This weekend marked the 5th round of the 2013 Grass Roots Racing Series. For round 5 of the series Rob Jackson and Crew took over the Pro-Line Racing Test Track for the weekend and invited racers from all over to attend. For those of you not familiar with the Grass Roots Series it’s a 6 Round Series based out of Southern California that travels through 3 of our best outdoor tracks in the area. The event is held over a 2 day period focusing one day on Nitro 1/8th scale while the other day is devoted to 1/10th scale Electric Short Course and 1/8th Scale E Buggy.
For this time around The Nitro Crew would kick things off on Saturday while the Electric rigs would wrap things up on Sunday. This turned out to be a great things as the bigger heavier 4WD cars would sweep a fresh layout that had just been built by Sik Track Designs the week before and had not had a chance to be run in yet. The track that was build was of the highest quality and was fairly straight forward yet challenging at the same time. There were a couple large doubles, a fast sweeper, rhythm sections, as well as one of the best whoop sections built to date in RC. It was really neat to see a track designer do such a great job accommodating multiple classes and being able to please them all.
When Pro-Line Racing opens its doors to the public it tends to draw a lot of the locals out of the woodwork as well as some of the top pros. For Saturdays Nitro Race pros such as Cody King, Adam Drake, Rhonda Drake, and Brian Sullivan were on hand. Mix them in with a few up and comers and those just looking to have fun and this one day race pulled over 120 entries. While speaking with those around the pits the tire of choice for the weekend seemed to be a Pro-Line Racing Blockade, in the M3 Compound. When asked why drivers usually responded with something along the lines of they liked its long wear on the abrasive surface, how well it preformed and that it was super forgiving and easy to drive.
As racing got under way there were 14 heats ranging from Beginner to Expert and those crazy over the hill guys running the 40 and over class. Most heats were stacked and the racing was close providing great excitement for both the racers and the fans that come out to watch the racing action. As things broke down and the mains got under way the top racers sorted it out quite quickly.
ROOKIE 1-8 BUGGY (A Main) – Troy Kirk
ROOKIE 1-8 TRUCK (A Main) – Chris King
SPRT 1-8 BUGGY (A Main) – Victor Guerrero
SPRT 1-8 TRUCK (A Main) – Victor Guerrero
INT 1-8 BUGGY (A Main) – Eddie Laret
INT 1-8 TRUCK (A Main) – Eddie Laret
EXP 1-8 BUGGY (A Main) – Adam Drake
EXP 1-8 TRUCK (A Main) – Cody King
40 OVER 1-8 BUGGY-TRUCK (A Main) – Don Vinkemulder
1-8 E-BUGGY 4WD (A Main) – Brian Sullivan
Sunday drew a large crowd as well with just over 90 entries making the trip out. The track was in great shape as the 1/8th scale cars did and amazing job sweeping the track. While talking with drivers, most of the 2WD guys were going with either a Pro-Line Racing M3 Tazer or Holeshot out back with a less aggressive tire up front such as a a M3 Blockade to reduce steering on the high bite track. In 4WD the tire choice was all over with some drivers choosing a Blockade on all 4 Corners as it was easy to drive while others felt a M3 Holeshot was faster even though the tire life wasn’t as long.
In qualifying Pro-Line Designer Gerardo Gonzalez led the way in both the 2WD Open Expert SC and 2WD Open Wheel Buggy class with Pro-Line Pro 2 Short Course Truck. For Buggy Gerardo converted a Pro-Line Pro 2 to a Short Course Buggy by taking the cage off of a Losi XXX-SCB and mounting it on his truck. In the 4WD SC class the man to beat was Brian Sullivan.
As the mains got underway the racing got down to business. Drivers bumped and bashed the entire course doing what short Course Trucks do best. As things started to sort them self out the wind started picking up leaving a few of the drivers feeling a bit unlucky at times as the large gusts surprised them. As the races ended here is who was able to take home top honors for the day-
KID 12 & UNDER 2WD SC (A Main) – Roland Johns
KIDS 12 & UNDER 4WD SC (A Main) – Troy Kirk
ROOKIE 2WD SC (A Main) – Dean Rock
ROOKIE 4WD SC (A Main) – Bryan Souza
SPRT 2WD STOCK SC (A Main) – Cole Jenson
EXP 2WD STOCK SC (A Main) – Glen Dederick
SPT 2WD OPEN SC (A Main) – Oscar Lopez
EXP 2WD OPEN (A Main) – Chad Panek
SPRT 4WD SC (A Main) – Lerone Hearn
EXPERT 4WD SC (A Main) – Brian Sullivan
OPEN WHEEL BUGGY (A Main) – Gerardo Gonzalez
1-8 E-BUGGY 4WD (A Main) – Chad Panek
-Travis Brock
