This past weekend I attended the 2014 Silverstate Nitro Challenge presented by The Dirt in Boulder City, Nevada. Joey and Aaron did an awesome job with the track, giving us a fun and flowing track to race on. This was my first time attending this race, and my first time in Vegas, so I was very excited for the weekend!
Practice was on Thursday and we got 2 rounds of 7 minute sessions to get acclimated to the track. My cars felt great and I didn’t really worry about setup, knowing that the track was going to start changing very quickly.
QUALIFYING
Qualifying at this race called for 3 rounds of 7 minute qualifiers (2 on Friday, 1 on Saturday), taking your best 2 rounds to seed you into the mains. In the first round of truck qualifying, I had a safe run with a couple small mistakes, for a 19th overall. My XT9 and M3 Blockades felt great! In the second round of truck qualifying, I tried to push a little bit too hard, and you couldn’t do that on this track, so I had a bad run with a lot of mistakes. In the third round of truck qualifying, I knew I had to have a good run to get me into the B I made the change to M3 Hole-Shots and they were much better for the rough conditions. I had a good run with some small bobbles, but no wrecks, for a 20th overall. I ended qualifying 2nd in the Pro Truggy C Main.
In the first round of buggy qualifying, I ran M3 Blockades. My car felt great, but I made a couple mistakes, for a 21st overall. My second round of buggy qualifying was much like my second round of truck. I tried to push way too hard, and had a bad run. I knew I had to have a good run in round three to get into the B, so I made some changes to my shocks, and my car felt awesome. I made a couple mistakes in the beginning, but got my lines down and put in some really good laps for a 10th overall. I was pumped, knowing that it was probably good enough to get my into the B. I ended up qualifying 9th in the Pro Buggy B Main.
MAINS
I had to run my truck C-Main on Saturday evening. I got a great start from second on the grid, and stayed in second for the first couple of laps, but when I coming around for my third lap, I got it wrong on the front triple, and snapped my right steering link end. It was a bummer, because my truck felt the best it felt all weekend with M3 Hole-Shots. That’s racing!
In my buggy B-Main, I just wanted to have a smooth race and see where I ended up in the end. The field was stacked, but my car felt great in the last round, so I had a lot of confidence. I got a great start from ninth, and was 5th after a couple of laps, right behind the lead pack. I stayed right there for a little bit, but made a couple mistakes and dropped back to 6th. I drive smooth for the rest of the race, and ended up finishing 6th. My XB8 and M3 Blockades felt awesome, and I was pumped on the result with such a stacked field!
Overall, I had awesome weekend! It was one of the most fun racing weekends that I’ve ever experienced! The track was awesome, and we were in Vegas baby! I want to thank Joey Christensen, Aaron Webb, and the whole Dirt crew for a very fun race weekend, as well as Jimmy Babcock for running a very smooth race program! I also want to thank my dad, Spencer Harrison, Rocco Margiotta, Mike Battaile, Steve Buchanan, Ray Dorame, and Mike Zamora for a fun and memorable race weekend! It was fun guys!
I can’t thank Daniel Adams and Pro-Line enough for all the support they give me. Thanks a lot guys!
Till next time,
PRODUCTS USED:
Buggy-
#9039-02 M3 Blockades
#2738-02 Yellow Lightweight Velocity Wheels
#6031-00 Pro Bond Glue
Truggy-
#9046-02 M3 Blockades
#9033-02 M3 Hole-Shots
#2800-02 Yellow VTR Zero Offset Wheels
#6031-00 Pro Bond Glue
