Monza Mayhem with the TW Classics!!

Grant Riddall once again thrust his car onto pole by an impressive margin at Monza, however with the slipstreaming nature of the track, another pair of wins was far from definite.

Riddall led from the green but by lap 2 was down to fifth as his slipstream allowed 4 drivers to get past him, but almost as quickly he was into second. Jef and Rouke got together and last a lot of time allowing the champioship leader to retake second. 

Other collisions early on had caused other drivers to be delayed as the tight, close, racing caused frayed nerves and requires intense concentration. Ralph and Mitch were the big losers as they fell towards the tail of the field after incidents while Mark Abbott failed to so much as take the start.

While Grant was battling his way towards the lead again, Jos Swarthoff was sything through the field. By Lap 3 he had made up 10 places to fifth and found himself in close company with John Wallace.

Kenyon and Fulvio were two more drivers who faded after a good start while by Lap 4 Grant was back in the lead.

He held on for a solid win just over a second ahead of Fernando and Bret Metcalf.

The Sprint had proved to be short and sharp, but the feature was likely to be an epic race with 22 laps of drafting on the menu.

Grant soon found himself in a battle with Fernando from the start while Ronny made a demon start. Elsewhere Bret and John Wallace seemed to be playing musical cars as a hugely eratic driver by Benoit seemed to make both drivers go out of their way to be close to him. 

Benoit made their life hard for 3 laps before he crashed out while John would retire with technical failure a few laps later. 

That left the consistant Bret with a battle on his hands with Paul Langford and... a recovering Grant Riddall. Riddall had been forced to pit on lap 4 after an incident, dropping him to 14th but a solid display of drafting soon brought him up to Bret. 

Several cars had other incidents but by half distance only 4 drivers had retired, with two more pulling out a couple of laps later. That left 14 drivers battling their way round at speeds in excess of 200mph. 

Up Front Jef was looking secure until he lost a couple of places on lap 13 as 4 cars battled hard to dominate the race in a pack that steadily pulled away from the Bret/Riddall battle.

Jef retook the lead but Ralph wouldn't let him rest, the pair frequently swapping places as they pulled away into an intense battle. Jef eventually pulled up an impressive win narrowly from Ralph with Fernando pulling out a solid 3rd place.

Overall Monza proved to be a very different challenge which saw drivers having to co-operate to get the best out of it. Some drivers proved better at this than others and this contributed to the excitement.

TWF1 - Jerez Report

The inaugural TWF1, 1971, event kicked off at the twisting spanish Jerez track last weekend with a huge field of 30 cars. On pole, as with the TWFC last week, was the impressive Grant Riddall who stormed to a mighty pole position almost a second ahead of the lime green car of Mario Wojahn. Mike Perray proved he didn't need a turbo to be face in third ahead of Ronny Nunez and Rouke.

With such a large field the odds of a clean first lap were, probably, remote and cars were brushing wheels from the off with Nigel and Leo lucky not to combine into a huge accident.

Turn's one and two saw more incidents, shuffling up the pack, but the first major off didn't occur tilltowards the end of the lap when Leo got into Aymeric and spun falling to the back of the pack.

By the end of Lap 2, however, there was a huge mixup of cars at the back of the field with Mario, spun by Rouke, Paul Langford, Fernando - who didn't qualify - and Leo all having to mix it with the backmarkers.

The first of those to cause a noticeable holdup was Kat Scott, who while not entirely happy with her car was managing to be reasonably smooth, precise and consistant early on. She ultimately lost out to the three cars behind (below) but not before she'd gained some respect from them.

Both Mario and Fernando citing her in their reports, Mario said, "Honourable mention to Kat, who did an outstanding job defending her position! Well done mate excellent racing."

Mario, despite the delay, would soon be passing other drivers as he charged through the field. He would reach 11th by lap 11 when he pitted and was up to 8th 10 laps later. Paul Langford, the third driver in the train, was moving up the field equaly impressively. On a different fuel load to the lime green car he pitted on lap 18 when running 9th.

These three drivers were certainly showing some driving and racing skills and Deutsch was no exception as he nursed tyres, deciding to run non-stop, he would finish an impressive 11th losing 10th to Langford on the final lap with his tyres dead.

Meanwhile Perray had jumped into second place and held it impressively but was unable to hold onto the Flying Riddall. Once again the formed streaked into the lead with a mighty impressive pace. It's clear that these low grip monsters suit his driving style and it'll be interesting to see how he gets on with the grippier Ground effect 79's later in this two car season.

Retirements didn't start for a few laps but by lap 18, five drivers had failed to score points as their wrecked cars littered the race track.

The pitstops, which are optional this season but reccomended, soon proved to be scattered as drivers balanced their loads vs qualifying pace. As with F1 in 2009 parc Ferme is preventing drivers refueling. Although due to technical issues this was waived for this race, the stops seemed to imply most drivers went with what they had.

The first Scheduled stops seemed to be around lap 11 with the last being Kat and Bret on lap 25.

Drama didnt' stop throughout an action packed race as drivers charged through the field, collided, spun or made mistakes. The final driver who failed to see the checkered was the unfortunate Mark Abbott who, running 3 laps behind the Matra, caught Katier as she struggled on low fuel two laps from the end. Rouke accidently made contact with Abbott who was unfortunately forced to retire, but didn't lose points as a result.

Overall an entertaining and challenging opening race with a mighty impressive win by Riddall. He doesn't win driver of the day and I think it HAS to be split three ways. Deutsch and Langford for impressive 21 place climbs through the field and Mario for an equally impressive driver when recovering from his spin.

The field now moves to Imola, for a much faster and more flowing race track.

TWFC Round 1 - Sandy Madness

The much anticipated Autumn season of Legends League rFactor racing kicked off last weekend with a crash a bang and a wallop as a substantial field arrived at the Jarama race circuit.

Prior to the event the stewards issued stark warnings to drivers for using too much of the sandy extremes of the circuit, whether they are adhered to we will see but it's almost certain that some drivers will ultimately leave with less points than they believed.

The pole battle went down to the wire with Ronny Nunez narrowly shading Grant Riddall by a little over a tenth, the pair being over half a second quicker than Rouke and Jef Vannijlen.

With no pace lap employed in the rFactor series' this year, the field headed down to T1 for the first time with slightly colder tyres and much colder brakes than normal.

Ronny and Grant both got through T1 cleanly, with Grant taking the lead. Further back, however, Paul mistook his clutch for the brake and cannoned into Angelo, the pair losing several places in the ensuing moment through the gravel.

Over the course of the first lap the field spread out nicely with some minor bumping as drivers jossled for position. A minor off near the end of the lap cost Ronny two places and removed the most likely pressure from Grant.

The final action of the first lap took place on the exit of the last turn as the delayed Paul Langford, suffering with a damaged car, lost control - spun across the track and smashed into John Wallace. Wallace's car bounced into the pitlane so the damage done was comparatively light, he did a quick pitstop to repair and rejoined near the back of the field

Langford continued and in doing so his race turned into a near disaster. His car was ill handling and as a result he had several collisions, spins and incidents on his way to a struggling 15th place. 

24 cars started the race and, as is often the case some benefitted at the start, Salvatore Tallini was one such driver, leaping 11 places on the first lap to finish it in sixth. Sadly for him a poor race saw him fade to a disapointing 15th over all.

Mitch Simon also made up a good number of early laps, finding himself in 7th by lap five from 16th on the grid. He battle hard, had minimal problems to bring his car home solidly in 8th after Deutsch passed him a few laps from home during a recovery drive which dropped him to 12th on lap 2.

Riddall, aided by Ronny's first lap off, cruised to a comparatively easy win ahead of Ronny who recovered well to second. Jed and Rouke took the next two places ahead of Jos Swarthoff and defending champion Ralph Maiph.

Race two and Riddall made a similarly good start and once again Nunez was not given the chance to pressure him as again he had an incident on lap 1. This time, however, he wasn't at fault as Jef rear ended the Ferrari turning it around and causing Nunez to drop to 16th place.

Dale Ballwag made the best start, jumping to 10th from 16th on the grid but by lap 7 he was out as the field started to thin out. In a replica of the lap 1 accident, one of those drivers to retire was the frustrated Ronny who was collected when Deutsch lost it in the same way as Langford. Both retired on the spot on lap 10 signalling the end of a disapointing race for someone who obviously has the pace to challenge for the championship.

Further up Rouke soon worked his way into second but there was no way he could hold onto the race leader as Riddall streaked away for an impressive second win. Behind Jef and Jos were embroiled in one of several battles through the field, Vannijlen finally coming out on top with an impressive third place.

The biggest battle, however, centered around the race for 10th place. At times 5 or 6 cars were battling nose to tail, with some slightly desperate lines being taken as drivers including Angelo, David Pym, Ralph Maiph and John Wallace fought hard for places.

The final pass in this monumental battle fell to Wallace as he passed the fading Mitch Simon for 13th with just 5 laps to go.

Overall two intensely entertaining races kicked off what is likely to be an exciting season of racing.

Drive of the day must go to Grant Riddall for two immaculate drives, although in race one, Mitch Simon undoubtedly put in a better drive. Simon's race two wasn't quite so good so Riddall takes driver of the day by a whisker.

TWF1: OldRing Report

Sitting at the end of pitlane, mechanics fussing over the car, as 24 other cars blast away down the long straight at OldRing, Champion elect Rouke vd Hoek looked lonely and faced an uphill battle to the title...

Then a wheel bounced past as his engine fired up for the start, the sounds to his left weren't of roaring engines, they were of carnage and tearing metal. Screeching tyres and overheating engines.

In all 27 drivers made the grid for the final round of the championship. If there was ever a signifier of a successful championship this was it. Seven drivers were guaranteed to leave without points as only the top 20 score points.

Bret Metcalf on pole got away solidly but spin a wheel up and suddenly veered off to the right, Simon Baggett bounced off him and he was collected by Bento. Further carnage was avoided as behind them Benoit's Renault overheated. This was caused by a formation lap mishap involving Robert Jones.

He spun on approach to the grid and caused it to be very slow forming up, the end result was a smokey Renault. Corrado spotted his problem, slowed by Jones behind was unsighted and cannoned into him. With tyre smoke from the start still in the air all hell broke loose.

In all around a dozen cars were damaged by the startline collisions with both Metcalfs, Benoit and Corrado all retiring.

Kat, Miguel, Simon, Costa all pitted at the end of lap one along with Luis Lima. Lima was the last person involved in the fallout from the start, a fact that was slightly surprising as he was one of 3 to start from the pitlane. He tripped over Corrado, in a slightly strange accident, who was creeping back to the pits. The collision ending Corrado's race.

The big benefiter's from the first lap carnage were Ralph Maiph who jumped straight into the lead, Rick Stratton who gained 12 places to sixth, Kat Scott who despite a pit at the end of lap 1 was 19th from 26th and Rouke, 16th after a pitlane start.

By Lap 5 the leaders were having to contend with lapped traffic. The leaders caught Kat towards the end of the lap and this caused Leo to make a mistake. Overcooking the corner he slide wide, almost making contact with the Ferrari and losing a place to Ronny (left).

Ronny had briefly held second on lap two, lost it to Leo on lap 3 but once back ahead he set about chasing the small gap to the leader. 

Behind a small battle was developing for fifth with Shazy and Rick battling a few seconds ahead of Paul Langford. Rouke was making great progress and already closing the one Alfa and was into the top 10. 

Jef was fourth and unable to keep up with the lead three, but comfortably ahead of Rick behind who by lap 11 was starting to drop Shazy. The latter had fallen into the clutches of Paul Langford who was having a bit of a mixed race. On at least two occasions he made a mistake at Adelaide losing a place to Shazy and on one occasion Rouke who was having a dream race.

Meanwhile Kat was making steady progress moving through the field and by lap 17 was battling with Martin. Martin managed to slip back after she went wide in turn 4, but she was soon back ahead and right with Phillipe. Marot made it very hard for the Ferrari and almost made contact in T4. She finally got past on the exit of Aque Minerale and by lap 22 was into the top 10.

Eric Fulghum, was also making quiet progress. He'd pitted on lap three after colliding with the pitwall following a very light rear nudge from Fulvio who also spun and lost time but didn't pit. By lap 16 Eric had been caught by the leaders and initially it looked like a normal lapping manoveur. 

Ralph passing the HMR car easily on approach to T1 but for some reason the two drivers then managed to confuse each other with braking points and Eric had the scary prospect of nearly taking out the leader. 

Post race Eric apologised to Ralph. He said, "Yea, sorry about that Ralph. Although, I remember being suprised that you were suddenly slowing. I have to watch the replay, I'm sure I got something wrong there.

"I just dive bombed the corner as much as possible and hoped you were not there. Thankfully, you went over the curbs at the second apex of the T1 chicane to give me room. Luckily rFactor gave it to us and didn't give us any damage as we brushed and interlocked wheels. Whew! Taking out the leader is the lamest thing ever, and the last thing I wanted to do."

Ralph continued but was being steadily caught by Ronny who by lap 24 was right with him. Under intense pressure Ralph held him off until finally, on lap 26, he finally made a pass for the lead. Drafting Ralph down start/finish he took the lead before turn 1 but was unable to escape. On Lap 31 Ralph made his move squeezing through a gap barely wide enough for a Brabham he retook the leader on approach to Adelaide.

By now 12 cars had retired, in addition to the five retiring from first lap incidents. Miguel, Robert Jones, DK and Simon Baggett amongst those who failed to make half distance. Others having troubled races included Tallini and Luis Lima. Tallini, who failed to make the end of the formation lap and thus started from the pitlane, pitted again on laps 9, 10, 15, 26 and 28. Lima pitted three times and several drivers pitted twice.

By now the field was settled, but battles still raged. Ronny was trying everything to get past the leader while Leo was having to fend off the advances of Rouke. Meanwhile Eric's fine recovery was about to fall apart. 

On Lap 29 Tallini was recovering to the pits but, suffering from a missing rear wing, lost it approaching Blanchimont he lost it. Eric was an unfortunate, accidental, and unavoidable victim and after heavy contact with the wall continued.. 

Only to collect Cooper ( inset) in Adelaide, as Eric found that the brakes on a car with heavy suspension damage don't work in the same way as on a fixed car. Fulghum was forced to pit and would lose a place to Kat.

Ultimately a highly entertaining exciting race. Several drivers putting in very good drives, others struggling on a track that seemed to suit the 1979 Formula 1 cars very well. An excellent end to a very good season, congratulations to Rouke for a well deserved championship victory. But as always it's fun to recognise a driver of the day.

I think it would be unfair for me to choose it as anyone who makes up 19 places in a race must be in with a shout, so over to Rick Stratton for his thoughts on the most deserving driver.

TWF1: The Fast and the slow.. of Fuji

Engine screaming, surging up towards the limiter, the bright yellow Renault looks completely at home down the main straight. Topping out at insane speeds it then squirms and struggles as the driver puts the anchors on for the hairpin. Fuji, with it's long straight saw the cars, most noteably Phil Carroll's Renault and Kat Scott's Ferrari, with powerfull engines stripping downforce for maximum speeds of well over 180mph by the braking point.

The Cosworth cars were lucky to hit 180 without effects of a tow but those cars would look so much more comfortable around the tight twists of the back end of this circuit that is full of contrast.

Pole went to one of those Cosworth's in the hands of Rouke, with Simon Baggett lining up second ahead of Timo and Leo Menegucci. Rouke made the best of the start with Timo jumping Baggett into second with Leo and Corrado keeping grid order.

Slightly further back, however, with a massive field of 26 cars the inevitable happened and someone touched. Bret had made an horrendous starting, skewing across the track then into T1 he locked up and slid into Costa. Langford and Marot were also involved although non of the car seemed to pick up much damage.

The field, however, was getting very congested now and into T1 Ivor made the same mistake and slid into the back of Fulvio, who was punted into the paths of Scott and Jones. Several other cars were lucky not to get involved the Jones ended up having to take a slightly scenic route as a result.

Two further incidents brightened up the first lap. Phil Carroll threw his car off the road avoiding Costa approaching the hairpin and Tallini managed to remodel his Ferrari towards the end of the lap. Tallini's car, minus a wheel, would retire at the end of the lap while the remaining cars streamed round to complete the lap.

John Wallace was the biggest improver in that lap running 8th from 18th on the grid between Bret and Miguel who were battling hard over 6th spot.

Up front the order looked fairly stable with Timo tracking Rouke. Leo, Simon and Corrado all holding station but on lap three Bret moved up to fifth. He worked his way past Bento when the latter spun under braking for the hairpin.

On Lap 6 Rouke lost the lead to Timo but that was far from the end of the battle and as the field approached lap 13 the action ramped up a level. The cause of the action was the removal, on the previous lap, of the 200m board causing drivers to brake too later for the corner.


Timo, Leo, Simon, Kat, John, Miguel, Corrado and others all missing their braking points to a greater or lesser extent.

Big losers caused by the missing board included John and Corrado, while Ivor probably took the biggest journey off road. At the end of Lap 16 therefore, Rouke was back in front from Timo, Leo , Simon and Bret. Fulvio was next up and starting to make good progress through the field while John Wallace was about to Retire.

He became the 5th retirement, before half distance, with Nigel, Kat, Shazy also joining Tallini in the Nill points column.

Up front it was clear Timo had the edge on pace, driving impressively quickly but Rouke had the lead and a battle Royale was developing. The lead swapped, and swapped again.. Rouke refusing to give up then on lap 23 Timo got it all right, drafting Rouke down the main straight Rouke went defensive. Off line he braked a touch early, Timo braver on the brakes swept round the outside the the race was his for the taking.

Take it he did, pulling steadily away to register an impressive win. Leo held onto third from Timo with Fulvio finishing an impressive fifth.

Overall an interesting race with a huge field that produced incident, excitement and resulted in the majority of the field taking at least one trip off the track.

Driver of the day? Well some good performances, Patrick Dobner started from the back and finished 11th so scores highly, Larry Thomas had a quiet race but one of his best to date. Fulvio also had a solid race while Timo was might impressive with Rouke being Tenacious throughout.

I think ultimately Timo deserves it, he lost the lead several times, never gave up and had a mighty impressive pace.

TWF1: Surfers Nightmare

For the next round of the TWF1 championship the field took a trip down under to the challenging 'Surfers Paradise' circuit in Australia. Very soon it would be obvious that this circuit was probably the hardest one on the entire schedule. A plethora of dangerous, chicanes and few simple corners meant that is was fairly guaranteed that accidents would be plentiful.

This proved to be the case as drivers struggled even in qualifying to get a legal, and clean, lap in. Several drivers being forced to record 'zero' times and start at the back of the field. This brought up some intruiging questions, not least of which was, "How would these quicker drivers cope forcing their way through the slower cars on a circuit with few chances to pass?".

More importantly, was just how many drivers would finish, and would we get through the first chicane without incident. Amazingly the field did get through the chicane with minimal problems, there was some touching and newcomer Lima almost crashed after damaging Costa's McLaren.

The field also got through the second chicane with minimal problems but approaching T3 Hocq had a huge moment all on his own. Unfortunately Langford spun in sympathy and with a badly timed technical hitch there was chaos approaching the corner. Langford, Hocq, Scott, Marot and Blackmore all ended up with contact and damage to a lesser or greater extent.

By the end of the lap two of those drivers were in the pits for new rear wings, Scott having removed hers near the end in a mistake on her own. All drivers, however, managed to finish that first lap with some drivers making up noticeable places. John Wallace making rapid progress heading from the back of the grid towards top 10, Tallini, Leo Menegucci and Shazy Ahmed all picked their way through the early incidents to make good progress.

The first retirement happened on lap 3 when Eric after an incident with Tallini into T1. The latter losing a spot to Corrado who promptly retired on the next lap. Meanwhile up front Rouke was having to fend off.. of all things a Renault RS01. Mike Perray driving out of his skin was hanging on and pressurising he leader while Bret Metcalf looked secure in third ahead of Neto.

Of the next few laps the number of drivers walking back to the pits steadily increased. Bret and Neto dropping out while running third, Katier Dropping out just after followed by Costa. In fact Costa retired before Katier but after three pitstops she was well behind the McLaren driver.

The pitlane was almost as busy as the track Hocq pitting 4 times before 10 laps had been completed and by lap 17, there had been an incredible 25 pitstops. Considering a TWF1 car doesn't need to stop this shows the level of damage this tricky track was causing.

By this point, Perray, despite tweaking his steering was into the lead and steadily pulling away from Rouke. Rouke was under no pressure, however, 4 drivers dropped out of third place leaving Patrick Dobner to inherit the place. Dobner in turn was under no pressure as Corrado appeared to be struggling. Timo was catching him quickly but after a few laps running close with him Peltola became another retirement.

Up front Perray continued on his serene way but retirements continued behind him. The last car to retire was Leo Menegucci with 7 laps to go and he was classified 13. That meant that over half the field retired from this race where the challenge was presented very much by the track.

Perray, Rouke and Dobner were the best examples of 'To finish first, first you have to finish' as they rounded out an impressive podium

Driver of the day much go to the former, Perray dragging the reluctant RS01 teapot to a fantastic and well deserved win.

TWF1: Dust, Heat and Sun!!

Miller Motorsports Park was the next round in the TWF1 circus and for once is a modern circuit devoid of chicanes that blight Tilke designed monstrosities. Unfortunately that doesn't make it overly popular with several drivers vocal in their dislike of the flat circuit.

The dislike didn't stop one of the most action packed events in the season so far as drivers consistently struggled to be consistent with most of them having several incidents during the race.

In addition 10 drivers had to start from the pitlane following penalties at previous events, this effectively meant there was, at least initially, two races.

Simon Baggett proved most adept in qualifying trim, putting in a stupendous lap half a second better than anyone else. In fact it was noticeable that this track, with a 1m45s lap, seemed to be creating a very wide grid with a full 2 seconds covering the first 10 spots.

From the start Simon lept into the lead while Rouke, alongside on the grid, didn't make such a good start. Rouke said, "My start was err.......i did two races this week, all went fine but aparently from 3rd place you cannot see the lights. at least i didnt and i panicked, geared up two, shoulnd't have done that, slow off the line like a turtle on prozack. 6 or 7 cars passed me and i just made sure it remained safe appart from diving inbetween 2 cars in turn-whathisname, that was rather exiting."

That left Timo Peltola in second while Rouke finished the lap in fourth behind Patrick Dobner. Fairly swiftly gaps grew in the field, Simon pulling away from Timo after the latter briefly challenged into T1, with Rouke and Dobner also breaking clear of the cars behind.

Further back leader of the pitlane starters, Eric Fulghum, was rapidly closing in on the tail of the main pack. As he did so he dragged his team mate and Costa Gozadinos along with him.

He caught Mark Abbott very quickly and by Lap seven was also past the struggling Ferrari of Kat Scott.

Meanwhile Ivor had become the first retirement as his car got bogged down in gravel near the end of lap 4. Tallini also succumbed to similar problems on lap 5, both incidents probably as a result of not updating the track correctly.

The Eric/David/Costa train continue to make inroads and by lap 10 they are fast catching up with the McLaren of Shazy Ahmed.

Up front Bagget's progress looked serene, steadily leaving Peltola behind while Rouke showed no ability to close in on Second. The Main battle at this stage was a little further down the field as Rick Stratton found himself embroiled in a battle with Ralph Maiph and Dobner, the latter dropping back after a spin.

At the back of the field several cars were already lapped, both Renaults appeared to be a handful around the track and only one of the Ferrari drivers seemed to be at home with their car. The Ligiers, Mark Abbott, Larry Thomas and Phillipe Marot, also appeared to be struggling and getting lapped frequently.

On lap 16 Corrado and Shazy both succumbed to the charging Heavy Metal Racing lead train and by lap 27 they had reached Rick Stratton. The latter had dropped back and after a spin was behind Eric, then on lap 31 the final twist in this eventful race took place.

David Kadlcak, Rick and Costa hand an incident that left Costa in ninth while DK let Rick back into 10th as he was the instigator.

Simon Baggett came home for an excellent flag to flag win ahead of Timo and Rouke. All three had impressive consistancy of well under half a second.

What was slightly surprising, and perhaps an indicator of the incident packed race, was that Kat Scott, who admitted to a terrible race, was 12th most consistant.

The field now moves onto a completely different challenge in South America.

TWFC: Silverstone

Given a 1967 F1 cars love of sweeping fast corners, it's perhaps no surprise that the TWFC circus follows the blasts of Snetterton with the challenges of the Silverstone circuit.

In Qualifying Ronny Nunez put in an impressive time, narrowly failing to get into the 1m39's to get pole ahead of Deutsch and Nigel Metcalf. Several drivers found the going tough amongst them Ralph Maiph and Mark Abbot both found themselves somewhat further down the pack than they expected.

The pack was nice and clean round most of that first lap with just minor bumping off the start, until the leaders streamed through the challenging bridge corner.

Simon Baggett had been pressing the 3rd placed car of Metcalf but lost a little momentum through bridge corner. Snow following a little behind got the corner right and misjuding the car infronts speed clipped Baggetts rear tyre. The end result was a flip for the red eagle and first retirement of the race. (left).

Another loser on that opening lap was Mario who with a combination of a bad start and mistake on lap 1 was soon down to ninth from 5th on the Grid. By contrast Juan made a startling start and gained 10 places during that first lap.

The field now settled down, the top 19 all staying in position for the next two laps while returnee Steve Shelley started to move through the field.

Jos was the next driver to lose places, battling hard he couldn't keep three cars, including the lime green Wojahn pairing (right), behind him as he dropped to 10th.

Meanwhile Steve Shelley was continuing to gain places, reaching 18th. Up Front Nunez was was serene building a solid gap to those behind and when Deutsch had an incident on lap 5 Metcalf had a comfortable drive to finish second.

Snow recovered from the first lap bumps to finish 3rd ahead of Bret and Ralph. An impressive win for Nunez, but the question is, could he repeat that in the feature.

Within seconds of the start that was a resounding no as he jumped the start, but at least he didn't have the nightmare that Mario did. Rounding turn one the lime green car started to slide, Mario caught it but the car slapped the other way into the path of Paul Langford and Mitch Simon.

Baz, following just behind breifly found himself with a wall of spinning metal, but like a parting of the waves he was able to slip between the Ferrari and Lotus. (left)

Mario's spin, took him off track and Don Fleming, following Baz, just avoided the Ferrari but slid into the Lotus.

From that cars flew left right and center with nearly half the field actually spinning or being involved with a collision the field got very randomized. Below Don Fleming collides with Mitch while Palfreyman takes avoiding action in front of Baggett.

At the end of the first lap, after Nunez pitted for a drive through, Deutsch led from Snow and Jef Vannijlen. Antonio had also benefitted from his team mates spin and gained a lot of places, as did Steve Shelley.

All this jumbling of positions meant that early on there was a lot of battling. Simon Baggett being one who soon was making progress through the field. Up front, however, the lead 3 were embroiled in a frantic battle. Lap 2 Deutsch slid wide in T1 and although Snow almost followed him over the curbs (right) both Jos and Snow slipped through.

A Lap later Deutsch had made it back in front but he wasn't allowed to rest by Snow who put him under pressure for the next few laps.

Antonio looked secure in fourth but Nigel made a mistake on lap 11 and looked like he'd lost his shot at a good finish. A stunning recovery, including several laps of battling with Baggett, and a last lap pass on the Lime Green car saw him finish an impressive fourth.

At the end of 22 laps of intense battling Snow recorded an impressive win after passing the Cooper for the lead on lap 15, with Jef in 3rd.

Despite the first lap carnage, amazingly 23 cars finished on the lead lap and both of the retirements were not due to accidents or incidents.

TWF1 Green Hell (Attempt 2)

Seems it's not just the track that's Hell after my first report got comprehensively eaten by blogger.. so here we go..

Green Hell report, attempt 2!!

The TWF1 moved on to the twisting turning and highly challenging circuit known by the appropriate nickname of 'The Green Hell", but more accurately the Nordschliefe. This legendary circuit hosted the 4th round of the championship, but the question is, who would come out on top and who would succumb to the challenge.

Out on top, thanks in part to a tow, in qualifying was the McLaren of championship leader, Rouke, but within in a minute of the start he was down to third behind the impressive Mike Perray and rapid Timo.

A minute later, however, Rouke was out and Timo delayed after the latter made a small mistake and unfortunately clipped Rouke. Rouke lost control as a result, hit two barriers hard and retired on the spot, Timo was damaged and had to pit at the end of the lap.

Rouke wasn't the only one in for an early bath as both Ivor and Paul retired following a collision also involving Eric who dragged his damaged car round most of the lap to the pits. Eric had spun early in the lap and Paul was unable to avoid the car that finished broadside on across the track.

That left Perray pulling out a comfortable lead in the gripless RS01 ahead of Simon Baggett and Patrick Dobner. Meanwhile Shazy and John Wallace were battling hard with the former taking 3 laps before he broke from from Ahmed as he faded down the order towards the end of the race.

Wallace wouldn't see the checkers, however, as a technical hitch made him retirement number 10 and the first retirement to actually score points.

So Perray led from Baggett who swapped places a couple of times with Dobner, the fading Shazy and charging Timo.

Peltola was driving absolutely on the limit, and frequently beyond the limit, as he strived to gain a fastest lap. His determination was rewarded with fourth place but at the cost of a car that probably won't race again such was the damage to it.

Further back Corrado was having a steady race, putting in consistant laps and benefitting from others mistakes he was soon in a lonely fifth place.

Suddenly, however, the race came alive. Perray went off, damaging the suspension and immediately the two behind started hacking into his lead. Lap after lap the pair behind strived to close down the leader who was driving with courage and determination.

He would finally cross the line after 8 intense lap, of which 4 were spent with an ill handling car, for a might impressive win. Simon Baggett was unable to quite take the place after might impressive run to second ahead of Dobner.

Peltola finished a solid 4th ahead of Corrado and Ralph Maiph who had a quiet race to sixth place. Further back several cars finished but had to make pitstops, most notable was Mark Abbott who pitted a total of three times to fix damage.

Overall the Green Hell lived up to it's reputation as half the field retired but Mike certainly deserved a highly impressive win.

TWF1: Brno Report

A healthy field of 29 cars lined up for the second round of the season and McLarens proved to be the car to have with two M29's locking out the front row. Costa just pipping race one winner, Rouke, to pole with the impressive Eric lining up third.

Rouke made the better start and soon took the lead with Costa lining up behind and the pair soon building up a little cushion ahead of John Wallace and Fulghum who was soon under pressure from Patrick Dobner.

Further back Nigel Metcalf was holding 6th after leaping 4 places off the grid, while returning driver, Rob Swindells, Kat Scott, Paul Langford and Sal Tallini all also made up a good number of places off the start, the result of this was battles all the way down the field.

Initially Kuhl put pressure on Scott, the two going through several corners side by side, before the yellow Ferrari prevailed. Kuhl would soon drop back from what soon became a pair of Ferrari's running a few seconds apart as Scott started to chase Tallini while Corrado put pressure on the former.

This wasn't the only intense battle, however, early on pressure was being put on drivers throughout the field. On Lap 5 Nigel succummed to Fulvio, then Leo worked his way past a few laps later. Just behind that pair Swindells and Rick Stratton were swapping places lap after lap then what might have been the inevitable happened, first Katier, trying to outbrake Corrado, ran into the back of Tallini.

In doing so Corrado and Mike Perray, power sliding his way round the track in his RS01, both got past; however only a few corners later the former lost it in a big way. Scott avoided the spinning car but Perray, who was looking for a way back past the Ferrari, had no-where to go and thumped the green car putting him out of the race.

Retirements were coming thick and fast. Mark Abbot crashed out, Sal Tallini lost it after apparantly pushing too hard just over a lap after his collsion with Katier, Kat herself also retired and by lap 21 9 drivers were out.

Up front, however, the battle was intensifying as Costa got back ahead on lap 11, he lead till Lap 17 before Rouke got back in front. Costa also lost out to John who was unable to truly challenge the new leader but was close enough to exploit any problems.

By Lap 19 the field was settling down with position changes being rare. Dobner and Fulghum were running close together with Leo in close attendance until the latter slipped back behind Fulvio who was steadily moved up the order.

Fulvio eventually moved into fourth after first Costa, on lap 24, then Eric on Lap 26 both dropped back. Fulghum only lost a couple of places but Costa's good drive ended with him losing an entire lap and limping home in 18th.

Rouke completed an impressive second win, just over 5s ahead of Wallace who did well holding off Dobner behind. Eric came in 5th ahead of Leo and Nigel.

Overall an exciting and excellent race with lots of close battling and some impressive drives, but I think driver of the event must be Rouke after a near faultless drive.

TWFC Spa Report

31 cars lined up for what promised to be an action packed pair of races at the slip streaming paradise of the 1967 Spa Franchorchamps circuit. Christopher Snow lined up a superb pole ahead of the equally impressive Ralph Maiph who had got his Cooper perfectly suited to this high speed circuit.

Due to the length of the circuit and risk of collisions off the start it was decided to do a rolling start with the race starting at Les Combes on lap one. Unfortunately several drivers misunderstood the instructions, others got away erratically and in seconds there was a huge pileup in exactly the same spot that David Coultard caused one in torrential rain.

Fulvio was the big loser, ending up having to start the sprint from the back of the field while Frenchman, Benoit Hocq seemed to completely ignore the instructions and by Les Combes was already up to 10th from 23rd. His race wouldn't last much longer as a spin at Masta Kink ended his race. By that time Larry Thomas, Jos Swarthoff were both out and Baz West also retired after contacting Hocq's stranded car.

That wasn't the end of the carnage, before the end of lap 2 10 cars were lying scattered around the track missing parts or stranded in the undergrowth.

Up front the carnage helped Snow build up a lead but behind Simon Baggett and Jef Vannijlen were both embroiled in a battle that saw them swap places on nearly every lap. Just behind them Ralph was trying to recover from a poor start but found himself embroiled in a ferocious battle with Deutsch and Mario.

Those who had managed to keep on the track in contact with other drivers seemingly enjoyed huge battles for position with drafting possible around much of the circuit.

Ultimately Snow won from Baggett and Jef. 13 drivers failed to finish of whom onto 2 completed enough laps to score points.

The feature race got away much more cleanly, although not totally clean, with four drivers failing to make two laps. By half distance a further 7 drivers had retired with no points but out front Ralph was making up for his race one disapointment.

Ralph, Mario and Snow were  enjoying a huge battle with the three of them swapping positions on every single lap before Snow retired on lap three. His retirement didnt' effect the lead two as the cars behind failed to put any pressure on the intense lead battle.

Deutsch held third but retired after only a couple of laps letting Nigel through but he was unable to close in on the lead battle. Behind Swarthoff moved into fourth, but retired letting Baggett into the position ahead of Martin Cooper.

For many of the drivers now it seemed survival was the important element but not for the lead two, the continued to swap places until on lap 11 of 13 Ralph finally got a bit of breathing room. He lead for the last two laps to register a well deserved win ahead of an excellent drive from Mario. 

Nigel Metcalf, Simon Baggett and Fulvio all managed solid drives to fill out the positions behind have a race meeting that many drivers would rather forget.

TWF1 Paul Ricard

The final championship kicked off last weekend with a visit to the classic French, Paul Ricard, circuit. Several drivers were forced to miss the event but a healthy field of.. turned up with Rouke putting his McLaren on an impressive pole position ahead of Division 2 champion Eric Fulghum.

Unfortunately the start lights at this track were far from normal and caught several drivers out, including Fulghum, causing a few minor impacts and a shuffling of the grid.

Fulgum finished the lap way down in 14th and third place driver, who also got a poor start, Rick Stratton finished it in 7th. Meanwhile Nigel Metcalf has made the best start launching from 8th into first by Turn 1.

Unfortunately Metcalf spun in Turn 1 and a very long and carefull rejoin dropped him to 13th but his Lap 2 didn't start as badly as Ivor and Eric.

Ivor seemed to outbrake himself spun and collided with the unfortunate Fulghum and narrowly missed Corrado. 

Eric would drive his relicant car back to the pits for a long repair and rejoin a lap down. Ivor also drove back to the pits bit in a comedy moment ended up in parc ferme dropped into a hole and retired.

Meanwhile Rouke looked serene out front a comfortable distance ahead of the very impressive Timo.

Behind the lead pair was the Arrows of Shazy under pressure from newcomer Leo Menegucci. On Lap 5 Leo was into the podium places when Ahmed strangely spun in turn 1 and dropped down to 10th.

Meanwhile the three Renaults, seemed to become a bit of a magnet for the action. First on lap 3 Benoit had collided with Costa damaging the latters car. The damage was increased on lap 9 when Hocq tried to squeeze his powerful Renault between two cars battling down the back straight. 

The collision put Costa into the barriers while Hocq continued. Costa was able to continue but was faced with a ill handling car for the remainder of the race.

Aymeric unfortunately also managed to get into a couple of scrapes as the two RS12's started to struggle on home turf. Mike Perray in an older RS01 had been unable to start due to a technical issue rounding off a disaster.

Up front Leo was right with the second places car and on lap 11 he made his move taking second from Timo while Patrick Dobner had worked his way into fourth through the early laps carnage.

Further back John Wallace was embroiled in a battle with David Kadlcak while Jef Vannijlen and Corrado were embroiled in a huge battle. The latter pair swapped places on several occasions before Corrado spun first, then Jef followed suit a few laps later.

The race was proving to be extremely action packed with drivers making mistakes around the track, Ahmed dropped from 8th to 14th over 4 laps, DK spun away 5th and Aymeric dropped to 18th before retiring.

As the laps ticked down, something unusual was happening, Salvatore Tallini in his new Ferrari had been running reasonably well apart from an early spin and now sat a comfortable 6th, just ahead on the track of a monumental battle between Shazy Ahmed and Eric.

The latter two, however, were a lap down on the Ferrari but probably on average 1s/lap quicker as they struggled to fight each other without making contact with Tall's car.

Tallini had the additional problem that Corrado was closing him down at around 1s per lap and perhaps the inevitable happened in the last turn of the last lap when both Ahmed and Fulghum made accidental contact with the Ferrari who appeared to be struggling a little.

Rouke meanwhile cruised to an awsome maiden win after a faultless driver ahead of an excellent drive from Leo. Timo was perhaps the most impressive driver of the day dragging the relicant Ensign into the final podium position.

TWFC Kyalami

The TWFC season opened with a near full grids at the classic old Kyalami Circuit. A favorite back in the GPL days that this mod mimic's it promised a challenging and exciting pair of races.

While both mods that the rFactor side of the Legends League runs are Formula 1 mods, the formats are very different. TWF1 runs a single race format with a handicapping system. TWFC has no handicapping system and runs a twin race format.

27 cars took the start for this, the opening round of the championship. On Pole was Jef Vannijlen only 0.1s ahead of Christopher Snow and Simon Baggett. The entire grid was covered by 3.5s with Gary Taylor and Larry Thomas filling the last row of the grid.

Interestingly whereas in GPL Lotus is usually the most common make, the fact the cars in this mod are balanced with similar weight and handling and the same engines means the balance has shifted. Eleven of the cars on the grid were the gorgeus AAR Eagles with Coopers being the next most popular with seven on the grid.

From the start Jef lept into the lead while behind Snow was under pressure from Simons Baggett.. so close were they into Turn one that they touched but no damage was apparant.

Behind however chaos reigned as Huarte got into the back of West. Baz was forced off the track while the knock on effect caused several drivers, including Costa, Scott and Shazy to lose places.

Kat had made another startling start slicing through the field and despite the places lost in T1 still finished the lap 3 places to the good. Three more were gained on the next lap as drivers struggled to stay on track.

Both Leaders were amongst those have an off leaving Baggett and Mario to battle in the lead while newcomer Deutsch settled into third ahead of Nigel.

Other drivers to lose places on lap two were the trio of Huarte, who had somehow come out of Turn 1 without losing a place, Antionio Wojahn who retired and Shazy Ahmed.

Up front as the field approached half distance Jef was starting to recover from his off while the lead pair continued to battle with Deutsch just behind.

Then on the stroke of half Distance Bagget spun, a second spin a few laps later dropped the erstwhile leader to a disapointing 11th.

By now the field was starting to thin, with Eric Fulgum, Larry Thomas, Benoit Hocq all parked up, the latter two after a huge startline accident after Hocq clipped the verge on the exit of the last turn.

Jef continued his recovery up front and on lap 11 retook the leader after a superb recovery. A lap later Deutsch was delayed allowing the consistent runs from Nigel Metcalf and Christopher Snow to benefit and round out the podium.

Jef made a better fist of the start of the feature race taking the lead cleanly before snow slipped past on lap 2. Baggett didn't match his first race start and dropped back to fourth behind a hard charging Nigel Metcalf.

Overall the start was more orderly than the first race but, after another startling start, Kat Scott did fall to last after two opening lap spins. Hocq also made a poor start and ultimately retired on lap 4 after dropping to the tail of the field.

Unlike his first race, Jef's second race went down hill from about half distance. Early on he had enjoyed a spirited battle with Snow and Metcalf but a mistake on lap 13 dropped him to 7th and he was unable to recover.

The leaders had settled at this stage and Snow was able to lead to the finish ahead of Nigel and Simon for a superb win. Mario also settled into a good finish, coming home 4th after a comfortable run, while John Wallace had a disapointing finish to his weekend after an off dropped him from fifth to 15th.

Wallace benefit from late race spins by Tallinig and Fulvio to pick up two places but must have been disapointed.

In the first race, Jef undoubtadly put in the race of the event, but in the second it wasn't so clear. Shazy Ahmed probably deserves it though after a super first lap put him up to 18th from last on the grid. I dropped a few places on lap four but recovered well and finished an excellent 15th overall.

TWFS Laguna Seca

This year the Legends League are running three leagues. Two rFactor series using the Classic F1 1967 mod and the 79 F1 cars. They alternate weeks while earlier in the night they run a iRacing Skip Barber 2000 series.

Fifteen cars lined up for the first race of the 2010 spring TWFS season with Petteri Kotovaara lining up on pole ahead of Simon Baggett and Richard Walker.

Off the start Petteri made a brake with Baz jumping Baggett into second with Rik Walker settling into fourth. At the end of that first lap the latter three crossed the line side by side before Rik braved it out round the outside to take second with Baggett slipping into third ahead of West.

Meanwhile at the back of the grid Georg and Dave Hawt both had offs to drop to the rear of the field.

Up front the field had settled down by Lap 3 while back half of the grid start to get down to some serious action. Unfortunately for Georg Naujoks the action was a bit close with a collision with Katier putting him out of the race and forcing Scott to get a new car. She would spend the rest of the race at the rear of the field.

Hawnt was soon into the top 10 as Ales Simunek and Keith Lawrie both lost places.

Up front on Lap 4 David Kadlcak was now on a charge, passing Tony Rickard on that lap, Baz the next lap, gaining a place on the next lap when Petteri retired, then finally Simon on the next lap.

The final pass was a trifle lucky after he tweaked his front wing on Simons car approaching T1 before passing him out of T2. Richard was now on a charge, making progress on lap 6 with a pass on Baz West before sneaking past Baggett into the podium positions on lap 16.

Baggett seemed to be having trouble with his car and was in the pits a lap later, dropping down the order after a promising start.

Up front the order was now settled down and most of the field now cruised to the finish. The last two passes going to Ales who finishing 9th, an impressive finish after being 15th at one point.

Rik walker took an impressive win narrowly ahead of an excellent run by David Kadlcak. Tony Rickard rounded out an impressive podium with an excellent drive.

Overall an exciting and enjoyable start to the new season.

G1:GP Indycars - Indianapolis

Eight cars turned up at the famous brickyard for an 80 lap sprint race version of the famous Indycar race.

Drafting was expected to feature heavily and yellow flags were not-unexpected, even so the 5 attempts it took to go clean for 5 laps was rather surprising.

At the 6th time of asking the field got away with Sulla soon leading from Jafo and Katier. Reitveld had made a superb start and settled into third ahead of Rattra and Crippy who had been struggling to get going.

Suzy was soon making progress, however, and on lap 8 moved into the lead with the lead 4 soon pulling a bit of a gap back to 5th. Then carnage.. Sulla spun in T1.. approaching at 200+mph Kat chose the wrong choice between high and low. She piled into Looming then Jafo joined the fray bringing out the yellow. Unfortunately for Katier she had two flat tyres and lost a lap dragging her wreck back to the pits.

Suzy led from the restart but soon dropped to fifth but the next few laps were essentially uneventful as most of the field settled down.

Yuriko now lead through a couple of yellows, one of which saw Rattra dropping down to a lap down behind Jafo; by which time Sulla had retired.

As the field approached half distance Yuriko led from a battle between Suzy and the green car of PJ Sorbet. Crippy was in 4th and struggling a bit with her car.

As the field moved into the 3rd quarter a sequence of yellows shuffled the field up. Suzy retook the lead while most of the field was now at least one lap down. By Lap 60 Crippy had moved into second from PJ who at one point was 6th and Rattra.

This more or less settled the field. Suzy's lead was safe and soon a lap up on everyone. The last incident, however, cost Crippy a podium as she crashed out dropping to 6th behind Katier.

G1:GP Indycar Pheonix

The surprises continued into Round 2 of the new G1:GP season as a regular backmarker led for over 20 laps and the back row qualifier won.

Pole position wasn't a surprise as Sulla Looming lined up alongside Yuriko while Nella Boccara put her best performance in todate as she lined up 3rd.

Yuriko made the best start but by lap 3 Boccora was leading her first race; and doing it in style. She soon dropped into 19s laps as Sulla worked her way up into second.

At this stage the front group were fairly close with Sulla, Yuriko and Crippy all taking turns in second before Sulla made a pass stick on lap 10. Rattra and Jafo were a few seconds back while Katier, running in low boost, was leading PJ and Suzy who was aiming to run one stop.

As the field approached Lap 20 things seemed to be settling as drivers worked out what lap they would need to stop. Most seemed comfortable to run to lap 28 or 29, at 1/3 distance, but suddenly Nella made a 'slowing to pit' call on Lap 23. This proved disastrous for the reynard driver as she slowed perhaps a touch early while still on the racing line approaching the kink. 

Sulla was caught out and unfortunately ran into the leader putting her out of the race. A disapointing end for a run that promised a decent finish. With her early stop a win was unlikely but she had the pace to get a top 3 finish.

Most of the field pitted under the subsequent yellow but did as a result face some care with fuel if the race went green to the end. After the stops Crippy became leader number four and she was soon embroiled in a battle with Sulla. 

Behind them Jafo looked strong in third ahead of Rattra and PJ who had jumped several places with the stops. Then the yellow flew again, Yuriko went into Turn 3 too deep and lost a wheel on the outside wall. 

Katier and Sulla both pitted although some drivers elected to stay out. Both the pitters did so with one thing in mind, trying to maximum time at boost 1 so it was no surprise to see them both being racey when the race went green again.

Katier was being a little more cautious than Looming but they soon started working up through the field. Crippy continued to lead but was under pressure from Rattra and Jafo and on lap 40 she lost it on the apron in T4, she spun up, down and over.. rolling violently down the track and amazingly landing on all four wheels with nothing missing.

Suzy spun in sympathy and was lucky not to lose a radiator as Katier hit the blue and white car leading a huge dent in her sidepod. Katier lost her nose but all three  had to pit for repairs. Suzy decided to try to run from there to the end non-stop while Katier elected to run one stop. Some other cars pitted and off the re-start, leader number 5, Rattra, lead from Katier and Sulla. These two, boost on full, now proceeded to work their way into the first two places with Jafo not far behind.

The question now appeared to be, would one more stop as seemingly the plan for Kat, Sulla and Jafo, outdo non-stop from Rattra and Suzy. The decision was made on lap 63 when Jafo made a hash of entering the pits under green. He spun, without hitting anything, was promptly lapped by Sulla and Katier but brought out the yellow.

Jafo thus did another lap, pitted under the yellow and lost minimal time. Unfortunately Sulla did a Yuriko while slowing for the yellow and became the last retirement with a car that was lacking a wheel.

That was pretty much the end of the action, Rattra got a penalty for passing (just) Suzy off the restart but only lost a single place as a result, ironically to Suzy. Katier was a lap or more up on the entire field so just brought it home although Jafo did unlap himself.. as Katier crossed to take the Checkers.

Jafo unlaps himself with 0.071s of Katiers race left to run.

He would finish a solid second with Suzy finishing the podium
and retaining the lead in the championship.

G1:GP Indycar Surfers Paradise..

The G1GP's new season opened at a circuit that must be the worst named circuit around.. why?

Because it is rarely paradise for the drivers with many corners having room for zero errors and thus a high incident rate.

The returning Remon seemed to have the circuit sorted, however, as he raced to an early lead from Sulla.

Crippy, Yuriko, Jafo and Suzy were left to battle over third place while Rattra, Katier and PJ brought up the rear. PJ had been the unfortunate victim in T1 of contact with Katier as she was distracted by the strange disappearance of her FFB.

Up front Remon soon stretched his lead from Sulla but Crippy soon hit trouble. She suddenly realise she'd omitted to change to her race setup and as a consquence found herself hampered. She pitted early then collided with Katier before retiring.

Her retirement was not the first as both PJ and Remon retired fairly early. Remon must have been very disapointed as he looked set for a comfortable win. He wasn't the first to make a mistake, however.

Katier retired next losing it in the first chicane and deciding enough was enough. The Sulla retired from the lead, like Remon she had time in hand and her accident was made under minimal pressure. That left a startled Suzy leading from Jafo, Rattra and Yuriko. She was showing everyone how to run in a race around this chicane strewn track as she finished the race without a single mistake for a well deserved first win.

Yuriko dragged a battered car to the finish minus a front wing and certainly not steering properly while Rattra gained a podium finish after a fairly clean run.

All in all a crazy start to the season that now moves on to the ovals for round 2.