On the weekend of January 8th and 9th, 150 of the fastest racers in Florida took part in Round 3 of the Florida State Off-Road Series. As usual there was some awesome racing and great times had by all.  Everyone was looking forward to this round in particular because it was at a track that was recently just created. The track is cleverly named “The R/C Asylum” and is housed in a 100 year old citrus packaging plant in Winter Haven, Fl. (for all you motocross fans its near where Bubba Stewart lives) It is a good addition to the Florida scene because if you have ever been here for a race, you know it is going to rain at some point. However, this track still has some challenges to it that made for some early frustrations. The floor that the track is built on is 3 feet off of the ground, so cold air is always circulating under the track making it difficult to find traction. All weekend the only compounds that worked were Super Softs from all manufacturers with a trade off of longevity.

In the 1/8th Pro Buggy class the star of qualifying was Billy Easton. He took all three rounds and was 15 seconds clear of the next closest competitor. He was also the only guy that turned 14 laps. From 2nd on back it was a battle with the likes of Jr Mitch, Gene Hickerson, Ryan Eckert, Leon McIntosh (myself) and a couple other guys for the final qualifying postions. I ended up breaking two out of three so I had bump from the B. I managed that fairly easily and and gridded up 11th for the A main.

For the A, Billy and myself opted for M4 Hole Shots to carry us through the 30 minute race. Ryan Johnson, a local fast guy, used M4 Hole Shots on the rear and M3 Suburbs on the front. We were all pretty happy with the selection and drove decent races as a result. Billy started up front and had a great battle early on but he let the track get the best of him and JR Mitch went around for the Victory. Ryan and myself were battling for the 3rd-5th spot for the entire race. With some engine trouble in the end I settled for the 6th, Ryan 5th, and Billy 2nd.  A lot of credit has to go to JR, though, because not only was his car good but he drove a great race.

In 1/8th Pro Truck JR Mitch took the victory again followed by Ryan Johnson in 2nd on M3 Hole Shot VTRs. Ryan drove a great race but had problems in traffic due to the tight layout and difficult jump sections.  All in all it was a good race and a lot of credit goes to the guys at the Asylum for putting on a great race. Even when it was freezing cold ( 40 degrees here in florida is freezing :-)) we still had a blast.

Next Stop, Electric Super Cup Race January 22nd & 23rd at Extreme Hobby Zone in Winter Have, FL.

Till Next Time,
Leon McIntosh

Pro-Line/Xray

Funny Video of the day: