Race: 2015 Motorama
Date: 02/20/15 – 02/22/15
Race Setup:
Friday-Practice and one round of qualifying
Saturday-2 rounds of qualifying and lower Mains
Sunday-Rest of lower Mains and triple A-mains
Classes Raced:
1:8 E-Buggy
1:8 E-Truggy
Pro-Line products on my E-Buggy were Pro-Line M4 Blockades all weekend along with Pro-Line Wheel Nuts.
E-Truggy had X3 Blockades on all weekend as well as Pro-Line Wheel Nuts
Friday:
To start off my weekend I got up early as usual like I do for school but this time I steered in the other direction and was headed to the nations largest motor sports event located only an hour away from my front door 🙂 when we got to the parking lot a half hour early like we wanted to there was already a line of bags and people outside the entrance door which you will see below in one of the pictures. So what we did to fit in was get all of my equipment that was stacked to the roof of my car out and put it in line and then retreat back to the car to get out of the single digit weather. After another 20-minutes of waiting we saw the door open up for the racers and it was like the sun finally shined! Everyone was out of their cars rushing in the building trying to get a good pit spot for the rest of the weekend while all the Tekno drivers just casually walked in from already having a spot picked out 🙂 I love how Tekno’s team is so easy to communicate with 🙂 anyways we got everything in and found a spot to unload all of my cars, tools, batteries, charger, etc. then I turned around and saw “the 2015 Motorama 1:8 track”
Friday’s Practice:
We had 1 hour until scheduled practice started up, my buggy was going to be first. So I buckled down got my cars setup on point and wanted to be the first group out to get the most runtime because of the sessions only being 5 min long… After my first 5-min run without any wrecks I felt awesome learning the track with a breeze. Next was SCT then Truggy. So I went and marshaled some sct, then hit the pits to get my Truggy ready. After getting the Truggy dialed in, I went to the stand for the first group of E-Truggy. This practice session went even better while I got to clear some bigger jumps in the middle of the track improving my times a little more! After having a good 10-min of run time driving around the track smart and scoping out certain sections others were doing that I wasn’t I went to the pits to get my cars ready for the second go around of practice with Buggys, SCT’s, and lastly the Truggy’s. So after I got both of my cars looked over and put some fresh batteries in I went out and wanted to do some hot laps the rest of practice till round 1 of qualifying and the more the track got worked in from all the people there the faster my cars got! By the time practice was over my cars were on point, I was confident that I could hold my own as long as I put clean runs in.
Friday Round 1 of Qualifying:
With my Truggy being about 5 races before buggy, I first looked over my Truggy lubricating it, tightening screws, checking bearings etc, everything was good and ready. When my race came I was first in line for my race. Knowing a couple people in my race made me feel comfortable which I tried to use to my advantage. The first few laps of the race were going very well and I heard I was on a ten lap TQ pace, the only ten lap run out of everyone. I held this time the whole race and right at the end as I crossed the line I heard “track still live, Chesney you’re done,” when actually he said “Chesney you’re NOT done,” thus ruining my TQ time. This ended up putting me mid twenties overall. Next was my Buggy, as the race started my car felt better than it did in practice and I felt extremely fast. Being that all races were five minutes long, the race flew by and right at the end I heard once again that I was on a ten lap run, the only ten lap run. I finished off this race being the only person overall with a ten lap run, putting me in the TQ spot for this class.
Saturday Round 2 of Qualifying:
Again Truggy was first, so I got it ready and had a mind set of putting in a flawless run to get my overall position higher and put myself into the A-Main, and just that I did. I did this by winning my heat several seconds above the rest of the field keeping my qual points where they were making my overall position closer to the front. Next was buggy. After having a TQ run on Friday, my nerves and mind were racing making it very hard to stay calm during the race and finishing lower than I wanted to, putting me in the B main for that round.
Saturday Round 3 of Qualifying:
Once again my Truggy was up first and I needed a smooth run that way I would have two good runs out of three. So being that I was mid pack starting out all I had in mind was to move up and not move down. As the race went on I started picking people off, one by one finishing the race just behind the top three in fourth. They took my best two runs in this class and averaged it out, making me start sixth overall in the A-Main. 🙂 Next with Buggy, all I wanted was to put in a good run to keep me in the A main. This race may not have been my fastest race, but was surely a smooth one, making it the whole five minutes without flipping and putting me in a third place starting spot in the A-Main. This concluded my Saturday by finishing in the A-Main in both vehicles and getting to leave early.
Sunday Mains:
A-1: Truggy-I started this race behind a lot of good drivers and in front of good drivers, making it very nerve racking at this large of an event and in the second turn of the first lap I hit the brake a little too hard, causing the driver behind me to punt me over the pipe, sending me straight to the back, so from here on I played catch-up. I didn’t have enough time to catch-up to the whole field, leaving me in eighth crossing the line.
A-1: Buggy-Once again, my mind was playing tricks on me, a long with a lot of unknown people expecting good things from me. These things played along with the blown-out track from so many people driving on it, making it hard to drive in the same line lap after lap. This was a bad race for me as I struggled to stay with the pack, having to find new lines. I found myself tenth overall crossing the line.
A-2: Truggy-Before round two of mains I got to go watch some motocross to help calm me down. It worked very well, making me drive smooth the whole race, placing me fourth.
A-2: Buggy-Just like in Truggy I wasn’t very nervous heading into the race, which helped me drive much smoother and not make mistakes matching my finish in Truggy. I got fourth place.
A-3: Truggy-By this time, it was getting very late and all the drivers where getting tired as I was myself. I tried to take advantage of everyone elses feelings by trying to put in a solid last round. In this race I ended up just where I started in sixth place, making me feel very good about where I was going to be overall.
A-3: Buggy-After this long day of driving and wrenching, all I wanted to do was drive the best I could in my last race of Motorama. I placed eighth in this race after battling with a few teammates while having fun at the same time, knowing that I would still have a somewhat good place in the end.
Final positions: E-Truggy – 6th in the A-Main
E-Buggy – 7th in the A-Main
Something fun: This event every year is by far one of my most favorite because of all the different events going on like rc, motocross, car shows, and much more. Me getting to see all this and hang out with all my racing friends and family makes it even better. I can guarantee I will be here again for 2016 representing my teams in a good manner.
I want to thank all of my sponsors for allowing this to happen Tekno RC, Venom, Pro-Line, Carpy’s, PT Racing Oils, RC Screwz and my family. You guys are awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
