Adam Drake Wins Truggy and Cody King Wins Buggy at Psycho Nitro Blast
After an exhausting but rewarding weekend, it would boil down to race #44 to decide who would be crowned the pro buggy Champion of the 7th Psycho Nitro Blast held in an imaginatively converted horse riding arena with racers pitting in the horse stalls and a track surface that looked like proper offroad: bumps that had morphed into mini jumps and sheer sharp rut faces that could launch or stop a car in it’s paces.
It would prove a dramatic final already before the start as having spectacularly launched his electric car over the jumps in backflip heaven Ryan Lutz faced missing the start after a problem with his starter box of all things, mechanics working frantically on the wiring as the defending Champion could only stand and watch and wonder about the lack of luck on his side, he would make the start but it looked like a long slog after first lap crashes left him down in 10-12th place.
Out front Carson Wernimont led away with Barry Pettit in tow, the 17 year old Murrieta, CA star building a crazy lead after only a couple of laps as other drivers settled into a groove, early indications pointed to a Carson dominated final, however that would prove far from the case as Barry Pettit emerged with renewed pace and vigour and would claim the lead on lap 7 as Carson’s challenge to convert TQ to victory faltered, it would seem he’s unbeatable over a 10min qualifier but perhaps the track’s evolution caught up with him a bit.
Barry Pettit would lead and was looking fast, the South Carolina driver overcoming a slow start to the weekend in the best way possible; leading the big show, however it wasn’t long before Carson had managed to catch up once again, only to fall way behind. This allowed Pro-Line Driver Cody King to catch up and all of a sudden seemed in a commanding position coming from nowhere he was clearly the fastest car on track and it wasn’t long before the 2010 World Champion had opened up a 15 sec gap to Barry.
A ‘dominant win for King’ seemed on the cards at that stage but that would again be wrong as a few mistake allowed Barry Pettit to close right up and lead for a few laps, however King would keep his cool and soon had it back as Barry was left to race it out with Mugen team mate Carson Wernimont for runner up honors.
Cody opted for Pro-Line Blockade tires in X4 material with Lightweight wheels and Blue closed cell inserts! Great work Cody!
A great final from Cody King, overcoming a disastrous start to qualifying and giving his sponsors a prestigious win at an event that will surely continue going from strength to strength and stature.
Cody King’s Psycho Nitro Blast Setup
To say the final was eventful would be an understatement, lead changes, backflips, mistakes – it had it all as even in the truggy class, some of the best drivers in the US struggled to keep it on all fours. TQ man Carson Wernimont led out but it was Ryan Lutz who would dominate the opening part of the final, Pro-Line drivers Adam Drake and Cody King battling for 3rd and 4th with gaps fluctuating widely, far from a straightforward race!
Lutz’ challenge would fade however on lap 23 as suspected servo issues saw him retire, he’d rejoin later on but out of contention, this left a feisty looking Adam Drake, Cody King and Carson Wernimont further back to decide the order. Cody and Drake would battle and play cat and mouse for lap after lap, Cody edging oh so close but never quite catching the Drake.
With 3 mins to go it was all to play for as Drake made a safety splash and go pitstop and Cody caught up, but cost himself any chance of victory as he stuffed it into the hay bales in the back, a straightforward cruise for the last two laps for Drake, or it would have been until he switched off only feet from the loop, went off track upside down, had to rejoin going backwards and juuust made it in the end after having a sizeable lead.
A deserved win for Adam who showed he was a good bet after TQ’ing the final round of qualifying.
Adam Used the Following Pro-Line Items:
Pro-Line yellow VTR Wheels #2800-02
Pro-Line VTR M3 and M4 Holeshot tires #9033-02 & #9033-03
Pro-Line M4 Holeshot 2.0 buggy tires #9041-03
Pro-Line M4 Blockade buggy tires #9039-03
Pro-Line glue bands #6086-00
We’d like to thank the organizers for a great event, their hospitality, Dave, Ollie the whole crew and Jimmy Babcock and Nick Black for running the show from timing – a tireless job but executed with precision and efficiency!
