Austalian nationals 2009.

“Today was open practice, MORBC opened the track from morning till 3pm. This gave time to the drivers to come along and test, tyres, set ups etc. Defending Australian Nationals Champion Wayne Walker was there with his Mugen and was looking fast! Also there was Matt Griffin 07 Champ, the truggy national champion Jason Dyckhoff, along with loads more people. As the day went on more people came and everyone was getting use to the track. The tyre choice is key in buggy racing and Team AKA seem to be using the I-Beam in Soft compound! Most are using Proline’s with a mixture of Revolvers, Bow Ties and Crime Fighters. VP Pro is well represented at the nationals this year with the likes of Zac Ryan and Ian Haley, didn’t get a look at what tyre pattern they are running but tomorrow I will.”

AUSTALIAN ASSO NATIONALS 2009

Buggy Pitstop continues their report from this year’s Austrlian Nationals - “Today saw the first rounds of timed practice and 1 round of qualifying. This was a good chance to see where everyone stood before we go into full on racing tomorrow with 4 rounds of qualifying. Almost everyone was still getting use to the track and playing around with there set ups and tyre choice. Before we start with the qualifying! Peter Cooper aka Mr. Slyfox arrived at the track nice and early with all his gear to set up live timing and some live video. You can view the live timing & video on his website. It will be up tomorrow and right the way through till the A Main on Sunday evening! So make you sure you get on, and watch the racing from where ever you are! Also what I notice today was the new Team Associated shock towers. The same ones that Ryan Maifield used in the US. The three Australian Factory drivers had them on and was looking good with them. They were Matt Griffin, Josh Pain and Jason Dyckhoff. I was able to snap up a quick photo of Matt Griffins car with them on.”

Buggy Pitstop continues their report from this year’s Austrlian Nationals - “Man was it a crazy day. It was forecast to rain in the afternoon, so everyone turned up praying that it would stay away. Which it did right until the last 3 heats . That didn’t stop them from finishing the day and 4 rounds of qualification. In fact it paid off as they had maximum grip and put some fast times in. Apart from the little bit of rain the day was fantastic Peter Cooker and the MORBC team ran the day without a hitch. The action at the track today was 4 rounds of qualifying, we will have our last one tomorrow morning. So heat 1 went out for their second round of qualification and it saw some highs and some spills. Round two went to the Josh Pain driving his Team Associated and Ninja power to do the first 14 lapper of the event. Round three had some awesome racing from all the heats! This round would was one of the closest rounds of the day. It saw Josh Pain and Martin Wolhunter battle it out for top position but in the end Josh Pain clinched the TQ spot by a mere 5 seconds over Martin, who did 13 laps in 10:10. So two out of three rounds to Josh Pain and the other round which was round 1 went to Martin Wolhunter! The stage was set for another epic round. Everyone was pushing there cars to the max to try find the extra second to bump them up.”

4° giorno

Buggy Pitstop continues their report from this year’s Austrlian Nationals - “Well day 4 and yet again it was another day of fantastic driving and being the lower finals it was charged with lots of tension. First up was the last round of qualifying where once again everyone was going for the 14 lapper that Josh Pain set the previous day. The track was perfect as we had a lot of rain during the night which was forecast. This meant that the track didn’t need a water until the 1/16th B Final. So the round of qualifying ran smoothly, which was great. The track slowed down a little bit as it was very sticky from the rain. This meant that it was harder to do the 14 laps, but in the end Josh Pain TQ”ed with a quick 13 laps. The 32?nd finals were all moved into the 16ths and the racing commenced. The schedule was kept very strictly on time so before we knew it we were already getting ready for the first 4th’s Final all the finals to date had been very exciting affairs with the “bump up” places being well worked for. In the B 4 th’s final yours truly led until the final 5 minutes when my front diff decided it had enough, John Batemen then took the reins and led to the finish. Just a little controversy at the end as Nick Drygalla results were not reflected in the final result despite being very close to the lead all the race, a faulty transponder was the villain and a meeting was held to determine what should be done.

Buggy Pitstop continues their report from this year’s Australian Nationals - “Well the final was run and won by Wayne Walker now making it his second National title in 2 years. After a 1 hour long final he crossed the line first to win his second back to back national title! It was a epic final and first place changed 3 times through out the final. First it was Jason Dyckhoff, who led for 48 laps. Then the lead changed to team mate Matt Griffin who was leading for 21 laps but then suffered some car problem. Which gave Wayne Walker the lead and he led right up till the end. The semis and final were full of excitement and dramas. First up for the day was semi b, this was a tough semi. It saw Dale Smulders take the early lead with his OS powered Kyosho. This lead was held right up to the checkered flag. It was a great drive by Dale who was showing a very fast and consistent lap times. Around 10 seconds behind him was Martin Wolhuter who was driving his Hong Nor X2, powered by OS. He also had a very good race and did some very quick lap times.”

WAYNE WALKER INTERVIEW

Today buggy-pitstop.com was able to sit down with 2009 Australian National Champion to have a little chat, after his win at MORBC over the pasted weekend.