Lou Pirro Sweeps Eurosport Classes at Need For Speed Raceway

R.O.C. IV at Need For Speed Model Car Raceway

The fourth annual Race of Champions (ROC IV) at Need for Speed Raceway in Manchester, NH, brought out a large contingent of scale racers from around the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.  This was the largest field to date, with 141 total entries for the nine classes over two days.   1/24 Eurosport alone, rivaled the field of some of the largest national events.

The racers were enticed by cash prizes totaling 600 Greenbacks, in addition to the normal winnings.

The raceway was ready for the big event with extra inventory brought in to fully satisfy the racers needs.  Additionally the facility was sparkling...fully remodeled, plenty of pit area, great food and great racers! 

This will be the last big race before the Ogilvie team comes down to New Hampshire to fully recondition the Engleman with a new racing surface and new braid throughout.

1/32 Production Cars

The day started out with the 1/32 Production Cars (commonly known as the “roaches”) on the 100-foot Hillclimb.  Twenty-one drivers qualified for a spot in three mains.  Top qualifying honors went to Joseph Mazzulo (the kid), well ahead of the anyone else in the field…must be a great builder on that car! 

In the C main, Tom Stickney edged Bill Dougherty by eight laps with a total of 313 laps.  In third, was Jeff McBride with 299 laps.  The B Main was a runaway by national champion Dink (Dick) Pelletier with 340 laps.  Coming in second from upstate New York was Mike Gagnier with 322 and third was New Hampshire local, Kris DeSantis, 2 back at 320 laps.

Finally, the A Main had the Big Guns…a very close battle to the bitter end.  Matt (the bridesmaid) Kaminsky, eeked past John Weaver by one lap with 350 Laps.  John only beat Ralph Griffin by one lap as well.  These 3 ended up on the podium as the class victors, but Matt walked away with the $100 bill!  Also, in fourth by one section was Joseph beating Dick, fulfilling his goal for the weekend.

B Production

Racing action then moved to the 185-foot Engleman for 1/24 B Production cars, with 27 entries.  This race would also have 3 Mains, and qualifying was pretty tight except for Dick P. who won convincingly from the poll. 

The C Main started out with out pretty tight but it turned out to be a race of survival, with the number one survivor being Bill Bugenis from New York with 320 laps.  Second place went to Glen Collins with 315 laps edging out Joe Mazzulo by one section.  The B Main was a bit tamer with Jon Martin winning with 330 laps over Steve Morton by 2 at 328 laps.  Leslie Lang was one lap back at 327 laps.

The feature event had first and second place drivers dominating the field, managing to stay clean and out of trouble the whole race.  Dick P just checked out with a convincing win at 376 laps and taking the “C” note!  Woody Hazelwood finished second with 358 laps leading Matt Kaminisky with 336 Laps.  In the end the next 10 drivers were within 10 Laps. 

Ahhhh…Now was lunch!  A nice spread was put out with plenty of Pasta, Chicken Broccoli Alfredo…and for those few watching their girth...a salad!

1/32 Indy – the Scratch-Builders class!

Back to the Hillclimb for 9 entries and what turned out to be a pretty close, clean race.  A round robin provided the action with a tight battle between Matt Kaminsky, Dick P and Steve Haveness.  Matt crossed the finish line with 330 laps, Dick at 326 laps and Steve at 325 laps.  Matt collected the $50 Bill donated by Rick Austin.

1/24 Indy

For the 1/24 Indy cars, the racing action came back to the Engleman.  There were 2 mains of nine racers each.  Top qualifying honors went to Dick P…again??? 

The B Main was a close battle between the top 3 finishers.  Joe Mazzulo edged out Kris DeSantis by one section with 284.  Jeff McBride was only 2 more back in third.

The A Main was another story of a very tight battle until time ran out. Dick P. beat out Ralph Griffin by nine laps in hard fought battle that was decided by a broken lead wire.  Dick Crossed the finish line with 321 laps, 9 ahead of Ralph at 312 and 10 back to Mike Clark at 302, for the final podium finishers.

GT-12

The final race of the day started at 11:30 PM with 14 tired but ambitious racers, answering the call to race the fast stuff of the day on the Engleman!  Qualifying brought Woody Hazelwood to the fore with top honors edging out Dick P. 

The B Main was won by returning racer Kris DeSantis, driving one of the fine cars from Ralph Griffin’s fleet.  Next across was Bill Dougherty from Virginia, with Joe Mazzulo rounding out the top 3.

The A Main again produced the top 3 podium finishers as Dick finished 6 ahead of Woody, who was 13 clear of Speedy Lang in third.  Dick smiled as he collected another $100 bill to add to his “don’t tell the wife stash”.

Eplilogue for Day One:

Saturday was a great day with a lot of camaraderie, laughing, and really enjoyable racing.  After a five action packed races and 17 hours, the troops headed to the hotels for a few hours of shuteye to recharge their trigger fingers before Sunday’s cobalt action.

1/32 Mini B

Sunday’s action commenced with 1/32 production cars running with Strap Super Wasp Motors on the tricky 100 foot Hillclimb.  This class had 7 entries with a tight battle between Mike Gagnier and Dom Luongo.  The 2 battled it out for the whole race with Mike edging out Dom by 2, as the power went off.  Bill Dougherty rounded out the podium in third.

A Production

Back to the Engleman for the Group 12 powered GT-1 cars known as “A Prod”.  There were 17 racers that qualified for the two mains.  Not to be redundant, guess who qualified first…the Dink…in the words of Gil Aubin…a Freudian slip?

The B main was won by Shawn Emelian, after blowing his motor in qualifying by 27 laps for the win over Kris DeSantis driving another of Ralphie’s fleet. 

The A Main was down to the final seconds to crown the winner.  Dick crossed the lap counter only sections ahead of Woody.   Shawn’s total of 328 edged Mike Clark’s A Main total of 325 for third, overall.