RC-Foff Finland Cup Comp 1 at Kangasala
It's Saturday morning and sun is shining at gravel pit in Kangasala, Finland. When we arrived to the gravel pit there were already action in the hills. New season was just to begin. The drivers are tired from last night when they were fixing their cars to prepare for a fierce battle with other competitors.
In this race, there weren't enough photographers, so there are only a couple of pics from the action.
Competition begins
Here are the cars of the race. I was surprised how many modified class car there were.
Unlimited XL:
Timo Nikkilä's car The Bull. Pretty massive car. The Bull drives well, until drivers has to go back to work. So, The Bull ends up to second place.
Pasi Äkräs is driving this car named Dictator. He has done some excellent setups to twist and speed. Dictator ends up in first place and is therefore the current leader in the cup.
Modified:
There were plenty of new cars in Modified and this was one of them. Emperor. (Left) Lauri Lahti has made a good looking car, but the problem was, that the car was too heavy. In many stages it were just going to dig its way to China. Emperor quitted the race after four stages and ends up in last position.
Hell Crawler. (Picture from Friday night) There were two drivers driving this car. Samu Sarka and Sofi Sarka. Sofi is first woman to drive RC formula offroad. But still - driving skills are not at the same level as the others. Sofi drove quite well and ends up to seventh place.
Samu had a good battle with Saku Sarka and Thunder Horse. Samu was driving good at the whole competition and gets even one full 350 point performance. Hell Crawler and Samu Sarka takes the win and are currently in the lead of the cup.
Cenator (at right) was first timer too. To Cenator the race wasn't so good. The clutch was sliding almost every course. But finally Cenator keeps steady level in the race and ends up in sixth place.
Pertti Sarka driving Hellperi. Hellperi had some electrical problems and it really had to fight for some middle positions. As the driver said: It's way too heavy to this play, Hellperi has driven its first and last race. Pertti Sarka and Hellperi ends up in fifth place.
Then there was Gladiator. Some good and some worse performances kept him in good position. Gladiator was fourth exactly 200 points behind the podium.
Cat MT (In center) and driver Mikko Nieminen was showing some very good performances. In third course it did get 350 points and that was excellent performance. But the clutch was sliding in this car too, so in few of the stages it didn't get many points. But, either way Cat MT ends up in third place and was in the podium.
Thunder Horse (Almost middle of the pic, car with black and red paintings on) and the driver Saku Sarka had good race. In fourth stage full house points gave him a good chance to try pressure Samu Sarka and Hell Crawler, but it just wasn't enough. At last second position in this race was good, cause Samu is not driving Hell Crawler at next race.
Unlimited:
Toni Juvakka driving Breaker (Left in the picture). Low points from first stage and in the second course engine was dead. It did burn out. By that Toni gets special reward by burning his engine. Breaker ends up in last position.
Mikko Nieminen and Cat SS. Mikko ends previous cup to third place so there was a lot of pressure on him. This time there was just bad luck with the car. In the first stage it did go about 20 cm and then it was stuck on its bottom. All the other stages the failure was clutch. It just slides too much. Position was seventh for Cat SS this time.
Arto Nieminen driving Sandslinger. Arto quitted after three courses, because engine didn't run very well. Position of the race to Sandslinger was sixth.
Hellsmate (Left in the pic). Lassi Väänänen was driving good performances in some of the courses and some of them not. But good and not so good performances kept him in balance and Lassi did get performance reward from his last course's fantastic try. Hellsmate ends up in fifth place.
Tipsy, and in this race whith two drivers Samu Sarka and Saku Sarka. Saku did a very good race and got a full house of points in course number three. But in stage five, something brakes in back gearbox. He and Samu looses rear wheel drive, and so the race was chanced quite difficult. Saku ends up to fourth place.
Samu was driving perfectly all first three stages and had fierce battle whit Nightfall and Hot Shadow until the gearbox was broken and Tipsy falls to position number three.
Lauri Lahti driving Nightfall at last course.
Almost makes it. Driver screams yes, but the gravity says no. And Nightfall is falling. Lauri with Nightfall had some good moments and some not so good moments. In first three stages it went by full house points. And then in stages four and five it stuck quite easily. But it did go a balanced and quite steady line and ends up in second place.
Pasi Äkräs and Hot Shadow tried to go to the top, but no. Really hard course.
Homer in Hot Shadow was powered by lipo battery electricity! Homer drove very well the whole race and it sure did deserve the gold position. Good looking tuber chassis also!
Results
(Driver, car, team)
Modified class:
1.Samu Sarka - Hell Crawler - RRCCFO
2.Saku Sarka - Thunder Horse - RRCCFO
3.Mikko Nieminen - Cat MT - PRCA
4.Pasi Äkräs - Gladiator - (No team)
5.Pertti Sarka - Hellperi - Helltek
6.Lassi Väänänen - Cenator - PRCA
7.Sofi Sarka - Hell Crawler - RRCCFO
8.Lauri Lahti - Emperor - RRCCFO
Unlimited class:
1.Pasi Äkräs - Hot Shadow - (No team)
2.Lauri Lahti - Nightfall - RRCCFO
3.Samu Sarka - Tipsy - RRCCFO
4.Saku Sarka - Tipsy - RRCCFO
5.Lassi Väänänen - Hellsmate - PRCA
6.Arto Nieminen - Sandslinger - PRCA
7.Mikko Nieminen - Cat SS - PRCA
8.Toni Juvakka - Breaker - PRCA
Unlimited XL class:
1.Pasi Äkräs - Dictator - (No team)
2.Timo Nikkilä - The Bull - PRCA
Standings in RC-Foff Finland Cup 2008
(Driver, car, team, points)
Modified class:
1.Samu Sarka - Hell Crawler - RRCCFO - 20p
2.Saku Sarka - Thunder Horse - RRCCFO - 17p
3.Mikko Nieminen - Cat MT - PRCA - 15p
4.Pasi Äkräs - Gladiator - (No team) - 12p
5.Pertti Sarka - Hellperi - Helltek - 10p
6.Lassi Väänänen - Cenator - PRCA - 8p
7.Sofi Sarka - Hell Crawler - RRCCFO - 6p
8.Lauri Lahti - Emperor - RRCCFO - 5p
Unlimited class:
1.Pasi Äkräs - Hot Shadow - (No team) - 20p
2.Lauri Lahti - Nightfall - RRCCFO - 17p
3.Samu Sarka - Tipsy - RRCCFO - 15p
4.Saku Sarka - Tipsy - RRCCFO - 12p
5.Lassi Väänänen - Hellsmate - PRCA - 10p
6.Arto Nieminen - Sandslinger - PRCA - 8p
7.Mikko Nieminen - Cat SS - PRCA - 6p
8.Toni Juvakka - Breaker - PRCA - 5p
Unlimited XL class:
1.Pasi Äkräs - Dictator - (No team) - 20p
2.Timo Nikkilä - The Bull - PRCA - 17p
Thanks to organizers and competitors for the great day!
Samu Sarka
www.rc-foff.net
