9-4-15 to 9-6-15
Labor Day Shootout 2015
Silver Dollar Raceway
145 Entries- 16 E-Buggies and 17 Pro Nitro Buggies.
Pro-Line Tires used:
X2 Fugitives
X1 Electrons
X1 Suppressors
X1 Fugitives
I would be very excited for this event as it would be my first major race back after the 1:8 Nitro nationals! I would run both of my new Tekno NB48.3 and EB48.3 rides! I would arrive at the track early Friday morning as my cars needed a quick rebuild as I had no time to prepare them due to school, School comes first! Around noon I would get my first laps in, the track surface would be the same as the nationals so I immediately went to stiffer springs and oils. After a few more test sessions the cars were dialed! As practice went on I felt ready for the 3 rounds of qualifying the next day.
Qualifying
To my excitement many pro drivers would show up to the likes of, Ryan Lutz, Austin Blair, Curtis Door, and Philip Atondo! My E-Buggy qualifier would be first, I would have an almost flawless run only making 1 or 2 small bobbles, I would end up right behind Lutz as we were the only ones that would be able to go the 14 laps! In Nitro Buggy, it would be a very similar run as I would only make 1 or 2 bobbles and end up 4th for the round, 5-one-hundredths of a second in front of Blair. In round 2 of E-Buggy, me and Lutz would battle the entire race, For the last half of it I would be in the lead to only make a slight bobble at the end to give it away to Lutz, he would take the overall TQ heading into the mains but I would grab the fastest lap of the day with a 30.5 to his 30.8. Once again I would have a decent run in nitro buggy, but this time I would end up 6th for the round. Round 3 of qualifying would quickly approach, Ebuggy was first. I had already secured the 2nd starting position on the grid, so I went out with brand new tires to break them in for the main event, I would end up second again. In Nitro Buggy I would battle again in the 4th position but on the last lap I would short a jump and unfortunately it would have me finish with another 6th for the round.
Mains
I would end up qualifying 2nd overall in E-Buggy and 6th in Nitro Buggy. E-Buggy A1 would be my first Main. I was really excited as Lutz and I have been battling back and forth all weekend, on the first lap Lutz and I had a breakaway start, on the second lap Lutz would traction roll and I would take the lead. From there on out I would run a perfect race, as Lutz’s lap times and mine were very similar he would make a few more mistakes while pushing, securing my win in A1 by over 8-Seconds! A2 would be up shortly. Once again the both of us would have a breakaway start, this time Lutz didn’t make a mistake for me to capitalize on, he would go on to take A2 and with the tie breaking system they used he would take the overall win. Even though I had came in 2nd, I was very happy with my performance in E-Buggy!
The main event of the weekend was now up, the 30-minute Pro Nitro Buggy A-Main! I would get a great start as I would emerge into 3rd immediately within 3-minutes. We would all battle intensely through the 15-minute mark, between the 18 to 20-minute mark, I would continuously hit a huge rut on a face of a jump coming onto the back straight away. This would drop me back to the 10th spot, in the remaining 10 minutes of the race I would have to battle my way back up to the 6th spot which is where I would end up finishing. It’s not exactly the results I was hoping for but I ended up finishing where I qualified. While I was pushing I would drop a 30.8-second lap which would be the 2nd fastest lap of the entire race right behind Lutz, we would be the only 2 to drop a sub 31-second lap!
Overall I feel this was definitely one of my best performances yet and I hope to continue to improve! I had alot of fun with all of my friends and my cars were absolutely dialed to say the least! Once again a huge thanks to my sponsors for the continued help and support, Tekno RC, Pro-Line, Tekin, DE Racing, Airtronics, LFR, Byron Fuels, Schelle, 92zero Designs, Reds Airbrush Design, and All Around RC!!!
