2007 Winternats, Florida – Thursday Day 5

Well the rain came and interrupted play today on the last day of qualifiers for this years Florida Winternats. With the 1/8th scale class not managing to complete a full round of qualifying without the rain stopping proceedings, the results from Wednesday will stand, which means Kyosho racer Josh Cyrul will start on pole position for Saturdays A-main race. In 2nd position is Chris Tosolini driving another Kyosho Evolva, with reigning champion Mike Swauger driving his MRT Ninja powered Mugen MRX4-R lining up just behind him. Vincent Jackson, also driving for Mugen, looks like the danger man in this race, the relative unknown lines up 4th and could produce the surprise of the day. In 5th sits former multiple winner, and highest qualifying Serpent, Michael Salven from Germany just ahead of team mate Paolo Morganti, both drivers with something to prove after showing top pace in the heats but just not being able to pull it together when it mattered.

In 1/10th scale its all change, with the organisers managing to get in one of the final 2 rounds of qualifying for this class run, in between the showers. Serpent 720 driver Paolo Morganti pulled out a stunning drive in cold conditions to go 9 seconds quicker than he previously managed, to take the pole position from top Xray driver and overnight pole man Ralph Burch. Jilles Groskamp who moved to using a Mega MF motor for his final qualifying runs, managed to get 3rd fastest qualifying time but was disqualified for his car being underweight after the lead weight in his car fell out, which meant that 3rd position went to Kyosho racer Josh Cyrul. In 4th position was Danny Horta, driving a Serpent 720 who managed to move himself up the order and finish ahead of hot shot Xray driver Paul LeMieux who ended qualifying a very respectable 5th for his first nitro race.

The lower finals take place today, Friday, and if there is no rain delay, the A, B and C-mains will take place on Saturday. The top 11 fastest qualify directly into the A-main in all classes with the winner of the B-main bumping up to make it 12 starting in the A-main.

Not so many pictures today but the ones we have you can see below along with the final top A-main standings… content

2007 Winternats, Florida – Wednesday Day 4

The 3rd and 4th rounds of qualifying are now over and with all Wednesdays racing run under dry and improving conditions, the tops of the leaderboards have changed quite a lot. In 1/8th scale, Kyosho racer Josh Cyrul has moved up from 4th position overnight to take provisional pole position after 4 rounds, the US driver followed closely by 1/10th US National champion Chris Tosolini, also driving a Kyosho. In 3rd position was Tuesdays overnight pole man, and reigning Champion Mike Swauger, who despite improving by 2 seconds still only ended up in third ahead of the big mover of the day Vincent Jackson, also running with Mugen. Paolo Morganti, driving a Serpent 960 was the biggest loser on the day in 1/8th scale, dropping from 2nd to 6th having not been able to improve on his Tuesday time.

In 1/10th scale its more of the same with Ralph Burch on the debut race for Xrays new NT1 that retains his first position despite not improving his time today. Paolo Morganti, driving the Serpent 720 improved a lot and jumped from overnight 4th to 2nd, only 1 tenth of a second behind with Chris Tosolini, another driver who didn’t manage to complete the 5 minutes on Tuesday, did so today to improve his time and gain 3rd position albeit 3 seconds back on the leading pair. Barry Baker, also with the Xray NT1, moved up from 6th yesterday to end the day in 4th position heading into the final day of qualifying. The biggest loser on the day in 1/10th scale was Mark Green, driving a Serpent 720, who couldn’t manage to improve his time and thus dropped from his overnight 5th position to end up 13th going into the final 2 rounds of qualifying.

Check out some more pictures and the top 10 standings… content

2007 Winternats, Florida – Tuesday Day 3

Well the rain held off, and the sun came out, to allow the organisers get the scheduled 2 rounds of qualifying in on Tuesday. In the 1/8th class, reigning Champion Mike Swauger, driving his MRT Ninja powered Mugen MRX-R, managed to squeeze the top spot away from Paolo Morganti, the Serpent racer just 1 second behind in 2nd position. Former 1/10th Winternats champ Scotty Gray was a further 3 seconds back in 3rd ahead of a non finishing Josh Cyrul who lines up a very quick 4th despite a DNF on this fastest run.

In the 200mm Sedan class, Ralph Burch, has put the all new Xray NT1 on provisional pole position ahead of Serpent 720 racer Danny Horta who was 9 seconds back in 2nd. But this of course doesnt tell the true story as both Chris Tosolini driving a Kyosho and Paolo Morganti with his Serpent 720 didnt manage to finish their fastest runs, which had they done so would have seen them a within 1 or 2 seconds of Burch. Qualfiying continues on Wednesday with rounds 3 and 4 to be run, we will keep you updated with the results and more pictures.

View some pictures as well as the top 10 after 2 rounds here… content

2007 Winternats, Florida – Monday Day 2

The second day of this years Winternats had been rained out in the morning with the track only getting some running on it after lunch and although the weather is not looking like it will stay dry for the rest of the week, we should see a full days running today. Of course drivers who got some practice in on Sunday can now find themselves at an advantage over those that only arrived on Monday but the morning break gave everyone the chance to get their stuff together and catch up with old friends. The Xray team also got some time to build their NT1’s with some drivers only receiving the car in kit form when they arrived at the track.

We have some pictures from Monday at Ft Myers here… content

2007 Winternats, Florida – Sunday Day 1

So we move from one big race in Florida to another with the Worlds best RC racers arriving at the Ft Myers track to the north of Orlando where we just had the Snowbirds. Many drivers from this race will make the Journey to race here including most of the Xray team who will give the NT1 its debut International race on this, one of the most unforgiving tracks in the World. As of Sunday, almost every one is there including the large Serpent team from Europe that includes Salven, Green, Keur, Cornella, Tomaschko and Kandelhart. The Mugen team is there already in force with previous multiple winner Mike Swauger ready to defend his 1/8th title and Kyosho will be present with Cyrul and Tosolini, both drivers yet to make it from the Snowbirds race on Sunday, but of course will be there today to get some practice in. The forecast for today is for it to rain but we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out.

In the meantime check out some images from Sunday… content