This past weekend we traveled to Stateline RC Raceway to attend the ROAR Fuel Offroad Nationals. The facility is awesome and the track owners went above and beyond to make sure everyone had everything they needed and more, and got the track ready to run again after the rain came.
Ty TQ’d and Won on the New Pro-Line BuckShot Tires!
We had practice Wednesday by heats and we worked with the team to get setups that would work. Thursday was seeding practice and was to have 2 rounds of 5 minutes practice but it started raining part way through the 2nd round of buggy seeding so the qualifiers were set from the 1 round of seeding and I was seeded 1st in both truck and buggy.
Friday was the first day of qualifying, the first round went pretty well for me and I was able to qualify 2nd in both classes, in the 2nd round of buggy I qualified 3rd but we were not able to run the second round of truck on Friday due to the rain that hit. Saturday was the second day of qualifying and we started with the 2nd round of truggy qualifying and I was able to take the TQ for that round. In the 3rd round I took the tq in buggy but only managed a 6th in truck due to driver errors. In the 4th round I again took the tq in buggy giving me the overall tq, in truck I qualified 3rd giving me 2nd overall for qualifying.
Both my vehicles felt really good and I felt confident going into the mains, we made a few more changes based on watching the track develop, lower Mains and the A-Main warm ups. The track continued to get rougher and rougher as the mains were run, the surface was very challenging and very difficult to run on but I felt that my cars were up for the task.
In the Truck Main the race went pretty much exactly as I planned it, I was going to try and keep up with Maifield right from the beginning and wait for an opportunity to pass. We battled back and forth during the beginning of the race but eventually Maifield made a bigger mistake which allowed me to get out in front and form a gap between us. I didn’t push too hard but just tried to maintain the gap and finish the race which I was able to do giving the XT8 it’s first national win and giving me my 4th national Truggy title.
In Buggy things would be a lot different, I started on pole and probably drove too cautious at the beginning after Maifield made a mistake on the first lap and fell behind, Ogden pushed hard and caught up and passed me. I started with hard tires which I knew would be a bit grabby at the start but would come in later in the race, so I wasn’t too worried as long as I could keep him in sight. I got into the lead after Ogden made his first fuel stop and then I lost signal on my car, it came rolling to a stop with the engine still running but I had no radio response. My dad brought it back into the pits and set it on the starter box to see what happened, just then it mysteriously the signal came back and they got me on the track again, at this point I was 2 laps back from the field, and I didn’t really feel I had a chance for the win at this point. I wasn’t going to give up, I was in 11th place which at this point was last place, I pushed hard to try and make up some time but with the lead battle right in front of me I didn’t want to get in their way so I would have to wait for a crash to get by. I was able to run about 75 more laps without any more issues and was able to catch up to within a couple of corners of the battle 3rd, at this point I was confident I could move into a podium spot and then I lost signal again. My dad brought my car back again, just as he set it on the starter box again the signal came back, at this point we decided just to finish the race, during these last 5 minutes the signal seemed to cut in and out but I was still able to finish the race. We still have no idea what the issue was but as we dig deeper into the car to see what the problem was, I will let you all know. It is really disappointing because my car felt really good and I felt I had a good chance to take the win.
The whole Xray/RC America worked super hard together to help out with whatever was needed, pitting, marshaling or just being in the pits to support the drivers getting ready for the Mains.
I would like to thank the whole Stateline crew for all their hard work in preparing the track in adverse conditions, the meals they provided for the racers and just their general hospitality, they really went above and beyond.
Thanks to all my sponsors for making it possible to race and do what I love to do, Xray, RC America, Pro-Lline, OS, Hudy, Orion, MKS, VP Fuel, A Main Hobbies, Lunsford, Avid, Muchmore, Stick It 1, 110%, Darkside, Live RC, Red RC, Neobuggy.
Thanks to my family for all their help and support, they have stood by from day one and have sacrificed a lot.
Most importantly I want to thank my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, without him I would not be where I am today.
