We had a lot of build-up for the 1/8th truck A-main and everyone was ready. Maifield was the pole sitter and looked confident and ready to go while the crowd also appeared amped and ready. Just when we were about to start, the dirt crew suffered an announcing audio problem and we had a delay while we waited the start of the main.
Just before the main I decided to run one of the Short Course qualifiers which was running on the smaller track using Maifield’s SC10. The track was somewhat dry during the qualifier and I was actually doing quite well considering I hadn’t had much practice with the vehicle. I ended up 3rd in the first round which was a nice change of pace before the big show.
Moving back over to the show, Joey, Aaron and the crew were climbing on the roof of the Fear Farm drivers stand arranging and trying to produce some audio. After about an hour and a half everything was ready and the drivers hit the track.
Maifield got off to amazing start with Tessman just behind in 2nd. Lap after lap the 2 drivers maintained the same distance from one another and pulled away from the rest of the pack. It was roughly 8 minutes into the race with Maifield leading when he landed in an Island and hit a hale bale with the nose of the truck. It looked like a routine crash and he’d come out just behind Tessman as both drivers neared their first pit stop. It was breakage on the impact for Maifield as a the plastic rod-end that connects servo to bell crank was broken. Heart breaking moment for the Maifield camp. Looking down at my stop watch he had just run his fastest lap of the race on lap 14 and unable to finish lap 15. I headed back to the pits in disappoint to pack-up my pit area and cool off a little. 5-10 minutes later I rejoined the race in support of Dustin Evans who was running well and in 8th place at the time. Bumping up from the B-main Dustin appeared to now have the track time he needed to run the hot laps and he put on a charge moving up to 7th and then finally 6th place. Coming off the drivers stand Dustin was ecstatic with his finish and result from his first nitro event in 2012.
It was now about 9pm and they started the Short Course program up again so I waited for my qualifier to hit the track. The track was now super sticky and wet so I went with Pressure Points all the way around. The truck was really good but the tacky dirt was making things tough and the truck would bicycle or almost traction roll in the higher speed turns. I held on for another 13 lapper and ended up in 4th overall after 2 mistakes. I guess I’m committed now for round 3 and the mains? Stayed tuned for more updates….