Joe ran Pro-Line M4 Blockades and Hole Shots
Last weekend the 1:8 Scale Winter Midwest Champs was held at the CRCRC track, Ohio. 196 drivers traveled for this race and among them the Pro-Line Team Driver Joe Bornhorst. Joe managed to sweep all three classes, TQing and winning E-Buggy, Nitro Buggy and Nitro Truggy, making it a perfect trifecta weekend. Here is a report from Joe:
“This weekend I traveled a couple of hours southwest to the annual CRCRC event, the Midwest Champs. For this race, I did my normal three classes of E-Buggy, Nitro Buggy, and Nitro Truggy…
Practice:
On Friday morning we were greeted with a great facility and track provided by Curt Schlichter and the rest of the Ohio RC Factory crew. For the practice day, I took my time and focused on track time because the track conditions are much different than any other race held there. Once we got into the afternoon, I started to make a couple small changes, tried some different Pro-Line tires and just ran through all of my cars and got comfortable. Once I had my mind made up on tires and I was comfortable with the track, we called it a day and went to get some dinner and sleep.
Qualifying:
For this years race, they decided to change it up a little bit and go with rocket round qualifying rather than the normal qual point style that we see at most nitro races. For the first round, I had clean runs in all three classes and grabbed the top spot early. Round two of qualifying went pretty much the same, I had three more clean runs and improved my time in all classes. For round three, I started to look toward the mains a little bit and tried a little bigger pin on both nitro classes and broke in a set of tires for the E-Buggy. In E-Buggy, I had a little bit of a rough run, and teammate Dylan Gerard was on point. He had a good run and came super close to snatching away my TQ, coming up just a half of a second short. For the nitro classes, the bigger pin Blockade tires were really good, and I was able to keep my TQ’s and felt comfortable for the mains the following day.
Mains.
E-Buggy:
Since this was a 10 minute sprint main, right at the tone I started to go as fast as I could and runaway from the pack. About 5 minutes in, I had about a half lap lead and put it on cruise control. I held the lead at about 10 seconds and brought it home with a good win to start out the day.
Nitro Buggy:
I went into this main with the same mentality as the E-Buggy Main. Sprint early and try to build a gap and then hold it until the end. At about the 10 minute mark, I had a comfortable lead and could have put it on cruise to pass some time. It turned out though that my car just kept on getting better and better as the 45-minute Main went on, so I went with it and kept on pushing. I really didn’t back it down until the last fuel run and by that time, it was time to be smart and bring it home for another win to keep the ball rolling. I was also pleased to notice that my M4 Blockades still had more than enough tread left to do another main and probably more.
Nitro Truggy:
I was feeling very good going into this main. I wanted to play it smart and have a clean 45-minute run. Just like I did in the other two races, I tried to runaway and hide in the beginning and then be smart from the middle on. My truck was really good from the start. Just like Buggy, my Tires continued to get better as the main went on, which made my job a lot easier. After 45-minutes and 127 laps later, I brought home my third win of the day to complete the trifecta of TQ’s and wins!
All in all, a very good way to start out the 2016 season. I’m really excited about my entire package this year and I am ready to see what the future holds. Up next is a month long spree of races starting out in Alabama for the SIC race, then to Vegas for some racing and testing, California for more testing, and then off to The Dirt Nitro Challenge!”
