Photos by RC Mits, Bryan Myers and Jason Hastings
Spring in Southern California brought the 3rd annual ALLSTAR SHOOTOUT to the anxious South-West Tour Series racers.
For the 3rd straight year, this event was held at the infamous ENCINO VELODROME located in So-Cal's San Fernando Valley. The 250 meter, high banked concrete bicycle race track, in it's 21st year of holding R/C Car racing, still is a great challenge and one of the most fun r/c oval tracks in the country.
The "Shootout" is a non-points series event held purely for the racing excitement on the West Coast, and it never fails to deliver in the excitement department.
While entries were down just a tick in '09, the competition over the 3 day event would still prove to be very close...the event also showed that having the "FASTEST" car, doesn't always mean a good performance will back up the speeds.
During Friday's practice sessions, Joe Blackburn (current Track Record holder in the 21.5 class) looked like the car to beat. However, when Sunday's SHOOTOUT actually took place, Blackburn found himself on the outside looking in from the sidelines.
Another 'FAST' driver during the weekend was Gary Hamilton. Hamilton would set the fastest (4) lap qualifying run on Saturday, which gave him a pole start in his qualifying heat. Gary would have a bad run in that qualifier, and although he was assured a Starting spot in the shootout, by winning one of (3) points championships in 2008, it would be a last place starting spot unless he could get a good finish in the LCQ (Last Chance Qualifier)...which by the way he did - Hamilton WON that LCQ which gave him a 14th place starting spot in the 1st segment of the shootout.
Yet another "FAST" car, Buck VanPatten, who would have "THE FASTEST" run in the 4th qualifying heat, which gave him a 4th place start on the Shootout grid...but Buck was involved in a crash on the first lap in segment one of the shootout causing a poor finish, and a DNS in the 2nd segment scored him 20th in the 20 car field.
Previous Shootout "WINNERS" Larry Ruby and Eric Brust both had Up and Down performances. Ruby, who's wife had just given birth to their daughter a few days before this event, would end up with a 19th place finish with Brust finishing in the 7th spot.
The Shootout had a few suprises too... Jason Hastings(the race WINNER), earned the POLE position after winning Heat #1 (which set the #1 position), and winning the first segment (Scheduled for 33 laps, but cut short by the race directors error)
The first segment only set the starting grid for the actual SHOOTOUT, along with having a few prizes for the winner.
Another suprise in the Shootout was Nic Case, who's attention was mainly focused on his "ISC Insane Speed Run" efforts, but CASE was able to race his way from a 'rear of the field' start, to a 2nd place finish.
2 time NASTRUCK Champion Brad Muther may have also been a suprise to some, with his 3rd place finish. Muther, by virtue of winning the #2 Heat started outside front row in the 1st segment race, but his finish would move him to the 11th starting spot in segment 2, from where he would have to also race his way to the front. Muther ran 2nd for several laps, before having to give way to the faster Case.
ALLSTAR SHOOTOUT 2009 04-26-2009
-- SHOOTOUT - A Main --
Pos Car Laps time name id avg.mph
1 1 33 5:55.00 Jason Hastings 11 51.97
2 15 33 5:58.61 Nic Case 22 51.45
3 11 33 6:01.83 Brad Muther 3 50.99
4 4 33 6:03.62 John Miles 14 50.74
5 5 33 6:04.54 Scot Petitclerc 9 50.61
6 6 32 5:56.52 Arnold Brittain 17 50.18
7 2 32 5:57.01 Eric Brust 21 50.11
8 20 32 5:58.34 Jerry Purser 19 49.93
9 14 32 5:58.89 Richard Tompkins 16 49.85
10 13 32 6:02.78 Bryan Myers 5 49.32
11 10 32 6:04.20 Ken Collins 10 49.12
12 9 31 5:57.02 Tim Smith 15 48.55
13 8 31 5:57.54 Brett Patti 8 48.47
14 12 30 6:01.30 Toshihiro 4 46.42
15 3 30 6:02.60 Brian Bond 18 46.26
16 7 30 6:06.51 TJ Kendall 7 45.76
17 18 29 6:03.16 Steve Jacquez 20 44.65
18 19 19 3:40.27 Gary Hamilton 1 48.23
19 17 8 1:48.65 Larry Ruby 23 41.17
-- 16 --- DNS --- Uncle Buck 24
ALLSTAR SHOOTOUT 2009 04-26-2009
-- RACE #2 - SHOOTOUT -
Car-> __1__ __2__ __3__ __4__ __5__ __6__ __7__ __8__ __9__ _10__
1 12.0 17.6 17.1 12.7 13.3 17.3 13.9 13.8 13.8 13.4
2 10.1 10.0 10.4 14.5 21.0 10.3 30.2 10.3 10.9 10.2
3 10.1 10.5 10.4 10.8 10.7 10.6 11.0 10.5 11.4 26.7
4 10.2 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.6 10.6 11.0 10.5 10.8 10.4
5 10.2 10.5 10.7 10.5 11.1 10.5 11.7 21.3 11.3 10.4
6 10.2 10.7 18.9 10.5 10.8 10.6 11.4 11.0 11.0 10.5
7 10.4 10.4 10.7 10.5 10.8 10.6 11.2 11.2 11.0 10.4
8 10.4 10.6 10.7 10.4 10.9 10.6 11.2 10.9 11.3 10.4
9 10.4 10.4 10.8 10.6 10.8 10.6 11.6 10.8 11.3 10.6
10 10.5 10.6 10.8 10.5 10.9 10.7 11.4 10.8 11.1 10.5
11 10.6 10.6 10.8 10.7 10.9 10.8 11.4 10.9 11.4 10.5
12 10.5 10.7 10.9 10.7 10.7 10.8 11.4 11.1 11.3 10.7
13 10.6 10.7 10.9 10.9 10.9 11.1 11.5 10.9 11.3 10.5
14 10.6 10.6 11.0 10.7 10.9 10.8 11.3 11.3 11.4 10.7
15 10.6 10.7 11.1 10.7 10.9 10.8 11.5 11.0 11.3 11.1
16 10.7 10.7 11.1 10.7 10.9 10.8 11.3 11.0 11.3 10.6
17 10.8 10.9 11.1 10.9 11.0 10.9 11.3 11.0 11.3 10.8
18 10.7 10.9 11.0 10.9 11.1 11.0 11.4 11.3 11.3 11.0
19 10.7 10.9 11.1 10.8 10.9 10.9 11.5 11.1 11.4 10.7
20 10.8 11.0 28.7 11.0 10.9 11.0 11.4 11.2 11.8 11.2
21 10.9 11.0 11.4 10.8 11.1 11.0 11.8 11.2 11.6 11.1
22 11.0 13.4 11.2 11.6 11.0 11.1 11.5 11.2 11.4 10.9
23 11.0 11.6 11.2 10.8 11.0 11.0 11.6 11.2 11.4 10.9
24 11.0 11.1 11.4 10.9 11.1 11.1 11.6 11.4 11.7 10.9
25 10.9 11.1 11.1 10.9 11.0 11.2 11.6 11.3 11.6 10.9
26 10.9 11.1 11.2 11.1 11.1 11.4 11.5 11.3 12.0 11.0
27 11.1 11.0 11.2 11.0 11.0 11.2 12.0 11.5 11.5 11.0
28 10.9 11.2 11.2 10.9 11.0 11.2 11.6 11.2 11.4 10.9
29 11.0 11.1 11.2 10.9 11.3 11.1 11.5 11.2 11.8 10.9
30 11.0 11.1 11.1 10.9 11.0 11.2 11.9 11.3 11.5 10.9
31 10.9 11.1 10.9 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.8 10.9
32 10.9 11.1 10.9 11.2 11.1 10.9
33 10.9 10.9
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
laps 33 32 30 33 32 32 30 31 31 32
time 355.0 357.0 362.6 363.6 364.5 356.5 366.5 357.5 357.0 364.2
Car-> _11__ _12__ _13__ _14__ _15__ _16__ _17__ _18__ _19__ _20__
1 13.8 30.8 14.2 14.2 15.7 14.0 16.3 14.0 16.4
2 10.4 10.9 11.0 21.7 10.2 25.2 24.6 10.9 12.1
3 10.6 11.1 11.0 10.5 10.4 11.5 10.7 10.4 10.7
4 10.5 10.9 10.8 10.9 10.1 11.4 10.9 10.0 10.7
5 10.4 10.9 10.7 10.6 10.8 11.6 12.9 27.5 10.5
6 10.5 11.1 10.7 10.6 10.3 11.5 12.4 10.5 10.7
7 10.6 11.0 21.6 10.7 10.3 11.6 10.8 10.2 10.8
8 10.7 11.1 10.8 10.7 10.4 11.5 11.2 10.2 10.8
9 10.6 11.0 11.1 10.7 10.5 11.7 10.3 10.8
10 10.6 11.0 10.9 10.8 10.5 11.4 10.3 10.9
11 10.7 11.2 22.1 10.9 10.4 11.3 10.4 10.8
12 10.8 11.3 11.2 11.2 10.6 10.9 10.5 10.9
13 10.8 11.2 11.2 11.2 10.8 11.3 10.6 11.5
14 10.9 11.1 11.2 11.0 10.9 11.1 10.4 10.8
15 10.8 11.2 11.2 11.0 10.8 11.0 10.5 10.9
16 10.8 11.2 11.1 11.1 10.9 11.2 10.7 10.9
17 10.8 11.8 11.2 11.1 11.1 11.1 10.4 10.9
18 10.9 11.4 22.8 11.0 10.6 11.7 10.7 10.8
19 10.9 14.0 11.3 11.1 10.7 11.5 10.9 10.9
20 11.0 11.4 11.4 11.4 10.7 12.0 11.0
21 10.9 11.4 11.4 11.5 10.6 11.1 11.0
22 11.0 11.5 11.5 11.5 10.7 11.6 11.1
23 11.0 11.4 23.0 11.6 10.6 11.3 11.0
24 10.9 11.4 11.5 11.3 10.8 24.3 11.1
25 11.0 11.3 11.6 11.2 10.8 11.4 11.0
26 11.0 11.6 11.5 11.2 10.8 11.8 11.3
27 11.0 11.4 11.6 11.3 10.8 11.5 11.1
28 11.1 11.4 11.6 11.2 10.8 11.3 11.0
29 11.1 11.5 22.8 11.0 11.4 11.1
30 11.0 11.4 11.5 10.8 11.1
31 11.1 10.8 11.1
32 11.1 10.8 11.2
33 11.1 10.9
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____
laps 33 30 28 30 33 8 29 19 32
time 361.8 361.3 362.7 358.8 358.6 108.6 363.1 220.2 358.3
