A nice night for some racing

Since the weather for Saturday was supposed to be alot cooler in Santa Clarita than the last 2 weekends, I decided to race at HRH under the lights :) I got there about 2 hours before start time and set up my pit in the shade of the far corner of the pits. The track was really dry and dusty, so I decided to practice after the track would be watered. I didn't need to learn the layout, since it was still the same as the last time I was here. I would be playing around with the gearing in the truck tonight, aiming for a temp of 170°F at the end of a 10 min run. I put my IFMAR pins on the rear of the truck and headed out for my practice run. I started my countdown timer and turning some laps. Wow! I had no punch at all :( I guess my practice pack is really flat. I was having a tough time clearing any of the big jumps. When my timer went off, I pulled in and took the temp of my motor. 172°F. I'll start off with a 78/28 for round 1.

As I walked up to the track, I noticed the paint job of a fellow rc blogger and racer, Kevin of Kevin's RC Racing Blog (http://kdoffroad.blogspot.com/). I've been reading Kevin's RC blog for a few weeks now, and it was cool to meet the person behind the blog :) The track would be bone dry for round 1, better suited to Holeshots rather then the IFMAR pins on my truck, but I was saving my Holeshots for racing at OCRC, so I toughed it out on the IFMAR's. I started the heat 7th of 7 trucks. I took an easy on the start, driving around an accident in the 1st turn, and managed to make it up to mid-pack, I think. The rest of the heat was a joke. I was either ending up on my lid, or getting punted off the track. In the hairpin leading up to the big triple, I was on the outside of another truck, and he pushed me completely off the track, and I got stuck on a pipe! I guess I'll need to give the other trucks in this heat way more room. I still managed to finish 3rd with a 11:04.

For round 2, the track was damp, like I'm accustomed to at HRH. I would be starting in 1st for this heat, so I would try to run away from the field, to avoid getting tangled up. It worked and I got a nice clean start and pulled away from everyone else. I made a bunch of bobbles during the next lap, allowing Brent to catch me by the end of the 2nd lap. I headed down the hill, and went too wide over the roller at the bottom. Brent went to the inside and took the lead! Nuts! He checked out after that, and I didn't make any major mistakes, and stayed away from the other drivers. I finished the heat in 2nd with a 12:09.

The sun had fully set by now, and it was nice and cool out. Time for the mains under the lights :) I decided to gear up a tooth for the main, since my motor temps were hovering around 135°F after 5 min. The main would be 7 min long though, and I wondered if I would be geared too high, overheating my motor. I qualified 2nd for the main behind Brent. We took off at the tone and I made it clean through the 1st few turns. However, I got a bit tangled up and lost sight of my truck for a second in the short chute between the table top and triple. I lucked out though and got away 1st, and still in 2nd place. The rest of the main was uneventful. Brent pulled away from me, and I pulled away from 3rd place, eventually lapping him. I finished 2nd with a 17:19, a lap behind Brent :( I temped my motor at the end of the main, 150°F. Cool! Maybe I'll try this gearing at OCRC.

I better get going! I'm heading down OCRC for another night of racing! See ya at the track!