We woke up at 4:30 AM Easter morning and headed to Beachline Raceway at Superior Hobbies. What better way to enjoy the day then spending it with good friends racing. While David was gluing up some tires for his Nitro Buggy I headed to the track to get in some practice laps with my Short Course Truck. When I was finished I went back out with David to pit for him as he got some practice laps in with his Buggy. He ended up having some clutch issues and went back to the pit to work on it. He made the decision then to change out his engine all together, but was having a hard time getting it tuned in. Being new to Nitro we still have a lot to learn. #Richard Phillipps was more than willing to help us out. He knows a lot about tuning Picco engines as his sons are sponsored by them. He even took the time and gave us pointers on set up and lent us his shock oils as we didn’t have heavy enough weight for the high traction track.
David Ran Pro-Line MC Electrons in Nirto Buggy and Jessica ran Pro-Line MC Electrons in SCT
I took 2nd in the first qualifier in SCT. There was no catching #Julien Oliveras. He is totally on a different level. This kid is amazing and super-fast. The second qualifier was a very close race between me and #Brad Fender as we were both fighting for the second position. Brad beat me and ended up qualifying 2nd overall by less than a second. Brad ended up making a mistake at the beginning of the race where I was able to get by him and move into the 2nd spot. It was another close race. I could tell Brad was faster in certain spots on the track, but I was faster in other parts. I could see him gaining on me, but in the end I was able to hang onto 2nd place with 17 laps 6:16.331.
This would be David’s second race with Nitro. His first qualifier he struggled as it felt like he did not have enough steering. The second qualifier he made it about ¼ of a lap when he lost his steering all together and couldn’t continue. He headed into the Main starting 3rd due to his first qualifying time. David moved up to 1st place by the second lap and held onto it until lap 17. That is when he started losing traction and made some mistakes. We had decided before the Main to push it to 10-minutes before I would bring him into the pits for fuel. He ended up coming in a little early as he felt like we was going to flame out. I fueled him up and he was back out racing. He was hanging on to 2nd place and as we were getting closer to the end I tried calling him into pit lane to get a splash of fuel since he had a good lead over 3rd, but he did not hear me. I take full blame on that and need to remember to speak louder so that he can hear me. David ended up making a mistake and flipped his buggy making him flame out. Rushing him back to pit lane with the help of #Brett Hold we were able to get him started and fuel him up quickly. I think he thought it was all over, but I kept telling him to just push it as he could still get podium. This would be his first time finishing a Main with Nitro and 20-minutes at that. I was very proud of him as he was able to finish 3rd overall.
David Iler Race Results:
Sportsman Nitro Buggy
Qualified: 3rd
Finished: 3rd
Tires: Pro-Line Clay Electrons
Jessica Iler Race Results:
Pro-4 SCT
Qualified: 3rd
Finished: 2nd
Tires: Pro-Line Clay Electrons
