On the 27th-28th February, the Canterbury Radio Control Car Club held the 2021 Onroad Gas Nationals at their Ruapuna track. Three CIRCCC members, Jason Kelly, Michael “Kinder” Burt and Ross Martin entered to try their skills against some of the best onroad racers in the country.
The format of the event was “points” from the 5 qualifying rounds would seed racers for the finals. After a wet start on day one, the guys would get through four of the qualifiers before having the fifth qualifier at the start of day 2, followed by the 45 min long main finals.
Day one saw differing fortunes for the CIRCCC racers. Jason Kelly (competing in the 1/10 Nitro touring class) won 3 of the first 4 qualifiers in and took the TQ, meaning he could take the final one off on day 2 and spend a bit longer prepping his car. Jase was consistent and seemed to get getting quicker as the weekend went on. Jase was looking to be the favourite for the final!
Michael Burt was also having a few good runs and managed to sneak into second spot against some tough competition in the stacked 1/8 GT class. However, Ross Martin was doing it tough with 2 speed gearbox issues and was sitting in 8th place at the end of qualifying despite showing flashes of pace. Things began to look up on day 2 however as the car has 2 gears again!
The lads were also visited by another CIRCCC racer / local TikTok legend Max for some friendly banter around the pits!
As the qualifiers came to an end and finals time rolled around, the clouds cleared and the sun came out for a pearler Canterbury Day. The track was heating up and so was the competition.
Finals Time!
Jason Kelly was up first with the 1/10 Nitro Touring final. Jason had a stroke of luck with a couple of competitors being unable to start due to technical issues however was up against some stiff competition and ended up having an epic back and forth battle with young gun Sam McCreanor. Jason seemed to have a faster pitting team and managed to pull away with some fast consistent driving, before nursing it home with the foam almost completely gone on the tires. Great effort and a well deserved NZ1 for Jase!
The lads were then able to put their feet up for a while and watch some world class driving unfolding in the Can-Am final! Some of the lads who came down from Taranaki were something else!
After this it was time for the massive GT final to get underway. With ten cars lining up and ten pit men there were not too many others floating around to marshall!
After a good start, Michael Burt settled in the top 2-3 racers. He got a big stroke of luck with local fast guy Craig Lamb suffering the misfortune of a blown engine after a few laps. This left Kinder to battle away with Selwyn Duthie for the win. Kinder took the win with great consistency and speed over the whole 45 mins giving the lads their second NZ Champs trophy of the day!
Ross was battling on the edge of the top 3 but a tune issue half way through the punishing 45 mins cost him a few laps and he ended up with a respectable 6th position.
Cheers to the boys for an epic weekend of banter and lots of help around the pits, to the CRCCC club and especially Shano and Nelson for putting on a great meeting, to all the North Islanders for coming down to race and to those who turned up to help pit / marshal or just yarn away – RC was the winner on the day!