TSRF 1/24 Scale races, December 17, 2005

Buena Park, CA

Steube again, Mickey Johnston shines, Sterrett close behind. 

Mike Steube drove a hard-fought race in this, the last TSRF contest of 2005, eventually getting some air between himself and the hounding pack of Mickey Johnston and Paul Sterrett. Mike Hudson led the first segment with a clean 26 laps, followed by Sam Brown, Johnston and Sterrett. Sam then opened a lead with a 27+ lap drive on yellow, two laps over anyone else. Steube won the third segment with 26 laps, with Brown still in the overall lead. Steube brought his average to 26.5 laps to close on Brown, but Philippe de Lespinay began his challenge on red then drove his usual "chrome rocket" BMW to a clear lead with a clean 27 laps on green. But due to his vision problems, he lost it in the first re-start of the 6th heat, and Mike Steube shot to a 27+ lead on purple, slowly pulling from Johnston with 26 laps. Sterrett, Johnston, Steube and Hudson turned 26 laps in heat 7, but Philippe turned another 27, gaining some of his lost ground, only to crash again at the next re-start for the same reasons. The fight was then clearly between Johnston and Sterrett for second place, while Steube kept his built-up advantage, Sam Brown staying close behind. Steube, Sterrett and Philippe pulled another 27 laps in the 9th heat, with Mickey and Sam a lap behind. in the 10th heat, Philippe pulled another 27 laps from his chromed "wunderkar", the thing setting the fastest race lap in the process on orange, only to repeat the same off at the first re-start of the 11th heat, losing any chance of a podium finish. Johnston set the pace and regained one lap on Steube with a clean 27 lapper on yellow, with Sterrett losing ground with only 25 on black. The last heat saw Mickey edge Paul by a mere 10 feet for second, while Sam Brown won it with 27+ laps.

In the amateur class, Ridge Ellis is constantly in progress and is approaching the sub-7 seconds rarefied air of the pro drivers. So is Paul Wilde, a converted drag racer. Scott Jarrett was a disappointment in this race but took a sweet revenge in the Sportsman NASCAR class later in the day, edging Sterrett for a very close win. Oscar Smith is slowly but surely making progress while newcomer Jesse Javier had issues with his car that were later resolved when a set of "half-width" tires were supplied by TSRF guru Philippe.

Only 17 THOUSANDS of a second separated the best lap of the first 6 finishers, yet the closest match in any slot car race in recent memory. TSRF can claim itself to be the closest slot racing formula on a road course at this time.

Main event results:

* denotes fastest lap

** denotes injected body, with a 20-lap bonus applied.
 

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