After spending this much time in California I’ve been thinking about saying Bro more. It seems everyone says Bro and has replaced dude as the most popular. I will try it on in the next few days and see how it fits.
Saturday morning came early. I’m struggling now since I’m used to the time change. Saxton was out early also because AE had a demo at Glenhelen for the MX event and the King was running the booth.
I made the drive again to Montclair for the Memorial Weekend Associated race. My Yaris has some miles on it now. 🙂 Practice was the day before as previously reported so the factory drivers looked ready. When I showed up the pits were pretty filled and the raceday excitement was fresh. All new faces at the track with very little carry over from OCRC. It’s great to see so many racers here in Southern California.
I was thrown into the fire early as Brent had me throw out his buggy for practice. The surface did not have as much grip so the jumps were a little more difficult. Being trapped between pit lane and the drivers stand the fumes were pretty severe. I had to take a quick break to clear my eyes before a fuel stop for Brent. Brent had me richen the bottom end. Something of note. You can use either a regular screwdriver as normal or a 2.0mm wrench to make carb adjustments to the Reedy. Pretty nice.
Brent was happy with the settings and we returned to the pits. Maifield and others showed up and started prepping their cars for qualifying. This was going to be pretty fun.
SC8 demo was first and it appeared with only 4 entries things were not all that serious in that class. Maifield had already did a race prep on his truck and it was clearly the fastest SC8 of the bunch.
Why not an electric 1/8th scale class? Seems like it would make sense but apparently no one thought of including it on the entry form. Maybe next year?
Being here about 10 days total I was really introduced to the E-buggy class as it seems to carry some popularity in Cali. We had the class at the Clash in 08 and I was impressed with the turnout but we have had very little action with it other than the Outlaw Cup.
I don’t know exactly where the class is going but it appears to have a place. We already have so much is something going to give? For it to be a giant success I would think something has to give.
The sticker shock is what scares most at first. However, I think if you look at it in the big picture it probably is not that expensive when compared to a race ready nitro vehicle. It most likely comes down to what battery setup is used and how long those packs last. If they last as long as my 2wd and 4wd stuff the cost will not be a factor long term.
I think it is the perfect class for the driver that hates the mess of nitro but likes the durability of the 1/8th car. This might be a class an on-road driver could migrate to and find some success in. Barry Baker is already running so I say let’s invite some more on-road guys in on the fun. 😉
Back to racing action we were getting Maifield prepped and ready for qual 1 and he looked ready. After a few laps in it was Truhe and Mans first and 2nd. Looking good so far. Truhe made a mistake in the center of the track and Mans took over the lead and on a 16 lap pace which is what the current TQ was at. Pudge was sitting in 3rd but I had a feeling he just wanted to be up front come the mains when typically he does the most damage with his consistency. Maifield made a mistake in the center right where Truhe crashed earlier and needed a marshal. This run did not finish so quick and had to settle for 4th in the round.
Truggy was up next and Mans was still running his practice Cross Hairs from the day before. The Cross Hairs are amazing truggy tires and they provide great performance for a long time. These tires were on his truck when he got to Rev as used in the last event and he practiced all day with them on Friday and was confident enough for the first round at a large event. Sounds like a win – win.
This time Mans and Adam were on the track at the same time and were throwing down the hot laps. Adam did not need to pit so he was able to take the heat race win and TQ with a great run. Maifield finished in 2nd where he would qualify overall for the event. Adam looked strong and with a 30 minute main he would only need to pit twice which should be enough with minimal mistakes.
Buggy round 2 looked a little different and Mans leading on lap 1 things were looking good. He was on a TQ run and 3 seconds under Adam’s best time when a pit stop was needed. Brent did a great pit stop filling the buggy and setting it down in one motion. Really smooth, the only problem is with an S-turn coming out of the pits even a small tuning problem could turn into a flameout which is exactly what happened and forced mans out of TQ contention. Very frustrating for the whole team as things were looking awesome. Saving it for the mains we were hoping.
The Drake took both TQ’s and with it the confidence heading into the finals on Sunday.
I wanted to try a few things before I hit the road so Mans fired up the buggy and I went to work mounting more tires. I mounted up some yellow compound Crowbars with firm yellow JC inserts. We wanted to try yellows incase the track would get dryer and test the durability. We checked lap times and run time. Amazingly he was faster laptime wise but getting 7:30 minutes runtime would mean extra pit stops over Drake. He was going to have to make-up time on the track if he was going to win. We will soon see.
As soon as the last round was over I hit the road to meet up with Frank Root over in Saugus where JBRL round 3 was taking place. I was going to spend Sunday with Frank and Steven Hartson testing Bar Codes at Hot Rod on the dry track. The Yaris is getting a serious workout! Hot Rod is probably 2 hours away from Rev so I needed to hurry up to make dinner with the guys.
Olive Garden with Frank, Barry, Steve Chamberlin and Dave. It’s all about the bread sticks and good company. Thanks for waiting guys!
More on Sunday soon…..
Jason Ruona
www.jconcepts.net
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