This past weekend the team traveled down to a popular vacation spot known as Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. However, we weren’t there to vacation but rather to put in some work. It may be the off season for hanging out beachside but it’s a great time for RC Racing! About 20 minutes from the ocean you’ll find the Badlands RC Supercross Track. The team set up on Wednesday night and then Thursday/Friday were practice days. Drivers had to choose between Thursday and Friday to practice, they could only drive in one session. Friday night we began seeding and around 8pm the rain rolled in. The electric seeding was washed out so we went straight into qualifying on Saturday once the track dried up a little bit. Weather has typically been a big concern for this event, but this year we lucked out only getting some rain over one night.
Tire choices changed a little bit throughout the weekend. The main choices were gold Ellipses and silver Rehabs. The Rehab is similar to the Detox but has smaller tread. The track this weekend started to develop a groove but if you got outside the groove it was dusty. The rehab has lugs with cuts/grooves that allow for some flex in dusty track conditions particularly in long mains. Therefore, making it a good tire choice for the weekend. As grip continued to come up throughout the weekend the team made setup changed to their vehicles to accommodate.
Seeding:
Nitro Truck: 1- Seth VanDalen 2- Jackson Brunson
Pro Nitro Buggy: 2- Jackson Brunson 3- Julien Oliveras 4- Seth VanDalen
Pro E-Buggy: Rained Out
Qualifying (2 of 3):
Nitro Truck: 1- Seth VanDalen 2- Jackson Brunson
Pro Nitro Buggy: 2- Seth VanDalen 3- Jackson Brunson 5- Julien Oliveras
Pro E-Buggy: 1- Julien Oliveras 2- Jacob Hardison 3- Griffin Hanna 5- Lee Setser
Mains:
Nitro Truck: 1- Seth VanDalen 2- Jackson Brunson 5- Cade Burnette
The grid started with Vail in 1st, Brunson in 2nd, VanDalen in 3rd, Woodyard in 4th, and Ward in 5th.
Vail led the race for a while before VanDalen started to catch up.
At 2 minutes to go the gap between VanDalen and Brunson was closing in. Brunson was 2 seconds behind VanDalen. Vail was also still too close for comfort.
The gap slightly widened to 3.2 seconds with 60 seconds to go. VanDalen was pushing through lap traffic.
Pit Stops were fast and didn’t really change the battle.
Brunson got a little bit of the pipe with 30 seconds to go but he was still hunting down VanDalen.
VanDalen took the win.
Pro Nitro Buggy: 1- Seth VanDalen 3- Jackson Brunson 5- Lee Setser
The race started with Ogden in the 1, VanDalen in the 2 spot, Brunson in the 3rd spot, Vail in th 4th, and Oliveras in the 5th.
Vail, Brunson, and VanDalen were running in the 1-2 spots after 23 minutes elapsed.
VanDalen and Vail were battling with Brunson 9 seconds behind them in 3rd.
VanDalen was out in front with Vail behind him as they were trying to make it through lap traffic. Vail was only 2.9 seconds back
Vail made a pass by VanDalen taking over that 1st position with 1 minute and 40 seconds to go.
Meanwhile, Brunson and Setser were battling for that 3rd place spot.
VanDalen took back the first place spot with less than 60 seconds left in the race and he was starting to check out.
Pro E-Buggy: 2- Griffin Hanna 3- Jacob Hardison 4- Julien Oliveras 5- Lee Setser
The race started with Oliveras in the 1, Hardison in the 2, Hanna in the 3, Weatherholt in the 4, and Setser in the 5.
There was a big pile up early on with 3rd place and the rest of the pack. Weatherholt and Hanna were ahead of the commotion. Everyone got past it and started putting in work to secure their positions.
Hanna had a 7 second lead on Weatherhold
Hanna made a little bobble but was still maintaining the lead.
With a minute to go, Weathholt made a pass on Hanna
It was a neck and neck battle between Weatherholt and Hanna all the way to the end. They were the only drivers to achieve 21 laps in the race.
Open E-Buggy: 1- Javon Mallory
Novice: 5- Benny Komerian
Open Nitro Buggy: 3- Javon Mallory 4- Kayla Espinel
40+ E-Buggy: 2- Ofir Komerian 5- Kevin Bullock
Overall, we saw some great performances out of the team this weekend and congratulations to all the winners! Thank you to the Badlands RC Supercross facility for hosting an awesome event! We’ll see everyone trackside soon!
Winning Products: