The Surf City Classic was held for the second year at Orange County RC, and Steven Hartson came out on top again – He piloted his B4 to the Pro 2wd Modified Class, defeating the top qualifier and 2-time World Champion Ryan Cavalieri. Hartson chose the Bar Codes front and rear, in the gold rubber compound for both his 2wd buggy and this truck. Hartson finished second to Cavalieri in Pro Modified Truck.
Here is a report from a local media source:
Steven Hartson wins 2wd Modified Buggy for the second year in a row against some of the top pro’s in the country at the Surf City Classic at OC/RC, Huntington Beach, California.
Hosted by Orange County R/C Raceway in beautiful Huntington Beach, California, the 2nd Annual Pro-Line Surf City Classic boasts a $4000 cash payout for the four major classes. A victory in the 1/8th Pro Buggy, 4WD Pro Buggy, 2WD Pro Buggy, or 2WD Pro Truck sends winner home with $500 in cash, second takes $300, and third nets $200. Not too bad … so much so that it brought out a few top racers from across the country including Steven Hartson, Ryan Cavalieri, Jared Tebo, Jeremy Kortz, and Frank Root, just to name a few. This was a 2 day race with qualifying on Saturday and 7 minute Main Events on Sunday.
In qualifying, Steven Hartson ran some of the fastest lap times in all classes. Steven ended up second to Ryan Cavalieri in qualifying in all three classes. As Sunday’s main events rolled around all the talk was about the track and how much it had changed since the qualifying. Slick conditions meant that precision driving would be at a premium and racing would be tight.
The first class up was the 2WD Pro Truck. As the main event got under way, the first lap it was Ryan Cavalieri, Frank Root , Steven Hartson. At the one minute mark Frank Rook caught a pipe and Steven and Ryan got by. At the 2:40 mark, Ryan crashed and Steven ran into him putting him back on his wheels. This left Ryan in the lead. At the 3:30 mark, Ryan makes a mistake going up the face of the wall ride and Steven runs into the back of Ryan pushing Ryan by the pipe and Steven caught the pipe on the wall ride. This allowed Ryan about a straight away lead over Steven. Steven was not able to catch Ryan and ended up second. Finishing order was Ryan, Steven and Nick Walnuts.
Second up was 2WD Modified Buggy. This class had some of the best World Class Drivers entered. As the main got underway there were three drivers that checked out from the field and exchanged the lead back and forth several times. (Steven Hartson, Ryan Cavalieri, Jared Tebo) At the 2:00 mark with Ryan in the lead, Steven made a clean pass to take the lead. At 2:20 mark Ryan got into the back of Steven by accident and waited for Steven to get pointed in the right direction and this allowed Jared to get by them both. At the 3:00 mark, Jared cases a jump and allows Ryan and Steven to get by. At the 4:20 mark, Steven got by Ryan only to crash and allow Ryan and Jared by again. At the 5:45 mark, Steven passed Jared for second. At the 6:30 mark, Ryan catches a pipe and popped a ball cup, letting Steven in the lead and Jared second. Steven went on to win 2wd Modified Buggy for the second year in a row.