This weekend marked the third running of the June Jam Cash Race, held at The Boneyard in Mayfield, Kentucky.
Even with rain threatening our weekend, we decided to make the four hour trip to the high speed track prepared by the TKO Club Crew. What importance does this race in the middle of no where have? Although it may not be a national level event or anything headline worthy, what it does have is a laid back atmosphere, friendly and helpful locals, a fantastic track (and always fun layout), and last but not least…lots of cash payout!
Friday- Practice Day
Upon arriving, we were pleasantly greeted with a dry track that looked very fast and flowing. The TKO crew wisely decided to not soak the track the day before the event as the forecast changed almost every hour. This proved to be a great decision as we had a bit of rain early in the day. Thankfully we got lucky and the track dried up enough to be able to get some great practice in. At this event I raced E-Buggy and 4WD Buggy (after being convinced to run the second class)
I knew from previous events at this track usually Hole Shots and Blockades work pretty well, so I started out with my new favorite tire: X4 Blockades.
The Blockade tread pattern cut right through the dust and the X4 compound provided tons of grip, while also lasting well throughout the weekend.
A groove had not yet formed on the surface by the end of practice on Friday so I decided to stick with the Blockades for the first round of qualifying.
Saturday- Qualifying
When we arrived it appeared as though we had gotten lucky once again with the rain, and we began the races!
E-Buggy: Although I didn’t make any changes to the car on Friday minus tires I was very confident in the drive-ability of my Buggy. This proved to be an asset throughout the day as I was able to stay consistent and not have any bad wrecks for most of the qualifiers.
After TQ’ing the first round by a pretty large margin I switched over to Hole Shots in X4 compound to account for the slick black groove that had formed on the track. Again this proved to be a good decision as I was able to chop off 3 more seconds from the TQ time. I still knew that I could go faster, so I tried my Suburbs in X4 compound for the third round. Again they proved to be faster, taking off another 2 seconds from my previous time. However the tires felt edgy and a little inconsistent on the grooved but still dusty track. A harder compound probably would be perfect for that track. For the fourth round I again tried the Suburbs after making a change to free the rear of the car up a little bit in an attempt to make it easier to drive. Unfortunately for me halfway through the heat I got punted off the track out of sight of the marshal. Thankfully after about 15 seconds I was recovered and could continue on to take second place for the round. Three TQ’s and a second, I’ll take that! Only driver to have an 18 lap pace for every round? Even better!
4wd Buggy: Originally I was just going to run E-Buggy, but a friend convinced me to run his 4wd car before racing started on Saturday. So, after getting all the electronics installed I jumped right into qualifiying with a car I’ve never driven before. I was unfortunately also hindered by tire selection as my buddy only had a few sets of indoor tires at his disposal. Despite all that I was able to take second place every round of qualifying; gaining more and more time on the leader each round. By the time qualifying had ended I hadn’t gotten the car to handle the outdoor track as I would’ve liked, and had to take a second place spot.
Sunday- Mains Day
When we arrived at the track, some guys were getting some last minute practice in before their mains on a DRY track. Unfortunately about 15 minutes after we began unloading some of our gear, it began to rain. With our mains on the line along with potentially hundreds of dollars, the TKO crew had to make a choice whether to call the race or wait it out into what seemed like a never ending down pour. After much discussion we decided to wait around and see what the skies had in store for us. Miraculously, it began to slowly taper off and once again we began racing!
E-Buggy: After switching back to X4 Holeshots for ease of drivability and making a link change to my car I was ready to begin. At the very start of the main I went a little wide on the first corner for safety and the second place driver got in front of me. After pressuring him for a few laps he made a mistake which allowed me to resume the lead for the rest of the main. I ended up crossing the line first with over ten-seconds on the second place guy. Definitely a satisfying result after struggling this year to find any speed.
I used Pro-Line X4 Holeshots and X4 Blockades on Lightweight Velocity Wheels throughout the weekend, along with my trusty Xerun 150amp ESC and 2200kv Xerun motor which both stayed very cool despite the on power demands of the track layout.
4wd buggy: After not changing a single setup adjustment all weekend in an effort to use only driving skill to be fast, I was ready to see what I could do. At the start of the main I bobbled and crashed a little bit which allowed the leader to pull out to a pretty large lead. As the race went on I pushed harder and harder in an attempt to catch the leader. By the end of the main I had shortened the gap from over 10-seconds to just under three but was unable to catch him. It was definitely refreshing to run this class on something other than a tiny indoor track and that’s all the reward I needed!
I used whatever tires my buddy had along with my Pro-Line BullDog B44.2 body, along with the super smooth V3.1 Esc and v10 8.5 motor from Hobbywing!
In the end I walked away with a heavier wallet and a little more confidence in my car for the upcoming Futaba/O.S. Nitro Challenege. After a few testing sessions I am confident I will be able to pull off some impressive results at this fifth stop on the U.S. Pro Cup tour.
Thanks to Pro-Line Racing and Hobbywing North America for the generous support!
