This past weekend I attended Round 2 of Scotty Ernst’s Off-Road Showdown, which was held at Beach RC. Maclan and Pro-Line are both sponsors of the Showdown Tour so I was hoping to do well for the companies I proudly represent. I had a big weekend finishing 1st in 4WD Short Course and 2nd with my Pro-Line PRO-2 Short Course Truck in 2WD Short Course.
I spent Friday practicing and testing out a few different adjustments; the biggest adjustment was increasing the diff fluids in my 4WD SCT from 5-7-5 to 10-10-8, which allowed me to drop almost half a second per lap, and paid dividends once the racing began.
The event featured 4 qualifiers with single A-Mains, I kept busy by running three classes adding 4WD Buggy to 2WD and 4WD SCT.
The 4WD SCT division was extremely competitive as I battled back and forth with two other racers. Our lap times were all within half a second as each racer was able to consistently put down 20 to 21-second laps and keep all four tires on the track so the margin for error was extremely small. During the qualifiers, each of us was able to TQ a round while coming up just short other rounds and narrowly finishing 2nd by hundredths of a second.
Since the racing was so close throughout the qualifiers, everyone was excited to see how the single A-Main would play out. I believe the A-Main was probably one of the most exciting races I have participated in. After dropping back a couple seconds early in the race, I was forced to play catch up. Scotty Ernst made the race even better with his exciting announcing and with each lap I was able to cut into the deficit until I was on the bumper of first place, fellow friend and Serpent driver Chris Earhart. I was able to make a pass with 2 laps left and had to fend off his charges at every turn. We raced to the finish line as time expired; I went into the final turn just a little too hot, which opened up a small window for Chris to pass me. He cut it a little too close and ended up clipping the pipe allowing me to punch it the final 6 feet to the finish line earning 1st place in the 4wd SCT division. With the competition being so tight it really makes you appreciate each of the products the sponsors bring to the table that help you to compete at your highest level. The Maclan MR4 4150kv motor teamed up with a Venom 7200 MaH 100C battery allowed me to put down the fastest lap in the A-Main, a 20.671 second lap.
I ran Pro-Line Electrons MC (Clay Compound), the tires provided the traction I needed and allowed me to push my truck as hard as possible. My previous fast lap on the current layout before this weekend was 21.572. The intense competition and the combination of equipment from all my sponsors helped me elevate my racing.
In 2WD SCT, my Pro-Line PRO-2 Truck continued to be on point as I was able to qualify third.
I qualified two spots behind fellow Maclan/Pro-Line teammate Paul Medina who earned TQ. In the A-Main, Paul had to unfortunately retire early so I was able to slide up one spot and guide my PRO-2 to 2nd place overall with a smooth run. The Maclan MRR 8.5T motor powered my Pro-Line Truck around the Track, the surface was a little more abrasive so I switched over to clay compound (MC) Electrons from the super soft (M4) that I had previously ran at Beach RC.
The 4WD Buggy, was the only real disappointment of the weekend. After putting down 14 and 15-lap runs in the first two qualifiers, I went haywire and the wheels fell off with two back-to-back 13-lap heats. It was a good reminder of the importance of being mentally relaxed and focused. I let the speed of the class get into my head and overdrove my Buggy instead of just racing smooth lines and properly setting my vehicle up for the jumps. I was able to sneak into the A-Main with my first two heats and while I slightly improved my driving in the main event it wasn’t anywhere close to the consistency that I was able to deliver earlier in the showdown. I will use it as a learning experience and look forward to getting back out on the track with my 4WD Buggy and correcting some of my errors.
I would like to thank Scott Ernst and Beach RC for putting on an awesome weekend of racing. Also I would like to give a quick shout out to Sire Screen printing for getting my new race t-shirts ready in time for the race.
In addition, I am grateful for the support and excellent products from Pro-Line, Maclan, Venom, Boca Bearings, BoomRC , Xpert Servos and the local hobby shop Bullit RC Hobbies!
