Moroz-2008 - final race (N-1600)

[faksta]

Just went home from a hippodrome in Ramenskoe, Moscow province. The last race of 2008 ice track Russian championship attracted 13 participants.

Pre-race standings in Russian championship looked like this:

pos. driver (points total)
1. Kirill Ladygin (188pts)
2. Aleksei Dudukalo (159pts)
3. Dmitriy Bragin (150pts)
4. Vladimir Cherevan (144pts)
5. Arkadiy Pavlovskiy (114pts)
6. Boris Schulmeister (110pts)
7. Anton Markin (103pts)
8. Arkadiy Zharkov (101pts)
9. Ruslan Chirkov (85pts)
10. Sergei Zagumennov (83pts)
11. Mikhail Ilyakov (69pts)
12-13. Alexander Sotnikov (52pts)
12-13. Evgeniy Aksakov (52pts)
14. Aleksei Basov (51pts)
15. Sergei Liubchenko (45pts)
16. Lev Yuditskiy (40pts)
17. Mikhail Kozlovskiy (22pts)
18. Sergei Marochkin (18pts)
19-20. Sergei Krylov (0pts)
19-20. Vladimir Labazov (0pts)

The above results are based on previous two races in N-1600 category (20.01.2008 in Usady, Tatarstan and 03.02.2008 in Ramenskoe, Moscow province).

Alongside with Russian championship a Moscow province governor's prize was established. These results were counted basing on previous 3 races held up on Ramenskoe hippodrome - 27.01.2008 Lada Cup race (which I attended and posted a little info before), 03.02.2008 N-1600 Russian championship race and 17.02.2008 non-championship N-1600 race (Race of Stars - RAF President Cup). A battle for this prize was very close - 6 drivers had strong possibilities for a win. Standings before the race:

pos. driver (point total)
1. Kirill Ladygin (178pts)
2. Boris Schulmeister (175pts)
3. Dmitriy Bragin (171pts)
4. Vladimir Cherevan (141pts)
5. Aleksei Dudukalo (128pts)
6. Andrei Radoshnov (100pts)
7-8. Anton Markin (94pts)
7-8. Alexander Sotnikov (94pts)
9. Arkadiy Zharkov (92pts)
10. Vasiliy Mezentsev (89pts)
11. Sergei Ryabov (80pts)
12. Aleksei Basov (78pts)
13. Kirill Vdovin (73pts)
14. Dmitriy Berngardt (67pts)
15. Arkadiy Pavlovskiy (63pts)
16. Aleksei Ivanov (61pts)
17. Mihail Ilyakov (58pts)
18. Sergei Marochkin (57pts)
19. Vyacheslav Maleev (56pts)
20. Igor Filippov (51pts)
21. Igor Ogulenko (46pts)
22-23. Evgeniy Aksakov (42pts)
22-23. Vladimir Nikolaev (42pts)
24. Vadim Tkachev (38pts)
25-26. Vladimir Labazov (34pts)
25-26. Andrei Nefedov (34pts)
27. Ruslan Chirkov (31pts)
28-30. Lev Yuditskiy (30pts)
28-30. Sergei Zagumennov (30pts)
28-30. Albert Gainullin (30pts)
31. Mikhail Tyagunov (26pts)
32. Nikolai Agapov (25pts)
33. Mikhail Kozlovskiy (22pts)
34. Sergei Liubchenko (11pts)

[Gt1Street]

skuchna cho li ?, na l'du katayutsa ? :)

[faksta]

Qualification results (22.02.2008):

pos. driver laps_completed best_lap
1. Boris Schulmeister 2 0:46.079
2. Alexander Sotnikov 3 0:46.758
3. Evgeniy Aksakov 4 0:47.095
4. Aleksei Dudukalo 4 0:47.249
5. Aleksei Basov 4 0:47.285
6. Sergei Nuzhdin 4 0:47.456
7. Kirill Ladygin 4 0:47.547
8. Arkadiy Pavlovskiy 4 0:47.677
9. Anton Markin 4 0:47.796
10. Dmitriy Bragin 4 0:48.002
11. Dmitriy Kiselev 4 0:48.483
12. Vladimir Cherevan 2 0:48.675
13. Arkadiy Zharkov 2 0:48.699
14. Lev Yuditskiy 2 0:49.661
15. Sergei Liubchenko DNS
16. Sergei Uspenskiy DNS
17. Evgeniy Vertunov DNS

To analyze the time, here is a very brief info about a track.

Lenght: 1600m,
Width (min) 16m,
Surface - ice, pressed snow.

Race scheme in ice track series is following: 16 3-lap races, 6 cars in each (today there was a little leak of participants, so some races consisted of 5, 4 and even 3 cars). Each race scores points depending on position: 5 pts for coming first, 4 for second, 3 for third, 2 for fourth, 1 for fifth and no point for finishing sixth. During a day every driver meets each other on a track 2 times. According to rules, 6 spare cars with another drivers should be present, but as I have already said, cars were insufficient, so no spare participants were available. After all races whether 1, 2 and 3 places have the same points, the additional 3-lap race is being thrown.

[faksta]

skuchna cho li ?, na l'du katayutsa ? :)

Tradition - since 1966 ;) In fact it is worth watching.

[Gt1Street]

Tradition - since 1966 ;) In fact it is worth watching.

Its not fun untill someone crashes :)

how cold is it there right now ?

[faksta]

Its not fun untill someone crashes :)

how cold is it there right now ?

It was just about zero today, but VERY wet, so it was just like an icy hell :D. During yesterday's Za Ruljom's Race of Stars (which, BTW, included Christophe Bouchut and Nelson Piquet Jr.) it rained heavily.

[faksta]

Before the results, I guess, it is necessary to tell about the series itself.

N-1600 cars mean FWD cars with 1,6-liter engines, prepared according to Group N or Turing-Light regulations. Minor engine modifications allowed for cars with less than 130hp basically (and no forcing at all). Minimum weight (with driver) - 1020kg. Plastic bodypanels can be cut to fit wheels in, decorative parts can be deleted. Safety frame and net on the driver's window, HANS system must be applied, all seats except driver's must be deleted... well, there are many other slight modifications allowed.

All the cars must be equipped with monotyres - 6 tyres with 1,5mm spines allowed for every entrant for each race, every tyre is being marked before the race. During a technical inspection some parts or details of a car can be marked, too.

Speaking about teams, the only works team which is present in series is AvtoVAZ team with their VAZ 11193 Kalina, which, in fact, look very competitive on ice tracks. Two of them raced today. Others prepare cars (mostly foreign) themselves. The most popular car today was a Citroen Saxo - small, cheap and light, and moreover many times examined in previous years on ice and tarmac tracks and in rallies. Though nowadays they practically can't be as fast as more modern cars, so as today five Saxo's won only 3 races of 16.
As a rule a best start can be done on Honda Civic (1998 body). I guess, because of its weight and wheelbase. Well, as in these 3-lap races start determines much, they did good today - three Civic's won five races.
Among the above mentioned, one Renault Clio, Citroen C2 and Ford Fiesta were entered. And while Clio's best result was a second place in a separate race, and C2 couldn't climb higher than on fourth place, the only Fiesta was a little devil - won four races and became an overall winner driven by Aleksei Dudukalo.

The last pic here shows Arkadiy Zharkov's Civic being towed off the track after making a roof in 6th race.

[faksta]

So, the results. After 16 races the protocol looked like this:

pos. driver car points points to championship
1. Aleksei Dudukalo Ford Fiesta 26 100
2. Kirill Ladygin VAZ 11193 Kalina 26 85
3. Dmitriy Bragin VAZ 11193 Kalina 22 74
4. Boris Schulmeister Honda Civic 21 64
5. Evgeniy Aksakov Citroen Saxo 20 55
6. Vladimir Cherevan Honda Civic 20 48
7. Alexander Sotnikov Citroen Saxo 19 41
8. Aleksei Basov Renault Clio 19 34
9. Anton Markin Citroen Saxo 16 28
10. Arkadiy Pavlovskiy Citroen Saxo 13 22
11. Arkadiy Zharkov Honda Civic 9 16
12. Lev Yuditskiy Citroen Saxo 7 11
13. Dmitriy Kiselev Citroen C2 6 6

As for the final standings in championship, I'll post them later, when the official information will appear.

[faksta]

As you can see, after 16 races Dudukalo and Ladygin scored the same points, so they ran an additional race - 3 laps, 2 cars. To be mentioned, the finish was very close - in a last turn Ladygin was very close to overtaking Dudukalo, but Aleksei succeeded in defence. The final straight was completed by them wheel-to-wheel, but Dudukalo appeared to be faster.

[faksta]

After this six best drivers judging on today's results participated in 3 additional superfinal races of 6 cars and 3 laps, which didn't add points to a current standings. Two of three races were won by Boris Schulmeister on his black Honda Civic, and in third race he finished third becoming the winner of superfinals. The finish of third race (see picture five here) was even closer than the Dudukalo-Ladygin run in favour of Kirill Ladygin on Lada Kalina and Vladimir Cherevan on Honda Civic coming second.

All five pics here show the superfinals.

[faksta]

The winner...

[faksta]

...podium and another participants...

[faksta]

...and the only works cars - Kalina's.

[LotusLocost]

First i would like to thank you faksta for taking your time to write all this and adding these nice pictures! Very interesting to read about the series, and it warms a racer who is waiting for spring to see some nice racing action! I really wish there was some kind of ice racing cup here in Norway. Only chance to get competitive action on ice/snow here is to participate in rallies. This looks like a lot of fun and a action filled set up for sure! I love the concept of the whole thing! Thanks again for taking your time! Much appreciated!

I would also like to ad: I think it's good that they have to use the HANS system in this class. Which is coming in racing here to now I guess. In a year or two it will most certainly be mandatory.

[faksta]

Glad you enjoyed it :) In a week or so I hope I'll make a video from there and will share a link in this thread.
Cheers!

[faksta]

As was promised, here are the final championship standings. But before a bit about a counting system. To be listed in the final standings drivers must have been participate in all of three championship races. All results have been summarised and the one worst figure has been subtracted. Thus, after three races completed the final schedule is following:

pos. driver points (I, II and III rounds accordingly) points to championship
1. Aleksei Dudukalo 100, 59, 100 200
2. Kirill Ladygin 88, 100, 85 188
3. Dmitriy Bragin 79, 71, 74 153
4. Boris Schulmeister 22, 88, 64 152
5. Vladimir Cherevan 65, 69, 48 144
6. Arkadiy Pavlovskiy 71, 43, 22 114
7. Anton Markin 38, 65, 28 103
8. Arkadiy Zharkov 48, 53, 16 101
9. Evgeniy Aksakov 18, 34, 55 89
10. Alexander Sotnikov 14, 38, 41 79
11. Aleksei Basov 43, 8, 34 77
12. Lev Yuditskiy 26, 14, 11 40

EDIT: I thought it is not necessary to include drivers who are not classified...
P.S. The vid is coming in couple days :)

[faksta]

Here it is finally. Longer to wait that was promised, sorry.
YouTube - Ice oval track (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L_Ei7LcCTM)