I was able to get back on the track this past Friday and Saturday for a USRC event at the Ohio RC Factory. The track layout was tight and high bite and finesse was the name of the game. I got my set-ups pretty close to where I was at from last time I was here in December with some minor changes. One thing that didn't change at all was the tire of choice which was AKA Ultra Soft Typos which I used the whole time.
We had 9 hours of available practice on Friday and the track started super high grip but the grip level came down throughout the day as the track dried out a little. Many people showed up for practice day and it was looking like a good turnout. We had drivers come from NY, PA, VA, WV, KY, MI, MD, and probably others. It was awesome to see and come Saturday morning we had over 135 entries! I kicked it off with a quick Q&A session where some good questions were brought up on servo speed and the primary topic was my thoughts on becoming a pro and my journey to get there. (Be sure to attend the next one to hear more and ask your questions!)
On to the racing where we did two 7 minute rocket round qualifiers with a resort between the rounds. I ran my WRC SBX and SBXE buggies and was able to TQ Q1 in Nitro buggy by 12 seconds and Electric buggy by 4 seconds after a roll over crash on my own on the first lap. I put my head down and didn't give up and clicked off some quick laps to eclipse the fast kids. In Q2 I wouldn't go faster than my Q1 times but would still TQ the rounds and get the overall TQ for the A mains.
We did double Amains for both classes. Ebuggy was double 8 minute mains. In A1 I got out to and held a good start but on my 4th lap I landed to far inside on the back triple and landed funky on the pipe and it pulled out my hinge pin from the pills. The C block screw moved a bit so i'm not sure which was the cause and effect but in the end it resulted in a DNF and with them taking both mains as counting it would end my chances at a podium unfortunately.
In A2 though I came back and had a great battle with Joey for much of the race. I would lead the first 9 laps until crashing on the top right allowing Joey to get by. I would catch up and put pressure on and we battled for the next 7 laps until he made a mistake and I got back by him and held on for a 2 second victory. Good fun and great for the spectators. With a 10th and a 1st I would get 5th overall.
*Dragon IV Edition 2 with 2159 was on point mileage wise after Q1! Super pumped about this engine combo! :-D
For the Nitro buggy Amain it was a double main but it was held back to back. We took the total time of 25 min and split it into two 12:30 segments with a restart in the middle. The first half was textbook for me as I just pulled away from the start. My WRC SBX is really good at this track it seems and I was able to win by nearly 2 laps in the first segment. We were meant to start in finishing order for A2 but the director wanted to make it interesting so he inverted the order so I started last in A2. It took me 7 laps to move from the back to the front and then I had some competition from Jeff for a while until he made a mistake with a few minutes to go and I would win by nearly 3/4 of a lap to take the overall victory with wins in both mains.
Overall had a great time. Track was a lot of fun. It was great to see so many new faces coming out to support the series and R/C in general. Next up for me in the USRC series is at Dixons RC in Kentucky March 26-27. My next race however is this upcoming weekend with my first journey to the ROCCK in Knoxville, TN for the TN State Champs.
