West Coast RC Offroad Grand Opening

I headed out to West Coast RC this past Sunday to run the Offroad Grand Opening Race! I've already run at West Coast a few times, but this time, the track and hobby shop were officially open for business. My brother also came up from San Diego to run Amateur Stock Truck, but no such class exists, so he had to run in my class, Sportsman Stock Truck. While he can wheel a truck around a track fairly well, he's not able to turn fast and consistent laps (not yet anyway).

We got there at about 10:30am and setup our pit, then headed out to the track for practice. My brother needed to learn the layout, so I gave him as many tips as I could, and he started turning some laps. It was still the same layout as the last time I ran, but the track was a lot smoother now and some of the jumps had been reworked, to make them a bit easier to clear (thank you!) I just worked on my line and jump timing, while my brother learned the layout. Unfortunately, my brother broke a front A-arm on the big triple (luckily the shop now had some stock!), then blew out a rear shock :( He replaced the arm, and I rebuilt the shock for him, since he can't do it as fast as I can, and he wanted to get back on the track as soon as possible.

Around noon, we started looking for the free BBQ which was supposed to part of the grand opening festivities, as it was posted on RCTech.net that they would be serving food from 12 noon - 6pm. Unfortunately, nobody was manning the grill :( We were getting hungry, but waited to see when the grill would be fired up. Around 2:30 pm, we were about to make a run over to Wendy's down the street when we saw Danny getting the grill ready and got in line! We both got a hot dog and a sausage, along with some potato salad. It wasn't bad, but we had to gulf it down as racing was about to start in 15 minutes and we were in race 4!

Our Stock Truck heat was packed! 11 cars! That didn't seem too bad as the track is fairly large with lap times nearing 30 seconds. I was worried though, as since there is no IFMAR qualifying at West Coast, it would be a mess, with all the traffic and fighting for position. I was right as there was a huge pile up on the start, causing a lot of yelling on the stand, as the marshals moved in slow motion to clear the mess. Luckily I started on the pole (thanks to heads up qualifying) and got away clean. But, :( I clipped the pipe in the hairpin after the triple and rolled, losing the lead. Then while trying to get my rhythm back, Art was able to make a clean pass on me, dropping me down to 3rd. I was able to hold on to 3rd, but what a mess in traffic! I got hit several times by lapped cars, as nobody would give room to the faster cars. Notch wasn't much help either, as all he did was call out who were the leaders and not calling much traffic. My brother was in the same heat, and he didn't have much luck either. I think he got caught up in the pileup off the start, then also got hit by other cars attempting passes. He finished in 9th.

For round 2, I would be starting in the back of the 11 car heat (thanks to heads up qualifying again, sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. Thank goodness I wasn't number 5, as I would be screwed in both qualifying rounds, starting the middle of the pack). I took it easy on the start and tried to pick my way through the mess. I think I moved up to mid pack by the triple, but got hit after the hairpin double and needed to be marshaled, dropping back down the order. I got hit and marshaled a bunch (which took forever btw, because there were were only a few marshals on the track, and they had to run really far to get you). Again, there was a bunch of yelling in regards to being hacked and slow marshals (which also happened to me btw), I got fed up and yelled back "Shut up and learn to drive!" Which quieted down some of the other guys for a lap or two... I managed to finish in 4th, but my time sucked, as I had to start in the back. I don't remember how my brother did, but I don't think he had a good run either. He also stopped his run when he thought Notch called him finished (hard to hear Notch in there, with all the yelling, and noise from the fans), but when we looked at the results, his time was stopped with 30 seconds to go (his time was at 4:30), so he missed out on another lap :(

The mains were up next and would be 7 minutes long. I qualified in 4th, with my time from round 1 (10:02). I got up on the stand and apologized to all the driver's standing near me for running into them, as I knew I would. Sorry! Art was yelling at Notch to get more marshals as he was about to start the race with only 4 marshals on the track! A few guys ran out on the track, and before I knew what was happening, the race started with little warning! A huge pileup occurred right in front of me, right at the finish line! I saw it and drove around the mess and the marshal running toward it. I went through the valley and landed on the table top in 2nd place! Whoohoo! I drove as fast as I could to stretch the gap to third place as big as I could! I was driving clean and turning good laps, until I caught up with the back markers :( Nobody would give me room and ran into me instead :( I got pushed off line and punted into the next lane, but thankfully didn't need to be marshaled! Again, Notch wasn't calling traffic, he was just announcing who the leaders were. I guess we were on our own. I need to learn to yell out "Yellow car, 2nd place car behind you! Please let me by !" (ie. don't run into me or try to race me). I hung on to 2nd place, winning $10 race bucks :)

My brother was running in the back, using the main as a chance to get more practice and work on his timing for the jumps. He told me that any time another truck caught up to him, he'd move over and let them by, and they were still running into the back of him! :( What horrible driving! I think I lapped him twice, and he did an great job driving and giving me the room to get by. I slowed my pace a little and he moved to the outside of the lane a bit, and I dived underneath him to the inside. He waited until I cleared him, then returned to his line. This is how it should be done :) Thanks bro! The other cars wouldn't give me any room, then try to race me as I was lapping them, and I would get hit :( My brother ended up finishing in 10th after blowing out another shock with about 2 minutes to go, then hitting a rut at the end of the straight, and popping a rear camber link. He'd like to thank the marshal that tried to pop the link back on, but wasn't able to :(

Thoughts:
-What happened to Super Sunday racing with 3 rounds of qualifying? We only ran 2 rounds :(
-I like IFMAR qualifying! You get somewhat cleaner runs.
-11 car heat? Wouldn't a 6/5 split lead to cleaner racing and better qualifying? I guess saving 15 minutes is more important than clean racing and a good time :(
-Need to treat every car as it's trying to take me out, even when I'm lapping them! I think this would increase my chances of getting by without getting hit.
-Even with all the fans and open doors, it's still freaking hot and humid in there! I wish there was a fan on the driver's stand, as after every run I was covered in sweat :(