My wife and I loaded up our trailer this past weekend and traveled six and a half hours south to Gainesville, GA to attend our last big race of the summer, The Wicked Weekend. This year’s Wicked Weekend race drew a total of 624 entries, making it the largest Wicked Weekend to date. I was very happy with the end results as I finished 8th overall in 4wd SCT and 21st out of 120 in Sportsman E-Buggy.
Due to the record number of entries they had to alter the qualifying format from three 5-minute qualifiers to two 7-minute qualifiers, however, seeding was still determined by qualifying points as opposed to rocket round.
I equipped my truck with M3 Pro-Line Hole Shots and was able to secure a strong qualifier.
The facilities are amazing at Chicopee AG Center, which is one of the reasons the event has grown into one of the largest races in the Southeast. With on-site showers we were able to camp out which made our odd travel hours a little more bearable.
We arrived Friday morning at 4am, which was perfect since I was able to maneuver the trailer with no traffic. After setting up the trailer, I managed to squeeze in an hour of sleep before jumping on the track for a full day of practice. I was excited to test out my e-converted HB D815, the buggy felt very smooth though it was begging for a lot more power. After adjusting the punch in my ESC, increasing the diff oils and installing a larger pinion gear, the buggy had the speed to navigate the large track. I spent the rest of the day, working on my lines and testing tires; I also wanted to seize the opportunity to race around the track as much as possible and just enjoy the RC hobby. As a result, time got away from me and before I knew it, it was 11pm and the track was closing.
Saturday was another early morning as I was placed in the 5th heat, I am not sure if I let the size of the event get to me or if I was still half asleep. I knew the importance of putting down a smooth, wreck-free qualifier, as there is little room for error when there are 120 racers in a single class. I was very disappointed in myself as I confused smoothness for speed and while I didn’t wreck my lap times increased from 34 seconds in crowded practice sessions to 36 seconds due to my very passive driving. It was a good wake up and allowed me to adjust my approach prior to my main class 4wd SCT.
I equipped my truck with M3 Pro-Line Hole Shots and was able to secure a strong qualifier. This run I was able to find a nice balance between speed and smoothness, placing me 7th overall and in the A-Main group, after the re-sort.
Entering the second round of qualifiers the track had dried out and the traction was up. I went with Pro-Line X3 Fugitives to attempt to improve my qualifying position in the second and final qualifier. The tires along with the earlier wake up call helped tremendously as I dropped my fast lap all the way down to 33.5 and added an extra lap to my seven minute run. I thought I was guaranteed at least a spot in the Sportsman E-Buggy B-Main but with the qualifying point format and only two rounds I slid all the down into the C-Main.
Things continued to go smoothly in 4wd SCT, as I shaved 19 seconds off my first run securing my spot in Sunday’s triple A-Mains.
My Sunday started with my C-Main E-Buggy race; traditionally my track record is horrid when it comes to racing into a bump up spot and advancing to the next main. Luck was on my side as I started near the front of the grid, the typical early pile ups allowed me to get away and create some separation on the first lap. I bounced back and forth between 2nd and 3rd for the first 3 minutes, which was perfect since the top three all received bumps. I found myself in the top spot in the latter stage of the race and was able to hang on for the C-Main win.
I was excited by the fact that I was going to get another 7-minutes of track time with my buggy. The B-Main was loaded with fast drivers, but steady, smooth driving allowed me to move all the way up to 8th place from my starting position (14th). My Buggy racing ended in the B-Main but I was happy to place 21st overall and my fast lap of 33.01 combined with a consistency level of 94.92%. I am still a ways off the pro drivers who were putting down fast laps in the 30-31 second range. I hope to continue improving over the next few months and prepare for the pro E-Buggy division in 2017.
The Maclan motor/Venom battery combination in my truck continues to provide the consistency required to produce strong results as I posted a fast lap of 33.60 that rivaled my E-Buggy. I raced to 7th place in all three of the A-Mains and after the points were tallied up finished 8th overall for a top ten finish at a very large regional race that drew in racers from numerous states.
I believe I will be able to use some of the experience gained this past weekend moving forward. I want to keep learning and improving each race, which is my ultimate goal, I believe that was achieved which allowed me to leave Gainesville happy. In September, I will begin coaching the local U16 girls’ ice hockey team and my time will be limited during the hockey season. I will be attending weekly on-road club races as well as off-road club races around Eastern NC. I have also blocked off two weekends so I can attend Beach RC’s The Masters of Dirt race in November and Motorama in February. With the pending time constraints on its way, I really wanted to enjoy The Wicked Weekend and was very happy with how the weekend turned out and ended on a positive note.
My wife and I arrived home Monday morning at 6am; I parked the trailer in storage, grabbed a couple hours of sleep before heading to work though it was definitely worth it and we are already looking to next year.
I would like to thank HB Racing, Pro-Line, Maclan, Venom, Xpert, BoomRC, Boca Bearings and Bullit RC hobby shop in Raleigh, NC for all their support!
HB D815 and 4wd SCT photos courtesy of JJ Sports Photos
