A Report From Wayne and Luke Davidson on there adventures at the Bunbury State Titles

Hi , my name is Wayne Davidson. This is just a short note to try and describe my experiences from the West Australian On Road Nitro State Titles held at Bunbury WA , about 2.5 hrs south of Perth .

I had my work cut out for me right from the start , as not only did I have to get my car ready for the event , but I had to do my sons car as well . He also races in the same division as me . The extra work load is a small price to pay , to be able to compete with and against him. Its very rewarding to see him do well , even when he beats me lol . Luckily for me , other than tuning my car , I had little else to do because it was handling like it was on rails . Luke , my son , didn't have the same luck . His car was under steering badly , the brakes weren't quite right , and his motor started running hot . I managed to iron out most of the problems , and then for the 1st time in the 3 years that I have been racing , another competitor in our division had the same frequency . Neither of us had a second frequency to use . Then to rub salt into the wound , some spilt fuel found it's way into the receiver and shorted it out . A special thanks to Zane Mcquiggin , who came to our rescue ,lending Luke , his radio and receiver , so that he could compete . Finally we got his car sorted out and it was time to go racing . As you could understand , at the State Titles everyone is always very busy in the pits , and this made it quite difficult to find someone to refuel each of our cars . Finally I found someone who could help us . Grub was the man who said he would do it , and not just for my car , but for Lukes as well . As if that wasn't enough , he also refueled a 3rd car in our 1st heat . A mammoth effort from him , and one I greatly appreciate . The 1st 10 min heat went pretty much as expected . Just a little fine tuning to do to cool the motor down clean the cars , and wait for the next race . Nothing broken yet . I finished 3rd with 26 laps , Luke finished 7th 15 laps . Luke was leading the race until his steering servo died . Unfortunately for Luke , to remove the steering servo , the whole front end had to come out . And because I had to marshal for the nitro pro tourers and the 1/8th , I had very little time to get any work done on it . Consequently , I didn't get his car repaired for the 2nd or 3rd heats . I finished 2nd in the 2nd heat with 28 laps . I finally got my car running at an ideal temp of 210F and I was starting to feel more confident about my title chances . I won the 3rd heat with 29 laps .

Literally 3 min before the 4th heat , I finally got Lukes car repaired and he was able to race again . Luke again was driving well , and was leading , unfortunately , in the rush to get his car repaired in time , I forgot to put the screw in the steering arm , which attached to the new servo . About half way through the race , it fell of . He was unable to finish . I won the heat with 30 laps 10 min 15.191 sec , a new track record for the pull starts . Qualifying was very close . My 4th heat time was enough to get top qualifier , narrowly beating Trevor Blythe ,30 laps 10 min 16.049 sec , by less than 1 sec . That was the end of day 1 .

Things were not looking good when I woke up to see it raining . After the weather finally cleared , and the track eventually dried out , it was down to the serious part of the weekend , the 30 min final . Not sure what happened over night , but after getting a good start , my car decided it didn't want to go around corners under any sort of power. I spun 3 times on the 1st lap , and went from pole position to 6th by the end of the 2nd lap. I thought my chances were gone , but I worked out quickly , how to get my car around turns 4 and 5 without spinning , and started to put some good laps together.

Luke started the final from 6th on the grid. By about lap 5 , he was leading , and driving away from the rest of the field . Sadly , the same screw that I left out of his steering in the 4th heat , vibrated loose and he lost his steering . Grub pitted for Luke in the final , and he did a sensational job to get Luke back into the race . Luke once again , drove well and started to peg everyone back. He made his way back through the field , when that same bloody screw came out again . And again , Grub got it fixed quickly. Unfortunately , Luke was in the pits for about 5-6 laps both times , but never gave up. Circulating quicker than I was, he made it back to a very respectable 3rd place . I ,as his father , couldn't be more proud of him , for showing such determination and never give in attitude , to put every thing behind him and finish with such a great result . After the 1st 5 min of the final had passed ,I had a consistent and trouble free race . That is until I got a drive through penalty , with about 40 seconds of the final remaining . I thought I had thrown it away . Fortunately , I was able to claim my 1st State Title win , but by only 2 seconds from Trevor Blythe . I couldn't help but to feel bad for Trevor , because I blew a manifold gasket just prior to the final , and it was Trevor who gave me one . If it wasn't for his friendly nature, and great sportsmanship , I could never have even started the race .

I also need to thank Craig and Brent Lockwood for there help and advice over the weekend. Also a special thanks to Rudy for pitting for me in the final. Before closing , I would like to congratulate Paul Patterson and Brent Lockwood on winning their respective classes and Mike , the President of the Bunbury On Road RC Car Club ,for running such a successful event . My apologies if I forgot to mention anyone .

I look forward to defending my title next year ,but if my sons car holds together ,

I may have to settle for 2nd or 3rd place [hahaha]. See you all at the track .

Once again another very satisfied customer at the Bunbury State Titles and we are sure that they will be back.

Well done to Luke and  Wayne from the committee of WARCMCC