14 replies to this topic

[Cheater]

The SERRA circus descended on Cordle Model Speedway on Saturday, January 17, for the first race of the 2009 season. While the temp outside was in the teens, inside the raceway the action was hot.

The first class to be run was Retro F1, and for the first time at a SERRA event qualifying was held.



The F1 concours lineup, arrayed on Cordle's new oval track, which is not quite finished.



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Retro F1 Qualifying

1) Jay Guard - 5.5429 secs
2) Ralph Thorne - 5.5434
3) Raymond Gonzalez - 5.6599
4) Eddie Lawley - 5.6683
5) Chris Barnes - 5.6723
6) Marc Waddle - 5.6887
7) Bobby Robinson - 5.7202
8) Jason Alexander - 5.7359
9) James Merriman - 5.7496
10) Joe McIntosh - 5.7983
11) Terry Kelly - 5.9242
12) Eddie Cordle - 6.1433
13) Steve Harrington - 6.7466

Based on the qualifying order, two Mains were alternately seeded, with final results ranked on lap totals.

Retro F1 - B Main

1) Ralph Thorne - 328 laps
2) Marc Waddle - 326
3) Eddie Lawley - 311
4) Joe McIntosh - 285
5) Eddie Cordle - 279
6) Jason Alexander - 222



Retro F1 - A Main

1) Jay Guard - 332 laps
2) Bobby Robinson - 319
3) James Merriman - 310
4) Chris Barnes - 309
5) Raymond Gonzalez - 305
6) Terry Kelly - 293
7) Steve Harrington - 254

Retro F1 - Combined Results

1) Jay Guard - 332 laps
2) Ralph Thorne - 328
3) Marc Waddle - 326
4) Bobby Robinson - 319
5) Eddie Lawley - 311
6) James Merriman - 310
7) Chris Barnes - 309
8) Raymond "Speedy" Gonzalez - 305
9) Terry Kelly - 293
10) Joe McIntosh - 285
11) Eddie Cordle - 279
12) Steve Harrington - 254
13) Jason Alexander - 222



L to R, Ralph Thorne, Jay Guard, Marc Waddle

By racer vote, the F1 Concours winners were:



Best Appearing - James Merriman, and Most Realistic - Jay Guard.




The next class was retro Can-Am, and as with F1, qualifying was held.







Retro Can-Am Qualifying

1) Jay Guard - 5.1677 secs
2) Bobby Robinson - 5.2406
3) Ralph Thorne - 5.3029
4) Terry Kelly - 5.3098
5) Raymond "Speedy" Gonzalez - 5.3200
6) James Merriman - 5.3258
7) Tommy Flythe - 5.3357
8) Eddie Lawley - 5.4284
9) Chris Barnes - 5.4331
10) Joe McIntosh - 5.4739
11) Gary Shepard - 5.5232
12) Jason Alexander - 5.5537
13) Russell Cordle - 5.6899
14) Steve Saunders - 5.7344
15) Steve Harrington - 6.0386

The format for Can-Am this year is a bit different, not only from what was done last year, but also different from the 2009 F1 format. The top six qualifiers go into the Main and the first two places from the Main advance to the A, giving racers two ways to get to the Main: by qualifying and by racing.

Retro Can-Am Semi



L to R, Russell Cordle, Steve Harrington, Tommy Flythe, Steve Saunders, Chris Barnes, Joe McIntosh, and Jason Alexander. Notice how seven of the drivers are looking in the same direction and one lonely racer is all by himself on another part of the track. LOL!!

1) Joe McIntosh - 326
2) Tommy Flythe - 325
3) Russell Cordle - 300
4) Steve Saunders - 291
5) Steve Harrington - 285
6) Chris Barnes - 284
7) Jason Alexander - 246
8) Gary Shepard - 175
9) Eddie Lawley - 68

Thus Joe McIntosh and Tommy Flythe advanced to the Main.

Retro Can-Am Main



L to R, Joe "Jobiwan" McIntosh, James Merrriman, Ralph Thorne, Jay Guard, Bobby Robinson, Raymond "Speedy" Gonzalez, Terry Kelly, and Tommy Flythe.

1) Jay Guard - 339 laps
2) Bobby Robinson - 335
3) Tommy Flythe - 331 laps, 3 sections
4) James Merriman - 331 laps, 4 sections
5) Terry Kelly - 330
6) Joe McIntosh - 323
7) Raymond "Speedy" Gonzalez - 239
8) Ralph Thorne - 66



L to R, Alabama's Bobby Robinson and Jay Guard, plus Georgia's Tommy Flythe.

By racer vote, the Can-Am Concours winner in both categories was the same car.

Best Appearing and Most Realistic - James Merriman, and I forgot to take pictures of his concours-winning car. Sorry, James...

We owe a big round of applause to Don Berni, of Slot of Fun raceway in Abbeville, SC, for volunteering to be the race director for all the SERRA events in 2009. Jay and I felt that having the same RD at every race would be a positive and Don stepped up to fill that position. Thanks, Don.

And the next SERRA race, #11, will be at Slots of Fun in Abbeville on February 21. See you there!

[Pappy]

But I didn't see the name "Greg Wells" anywhere in the standings.

Any idea when you'll be back in Cleveland, TN?

[Don Weaver]

Boy, I sure hated missing the first SERRA race with qualifying and seeded races but family has to come first. Don Bernie told me that the program went smoothly and added a fun twist to the way we had been doing things. I'm looking forward to this format at the next race.

Onward to 'Slots of Fun' and the first Stock Car race in February. After playing with Mike Shepard's stockcar I'll repeat my earlier warning... bring your running shoes for marshalling 'cause these little suckers slide forever when they flip over on their roofs!

Don Weaver

[Cheater]

F1 Podium Cars





First place car of Jay Guard. This is Jay's first and only Retro F1 chassis, which he raced all last year.





Ralph Thorne's second place car, which did quite well in its first outing.





Marc Waddle's third place car, which is actually a Don Weaver chassis now owned by Cheater hisself. This chassis has been raced by several racers over the last year, with excellent results. I'll replace the blurry bottom pic in a bit.

[Cheater]

Can-Am Podium Cars





First place car of Jay Guard. This is the second chassis of this design Jay has made. The first one was hand-cut from bronze sheet before Jay realized that bronze is a prohibited material for IRRA chassis. So he bit the bullet and hand-cut another one out of brass sheet. It's pretty safe to say it works well, but I dunno what to say about the unique lead wire arrangement...





Bobby Robinson's second place car. Bobby is an excellent builder and seemingly gets faster every time he attends a SERRA event. His chassis tend to be simple in design but very effective. Check out the custom-machined motor bracket on this chassis.





Tommy Flythe's third place car, obviously constructed using a JK kit as the starting point. Tommy had to work Saturday morning and missed the F1 race, which meant he didn't have a chance to run his new F1 chassis. He showed up in time for Can-Am and was tickled to be one of the two racers transferring up from the Semi to the Main.

[Cheater]

But I didn't see the name "Greg Wells" anywhere in the standings.

I was so far behind they wouldn't even show me as having entered the race...

Any idea when you'll be back in Cleveland, TN?

We're still working on the schedule after May, Butch. Watch this forum.

[4laneron]

Just want to let you know I built the chassis and motor bracket that Bobby Robinson ran. He did tweak it a little.

[Cheater]

Ron, thanks for the info. Nice work.

['Slots of Fun']

Pics below are by Don Berni, proprietor of 'Slots of Fun' in Abbeville, SC. Don is also SERRA's race director for 2009, at least for all th SERRA events he can attend.

Captions below are by da cheater...



L to R, Eddie Lawley, Steve Saunders, and Gary Shepard.



This pic, and the next three, are Don's shots of the F1 concours line-up. The slips of paper in front of the vars are the SERRA concours numbering and ballot system for racer vote concours.









Steve Saunders, modeling the slot car T-shirt his wife (IIRC) found somewhere. Notice controllers at lower left.



F1 practice. L to R: Jason Alexander, Eddie Lawley, Joe McIntosh, Eddie Cordle, Ralph Thorne, and Marc Waddle.



Jay Guard in the foreground and Chris Barnes in the background, likely during F1 qualifying.



Picking 'em up and puttin' 'em back on...



Terry Kelly, R, educating a local racers whose name I cannot recall.



Eddie Lawley, looking particularly disgusted.



Another old retro racer... the gray hair tells the tale!























V/R,
Don

[Bill from NH]

Don, nice photos! Is the back of that balding head Terry Kelly?

['Slots of Fun']

No. That's David Liebenthal of Proformance Racing.

V/R,

Don

['Slots of Fun']

V/R,
Don

[jdracer]

Looks like things are going great for the SERRA series down it the deep south... Gotta say I do miss the racing with all of ya... Who knows, one day I just may show up and surprise ya all... Loved all the pics... Saw my boys from 'Bama and see that some of my paintwork is still running down there...

[GotToRace]

Hey, JD, you're sure missing all the fun down here. Wish you were here. Especially as I'm running out of bodies with my special paint job.

[GotToRace]

Just want to say what a blast I had at the race. CMS hosted a great race as usual. Thanks, guys.