Cade Whitenton and Pro-Line win at Thornhill Grand Opening Race

This past weekend I attended the Thornhill Grand Opening Race in Hutto, Texas. The Thornhill crew brought in Joey Christensen to do his magic on the nation’s biggest off-road track! Joey came up with a fun, fast, and flowing layout with laptimes ranging from 44 seconds to 47 seconds!

QUALIFYING

Due to my dad having to work on Friday, I had a limited amount of practice on Saturday. My cars were great from the start and I didn’t have to change anything! My tires of choice were M3 Blockades for buggy and M3 Hole-Shots for truck.

The qualifying format for this race was 4 rounds of 7 minute qualifiers, taking your best 2 rounds to seed for the mains. In the first round of truck qualifying, I made a couple of mistakes and finished 5th overall for the round. In the second round I was able to have a clean, consistent run and finish 2nd overall for the round. In the third round I had another good run with just one big mistake for a 4th overall. And in the fourth and final round of qualifying I made just one bobble for a 3rd overall. After qualifying I was set to start 4th for the 30 minute main on Sunday.

In the first round of buggy qualifying, I just tried to push it too much and made a lot of mistakes for 7th overall. In the second round I was on a good clean run when about halfway through I lost all of my brakes, so I struggled for the rest of the race, and ended up 6th overall for the round. In the third round I calmed down and drove a fairly good qualifier with a couple of small mistakes for a 5th overall. In the final round of qualifying I had a clean, cautious run for another 5th overall. After qualifying I was set to start 7th overall for the main, and I knew I had the speed for a podium finish come Sunday.

MAINS

In the 30 minute truck main, I started 4th and was 3rd after the first lap. I settled into third and stayed within a couple of seconds of Glancy and Kellum who were battling for first. They got together right before the first pit stops and I was able to capitalize on their mistakes and close up right behind them. We all came in to the pits at the same time and I was able to come out in the lead right in front of Kellum, with Glancy having problems and dropping down in the order. Kellum and I battled it out for the rest of the race, staying within a couple seconds of each other the whole time. He was only 2 seconds behind me coming up to the last lap and he flamed out right after the straight, so I was able to have a victory lap and Tokyo drift the whole lap! My XT8 and Pro-Line M3 Blockades were awesome the whole main!

For the buggy main I was starting 7th and wasn’t able to escape the first lap carnage, so I dropped back and had to battle back for the rest of the main. Right off the bat I made some mistakes trying to push too hard and catch up. I settled down and was 5th a lap before my second pit stop and ran out of fuel. Luckily it happened on the front straight and my dad was able to get me back out there quick. I dropped back to 7th and got into a groove. I was in 4th with about a minute to go, and Jake Dellinger, who was in third, flamed out. I came onto the straight for my last lap and he came out of pit lane right in front of me. We battled it out for the whole lap and I aired it out on the roller before the straight hoping I could make the pass in the air! I finished just 3 tenths of a second behind him, in 4th place. I was disappointed because I knew I could of done better, but was glad that I battled back for a solid top five finish.

Overall, I had a great weekend! The track was a blast, and it will only get better from here on out! It was fun getting to hang out with all my friends again!

Thanks to Chris Allison and the Thornhill Racing Crew for a great weekend!