08.12.2017

Report by Kevin Bacon

The 1/8 Nitro On-Road Spec VRC World Championship was a war of the “Beasts”. “Monster” Martin Wollanka (AT) and “Juggernaut” Joshua Berman (US) clashed in Cincinnati.

PRO LEVEL

Qualifying
Qualifying opened up with several racers posting 15 lap runs. However, Kevin Bacon (US) was the first to break two barriers; 16 laps and sub 20 second laps. Bacon’s run of 16 laps in 5:15.210 set the pace initially with an average lap of 19.7 seconds. The Juggernaut was the first “Beast” to post a qualifying run. Berman’s initial run of 16 laps in 5:14.386 surpassed Bacon and put Berman into the TQ position. Berman’s run remained the top qualifying run until the “Monster” arrived. Wollanka posted a run of 16 laps in 5:12.154 with an average lap of 19.509 seconds. Berman responded with several runs of 16 laps in 5:12, but none faster than the Monster. Then, in his final qualifier, the Juggernaut went for broke… and it paid off. Berman ripped the ultimate top qualifying run of 16 laps in 5:11.364, his average lap an incredible 19.460 seconds, with only 98% grip! Berman was followed by Wollanka, only 0.79 seconds back. Bacon was third; 3 seconds behind Wollanka. VRC World Champion Andrea Giordano (IT) was 1.5 seconds behind Bacon. Belgium’s Daan Haling was 2 seconds behind Giordano and VRC legend, Giorgio Mingotti (IT) was the final racer to turn 16 laps in qualifying just .2 seconds behind Haling with a time of 5:19.104. An incredible four racers finished the qualifying round with 15 laps in 5 minutes flat. In fact, only 0.6 seconds separated 7th place qualifier Graham Raistrick (UK); 8th Oliver Meunier (DE); 9th Gary Crowell (US) and 10th Austin Elliott (IE).

Semi-Finals
The semi-final round followed a path similar to qualifying. Bacon set the pace early with a run of 46 laps in 15:19.710. Berman followed up with several 46 lap runs, including a 15:10.022. Then Wollanka ran his qualifiers, culminating with a run of 46 laps in 15:07.170; an average lap of 19.470 over 15 minutes! Berman followed up, again, with an all or nothing run, and again… it paid off. Berman threw caution to the wind and posted a superhuman run of 46 laps in 15:04.954, with an average lap of 19.414. The Juggernaut’s run was unstoppable and he took the number 1 position into the main final. Wollanka had to settle for second; Bacon, was the only other racer to post a 46-lap run and took third.
The remaining seven positions were hotly contested. Haling and Giordano’s semi-final runs were virtually identical. Giordano built a 2.7 second lead over the course of the semi-final, but on lap 31 Giordano stumbled. Then on lap 32 he stumbled again adding 4 seconds to his pit stop lap. Haling took a 2.3 second lead, but Giordano fought back. On lap 43 he regained the lead. The two-pro’s remained side by side for the next two laps, but Haling just barely edged Giordano at the finish line. A mere 0.014 seconds separated the two after 15 minutes of racing! Raistrick, Elliott and Mingotti swapped positions up until the first pit stop on lap 16. Then Raistrick got into a rhythm and slowly pulled away for the remainder of the semi-final. Elliott and Mingotti remained close throughout. Elliott maintained less than a 1 second lead between the first and second pit stops. Mingotti was slow through the pits and gave Elliott 1.8 second lead. But a mistake on lap 35 by Elliott allowed Mingotti to close within 0.2 seconds. Mingotti passed Elliott on lap 39, but Mingotti made a mistake on lap 41 allowing Elliot to pass. Elliot held on to claim 7th; Mingotti 8th.
Alex Guillot of France made a HUGE jump up in the semi-finals. Guillot was 28th in qualifying. However, Guillot is VRC Centurion and always fast. Guillot focused during the semi-final round and was able to claim the 9th overall qualifying position. Gary Crowell (US), who was racing at Club Level just one-year ago is proof positive that practice makes perfect. Crowell completed the A-main qualifiers with a time of 45 laps in 15:17.534.

Main Finals
As the buzzer rang, Berman shot out of the starting blocks like a rocket with an incredible hole shot. Bacon and Haling were close behind; Wollanka got a slow start. Berman had a 0.65 second lead at the end of the zero lap where Wollanka was in third. However, by the end of lap 1, Wollanka had moved into second place and could focus on reeling in Berman. But Berman kept his foot on the accelerator and pulled away from Wollanka over the next few laps. Then on lap five Wollanka clipped the apron and spun, resulting in his slowest lap of the final, 20.896 seconds. This gave Berman a 2.4 second cushion. Berman kept pushing and by lap 20 had stretched his lead to 3.3 seconds. But that was a far apart as the two experts would get in the 30-minute final. Wollaka found his stride and began to slowly pick away at Berman’s lead. By the midway point, lap 45, Wollanka had closed the gap to 0.72 seconds. On lap 56 there was only 0.1 seconds between the “Beasts”. On lap 57 Wollanka made his move and took the lead for the first time, passing Berman at the hairpin in front of the rostrum. This is where things got interesting. Berman’s precision and finesse driving style allowed him to preserve fuel over the final. Whereas Wollanka’s driving style was based more on raw power and driving on the edge. As such, Wollanka needed to come in for fuel earlier than Berman. Wollanka came in for fuel on lap 63 while Berman stayed on the track for 8 more laps. During those laps, Wollanka kept pushing, but pushed a little too hard on lap 68 when he spun again costing him about 1.5 seconds. Berman took advantage of the mistake and as he exited his pit stop on lap 71 had a regained a 0.9 second lead. But on lap 72, Berman flinched and suffered his slowest lap, 20.158 and Wollanka closed the gap to 0.08 seconds. Wollanka regained the lead on the next lap and the “Monsters” raced side-by-side until Wollanka entered the pits on lap 78. Berman stayed out until lap 88 when the moment of truth arrived. Berman was entering the pits as Wollanka crosses the start/finish line on lap 88 with just over one-minute remaining. Who would be in front when Berman exited the pits? It was Wollanka, and he started lap 89 with just a 0.3 second lead over Berman after over 29 minutes of racing. Wollanka held on for the final minute and claimed victory; only 0.97 seconds ahead of Berman.
The battle for the final podium position was just as close between Giordano and Bacon. Giordano had trouble with the zero lap. Giordano clipped the apron entering the straight and spun sending him to back of the pack, and giving Bacon a 2.3 second lead. But Giordano slowly reeled in Bacon and by lap 75 they were separated by only 1.3 seconds. Knowing that time was running down, Giordano came in early for fuel on lap 76. Bacon stumbled on lap 78 costing him about 1.5 seconds. Bacon’s final pitstop was about 0.5 seconds slower than Giordano’s so when he came out of the pits on lap 80, Giordano took over third position. But with the tires wearing thin on both racers’ cars, and consistency suffered for both pilots over the last 10 laps. Giordano stumbled first on lap 81 and Bacon closed the gap to 0.7 seconds. Then, on lap 85 Giordano caught the apron just after the start/finish line and went airborne. The stunt cost Giordano about 1.5 seconds and third place as Bacon re-took the position. But it was short lived because Bacon caught an apron on lap 86 and Giordano went by. On lap 88, Bacon spun and experience his slowest lap. Giordano took a two second lead and looked like a lock for third place. However, on the final lap, as Giordano approached the hairpin in front of the rostrum he jumped the apron and lost control crashing head first into the wall, requiring a turn marshal. Bacon slid by and held off the charging Giordano before the they crossed finish line. Bacon finished third taking the final podium position, just 0.95 seconds ahead of Giordano; 90 laps in 30:16.108 to 90 laps in 30:17.066.
Congratulations Martin Wollanka 2017 1/8 Nitro On-Road Spec VRC World Champion!

SPORT LEVEL
In the Sport Level A-main all three racers that finished on the podium posted 85 lap runs. Manuel Weber (US), who started the final in the number 1 position, made a mistake on lap one which allowed Tony Delmastro (FR) to pass. Weber slowly reeled in Delmastro and was only 0.4 seconds back by lap 11. Then on lap 12, Delmastro made a mistake resulting in his slowest lap of 24.816. Weber drove by and took a 3.7 second lead. He stretched the lead to over 7 seconds by lap 19, but then Delmastro found a groove and chipped away at Weber. At lap 38 Weber’s lead was only 0.19 seconds and on lap 43 a crash allowed Delmastro to pass. Delmastro kept the lead until lap 55 when he made a mistake and Weber moved back into first. Weber crashed on lap 65 and 66 and Delmastro took a 0.14 second lead on lap 66. However, Delmastro came into the pits on lap 68. He was slow through the pits and Weber took the lead for good. Weber finished first with 85 laps in 30:02.982; Delmastro was second with 85 laps in 30:09.546. It was John Payson (US) who claimed the third position with 85 laps in 30:17.948. Payson was keeping pace with the leaders, but crashes on laps 11, 31 and 68 proved too much to overcome.
While not a podium position battle, the battle for 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th was incredibly tight. Sven Dellebeke (NE), Jean-philippe Csernak (FR) and Isla Pesca (JP) finished with 30-minute final separated by 0.3 seconds. Laurent Edet (FR) was only 1.2 seconds behind Pesca. The four racers swapped positions throughout the race.
Congratulations Manuel Weber 2017 1/8 Nitro On-Road Spec VRC World Champion! – Sport Level

CLUB LEVEL
The Club Level main final featured close racing for the first 5 or 6 minutes, but then the racers started to separate themselves. The Club level main final was dominated by Pedro Pozo (ES). Poza was the only racer to complete the final with 85 laps in 30:08.254. In fact, Pozo’s run would have been fast enough for second in the Sport Level A-Main. Pozo finished nearly a full lap ahead of second place finisher, Denis Lavrentyev (RU). Lavrentyev finished with 84 laps in 30:05.336. Lavrentyev finished nearly a full lap in front of Michael Zappa, who claimed the final podium position. Zappa finished with 83 laps in 30:00.760. Lavrentyev and Zappa’s runs would have been fast enough for 4th and 5th in the Sport Level final.
Congratulations Pedro Pozo 2017 1/8 Nitro On-Road Spec VRC World Champion! – Club Level
Congratulations to all racers who made the podium and A-Mains in their respective classes. The 1/8 Nitro On-Road Modified World Championship will be run on this same track starting December 23. BE THERE!!!

A-MAIN RESULTS

PRO LEVEL

1|Martin Wollanka|91|30:07.620 2|Joshua Berman|91|30:08.594 3|Kevin Bacon|90|30:16.108 4|Andrea Giordano|90|30:17.066 5|Graham Raistrick|89|30:10.812 6|Daan Haling|89|30:15.474 7|Austin Elliott|88|30:00.790 8|Giorgio Mingotti|88|30:04.420 9|Gary Crowell|88|30:11.708 10|Alex Guillot||DNS

SPORT LEVEL
1|Manuel Weber|85|30:02.982 2|Tony DELMASTRO|85|30:09.546 3|John Payson|85|30:17.948 4|Sven Dellebeke|83|30:01.500 5|Jean-philippe Csernak|83|30:01.774 6|isla pesca|83|30:01.802 7|Laurent Edet|83|30:03.026 8|Ivan Barnier|82|30:19.980 9|Rainer Ressar||DNS 10|Fred Fouilland||DNS

CLUB LEVEL
1|Pedro Pozo|85|30:08.254 2|Denis Lavrentyev|84|30:05.336 3|michael Zappa|83|30:00.760 4|Kevin GONARD|82|30:18.482 5|Yuriy Tantsura|81|30:18.520 6|Marcos Garcia|79|30:09.804 7|Pekka Heikkilä|78|30:13.482 8|polo pilato||DNS 9|Nikolas Schmitz||DNS 10|Paul Fendt||DNS

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