back row: Charles Lavec-James Denis-Dean Sokoloski-Ken Moore-Scott Vopel-Brad Peacock-Dan St Jean-Tim Howell-Chuck Gedey
front row: Katie Teeter-Neil Turner-Paul Dupuis-Jen Dupuis-Sandra G. Howell-Rita Dawe-Mike Dawe-Steve Dawe-Karen Courvoisier-Alex Sokoloski-Joseph Gedey
missing(photographer): Devyn Courvoisier

presented by: Sudbury Organized Auto Racing (S.O.A.R.)
reported by: The R/C Guy

Road Trip:

And that's basically what we do..Chat on the S.O.A.R. Forum all year..Get a little trash talk going..Staying in touch..Discussing R/C tips and ideas or questions and then once a year(or more), we get together and race our brains out..

What can be more fun than that..??

All RIGHT !!...Let's go racing...

All lined up for the 1st run of the day...4wd(or 2wd) electric touring cars are on the grid...Sandra(fore) and Katie(back) are ready and raring to get marshalling.. And yes..That is the Team R/C "O" Tamiya Mini at the back of the line and no, I'm not driving it..This is your first introduction to the newest member of R/C Ontario Racing...

In the days/weeks leading up to this event, the SOAR Forum was alive with trash talk/banter...
I am the defending Nitro 4wd champ from the Spring SOAR Grudge Match 2005...James, Tim and I'm sure, Neil, wanted to get a little of me for the Main Event..(and they are all very fast)..And I know Charles and the boys from Sudbury wanted a piece too...
In Electric 4wd, James dominated as usual, but 2nd place was up for grabs..I managed to keep outta trouble and claimed 2nd at the Spring SOAR Grudge Match 2005
Not to mention the fact that The R/C Kid whooped The R/C Guy's butt at the last race we attended..The 2005 FastCats Summer Sizzler...The kid is getting fast and we are constantly battling eachother..
So, redemption and payback/braggin' rights were the hottest topic leading up to the SOAR Main Event 2005...

Saturday qualifying..Threatening clouds overhead..Hobby Hobby banner flying proudly..Let's get this race going before it Rains!!..And it did..Unfortunately, we had to cancel this one Here we have Paul donning his brand new "Official Oscar Meyer Weiner Hat".. "If I lean slightly to the left, its straight, but if I lean more right, it sits on an angle!!" HeHe...As I took this picture, Paul actually said.., "Gee, I hope I don't have Bat Wings this time"(regarding a pic from a FastCats race)..and then he looks over his shoulder and doesn't foresee anything that could 'cause a problem for him...Priceless!

Qualifying started off a little rainy on Saturday, but most of us got in pretty decent runs in electric..Some fine tuning and gearing up, just to try and move up a spot or two..Its all about tenths of a second per lap, especially when you are running ROAR legal stock motors..Every tenth counts
And the competition was very close...That tenth of a second was determining who was A-Main and who got bumped..Went right to the final qualifier before that was finally determined

Here's a great look at some track action..SOAR's equipment trailer doubles as a very nice driver's stand..Upper and lower levels..Can accommodate 6-7 driver's+ nicely..The outer boards are a good foot high and the inner boards are mostly double 2x4's with plastic flappers on the corners..Note the transponder bridge..This is new for SOAR and I have to say that it worked very well all weekend..And of course, it's all controlled by the familiar computer tent..Great job and a well run event for sure guys..

Qualifying in Nitro 4wd was all about bragging rights..7 racers in 1 heat(although it was ran as two qualifiers)..Everybody makes the A-Main..
But competition was very tight..James grabbed TQ on Saturday(but I was right behind him with the same amount of laps)..And Neil was hot on our tails..
Neil and I were duelling it out in our qualifier and pushed eachother to get as many laps as possible..That ended up being my best qualifier of the weekend.. I had some stalling issues with my NTC3 on Saturday and spent Saturday evening trying to sort that out..
Tim had his share of problems again this year and I think he was just trying to get his car running properly for the Mains..

Electric 4wd cars duking it out in the early Qualifiers..Although rain fell a few times throughout Saturday I think we still managed to get in two full qualifiers...The track actually dried out very quickly when the rain did stop..SOAR uses sugar water to treat their track and even after the rain, it still seemed pretty sticky..But traction probably wasn't as good as it could have been..At least the track was clean and treated..That's the most important thing....

The SOAR Main Event 2005 was also to be the introduction to the newest member of R/C Ontario Racing..After visiting SOAR with us last year, but still having the newbie jitters about actually racing, our newest member, The R/C Wife(Rita), decided that this was a great place for a total newbie to go out and smash up some fine R/C rides..And did she have a ball this weekend..Even some trash talk on the way home from Sudbury..Guess I just expanded my R/C budget again..??

This group became known as the girl's qualifier..It was supposed to be "The Under 5ft R/C Club", but in this pic we are actually missing a few of the official members of that club..Namely, Katie..... And by the way..Yes, that is Chris on the left, but he was a real good sport about it all..Actually went by the handle Christina...Awesome Chris!! left to right: Chris-Rita-Jen-Sandra(using a step apparently still didn't disqualify her from the "Under 5ft R/C Club"...

The R/C Wife wasn't spared any time in getting into R/C..First up is her qualifier..She'd never been on a track/never operated a radio before and I was just hoping she'd complete a lap or two to get in the books
It was kinda hard to watch, but she did pretty good..4 laps in 5 minutes..Not bad for a totally new R/Cer..
2nd qualifier saw her improve as well..Still on 4 laps, but she improved her time...Wahoo...

Funny little thing we noticed...On the way to the track there is actually a sign that reads, "Please Turn Off All Radio Transmitters"...(Don't forget..We are in Sudbury and blowing stuff up-namely big rocks-is what these guys tend to do)...Noticed the other sign on the way back from the track..."Resume Use Of Radio Transmitters"..WOW!!...Great track location guys..hehe..
Speaking of track location..This is the second time that I got to race on the new SOAR track and I really like it..There is a nasty little crank in the surface that can give you a bit of a jump if you hit it wrong but for tire wear this track is awesome..After the first Nitro qualifier I decided that 40 shore foams weren't doing it and switched to 35's..I was planning on running them to qualify and then throwing on brand new 40's for the Main...(I usually am using 35's on my electric anyways)..Well..They were great..Not much wear at all in my qualifiers and I decided to run them in my 1 hour A-Main..(talk more about that later)..

Cranking on cars after day one of qualifying...And look which one I'm working on....The Tamiya MO3L of Team R/C "O"'s newest racer.. With the optional softer compound radial tires and since this car is totally hopped up with all the best Tamiya goodies, it was on rails.... Took 'er for a test drive myself and those tires were squealing with traction 'round all the corners..After day one, I was very tempted to try a qualifier with it myself.. Didn't really have a qualifier to spare though..Still in the A-Main myself, but barely.. Anyhow..No major probs..Just adjusting the steering servo..

Day two..2 more qualifiers and The Mains..
Neil has bumped me from my 2nd place position in Nitro 4wd and I was looking to try and improve on that...Did some work on the NTC3 the previous night including changing some needle settings...First thing in the AM and I am on the track testing...Power/acceleration/top speed is all good and temp is seeming pretty consistent..I do tend to run my motors a little rich, so anywhere in the area of "kinda hot" is good enough for me..I usually try to keep it at around 225 F...
First nitro qualifier...Dang...Stalls just before the start...I rush back to the pit but since we are talkin' "tenths of a second", I don't bother putting it back on the track..I do think that maybe I went a bit too rich and spend my qualifier testing/idling the motor...All seems good...
Next qualifier..Same thing..It just won't keep running..Make a quick needle adjustment and throw it back on the track..Runs fine for the rest of the qualifier..But I'm still concerned..
I sit there thinkin' things in my head and it comes to me..Bad glow plug!!..Duh..Should have known..Change the plug..It starts up great and again, all seems fine..
Anyhow...In electric....Mike had just finished bumping Devyn outta the Electric Touring A-Main..Could hear the grumbles coming from the 'puter center as we watched the race that did it..The final qualifier of the weekend..
And I beat Mike to take the 5th starting position in the A-Main..
We had checked our pinion stocks earlier and decided that since we only had 1 30 tooth pinion, we would decide who gets it by how we qualified..I qualified first but their was some discussion (just a slight 'puter issue)about the time I did it in..We both had eighteen laps so we decided to flip for it..He won..
Fair enough.. OK..On to the Mains..

Before we discuss the mains let's have a look at those great trophies provided by SOAR for this event...Everybody goes home with something..All A-Main drivers receive a trophy and on down to the C-Main...Even those Medallions are engraved with finishing position results...A very nice job and it was appreciated by every racer there This would also be a great time to mention the Sponsors of the SOAR Main Event 2005 All these guys came though for SOAR and again, very muchly appreciated by everyone..Check out the links and make sure you send some business their ways..They really do deserve it.. Special Fanx to: Boytoys, C & M Computers, FastCats, Hobby Hobby, R/C Ontario Racing, XXX Main and, of course, our hosts.., Sudbury Organized Auto Racing

Here's a look at the 2005 SOAR Main Event C-Main.. Rita Dawe (qual.#4) Alex Sokoloski (qual.#1) Jen Dupuis (qual.#2) Sandra G-Howell(qual.#3) Great job by these guys and it was a great race to watch... An average lap of 23.752 was enough to keep Alex out front for most of the race and take a very impressive win This little guy is an up and coming racer at SOAR and you can expect to see him climb the ranks over the next year or so.. Rita ran a pretty clean race but was a couple of laps off 3rd place..Then Sandra had some technical probs and it looked for a minute that we might not finish last after all...Then Sandra was back on the track and still fast enough with her wounded ride to keep her position..Oh well..Maybe next year, eh...? By the way..The R/C Wife may not have moved up in her Main, but she did double her personal best qualifying laps...from 4 to 8 laps..Nice!! (she beat herself)

My apologies to you B-Main guys...With three racers for Team R/C Ontario and spending extra time on probs I was having, I wasn't able to see everyone's races..
That goes for you 2wd guys as well..Although I did watch your Main, I didn't really see much of how your weekend was going as far as your qualifying successes or lack thereof..
I will, however, post all results at the bottom of this page so you can see how everyone did..And be sure to check out the SOAR Website for complete lap times and additional photos..
On to the electric A-Main..This race has a lot of history and most of the banter on the SOAR Forum is related to this race specifically..
Just about everyone in this race and a few who ended up in the B-Main has been discussing/ranting about this race all year...
OK...Those of you in the B-Main...
Paul..What happened buddy?..Those super duper new IP batteries don't feel like cheatin' now, eh??...Oh wait..You had to drive a girl's car??...That's no excuse..So did Karen and she made the A-Main..
Devyn.....Got punted outta the A-Main by The R/C Kid eh?..Actually, with you in car #3, it looks like you, Paul and Scott got punted...WOW!!!..That's gotta hurt..HeHe...(J/K guys..See ya in the funny pages)
Really did enjoy racing with all these electric guys all weekend...Its too bad we had to draw the line at 6 racers per main 'cause I would have loved to have even more of you in the Big Show...

Here they are...The 4wd Electric A-Main top row: James Denis (TQ) Mike Dawe (qual.#6) Steve Dawe (qual.#3) Karen Courvoisier (qual.#2) bottom row: Neil Turner (qual.#4) Tim Howell (qual.#5) To a casual observer it probably looks like we are getting set for the start and figuring out our plans of attack etc.. Not quite true..We are discussing "the rules"... What rules?..Well..Here is the rule..No holds barred for the first few laps..Rubbin' is Racin' and its every man/woman for themselves.. And that is exactly how the race started..I jumped out in front by managing to avoid contact for the first few corners and then things got ugly..I was getting tracked down by all the faster electrics out there and eventually got tangled with The R/C Kid one too many times and we both spun around at the start of the straight....(back to that in a sec.) Right from the start, all I could hear was "oopps..Sorry James"..Over and over..James was TQ and obviously faster than everyone, but the poor guy kept getting punted..Not intentionally..This was going to be a very close race and track position and a fast start would end up playing a huge role..And everyone knew it and wanted out in front ASAP.. James had fallen back, but he was on the move...Passing lap by lap until he came up to The R/C Kid and I just as we got spun around at the beginning of the straight..Bamn!!..Right into both of us sitting side by side facing the wrong way...James gets airborne over both of our parked cars and lands about three feet behind (ahead) us and continues on to an eventual win..But that really was an awesome thing to see..(and apparently someone has it on tape) In the end, I managed to beat the R/C Kid(which is what this hobby is all about these days at Team R/C Ontario Racing).. And James did indeed make up some huge time and "obstacles" to take the win and remains the defending SOAR Electric Champion.. Not to mention a great showing by Tim to claim 2nd place...Great run Tim.. 3rd place??..Don't know(wink)...No one ever remembers who came in 3rd..hehe

4wd Nitro A-Main...
Well..It would appear that my official back-up photographer let me down on this one..No Nitro 4wd pics..
Oh well..Not much to say really...(yeah...right!)
I was really pumped about this event...James captures another TQ and Neil managed to bump me outta 2nd starting position while I was busy just trying to keep my car running.. But I was ready..My main goal in this race was to finish...And with all my wheels and necessary parts still on my car..I was sure that if I managed to do that I had a pretty good chance of doing well..(hope I'm not giving away any race secrets here)
Anyways, this was my kind of event..The other guys had been wanting to make this a one hour main and little did they know that 1 hour was perfect for me and my driving style....And I had a plan
Get in a groove..Go as fast as I could without touching anything and be there at the end..
I may not be the fastest nitro guy on the planet, but one thing I am is consistent...
And I stuck to the plan..My first goal was to give myself track..I really have no idea who was leading for the first part of this race(I honestly didn't care)..I was just concentrating on giving myself some space, so that I could get into a groove..
Let people pass me and passed some slower guys and after a few laps I was in it..Just putting in laps and letting the lap counter worry about the rest..
I had The R/C Kid pitting for me and he was awesome..A little nervous at first but by the time I was in my groove, he was too..Great pit stops and a very smooth job...After a couple of pits he was reporting track positions and letting me know how my fuel usage was going and adjusted our pit strategy accordingly..Great job Mike
About half way through the race some of the other guys started having probs...James was really suffering and he was on and off the track a fair bit..Tim was suffering AGAIN from the Sudbury bug that seems to plague him at these events..My strongest competitor was Neil..We were dicing and switching the lead(or what we thought might be the lead) for most of the middle of the race...I asked Neil..."Hey, Any idea which one of us is leading"...He said, "Not sure, but I think you are"...
At the next pit I asked Mike to check the 'puter...Turns out I was up 2 lap..Nice..But by this time I had started to develop my own probs..That pesky stalling had returned and I had to keep sending Mike out to retrieve my car..Couldn't afford to slow down and cruise just yet..
Fortunately, my "stalls/flameouts" (not sure of 'cause yet..might be a broken fuel tank..still haven't checked it out)were accuring on par with my refuels so we would fuel up and luckily the car fired right up again and we were off..
Neil went off with some probs and came back and we were still dicing it up...He was trying to stay clear of me 'cause I was leading now but I told him not to give anything up 'cause I was having stalling issues and it was very possible that he could get some laps on me..
Anyhow...After 1 hour my car was still running at the end..
And as for that tire wear..Unbelievable, ran that same set of 35's all weekend and even after that gruelling main, I only had one tire that was badly coned(too much camber on that corner)..The foam on the rest are a good 6mm+ still..Tires??..Nitro Shoes..
209 laps later and I am very proud to say that I'm now the defending 2006 SOAR MAIN EVENT 4WD Nitro Champion...Wahoo..!!..Great race guys...And congrats also to Neil Turner on a hard fought 2nd and Charles Lavec for a well deserved 3rd place finish..
And a special fanx to my pit guy..He did one heck of a job and was as much a part of this victory as I was..

The last Main of the day..The 2WD Nitro guys are getting ready to run their very own 1 hour main One thing worse than running a 1 hour main is having to marshal a 1 hour main after it..Luckily, although it was hot, it really wasn't too bad and I was also really looking forward to seeing how this race played out Here they are...The 2wd Nitro A-Main top row: James Denis (qual.#6) Ken Moore (TQ) Dean Sokoloski (qual.#4) bottom row: Dan St Jean (qual.#5) not in pic: Brad Peacock (qual.#3) Scott Vopel (qual.#2) I had the pleasure of watching this entire race from my marshalling position.. As we have come to expect, Ken took off in the lead and remained very consistently placed there for the entire race..A few bobbles and tangles with other driver's, but other than that, the "IceMan" dominated this race from start to finish.. Dan had all kinds of on-track probs and spent about as much time in the pits as it takes to completely switch out all your electronics one trip to the pits at a time.. With the top three racers on a 200+ lap pace, Dan's fate was pretty much determined but so was he...Although he did end up finishing last, he never gave up...Too bad there's no laps awarded for determination eh, Dan?..Nice try though.. James had his own share of probs...This was the first time he'd ran this chassis since last year and I guess its starting to show its age(aren't we all)..Anyhow...Wheels were flying everywhere but James did manage to hang on 'til the end and grabbed himself a pretty respectable 4th place.. Scott had been outta the hobby for a few years from what I heard..Shows up on race day..Throws is car on the track and manages to qualify 2nd..Not bad Scott..Unfortunately, even though he was pretty consistently running 15+ second laps he also had some lengthy off track excursions that kept him back but he did still manage to pull off a very respectable 3rd place..Well deserved Scott.... I'm not really sure what happened to Brad..He was stalling before the start of the race and that may of ended up hurting him later as well..He too was running consistent 15 second laps, but missed a huge chunk of time at the start and a couple more along the way and he was out about 1/2 hour through the Main..We'll get 'em next year Brad.. That brings us to the top two... It looks like Dean was following my system(don't tell anyone Dean)...As consistent and fast as possible while trying to stay outta trouble.. Great job Dean and an awesome result with 208 laps in your 1 hour Main..Huge congrats Then cometh the "Iceman"...Ken Moore..Your 2005 SOAR MAIN EVENT 2WD Nitro Champion.. 240+ laps in 1 hour....WOW..That's astounding..Well deserved victory Ken..Huge congrats to you as well..

Beef Of The Week:..Not really race related as such, but I just thought I'd mention the gas prices..I know its all old news now, but a year from now we can either look back and think how lucky we were getting gas so cheap or remember that time when the prices soared....I payed $1.38 a litre to fill up for the trip home...Big thumbs down to the fuel companies...Freaks!!!

Team R/C Ontario Racing had an awesome weekend and we have the hardware to prove it.. 1st A-Main Nitro 4wd 5th A-Main Electric 6th A-Main Electric 4th C-Main Electric We all had an awesome weekend and are looking forward to next year already..Defending titles and claiming new ones (wink)...It always fun with the guys/gals up north and you should make every attempt to try and race there.. I've been asked why I drive 5+ hours to race in Sudbury when I have a track 8 minutes away with equally good people racing there.. It simple..Its all about the road trip...We go up as a family to this event and spend an entire weekend together..For us, its a family affair and that's great but I've also done road trips with fellow R/Cers and there is really nothing like it..If you have never done an R/C Road Trip you should.. By the way..Cudos to the REST HAVEN MOTEL 350 Moonlight Sudbury, Ontario 705 566-0321 No complaints at all..Rooms were clean..fridges/air conditioning/microwave/tv...Just the basic stuff but those little extras mentioned can make a world of difference when you are living out of a cooler..

COMPLETE RESULTS:

A-Main Nitro 4wd: 1 Steve Dawe 209 laps 2 Neil Tuner 159 laps 3 Charles Lavec 97 laps 4 Chuck Gedey 92 laps 5 Joseph Gedey 62 laps 6 James Denis 39 laps 7 Tim Howell 13 laps A-Main Nitro 2wd: 1 Ken Moore 241 laps 2 Dean Sokoloski laps 3 Scott Vopel 202 laps 4 James Denis 171 laps 5 Brad Peacock 88 laps 6 Dan St Jean 22 laps A-Main Electric: 1 James Denis 20 laps 2 Tim Howell 19 laps 3 Karen Courvoisier 18 laps 4 Neil Turner 18 laps 5 Steve Dawe 18 laps 6 Mike Dawe 17 laps

B-Main Electric: 1 Scott Vopel 17 laps 2 Devyn Courvoisier 16 laps 3 Charles Lavec 16 laps 4 Chris Marcoux 16 laps 5 Katie Teeter 14 laps 6 Paul Dupuis 8 laps C-Main Electric: 1 Alex Sokoloski 13 laps 2 Sandra G.Howell 11 laps 3 Jen Dupuis 10 laps 4 Rita Dawe 8 laps

UNOFFICIAL WIFE'S RACE RESULTS:

1 Karen Courvoisier 18 laps 2 Katie Teeter 14 laps 3 Sandra G.Howell 11 laps 4 Jen Dupuis 10 laps 5 Rita Dawe 8 laps

Fanx again to our hosts and those of you who joined us for dinner on Saturday Night..
Looking forward to doing it all again next year...Bring your A-Games baby!!
Fanx for the ear,
The R/C Guy