Gary Huang takes popular SIGP Nitro class win

Gary Huang has taken an emotional win tonight in Xiamen, China in the 1/8th Main final. The Xray driver overcame a flameout to take a very popular win in front of a partisan crowd at the SIGP. Behind it was Merlin Depta who finished in 2nd place, one and a half laps back, the German driver leading following the Chinese driver’s flameout. Completing the podium here at the ARC International Raceway was veteran Italian racer Marco Vanni. Pole sitter Jeff Hamon had a troubled race as he lost touch with Gary Huang early on before hitting major engine troubles, the result of the Australian having set his engine too lean prior to the final. Feeling the win was retribution for not being able to travel to the Worlds last month in California due to visa problems, long time mechanic Gavin Kwok was overcome with emotion as his driver took the checkered flag. Explaining his flameout, he said he was on his in-lap when the Max engine rolled to a stop near the end of the lap. The Xray driver was running 2 laps more than everyone else but he believes it was the smaller tires that had increased consumption and caught them out. Restarted and back on track he battled his way back from 4th, pushing like crazy to take over the lead again with 15 minutes left and hold on for the rest of the race and take his first SIGP nitro win.

Merlin Depta said he had ‘no pace and no tires’, the Serpent driver changing tires 3 times in the final. Explaining that when he ran yesterday evening the track was super sticky and so to be safe focused on making his car easy to drive but with the traction lower than expected the car ended up pushing too much. Leading for a time after Huang flamed out, he just didn’t have the pace to match the Xray driver and so dropped back to 2nd and battling with Ray Poon. Very pleased with his pit crew, the first time in the pitlane at a race for his girlfriend, Merlin was none the less pleased with 2nd place saying ‘I’ll take it’.

Taking the final podium spot, Marco Vanni joked that he was an ‘old man’ who just kept going, ‘just kept driving’. The Shepherd driver was also in 3rd place 2 years ago when he was last in Xiamen, saying he likes this area of China and especially the track will hope to be back again next year. Starting from 8th place, the Italian worked his way slowly and methodically through the field, taking the 3rd spot off Hong Kong driver Ray Poon 10 laps from the end of the race, the Infinity driver having led as the tire stops shuffled through having to settled for 4th. Hay Lai would finish in 5th place, just in front of Charlee P in 6th, who was another driver to lead until he lost a front tire exiting the pits after his tire stop.

In the GT class it was an epic battle all race long between Serpent driver and top qualifier Felix Law and 2nd place starter Charlee P driving for the Maxima team. The pair fought it out for the entire 45 minutes, never more than a few car lengths apart the whole time. Paphon took the lead about a quarter of the way through the race and held it for about 20 minutes before Felix took back with 12 minutes to go. From there they would push themselves even harder, with Paphon getting back in front and staying there for good with 10 laps to go. In the end only 2 seconds separated them. Afterwards Felix felt that his motor started to go rich which prevented him from being able to pressure Paphon even more at the end. Behind the lead pair young Guangzhou native Ma Haoran rounded out the podium, a finalist in the EP class yesterday, he put in a mature race to finish just 4 laps behind the much more experienced pair ahead. Behind the Xray driver Simon Kau was 4th, while Korea’s Choi Nak Sung completed the top 5.

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SIGP 1/8th Nitro Main final line-up complete

The first semi final (even) for the 1/8th scale class produced quite some drama as we lost two of our race favourites as an early crash and some later problems for Kim Ki Heung saw him finish down in 7th, while Meen Vejrak went out of the early lead having lost the back pressure tubing after his first stop, only rejoining later with a new one fitted having lost nearly 4 minutes. That semi final was won by Xray driver Gary Huang, who had been pressuring the Thai driver hard until their first stop. Infinity driver Ray Poon would finish in 2nd some 2 laps down on the leader, with Rocket Zhang piloting a Serpent a lap further down in 3rd. Chui Kai Leung was the last of the automatic bump ups in 4th.

In the second semi final it was a lot more straight forward with Serpent driver Merlin Depta taking victory by 6 seconds over Motor King who was just less than a second ahead of pole man Charlee P at the end of the 30 minute main. Italian driver Marco Vanni was the last automatic qualifier from this semi final but as it was a faster semi than the first, 5th place Hay Lai will take the last bump up spot to complete the 9 drivers that will join top qualifier Jeff Hamon in the 45 minute A-main final.

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Jeff Hamon is Nitro Top qualifier in China

With EP now over, attention turns back to Nitro, which will run through the rest of Saturday and all through Sunday. With the nitro action again taking place under flood lights it was the perfect conditions to set a fast time but drama in the fastest heat as the car of Meen Vejrak, who was on TQ pace, start to spew smoke out the rear of the bodyshell for about 2 laps before going off at the end of the straight and going on fire. A dragging battery cable seemingly the culprit but the car is completely destroyed from both the fire and the impact. This misfortune allowed Jeff Hamon to take over at the front and claim the TQ spot ahead of another Thai Maxima driver Charlee P, with top seed Kim Ki Heung in 3rd, Motor King in 4th and Meen Vejrak with his Q2 time giving him P5 for tomorrow’s 45 minute A-main. Jeff felt he had a slipping clutch throughout his run but said it stayed consistent for the entire run. Happy with a change he made to softer springs, he thinks for the final the car is easy to drive and apart from setting the clutch properly will work out strategy closer to the race time.

Charlee P was very happy with his car and Maxima engine but complained that the organisers would run the qualifying under flood lights as ‘its too dark for me’. Needing some serious focus to not make a mistake in the 4 minute run, if the race is run under lights tomorrow it could be very difficult for 45 minutes. Asked about tire strategy, the Thai driver said he can make about 20 minutes on a set of tires so will consult with his team about the best strategy for the main.

Ranked first after controlled practice and being consistently in the top 2 in all qualifying runs yesterday, Kim Ki Heung was a little disappointed with 3rd in the rocket round qualifier. Admitting to setting his engine incorrectly, this caused a mismatch with his clutch setting and so cost him time. Continuing to be happy with his Shepherd car, looking to tomorrow he feels there will be no problems and is confident for the final that he will only need to stop once for tires.

Driving a Mugen chassis in Nitro, a driver we are more accustomed to seeing running Yokomo in EP touring, Motor King finished up in 4th place. The Shanghai based driver, who was only 1 tenth down on Kim, was pleased with his Q3 run and for the main final tomorrow will make a decision on any setup changes closer to the time of the final.

Meen Vejrak will start from 5th, thanks to his run in last night’s Q2 run, but the talking point was not where he qualified but what happened to him in Q3. Asked about the fire in his Maxima powered Infinity chassis, the former 200mm World Champion said when it was happening he wasn’t sure what the problem was but said with the smoke pouring out of the back it looked cool, ‘just like Formula 1’. Less ‘cool’ was when the car failed to respond at the end of the straight and ploughed into the track wall and went on fire, helped by the fuel tank rupturing. For tomorrow the Thai driver said he will borrow another car from a friend and try his best to get a good result.

Taking the top spot in the GT class and making it a double TQ for Serpent in the Nitro classes, Felix Law was the top qualifier using his Q1 time. Also failing to improve in Q3, 2nd placed starter Paphon Chanyasak also had to rely on his Q1 run to take 2nd, having problems in the last run that saw him fail to finish. One to improve in Q3 though was Chinese driver Ma Haoran who will start from 3rd, the Xray driver outqualifying Hong Kong veteran Fai Ho who ended up in 4th with Italian Gimar driver Natanaele Senesi improving to complete the top 5.

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