We made another trip to South Carolina, this time it was for Beach R/C’s 2nd Annual Palmetto Classic. As usual, Beach R/C put on a fantastic event with free race t-shirts and some of the nicest trophies and plaques I have seen. The single day event drew 154 entries and I participated in three classes: 2WD and 4WD Short Course as well as 4WD Buggy.
We arrived early Friday so I was able to spend 9-hours at the track practicing and attempting to test different set ups. Without a true local track, I enjoy practicing whenever I get the chance so I continued practicing until the track shut down which made for a very early Saturday morning.
Kevin ran his Pro-Line PRO-2 SC Truck on Pro-Line M4 Electrons
In the 2WD SCT division, my Pro-Line PRO-2 SC Truck extended its current streak of podium finishes with a 3rd place finish. There ended up being more action behind the scenes as I was forced to swap out both my ESC and motor on race day. I also had to fabricate some new roll pins for my rear axle by cutting a couple body pins with a Dremel. The homemade pin held up throughout the qualifiers and allowed me to qualify 4th overall. I threw in a new pin for the 10-minute A-Main to avoid a possible DNF, the strategy paid off, as I was able to put together my strongest run of the day and race to 3rd place on super soft Electrons.
My main class, 4WD SCT turned out to be the smallest class at the event but I was happy just to be able to race and log additional track time especially considering the 7-hour round trip to Myrtle Beach. A young up and coming racer kept me honest throughout qualifying but I was able to grab TQ by claiming all three rounds. In the main, I was able to get away early with my Maclan MR4 motor and string together smooth laps for the win. I am really impressed with the longevity of the Pro-Line MC Electron tires; I now have 5 trophy races and countless hours of practice on the same set of tires. Over that span, the clay compound tires have guided me to 4 TQs, 4 1st place finishes and a 2nd place finish. So I am extremely happy with the durability of the Electrons tires and how many hours of racing I was able to get out of a single pair.
My third class was 4WD Buggy, which was extremely competitive. I had a ball cup pop off in the first round of qualifiers so I was sitting in 24th with two heats remaining. I put together two respectable rounds and qualified into the B-Main. I ran Pro-Line Super Soft (M4) Electron Tires on my Buggy, which continued to get stronger throughout the day. In the B-Main, I quickly dropped to last place after the opening melee since I don’t have the speed to pull away from the other racers. I rely on smooth, consistent laps and don’t have blazing speed so I tend to get ran over a lot at the beginning of the mains. It put me in a tough spot but I am used to finding myself in the back of the pack at most mains and having to play catch up. This Main was no different, but one positive of being in last place is you get to relax and race at your own pace. This allowed me to slowly work my way back up the leader board and despite the rough start I finished in 3rd in the B-Main which was good enough for 13th overall. I missed the bump spot by one position but I gained some valuable experience and hope to continue learning and improving each race.
I would like to thank Pro-Line Racing, Maclan Racing, Boca Bearings, Xpert Servos, Bullit RC Hobby Shop and my newest sponsor Boom RC Graphics for selecting me and allowing me to represent their companies. This was my first race with custom name decals from Boom RC, which definitely made my vehicles look legit, hopefully my racing was enough to keep that perception.
