Rotorstock Report 2010

Pro Class

It was down to the familiar 3 faces in the HKS Pro Class with John Bradshaw, Leon Green and Chris Impey being the only entrants.

We went into eliminations with only Leon Green having put in a solid pass to the cars full potential. John Bradshaw's car seemed to be hooking up well to about half track and then idling through the rest of the track, while Chris Impey seemed to be trying out a few new things with the set up by putting in some test passes during the RWYB as well as qualifying.

Pro Class Semi Finals

Due to the odd number of competitors Leon had a bye, however he didn't take it easy by clocking up an awesome 7.5 second pass at over 180mph - well done Leon! In the other semi, John Bradshaw had problems getting to the line and then rolled through stage, leaving Chris to run through into the final with another 10 second run.

Pro Class Final

So it was Leon v Chris in the final. With Leons 7 second form Chris would have had to cut a good reaction time, but he tried too hard and got a red light. The win was all Leon's as he sailed through with yet another 7 second pass.

Winner: Leon Green

Fac Mod Class

It was a four car battle in Factory Modified with a few notable faces missing from the field. Gary Gooding topped qualifying with a 9 second pass but the others weren't far behind.

Fac Mod Class Semi Finals

It was straight into the Semi Finals which saw Gary Gooding against Keith Carr. Gary tried too hard and threw the race away on the start line with a red light leaving Keith to build the turbo with his 1.4 second reation time and take the win.

There was a great race between the two Stuarts on the other side of the ladder with similar reaction times and similar ET's. It was Stewart Taylor that took the win despite a late charge from Stuart Williams that saw him catching towards the end of the track.

Fac Mod Class Final

Keith tried to build the turbo in the Supra before reaching the line probably in order to improve his reaction time but it was no good as it was Stewart who was away first and set a quicker time. This topped off a great day for Stewart who was consistent throughout and it was great to see him get a handle on the car and claim his first win - well done!

Winner: Stewart Taylor

Street Class

Street class was the one to watch at Rotorstock with 7 entries and some very interesting qualifying times. Rob Shadwell led the way with an impressive 9.9 second run followed by a returning Roy Ashby with a 10.2 second time. Roy showed us why he was missed in qualifying with another one of those awesome wheelies in his MR2.

Malcolm Thomas was just over half a second off followed by Mark Salem, James Willday and John Stocker all not too far behind.

Street Class Quarter Finals

Rob Shadwell has earned himself a bye into the Semi Finals and he took full advantage of that and cruised through with a 16 second pass or did he have problems with the Skyline?

The next pairing saw the two RX7's racing each other and what a close match it was. Mark Salem was away first but James Willday just nicked the win at the top end with a quicker ET.

It should have been easy for Roy Ashby who had over 2 seconds on Jeff Ludgate in qualifying but it just wasn't to be. Roy was away first but then something went wrong and he pulled up on the track leaving Jeff to solo through with a 12.9 second run to the semi's in his back up car.

Malcolm Thomas took out John Stocker in the final pairing, Malcolm cutting the better light leaving John to do all the catch up work, he began to reel Malcolm in at the top end but it wasn't enough. Malcolm took the win light with a 11.0 to Johns 11.9.

Street Class Semi Finals

The first semi's was one of the strangest affairs we have seen here in a long time. Rob Shadwell and James Willday left the line very lazily with over a 1 second reaction time each and they both just seemed to cruise up the track. It can only be assumed that both had mechanical gremlins and Rob just got lucky that his weren't as bad as James' or maybe Rob knew that James was broke? Regardless of what happened, Rob was through to the final with a 19 second run.

Malcolm Thomas and Jeff Ludgate was another close race with Jeff knowing that he had to cut a good light to beat Malcolm but it wasn't enough as Malcolm just about edged the win at the finish line.

Street Class Finals

So it was numbers 1 and 3 in qualifying that met in the final, but was it to be Malcolm's day as Rob hadn't put in a decent pass in the past two rounds?

Rob followed up his previous 16 second run and 19 second run with a stunning 9.816 which was just too much for Malcolm despite him cutting a better reaction time. Malcolm was no slouch himself as he came home with a very respectable 10.965.

Winner: Robert Shadwell

FWD Class Qualifying

Guy Chamberlain only came out for the first qualifier and that was all he needed to clinch number one spot with the only 10 second pass.

Paul Cresswell followed a further half a second behind followed by Karl Hart and Tony Reardon who seems to be still finding his feet in this class.

FWD Semi Finals

Guy Chamberlain improved on his qualifying time with a 10.3 second pass which saw off Tony Reardon, Tony had problems of his own as he seemed to lose drive just before half track leaving him to roll through to the finish.

In the other semi, Paul Cresswell was gifted the win after Karl Hart red lit by the smallest of margins, Paul got lucky as Karl actually ran the better time by just under a second.

FWD Class Finals

Red Lights seemed to be the trend of the day and it was Paul Cresswell that gifted Guy the win this time, perhaps trying too hard to get an advantage off the line. Guy ran through with yet another 10 second pass which would have took the win anyway against Paul's 14 second run.

Winner: Guy Chamberlain

Jap Academy

The Jap Academy ran for the first time at Rotorstock giving entrants a taster as to what real competitive racing is like. These guys didn't dissapoint as there was some great match ups. Many of these names are new to us so no one knew how this would pan out, Cliff Judson and Barry Deal were our alternates in the 8 car field. Here's how they qualified:

Jap Academy Quarter Finals

The first pairing saw Rob Blackshaw against Michael Fricker. This should have been straight forward for Rob who has qualified almost 2 seconds quicker but this wasn't the case as Michael gained a couple of tenths on the startline and then Rob had issues on his run which meant that this was very close at the top end but it was Rob who took the victory.

Stuart Nice against Tim White was another very close race with Tim getting the advantage on the startline but Stuart's quicker ET (the quickest of the round) gave him the win light.

Darren Haywood and Brett Fowler had another great race with less than half a second separating them at the finish line in Darren's favour despite Brett's better reaction time.

Shahin Fard had a bye into the Semi Finals as Chris Vidler was a no show, it can only be assumed that his car was broke.

Jap Academy Semi Finals

The first semi saw Rob Blackshaw against Stuart Nice, based on qualifying Stuart would have needed something very special to overcome Rob in this round and that's exactly what he produced beating Rob off the line and running his first 10 second pass of the day. Rob seemed to have issues again and followed with a 13 second ET.

The next Semi Final saw numbers 2 and 3 qualifiers race, Darren Haywood and Shahin Fard were both away together but then Darren had problems and slowed to a 15 second pass leaving Shahin to take the win with his quickest run of the day.

The round points and season standings table are on the main 2010 Points page.

Jap Academy Finals

It was Shahin's Skyline and Stuarts Mazda in the final, the pair had qualified 3 and 4 respectively showing that consistency plays a huge part in drag racing and this was set to be a great match up with only 3 tenths separating their best times of the day in Stuart's favour.

Shahin cut an excellent 0.1 light closely followed by Stuart with a 0.2 second reaction time (HKS racers take note!) but then it all went horribly wrong for Stuart by 60 foot as he lost all drive and professionally pulled up on the side of the track.

Shahin didn't have the best run himself missing 3rd gear before running through with a 12 second pass to take the win.

We do hope to see all these guys step up and enter the HKS series in the future as they put on an awesome show.

Winner: Shahin Fard