/7'12.941
11) Atsushi Hara 12/7'14.288
12) Darren Bloomfield 12/7'15.442
13) Cody King 12/7'15.823
14) Graham Alsop 12/7'16.136
15) Martin Bayer 12/7'16.235
16) Richard Cree 12/7'17.564
17) Lee Martin 12/7'17.648
18) Shin Adachi 12/7'18.127
19) Mathias Larsson 12/7'19.086
20) Mikael Johansson 12/7'19.504


OVERALL QUALIFYING RESULTS
(Top 22 advance to semi)

1) Jared Tebo 796 
2) Ryan Lutz 795 
3) Ryan Maifield 795
4) Ryan Cavalieri 782
5) Darren Bloomfield 781
6) Neil Cragg 780 
7) Robert Batlle 779
8) Adam Drake 776 
9) David Ronnefalk 771 
10) Ty Tessmann 770
11) Jerome Aigoin 770 
12) Cody King 760
13) Shin Adachi 755
14) Martin Bayer 755
15) Jorn Neumann 753 
16) Billy Easton 745 
17) Jerome Sartel 732 
18) Hubert Hönigl 731 
19) Lee Martin 729 
20) Graham Alsop 724 
21) Riccardo Rabitti 722 
22) JR Mitch 718



And that will do it here from here at Harper Adams University College in Newport, England! NEO '11 was a phenomenal event from the get-go. Everything from the track to the host facility was absolutely perfect for a gathering like this. The race organizers went above and beyond to put on a good show (as was evidenced by the fire-breathing ninja that started every main). Philip Mortstedt (of Neo-Buggy fame) has worked relentlessly to make this race what it is today- the premiere nitro buggy event outside of the IFMAR Worlds. We would like to thank him his crew for being such gracious hosts and helping us make this broadcast possible. We think that NEO '11 was one of the greatest races ever, and that our broadcast was of equal quality. We couldn't have done it without the help of Phil and his crew, and (more importantly), all of YOU VIEWERS out there! You guys are the ones who help companies like LiveRC and Neo-Buggy exist and are able to provide everyone around the world top-notch coverage of all the best events in radio control car racing. THANK YOU!

The LiveRC crew is now in full tear-down mode as we have to be entirely packed up tonight. So with these words, we will bid you adieu and say farewell to the 2011 NEO RACE!

Now we are off to the Royal wedding!








OK, maybe not. But we are going to spend a couple of days in London to see some sights. We figured it's the least we could allow ourselves after working for 18 each day this week.

Take care everyone!

-LRC Crew

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