When: April 5
Where: RC Race Barn in Jefferson City, MO
Event: Nitro Season Warm-Up Race
Both qualifying and mains would be ran on the same day. The track is a hard packed non-clay track that Pro-line M4 compounds normally work when the moisture content is high. But with the doors opened and no water applied at anytime, the track turned into a loose, low traction indoor surface. This made tire selecting the key. This was the maiden voyage for my TLR 8ight 3.0 and TLR 8ight-E 3.0 so anything was possible on the new rides. The kit setups proved to be inadequate for the track from the start. Starting off with my go to tire, the Pro-line M4 Tazer and making an oil change in both cars and some further adjustments and the cars started to come around.
With the changing track conditions a tire change was necessary, so tried M3 Blockades and the cars got a little better. It was not until the 3rd qualifier that I ran X3 Holeshots and they were great. With the hard track the M series pin was rolling over to much and the X3 excelled!
When the dust settled, starting 2nd in the Nitro Buggy C-main and bumping into the B-main where an early flameout and wing brakeage caused me to retire early. And in E-Buggy starting and finishing 6th in the B-main rounded out my day.
Since the release of the X3 compound tires I have found them to work great in many conditions with great wear.
When: April 10-13
Where: Boulder City, NV
Event: Silver State Nitro Challenge
This year “The Dirt” did an excellent job on the track layout and design. Running on this track was just awesome on Thursday of controlled practice the M3 Holeshots were dialed. Track was very smooth and cars were handling well. On day 2 the track totally changed. As it usually goes at SilverState the track surface blew out! M3 Holeshots were still working through the first round of qualifying on all 3 of my cars and truck. But for qual 2 and 3 for buggy I went with the M3 Blockade as the track rutted up very bad. The “race” line now became where ever you could find a line with no rut. So lap times went up and the track became increasingly difficult. I knew the Pro-Line tires were working great and consistent and it was a matter of the driver finding the line around the track to stay on all four’s.
Starting 10th on the Open nitro buggy C–main and finishing 6th was a great accomplishment for myself considering the tough nature of the track and the level of competition present.
In Open Nitro Truggy starting and finishing 9th in the B-main and the track now with a perimeter racing line the M3 Blockades worked flawless and up to the task of running in and out of the racing line. An unfortunate shock end breakage ended my run early.
Overall the M3 compound excelled when the track had some moisture in it. A big thanks to Daniel Adams and the Pro-line Team for their support at the Silver State Nitro Challenge.
When: April 19
Where: St Louis, MO
Event: Dirt Burners
This was the second club race of the year and with a gorgeous day of racing ahead of us. I was excited to get on the track since my cars were finally wearing in. In truggy the heat was mixed with nitro and electric. Running M3 Holeshots for all 3 qualifiers placed me 2nd on the grid for the 10 minute A-main. With a dry track all day the wear on the truggy tire was good considering the track surface. The plan is to run the track dry for the year and so far has proved to be consistent but with higher tire wear. In the truggy main running M3 Blockades the truck was very consistent and I could not believe the amount of wear I got out of the truggy tires. There was hardly any! Finishing 2nd in the main was great.
In Nitro buggy the X3 compound is the way to go here at Dirt Burners. The M3 compound does work well but with an increased tire wear. X3 is just a great wearing compound with a good balance of forward and side bite in the Blockade tread pattern.
Qualifying as B-Q (1st in the B-main) and the buggy shoed with M3 BigBlox (sun had gone down and a little cooler so M3 worked a little better) the main started off with myself making a couple of mistakes sending me to the back of the pack. With the plan to go the entire 10 minutes without pitting, I was able to get back to 3rd and pressured the 2nd place driver at 9:30 down I ran out of fuel. Bad strategy on my part but the car and tires were awesome. I know the BigBlox tire will be a great performer here at the St Louis Dirt Burners track. Especially in July when the Futaba Nitro Challenge will be held here.
With a new point series starting April 26 at Dirt Burners I feel confident that Pro-Lines tire compound line up and tread patterns will make it easy for any racer to perform well in their respected class.
Kevin Burritt
SnoCamel Racing
