American Flat Track Worlds Results

**LoudCat** · 06-30-2003, 12:43 PM

Originally posted by Slidergreg
Great job Herman!

I'll second that! You missed some great racing Greg. Herman was in top form this weekend and earned a couple of well dererved wins. Here are a few comments on the races:

24 Euro
Even though Herman did TQ with a 2.70, there were a few other cars about as fast. Phil H. did 99 laps in one heat, which is rather amazing. Several racers had cars good enough to win but Herman drove the best race. Pit strategy played a large role in the race. I’m pretty sure everyone in the top 10 changed tires under green. Some had to change tires and gears. Those 80 pitch gears are fragile. Locals Ray Bishop and Doug Y. were second and third. Fred H. won the B main and finished 5th or 6th overall.

C1
A very close race for the first several heats. Bill Clemens had a good car and drove a great race to win by a comfortable margin. Roy H. was a little faster but had to settle for second after a couple of mid race mistakes. Going into the last heat, Dwayne R. and Doug Y. were on black and purple, about a lap behind Roy. Dwayne and Doug got into several wrecks with each other and that allowed Fred Hood to charge up from way back to take third.

GT-12
The largest field of the weekend with 32 entries. Neil Stewart won, Ray B second and Matt Z third.

32 Euro
Another great race by Herman as he took the crown from Matt Z. Matt had won the previous 4 years but had to settle for second this time. Ray B. was third

**wayne h** · 06-30-2003, 02:18 PM

Originally posted by LoudCat

Pit strategy played a large role in the race. I’m pretty sure everyone in the top 10 changed tires under green. Some had to change tires and gears.

that was the coolest thing about the es24 race: it seemed every racer in the a and b main had one or two-person pit crews. at the end of each heat this crowd of people rushed to the track to change stickers, change braid (sometimes mid-heat as the braid was really getting burnt up by all the rubber on the track braid), check clearance, plan tire changes, fix bodies and so on. it was a ball!

wayne h.

**oldracer2** · 06-30-2003, 05:32 PM

Actually Roy, Doug Y used a different strategy and did not have to change tires! Yes the car was on the deck at the end, but he made it.
There was a lot of cars in the pits during this race (A Main) but Doug ran pretty clean and avoided the pits. His pit boss was a real hard a-- too! He made Doug stay on even with bad braid.

I've never seen so much copper chewed up in one race! You could barely see the floor for all the spent braid!

This was an awesome race. Herman you are King!

**oldweirdherald** · 07-01-2003, 12:25 AM

1/32 Eurosport Results

Concours: Matt Zenovitch

TQ: Phil Helmuth - 3.3568

Final Results - (10 man round robin)

1 - Herman James - 510
2 - Matt Zenovitch - 505
3 - Ray Bishop - 492
4 - Roy Hood - 486
5 - Paul Kassens - 486
6 - Phil Helmuth - 484
7 - Ian Douglass - 464
8 - Chris Radisich - 456
9 - Mike O'Donell - 408
10 - Gary Johnson - 65

Another awesome race as Herman and Matt raced for the win within a couple laps until the last 30 seconds when a hard charging Matt simply could not reel in the smooth and fast Hermanator. As Matt pushed to catch, he came off, then crashed again in frustration while Herman cruised home for a well desrved win. Matt's 4 year 1/32 Eurosport victory streak had finally been put to an end and had to settle for 2nd.

Ray Bishop was fast and steady and came in 3rd, while Roy was fast as well. Old Weird Me was fast in the last few heats, but it was not quite enough after starting off with a slow pace in red lane. Roy cut me by about 10 feet for 4th. Phil Helmuth's car just didn't have the speed, and as he let me by in frustration he said "dammit Kassens, you better win this!". With the round robin format, we relied on the average laps screen between heats, but it was still difficult at times to tell exactly where you stand until the race is over.

A great race, and a great win by Herman James!

**oldweirdherald** · 07-01-2003, 02:40 AM

GT-12 Results

Concours: Kenny Richins

TQ: Neal Stewart - 3.1457

32 Entries!

D Main

1 - Paul Kassens - 346 (Oregon)
2 - Chris Radisich - 331 (SoCal / New Zealand)
3 - Kenny King - 323 (NorCal)
4 - James Loconto - 309 (Oregon)
5 - Paul "Split" Heath - 303 (New Zealand)
6 - Ron "Zippity" Thornton - 280 (New Zealand)
7 - Justin Goldberg - 259 (NorCal)
8 - Marty Cox - 247 (Colorado)

A real crash fest as Chris & I somehow sucked at qualifying to wind up in the D Main with several SHS newcomers. I felt like I was in a Kiwi sandwich one heat, as I was surrounded by 3 New Zealanders beside me.

C Main

1 - Jim "Kennewick Man" Hilgartner - 352 (Kennewick, Wash)
2 - Dwayne Roberts - 348 (Port Angeles, WA)
3 - Kenny Richins - 339 (Moses Lake, WA)
4 - Herman James - 337 (NorCal)
5 - Mike O' Donnell - 330 (NorCal)
6 - Phil Phillips - 327 (SoCal)
7 - Tom Van Horn - 297 (NorCal)
8 - Jeff Goldberg - 268 (NorCal)

Another crash fest, as 3 Washingtonians from the far corners of the state took the top 3 spots, while a very fast Herman James was damaged early but came back to finish 4th.

B Main

1 - Wayne Halabourda - 370 (BC Canada)
2 - Ian Douglass - 355 (NorCal / B'Ham, WA)
3 - Fred Hood - 352 (CenCal)
4 - Harold Rowe - 349 (NorCal)
5 - Harvey Mitchler - 343 (BC Canada)
6 - Gary Johnson - 338 - (Fall City, WA)
7 - Jamy Johnson - 331 - (Mercer Island, WA)
8 - Roy Hood - 326 (SoCal)

Still a lot of crashing in the B Main, but Wayne Halabourda stayed out of trouble and ran away and hid from this group.

A Main
1 - Neal Stewart - 387 (Seattle, WA)
2 - Ray Bishop - 386 Issaquah, WA)
3 - Matt Zenovitch - 373 (Grants Pass, Oregon)
4 - Doug Yarbrough - 359 (Puyallup, WA)
5 - Alicia Gilbert - 359 (Maple Valley, WA)
6 - Jim Brown - 357 (Gig Harbor, WA)
7 - Bill Clemans - 161 (Redmond, WA)
8 - Phil Helmuth - 133 (NorCal)

This was a very close and fast race with last year's AFTW's Grand Champion 18 year old Neal Stewart coming back after a year lay-off from racing to show everyone that he still had it.

Overall Results

1 - Neal Stewart - 387 (Seattle, WA)
2 - Ray Bishop - 386 Issaquah, WA)
3 - Matt Zenovitch - 373 (Grants Pass, Oregon)
4 - Wayne Halabourda - 370 (BC Canada)
5 - Doug Yarbrough - 359 (Puyallup, WA)
6 - Alicia Gilbert - 359 (Maple Valley, WA)
7 - Jim Brown - 357 (Gig Harbor, WA)
8 - Ian Douglass - 355 (NorCal / B'Ham, WA)
9 - Jim "Kennewick Man" Hilgartner - 352 (Kennewick, Wash)
10 - Fred Hood - 352 (CenCal)
11 - Harold Rowe - 349 (NorCal)
12 - Dwayne Roberts - 348 (Port Angeles, WA)
13 - Paul Kassens - 346 (Portland, Oregon)
14 - Harvey Mitchler - 343 (BC Canada)
15 - Kenny Richins - 339 (Moses Lake, WA)
16 - Gary Johnson - 338 - (Fall City, WA)
17 - Herman James - 337 (NorCal)
18 - Jamy Johnson - 331 - (Mercer Island, WA)
19 - Chris Radisich - 331 (SoCal / New Zealand)
20 - Mike O' Donnell - 330 (NorCal)
21 - Phil Phillips - 327 (SoCal)
22 - Roy Hood - 326 (SoCal)
23 - Kenny King - 323 (NorCal)
24 - James Loconto - 309 (Oregon)
25 - Paul "Split" Heath - 303 (New Zealand)
26 - Tom Van Horn - 297 (NorCal)
27 - Ron "Zippity" Thornton - 280 (New Zealand)
28 - Jeff Goldberg - 268 (NorCal)
29 - Justin Goldberg - 259 (NorCal)
30 - Marty Cox - 247 (Colorado)
31 - Bill Clemans - 161 (Redmond, WA)
32 - Phil Helmuth - 133 (NorCal)

OWH's 2003 AFTW Photo Gallery

**oldweirdherald** · 07-01-2003, 03:26 AM

C-1 Results

Concours: Wayne Halabourda

TQ: Doug Yarbrough

14 Entries

B Main

1 - Chris Radisich - 371
2 - Harvey Mitchler - 352
3 - Paul "Split" Heath - 343
4 - Kenny Richins - 340
5 - Jamy Johnson - 323
6 - Tom Van Horn - 305
7 - Jeff Goldberg - 295

A Main

1 - Bill Clemans - 412
2 - Roy Hood - 402
3 - Fred Hood - 399
4 - Dwayne Roberts - 398
5 - Ray Bishop - 395
6 - Doug Yarbrough - 394
7 - Wayne Halabourda - 384

Overall Results

1 - Bill Clemans - 412
2 - Roy Hood - 402
3 - Fred Hood - 399
4 - Dwayne Roberts - 398
5 - Ray Bishop - 395
6 - Doug Yarbrough - 394
7 - Wayne Halabourda - 384
8 - Chris Radisich - 371
9 - Harvey Mitchler - 352
10 - Paul "Split" Heath - 343
11 - Kenny Richins - 340
12 - Jamy Johnson - 323
13 - Tom Van Horn - 305
14 - Jeff Goldberg - 295

Another fast and competative race as local racer Bill Clemans drove to an impressive win. After suffering a devastating stroke not long ago, and losing much of the use of his right arm, Bill has come back to his winning ways - now driving left handed!

OWH's 2003 AFTW Photo Gallery

**oldweirdherald** · 07-01-2003, 03:45 AM

1/24 Eurosport Results

Concours: Wayne Halabourda

TQ: Herman James - 2.7063

19 Entries

B Main

1 - Fred Hood - 690
2 - Mike O' Donnel - 682
3 - Wayne Halabourda - 680
4 - Chris Radisich - 615
5 - Harold Rowe - 598
6 - Kenny King - 597
7 - Tom Van Horn - 495
8 - Paul "Split" Heath - 148
9 - Bill Clemans - 58

A Main

1 - Herman James - 743
2 - Ray Bishop - 713
3 - Doug Yarbrough - 706
4 - Phil Helmuth - 696
5 - Roy Hood - 688
6 - Matt Zenovitch - 685
7 - Alicia Gilbert - 660
8 - Dwayne Roberts - 607
9 - Gary Johnson - 485
10 - Neal Stewart - 173

Overall Results

1 - Herman James - 743
2 - Ray Bishop - 713
3 - Doug Yarbrough - 706
4 - Phil Helmuth - 696
5 - Fred Hood - 690
6 - Roy Hood - 688
7 - Matt Zenovitch - 685
8 - Mike O' Donnel - 682
9 - Wayne Halabourda - 680
10 - Alicia Gilbert - 660
11 - Chris Radisich - 615
12 - Dwayne Roberts - 607
13 - Harold Rowe - 598
14 - Kenny King - 597
15 - Tom Van Horn - 495
16 - Gary Johnson - 485
17 - Neal Stewart - 173
18 - Paul "Split" Heath - 148
19 - Bill Clemans - 58

The "Hermanator" clinches both Eurosport wins this year with a nearly flawless race, as everyone else had various problems that put them in the pits at least once. Ray Bishop hung on to take 2nd after an unprepared tire and gear changes. Doug Yarbrough kept it together enough for 3rd. Phil Helmuth was fast in the beginning, but came back to settle for 4th after 2 gear changes and a tire change. Neal Stewart munched a gear in the 4th heat after the motor moved, and called it a day, and former champ Matt Z. had more then his share of problems as well.

OWH's 2003 AFTW Photo Gallery

**oldweirdherald** · 07-01-2003, 04:59 AM

2003 AFTW Grand Champion Ray Bishop

2003 AFTW Grand Champion

Points were awarded for the following classes:
Pro Group 10, Group 12, GT-12, and 1/24 Eurosport

Name - Gp10 - Gp12 - GT-12 - 1/24 - Total

1 - Ray Bishop - 10 - 6 - 8 - 8 = 32
2 - Phil Helmuth - 6 - 8 - 0 - 5 = 19
3 - Doug Yarbrough - 4 - 3 - 4 - 6 = 17
4 - Bill Clemans - 5 - 10 - 0 - 0 = 15
5 - Matt Zenovitch - 3 - 2 - 6 - 2 = 13
6 - Herman James - 0 - 0 - 0 - 10 = 10
6 - Neal Stewart - 0 - 0 - 10 - 0 = 10
8 - Alicia Gilbert - 0 - 5 - 3 - 0 = 8
8 - Bob Everett - 8 - 0 - 0 - 0 = 8
10 - Wayne Halabourda - 2 - 0 - 5 - 0 = 7
10 - Roy Hood - 0 - 4 - 0 - 3 = 7
12 - Fred Hood - 0 - 0 - 0 - 4 = 4
13 - Jim Brown - 0 - 0 - 2 - 0 = 2
14 - Chris Radisich - 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 = 1
14 - Jim Hilgartner - 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 = 1
14 - Ian Douglass - 0 - 0 - 1 - 0 = 1
14 - Mike O'Donell - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1 = 1

(corrections made 7/6/03 - P.K.)

Congratulations to Ray Bishop our local PNW AMCA champion, who we often refer to as "that pesky Brit", Ray has been a consistant winner on this track, and is both a fast and a consistant driver.

Watch out for Ray to be a major contender at the Beaverfest and next year's USRA Nats as well, as he has been fast at Raceway USA as well!

**oldracer2** · 07-01-2003, 10:39 AM

Great report Paul! The pics are awesome (a few fuzzy ones can be overlooked). Thanks for your tremendous effort at reporting this race and racing too. It's a big job and probably gets little thanks or reward.
PS/ you forgot to mention how well JH did driving the wrong car!

**Chris Radisich** · 07-01-2003, 05:10 PM

To everyone who was at the Slugfest (I still prefer the old name as do so many it seems, and maybe we should start the bring back the slugfest name campaign), a big thank you to Kirk for putting the race on, and to Mark (and Andy) for some great race direction.

It was a pleasure as it was last year to come up and race with everyone, and it was great to see such a big turnout from California.

We got back to LA late last night, and Split has now gone off to Las Vegas to recover for a few days after spending the last couple of weeks working on and racing slotcars.

Chris.

**Speedshop** · 07-01-2003, 09:45 PM

Paul,

It doesn't look like the results you posted are correct. There was a power problem on black lane in the A Main event and Alicia lost at least 25 or more laps then. After the race there was to be a correction made to take the black lane out for all the Euro racers to come up with the right result. From the lap numbers it looks like this was not done. You need to check with Kirk and make an adjustment.

Also, for everyones information Matt Zenivitch's result in the Group 12 race was caused by this black lane problem. At the start of the A Main Matt's car did not move. He checked his controller and then someone picked up his car and checked it. No one could find a problem so they put it back down on the black lane, gave it a push and it ran fine the rest of the race. I complained to the race director that there was a problem and was blown off with "it's always the racer's car or controller, never the track"! Needlass to say this is not the way to solve a problem. Matt would have finished much higher in the standings if there was a restart as I suggested.

**wayne h** · 07-02-2003, 11:46 AM

Originally posted by Speedshop

... There was a power problem on black lane in the A Main event and Alicia lost at least 25 or more laps ... You need to check with Kirk and make an adjustment.

...for everyones information Matt Zenivitch's result in the Group 12 race was caused by this black lane problem...

...I complained to the race director...

first, i have to say that this was a great event. herman schooled everyone in eurosport. every class was exciting to compete in and watch. there were many fine entries in concours. kirk, mark, and andy did a superb job as race director. it was a pleasure to renew old freindships and make new ones. even zippity was a gracious guest and good sportsman. i'm sure, 95% of the people there came away happy.

it amazes me that the speedshop's most loyal racer, ray bishop, won the overall title and all that you can do is pooh-pooh this event because you feel alecia and matt lost laps because of the track.

how is it that the "track" only affected alecia and matt? ask helmuth, neal, etc. why their wheels fell off, motors fell out, and gears got trashed.

it is no surprise that the out-of-towners out numbered the locals 2:1.

btw, alecia's total in eurosport is correct. i saw kirk adjust it directly after the race.

respectfully,

wayne h.

**Speedshop** · 07-02-2003, 02:28 PM

I beg to differ with you Wayne. The way the problem was to be corrected was to total all the Eurosports black lane laps including the A and B heats, then divide them by the number of racers racing. I can tell this was not done by the number of laps Herman turned. He went 3 laps farther than the overall total lap record and this can not happen if he had been docked black lane laps with everyone else. With this system there is no way Kirk could just correct Alicia's black lane total.

I'm sure other racers had problems on the black lane but I could only comment on the ones I personally knew about. The two problems I wrote about were the only two I personally witnessed and knew I had the correct facts.

As to other racer's problems I only build the cars and after that they drive them. Neal broke gears because he hit cars at speed. Phil ran his tires off turning 98 and 99 laps heats. I saw no motors fall out of any Speedshop Eurosport car or any other for that matter. Every racer that finished the A main except Dewayne, Doug and Ray lost gears duing the race and this includes Herman James. At the speeds they were racing you have to protect your equipment. By the way Herman James ran a Ready to Race Speedshop Eurosport so why didn't he have all the problems the others had. Check your facts before you trash others.

Yes Ray Bishop did an great job winning the Grand Champion award. I wonder how he did it with the bad cars I build with all those motors falling out, tires cominig off and gears being trashed? Ray runs Speedshop cars exclusively and that's one of the reasons he is the top racer at South Hill Slots.

I pointed out the black lane problem to let people reading this understand that the printed results (Eurosport) were not correct. The worst thing you do, in my opinion, is print false results. Paul should have waited and made the proper corrections before printing anything.

Finally, you thought the race direction was great. If so then the Matt Z thing must not have happened and I must be a liar!

**Phil H** · 07-02-2003, 03:46 PM

in all seriousness guys, I just got a call from herman and he told me that most of the guys up there thought I was acting like Neal was last year. I try to use subtle sarcasm to make people laugh cuz if you're not subtle enough, it's not funny. I wasn't trying to be a little $hit, when I yelled at Lee that "I wasn't paying for this one either", even though I wasn't happy, I wasn't being serious. Sorry guys, I'm not that much of a $hithead. With communication on the panel, passing, traffic, and holding a pace while being tailgated, those locals are @#$# GOOD (time for some traveling!). And with what Wayne said about the gears, I wasn't happy about that either (wtf did I hit?). okay, the 2 cents is free....
-Phil H

**Gary NJ** · 07-02-2003, 03:46 PM

In looking at the list of the AFTW Grand Champion racers and their finishes, why isn't Herman James on that list? Looks to me like he should of been in their somewhere, no??

Keep the trash talk coming, guys. Those of us who race USRA love this stuff!!!