Welcome the fourth round round-up, and it suffice to say that once I was back in the booth everything was running smoothly! Joking aside, big shout out to @Paul Glover for sacrificing his machine and @Joseph Wright for outstanding commentary and handling Paul's gloat pretty well.
Round Four was the second semi-endurance race of the season, and in the back of our minds we were all expecting another dominant win for Ross McGregor, but luckily for the spectators, it didn't quite work out that way.
This was 40min of nose to tail racing, teeth grinding and OMG moments, at least for me. At the start of the race the usual candidates were out front, no more @Pappa_G_27 surprise but kudos to him for his top five, and from the first laps, you could see that @Ross McGregor @Chris Butcher and @Chris Shepherd had a little bit extra above the rest and started pulling away.
Not long into the race, Chris Butcher made an amazing overtake on the outside of Hislop's chicane, and while Ross attempted to take the lead Shephard took second. A few laps later Shephard just held the inside at Island Bend, and with Butcher on the outside they touched and it wasn't pretty... after that a long battle for the win with Shepherd transforming his Mini in a semi-truck wide and Ross trying to thread the needle we witnessed one of the most daring and amazing passing moves in spite of the difficult circumstances. In the last lap after many attempts to pass, Ross decided to do what Butcher did to him in the early laps and attempt and succeed an outside pass into Hislop's, this was so hard to watch as we saw that Shepherd was a tad feisty with Ross risking a lot as he is by far the favourite, and he could have easily finished second as his main rival @Matt Le Gallez was behind him, but that grit and determination make for great champions.
Again the top 10 was hugely active with plenty of passing, one mention is that @Flex at one point was well into the top 10 and coming from Server Two that was great to see, I think he got a penalty but none-the-less an impressive performance. Another notable shout out goes to @Craig Patteson, continuing to do his own thing and securing another top 10 after a difficult qualifying session.
Division Two
Well here it looked more clean cut with @Frank Lehmann entering his stride and winning again, be it that this time wasn't as easy with @Paul Joseph keeping tabs on him all race and rounding up the podium was @Trebormoore84 in what looked like a spread-ish field.
Division Two standings are quite interesting as lot's of the drivers are within 3-4 points of each other, so with the final round being a double race we can see some changes but most importantly is for people to have fun as from what I have read and been told that is already happening.
If you want more in-depth details of the race, well you can watch the broadcast above or you can read some of the race reports left on RDMC Round 4 thread by @Ross McGregor @Trebormoore84 @Jivesauce (very well done) @Paul Glover for his rock @Frank Lehmann for his video and all the others, paints a good picture to have race reports like in the old RD days, remember those @Dave Stephenson @Bram Hengeveld ?
Chris and Chris properly fight
That's what I said in my Round One article, and they grabbed each other's necks in Round Two, took a break in Round Three only because they haven't seen each other on the track and came back stronger in this round. I am not taking sides or bringing arguments for who is right or wrong but in my own non-racer opinion it was a racing incident with the caveat that Shepherd definitely was way too aggressive in that corner and in my mind didn't see the point to push so hard then, as it was clear none of the top 3 guys had the pace to break away from each other. Saying that, I remember myself doing lot's of not so wise moves and keeping my ego very high during intense fights especially with a simracing "rival" , it was very entertaining to watch, but the boys need to keep it in check for the last round.
Butcher still in second in the standings but unless a proper awful round from Ross McGregor he is better to look at defending that 2nd place from @Matt Le Gallez.
Ross McGregor
" was glad to finish what was probably one of the best league races I’ve been involved in!"
Knowing Ross and his simracing history, that is a mega huge ultra thing to say and I am very happy for him and for RDMC by Extreme Simracing. Ross is a true alien driver, and this season had to step it up a bit, and he did so in all areas and it was a joy to watch from a distance.
Don't want to put a pressure on him, but he might be the first RDMC by Extreme Simracing double champion in 11 seasons, yes...that is correct in 11 seasons we haven't had a double champion and to top it all off in second place he will have the only other guy in RDMC11 field that could have achieved that, Chris Butcher. That speaks tons of the RDMC by Extreme Simracing field this season, and the enjoyment we got.
All of us can really dive a bit and learn from him for future leagues or just to improve ourselves for club events or sim racing in general, I highly respect Ross and his achievements and hopefully he will seal this season in a proper way, hint wink wink.
Thank you, Ross.
Simon Pierotti
Early in the morning (4 am) I found myself on TeamSpeak, and what gem did I find! Mr. Simon Pierotti with some of his Aussie friends practicing for RDMC so after I got the approval to what seemed to be his managers I stole him for a quick interview:
Mr.C: So 3rd round Pole Position - that was a shock to the RDMC system and myself, why not earlier the show in speed?
Simon: Well, I am only doing simracing for about a year and this is my first league ever and my first time with the Mini's, took me a bit to get used to the car and sadly I didn't get a ton of help from @Shawn Jacobs my fellow Aussie and vice-champion last season. All the excuses aside it's just about getting along with the car
Mr.C: Soo...the one lap pace is there, what's happening during the beginning of the race?
Simon: Yeah the raw speed I think is there but I am being too tentative and watching too much in the rear mirror instead of in front in the early laps, then I get frustrated and find it hard to focus only by half way into the race - I kinda get my composure back, I presume I need more experience.
Mr.C: What were your goals at the beginning of the season, and have they changed now?
Simon: Hmm...I pre-qualified midfield so my goals were to be there or thereabouts and in theory, the goals haven't changed since this is my first league, but since the ninth place is not that far off would be nice to get a top 10.
Mr.C: Since I caught you red handed, any objectives for the final race?
Simon: Consistent race? maybe a podium in the reverse grid race, less worried about my rear view mirror.
Mr.C: Thank you so much Simon, and hopefully, you can shock us again in the final round.
p.s. - this is a loose interpretation of me, MR.C of what I "heard" Simon said, as this was an audio interview I wrote what I believe are correct statements from Simon.
Winners and Strawberries - Round 4 by Mr. C (let the hate come in)
- As I said in Round 1 "Definitely Ross McGregor" - proper job;
- RDMC by Extreme Simracing viewers, we were treated to 40min of an all-out battle for the lead;
- TDR guy's if this would have been a team championship by far the best;
- Special mention for @TobiasR for letting pass his teammate even tho it didn't pan out.
Strawberries
- Chris Butcher, coming from a hefty penalty to a punt in the grass, that must be a bit hard on him, keep fighting you know your speed;
- RDMC - really disappointed and a bit "angry" as people tend to drop off at the end off what is a short league, I fully understand that real life comes in the way but this simracing thing were people put effort and we have sponsors more careful planning should be made. Again, I understand that this is for "fun" and for some is only a "PC game", but others want to take it more serious as that as this is their passion - so for the future please sign-up but also put the calendar of the league on your things to do. No hate just love!!!!
P.s. - disclaimer - I am by no means a professional writer so take this article with a light heart and see the funny side. These are my personal opinions and don’t reflect in any way shape or form what RD administration thinks, or the RD community in general.
Don't forget, you can catch all the racing action, live and exclusive, on the RaceDepartment Twitch TV channel.
Like what we do at RaceDepartment? Follow us on Social Media!
Last edited by a moderator:
