This past weekend I assisted in hosting a race at my hometown track Medina R/C Raceway. It was a rain date from the prior weekend but fortunately the turnout was still solid as we got in what is probably our last outdoor event of the season here in N.E. Ohio. Conditions were a little wet on Saturday morning but by 11am we were racing and most of the Ohio fast guys were in attendance making for a very competitive race. Due to the late start we opted for 2 qualifier rocket round style and a bit longer mains.
All the top guys ran both buggy classes so I ran both of my WRC buggies. Qualifying was a little tough in Q1 for me and Q2 was was make or break. In ebuggy my piston nut came off locking up my shock and thus I had to go off my Q1 time which put me in 5th overall for the main. In Nitro after a mediocre Q1 I opted to try some settings to get a little more steering and quicker rear rotation for the numerous 180's. I went inside on the rear shocks on the arm. I also moved the front upper arms forward for less front caster. Both changes served me well and I put in a clean 6 minute run to take the TQ and officially 'show up' to my race!
We also had a fun tire change challenge and my buddy Joe Bornhorst handed it to me as he absolutely smoked the field. We will be having a rematch soon!
Next was the mains and first up we had a 10 minute E-buggy Amain. I started 5th and was quickly able to move up to 3rd. The rest was pretty uneventful for me. Joey was leading out and Joe in 2nd and they ran pretty clean. We held position and I would finish there with the last spot on the podium.
Nitro buggy was our last race of the day and it was set to be 30 minutes. I was starting on TQ but that's not quite the way it went. I forgot to turn my headset on before heading to the stand and so I was not at that moment able to communicate with my pit guy. They started the race quickly and I didn't get on the track until about 4th or 5th position. Fortunately the 30 minute main affords some time to play some catch up. I moved up to second over the next couple laps then battled with Joey Bourdon for a couple laps for that 2nd/3rd position. He made a mistake allowing me more safety in 2nd. I then set my sights on Bornhorst in the lead. He had about a 5 second lead but he made a mistake narrowing the gap. I put in some good laps and caught up and during the pit stop interval was able to take the lead. I found my groove on my Ultra Soft AKA Gridirons and pulled away a bit as we got deeper into the race. No major mistakes and I came away with about a 1/2 lap victory! It's always nice to take the win at my own race especially with the competition level this year.
After the official racing was over it was time for one more fun run. We pitted experience vs. youth to see who rules Ohio. Two 6 man teams and we all ran our ebuggies. We lined up in a tight grid with one old and one young guy per row and off we went. Some pushed for racing, and others pushed to play blocker so to speak. It was a fun run with some carnage for some and in the end the experience prevailed to take the crown for 2021!
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