Another year and another very challenging DNC or "Dirt Nitro Challenge" event. This year the challenge started early with some rain on practice day allowing only 1 round of practice for all but Nitro buggy which received no practice. This set the stage for the next challenge which was more rain on ebuggy and nitro truggy qualifying day which allowed just 1 round to be run. So it was decided with the nice weather from Fri-Sun that we would run 2 rounds of qualifying for all vehicles with your best qual point being what determined your main starting position. This then would require on average a top 8-10 position in one of the two qualifiers to make the coveted A-main for the event.
The track was good fun and while it started out pretty easy, we all knew it was going to be the ruts that would bring the challenge as we went longer into the weekend. I along with a majority of the pros ran all 4, 1/8th classes at this one and there was a large contingent of top drivers who made the trek over from Europe to compete as well. Again, this was my first time at this track with the RAWspeed tires and as it will be all year it's a bit of a learning experience at each track to dial into my tire selection and choose the right tread and compound for the varying conditions. Compound wise this weekend was SS, SSLW, and even S during the weekend as temperatures warmed and the track dried out a bit.
On Thursday we got in the one qualifier for Nitro truggy and Ebuggy. The difference between 8th and 28th (making the A or the C main) in ebuggy was 4 seconds and I was on the low end of that metric unfortunately with a couple of crashes. In Nitro truggy those 4 seconds were the difference between 2nd and 9th in which I got the 9th again with a mistake but I was hopeful it could be enough for the Amain. On Friday morning we got that second qualifier in the aforementioned classes but nothing improved for me. Ebuggy saw lots of crashing as I was just struggling out there and would end up in the C-main. In nitro truggy, 5 seconds of mistakes mid race saw me not improve but fortunately the Q1 8th would seed me 12th overall and into the A-main.
As Friday continued we would get two qualifiers Etruggy and Nitro Buggy with Q1 being the first time our Nitro buggies would see the track and so they gave us an extra 3 minutes of practice before the loop went live. In Etruggy my Q1 had a few mistakes netting a 12th, but I was able to come back in Q2 on SSLW Mach One tires to get a 6th for the round which would seed me 9th into the Amain. In Nitro buggy Q1 was going ok, but a mistake on the last lap dropped me back to a 16th. In Q2, our first run at night of the week, I got stuck on the opposite side of the drivers stand and just struggled the whole run and it wasn't pretty. The Q1 time would seed me 23rd or 9th in the B-main.
Saturday brought some warmer temps, abundant sunshine and the first set of main days for Nitro truggy and Ebuggy. First up I had Ebuggy C-main with some SSLW Super Mini tires. Starting 4th I got caught in some early traffic and fell to 8th but worked steadily up to 3rd by the 4th lap. My buggy felt the best it had all weekend but I still just made some tough mistakes and fell back to 5th. The final two laps I figured out how to take the whoops line better and threw down the two fastest laps of the race but it was too late and I finished 4th. Later midday we had the Amain warmup for Nitro truggy. I made some changes like taping the rear foam to promote more forward drive and consistency in the rear. Also I went up in rear toe. My truck was fast but a bit hard to hold onto as the track had dried a lot and my front end was pretty agressive and the rear could step out, so I knew there were some changes I needed to make for the A final. I ran Soft Mach One in the warmup and would run SSLW Mach One in the main as it would be dark by the time we ran.
As the main got underway I had a good start moving up from 12th on the grid to 8th on lap one. My set-up changes seemed to be doing well overall. (I lowered the front link on the tower to the middle, went to red rear spring instead of blue, and stood up the rear shock on the tower). I found myself battling it out in the 4-6 range for the majority of the races. I had some longer crashes periodically that were costly and kept knocking me back when I found myself in gaining on the final podium position. I would start battling with 3-5 and hold 3rd a couple times but always seeemed to make a mistake and give it up again. I was bummed becasue I felt I had the ability to get on the podium but in the end would come home in 5th, just 1.8 seconds out of 3rd.
Sunday would wrap up our week and my first run would be the B-main of Nitro buggy. I opted for this 30 minute final to run Soft Triad in the front and soft Mach One in the rear. We found the Triad to give pretty good steering and not catch anything in the front and the Mach One to be more stable and predictable in the rear. Starting 9th in this one I just wanted to stay clean and up near the lead pack to give myself a chance as the race progressed but I got caught in the tight middle pack and knocked back a few spots on lap 1 to 11th. I was able to put in some clean laps after that as mistakes were happening all over on this treacherous track. I steadily moved up lap after lap and was in 4th before my first pitstop. Shortly thereafter on a crazy lap with all the leaders crashing I moved up to into the lead and lead for 9 laps before a mistake knocked me back to 2nd. There was some concern for a bit as 3rd was catching up but they made a mistake and Cav and I got a decent 8-10 second cushion for the last 5 minutes or so. With two laps to go I made a bit of a move and got into the lead on the front right and held on for the B-main win and bump into the A main!
In etruggy I started 9th and had a good start manuevering around some carnage. I would quickly move up to 6th and then 5th but a mistake on lap 5 dropped me back to 8th. I wasn't quite comfrotable after that and had a few bobbles and was battling with other racers mid-pack. I would bounce around between 6th-9th for the remainder but would end up 8th overall.
Finally it was the feature 45minute Nitro buggy Final. I went with SSLW Triad front and Mach One rear for this one. Unfortuantely going up on the stand 15th with just 16 spots on the stand I again got stuck on the left side of the stand which was simply a struggle for me. I couldn't place my car where I wanted it on the right side of the track and it made for a challenge teh whole race. I would have a good first couple corners and then just got hammered back and crossed the line in last!. I steadily moved up over the next 11 laps place by place until a high water mark of 9th on lap 11. I would reach 9th one more time on lap 18-19 but after that, a few crashes had me back in the battle for 10-13. I did work back to 11th before my last pit stop but unfortunately my headsets lost communication and I didn't hear it was time to pit and missed my pit lap I believe 2 times and ran out of gas on the left. Lost basically 1 lap and got back out and finished a bit of a dissapointing 13th where without that missed lap I could have been in the battle for 9-11.
Overall a very challenging event but being my first year on RAWspeed tires and the field getting ever deeper, it was an accomplishement to make 3 A-mains. I'll keep learning and growing and hopefully can keep improving and defying age!
