Well, the Grass Roots Racing Series wrapped up this weekend, and it was a great day to race. Sun was shining and a little breeze to keep it cool. Levi Jackson had built and epic layout for the finals, and there was even a cake! The cake was constructed to look like the track, and it was very impressive. The electric guys ate half of it the day before, but I guess we can forgive them.

The expert buggy final looked to be exciting, as Pro-Line‘s Adam Drake and Jesse Robbers were on hand. This would provide a suitable challenge for Pro-Line Driver Cody King who took the points lead into round 8.

In qualifying Cody would set the fast time, and Adam and Jesse would try to knock Cody off the top spot. The trio were close on lap times, but Cody would  prevail by just .7 seconds over Adam to clinch the TQ point.

The expert buggy final didn’t disappoint, as Cody made an early mistake in the difficult staircase section, and Jesse motored by for the lead. Again Cody had trouble in the same section with Robbers and Drake cruising out front to a huge lead. Cody seemed to get the staircase figured out, but then a few miscues by Robbers and Drake was then leading. Robbers came in for fuel on the same lap as Cody and the two got tangled up coming out of pit lane. This gave Drake a huge margin as he was cruising out front with the lead. Cody came out of the mess in second, and Robbers in third.

After Cody’s second pit stop, he suddenly got very focused and started reeling in Drake. This was reminiscent of his driving style in Pattaya, as Cody clicked off blistering lap after blistering lap, taking huge chunks out of Drakes lead. At this point Cody had mastered the down hill staircase section that gave him trouble in the early stages, as he gracefully skipped over the section lap after lap.

With just 4 laps to go, Cody would catch and pass Drake, but the race was far from over. As Drake and Cody got together on the track, suddenly Robbers was there in the mix again. Only 3 laps to go, and Cody landed awkwardly on the back side of the track, and suddenly his right front steering was broken. This turned out to be a missing screw that “Zap” brand thread lock was used on (big mistake, only use “loctite” from now on). This gave Robbers the lead, and Drake second position, and this is how the two would finish. Cody limped his car around the track for two laps, and somehow managed to hang on to the third spot in dramatic fashion.

Not the finish Cody wanted, but it was a thrilling race none the less. Also, it was very important he was able to nurse his car around and finish the race in 3rd position. The 98 points he collected gave Cody the over all title and the Expert Buggy Championship for 2012.

Big thanks to all Cody’s sponsors and also to Rob, Levi, and Thunder Alley for a good series this year.