As I said in my last post, I arrived at the track 15 or so minutes before the 1st round, so I wasn't able to practice at all. I would have to get used to the track conditions during the 1st round of the night.
The track crew has just watered the track and I was running in race 3, so I stuck with my Holeshots that I was running on Sunday. I wanted to take as many warm up laps as I could to get some feel for the track conditions before racing started. Man! It was dry, slick, and dusty out there already! And the track was just watered 15 minutes ago! I would have to be really easy on the gas for this heat.. I started the race in 5th, but was able to pass 2 cars going through the whoops and wagon wheel, moving up to 3rd by the end of the 1st lap :) It took me a few laps to get my rhythm, then I started chasing down 2nd place, until I lost control of my car! I ran over to the marshal that picked it up to see if the ESC plug had popped out of the receiver again like on Sunday, it didn't, but I pushed on the plug with my finger anyway, and the receiver LED turned back on and I had control again. I put my car back on the track to get some practice, since there was no way I was going to turn a good time this heat. It was still super slick out there and I would have to make a tire change if the track was going to stay dry. I still managed to finish in 5th with a 14:06.
I looked over my car in the pits to try and figure out why my receiver shut down again. The only change I made before this started happening was I lengthened my antenna tube so that the antenna wire wasn't sticking out. So, I shortened it again, so that a little bit of the wire was sticking back out and secured it with a cap. Hopefully this stops my shutdown problem for the 2nd heat. During the break between rounds, Jeremy announced that because the air conditioner was running, it was drying out the track very fast. In order to keep track conditions consistent, the track would be run dry and swept between rounds. This prompted me to change my tires over to Panther Bobcats/Switch 2.0's for the 2nd round. I would also apply Buggy Grip to the tires, as this would provide even more traction for the dry track conditions.
I would be starting in the 4th position this time and needed to get to the front to turn a fast time, since I basically broke in round 1. I got a good start and was able to pass 2 cars in the leap of faith jump section and crossed the line in 2nd at the end of the 1st lap. I wasn't too far behind the leader and started looking for a place to pass. A few laps later I saw an opening for a pass going through the whoops and dove for the inside of the wagon wheel. I made the pass clean and went into the lead! He was still right with me though, so I kept my line really tight when he was close to keep the door shut, leaving no place for him to make a pass. The battle was on now! He would catch up to me, then attempt a pass and/or crash. He even tried to jump over me when I was downsiding the double, but he landed hard and bounced and I was able to hold onto 1st! I bobbled a few times, but nothing bad enough for me to lose the lead. I was close to setting a new TQ, but I won the race with a 17:14, 3 seconds behind. My Panther tires were also hooked up on the dry track! I had good steering and bite out of the turns :)
For the mains the track would be dry and swept again. It was also beginning to develop a blue groove on the racing line. I started the main in 2nd, but I got a bit sideways after going over the double off the straight and dropped down to 3rd. Thankfully I was able to save it and only lose 1 place, unlike on Sunday when the same thing happened and I got stuck on a pipe and the whole field went by. The running order was Matt in 1st, Mitch in 2nd, and me in 3rd. Matt checked out though and was gone! The race would be for 2nd between Mitch and myself, just like in the 2nd round. I followed Mitch for a few laps, until he made a mistake (I think he flipped in the whoops, but I'm not sure) and I moved into 2nd. I could see Matt about 2 straights in front of me, but I didn't think I could catch him unless he had a major crash, so I settled into a rhythm and held second place. I did just that and finished in 2nd with a 17:11 :) I also turned my fastest lap so far, a 17.991 :) Hopefully I can get that down to a mid 17, with a few small changes to the cars rear roll center I plan on making before the next race.
I may head out to Hot Rod's on Saturday to check out some of the racing at the Reedy Truck race or go to OCRC and get some practice in with my T4 and work on the setup. We'll see how I feel when I wake up Saturday morning :)
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