I attended the 2013 ROAR Region 9 Regionals earlier this year at Thornhill Racing Circuit in Hutto, Texas. This is the venue that will be hosting the 2014 ROAR 1/8 Fuel Offroad Nationals. This was my second time racing at Thornhill and it was a blast, once again!
PRACTICE
I got there on Saturday to get a couple of tanks of practice in, and to test my brand new FX Engine. The engine was great from the start with tons of bottom end power and a smooth powerband all the way to the top. Both my Xray vehicles were awesome from the start, with M3 Blockades on my buggy, and M3 HoleShot tires on my truck.
QUALIFYING
The qualifying format for this race called for 4 rounds of 5 minute qualifiers, taking your best 2 out of 4 rounds to see where you start in the mains on Sunday. In my first round of truck qualifying, I had a clean, smooth run, and was able to take the overall TQ for the round. In the second round, I had almost an identical run and took the TQ again. In the third round of qualifying, I had another good run with just 1 mistake and got edged out by Mark Morrow for the TQ. In the 4th and final round of qualifying, I had another good run, but Mark had a good run as well, and he edged me out again for the TQ. After the tiebreaker, which was your 3rd fastest round, I was able to get the overall TQ going into the 30 minute main on Sunday.
In the first round of buggy qualifying, I was able to have a clean, but cautious run for 4th overall. In the second round, I pushed a little bit harder, but made one mistake for 5th overall. I was able to have another clean run in round three for 3rd overall, and tried to push too hard in the final round of qualifying, which resulted in a 7th overall. After qualifying, I was set to start 4th in the 30 minute main on Sunday.
MAINS
The morning of main day, there was a 10 minute Dash For Cash which featured the top 15 qualifiers in Pro Buggy, but inverted, so I was starting 12th. I got a pretty good start and was 5th after the first lap, but made a mistake on lap 2 which dropped me way back in the field. I used the rest of the race to get a good feel for my car and get in a groove to get ready for the main later that day. I ended up finishing 6th.
In the 30 minute truck main, I was not able to get a good start, as I cased the triple after the straight and dropped back to third. I was having trouble adjusting to the different track conditions and spent a while back in third. After my first pit stop, I started to find my groove, my M3 Blockades were feeling awesome, and I was able to reel in the leader, Mark Morrow. I made the pass, and knowing that I had to stop one more time than Mark, pushed hard to try and create a gap. I made a couple of mistakes that didn’t help my cause, and after my final pit stop, was about 5 seconds behind Mark. I pushed hard and was reeling him in with a couple minutes to go, but made one mistake, and didn’t have enough time to catch up, so I finished 2nd. It was an exciting race all the way to the end, and I congratulate Mark on a great race.
In the buggy main, I got an alright start, and was 6th after the first lap. My XB9 2013 and M3 Blockades were feeling good, and I was able to get up to 2nd by my first pit stop. Then I started trying to reel in Jake Dellinger, who was in the lead, and was able to make the pass on him right before a big double, but didn’t have enough run up to clear it, so I flipped on my lid and lost about 6 seconds. I tried reeling him back in, but just didn’t have enough time, and finished 2nd. It was another exciting race, and it was fun getting to race with Jake!
Overall, I had a good weekend. It’s always fun when you get to race on the biggest track in the United States, and getting to race and hangout with all my friends made it even better!
I want to thank Chris Allison and the whole Thornhill crew for making it possible and giving us an amazing track to race on!
Till next time,
PRODUCTS USED
Qualifying- M3 HoleShot tires
Main- M3 Blockade Tires
Pro Bond Glue
Qualifying and Main- M3 Blockades
Lightweight Yellow Wheels
Pro Bond Glue
