West Coast RC Supercross, Round 2

Last Sunday was round 2 of the West Coast Supercross Series! I came out early to get more practice runs in before controlled practice started, limiting your runs. Thankfully, I was able to put in about 4 runs before controlled practice started at 11:30am.

I used these runs to adjust my gearing for my Murfdogg with its new rotor. I started at a 75:24 ratio, but the motor kept running hot! It always came off at 195-205°F after a 6 min run. I dropped the gear 2 teeth every run until I was at 84:18 and a motor temp of 226°F!! with only 1 practice run to go! I was about to switch back to my Orion motor, having pulled the Murfdogg from the truck, but realized I could just turn the timing back down to 10°. Doh! I reset the timing and reinstalled the Murf just in time for the last controlled practice session of the day. I left the gearing at 84:18, to see if the timing change would make any difference in the motor temp. I temped in at 150°F!!! Wow! That timing change made a huge difference! For round 1 I geared back up to 84:20, aiming for a temp of 170-180°F.

There were some heavy hitters in Stock Truck this week! Kevin Smith and Robert Drew were now running, both are super fast! Along with the fast guys from last week, Bill Koch and Brian Halverson. I didn't have the greatest run but, I did turn a 19.937 lap! Too bad the leaders turned 19.5 :( I was running in 4th, pulling in Bill Koch in 3rd. I caught him, but crashed, just as I got close enough to try a pass :( He pulled away again, and I ended up in 4th.

In round 2, I had to start in the back of the grid. I took it easy on the start, but some yellow truck didn't, nailing the gas and spinning out right in front of me! I had no place to go and ran into him. Then, while trying to get going again, this yellow truck hits me a few more times, since he is all over the place, and can't hold his line!@ WTF! dude! I have a super long 1st lap, and try way too hard to make up the time I lose at the start, crashing at least 3 times, and making a bunch of bobbles, finishing 7th. I couldn't improve on my time from round 1, but at least only 1 guy goes faster than my time, so I end up 5th on the grid for the A main.

When we grid up for the main, I see a new truck at the back of the grid. The black truck with pink wheels of Brandon Feige. Where did he come from? He didn't run any of the qualifiers... I would end up racing him for 3rd though! I get an awesome start again, as the top cars weren't ready for the start, and I was! This has happened to me a few times at West Coast, but I've learned my lesson, and now ignore all commotion going on once I'm gridded up for the start. I move up to 3rd, then 2nd, by the end of the 1st lap! I only stay there for 2 laps though, as while going through the quads, I have to double-double, while the 2 trucks behind me do the quad! A bobble in the next corner and just like that I'm down to 4th! :( I stay close enough to Brandon and trade back 3rd with him a few times, but we tangle up a few times too, losing ground on the leaders. By halfway into the race, I make it back up to 3rd, but a bunch of mistakes in the closing laps, allows 2 trucks to pass me, and I end up in 5th on the last lap! :( Doh! I was over driving again, trying to pull away from 4th and catch Bill, as I had to finish in front of him to take the lead in the points. Bill takes the win and 100 points. Brian finishes in 2nd and was the TQ, so he also gets 100 points. I finish 5th with 96 points (hopefully my throwout score). So after 2 rounds the top 3 in points are Bill-200, Brian-198, and me with 196.

Observations:
-Holy crap everyone was fast this weekend. Last week lap times were 20-21s, this time 19.5-18.9!!! My fastest lap was 19.822.
-A Thunder Power 40c 5000mah lipo blew up in some guys car that was pitting next to me! Pouring out white magic smoke and making a huge cloud. The guy said it was already damaged, but he kept using it, since it was still working.... Tsktsktsk
-Controlled practice was a waste! 1hr between runs, and some sessions had only a few cars out on the track, while others were packed! I still think a que system would work better.
-For round 3, I'm going back to 20° timing! I found a 87 spur in my extra parts at home. So, I will be starting at 87:17, the lowest ratio I have! If that runs over 170°, I guess I'll be going back to 10° timing.
-Theme for me for the night was over driving :( With all the fast guys in the race, I had to do something to cut my laps times. I was sending it ddddeeepppp into the turn at the end of the straight, not letting off until I was entering the short chute. Last week I was slowing down entering this turn. I think everyone figured this out though, as by the mains, almost everyone was turning sub 20 sec laps. While I did cut my lap times, I ended up crashing more, since I was trying so hard, which killed my race times :( Too bad we don't qualify using fastest laps... I need to find a happy medium between turning fast laps and driving conservative enough to not wreck.
-Kevin has rotten luck again! :( He puffed an SMC pack in round 1 then broke his steering servo in round 2 :( He had just bought 2 new Racers Edge 40C 5000mah packs to replace his puffed SMC and didn't feel like spending more money on a new servo, when he had a perfectly good one at home, so he sat out his main. He also got robbed in the big air contest! He almost pulled off a back flip, getting the biggest crowd reaction, until another guy just went really big and long, which the crowd seemed to liked better. My question is, why didn't anyone else try a back flip? It should be easy'ish with a 4wd car. Also, what happened to a whip? It's really easy, as all you do is turn the front wheels. The trick is to flatten the car back out for the landing. Which is key to pulling off a trick anyway, otherwise you're just wrecking :)

So, on to Round 3 of the Supercross Series! And from the looks of the track, it will be "super" with a true supercross layout put in for the last 2 rounds. I can't wait to get to the track on Sunday, and get some practice laps in! And oh ya, this time I will try and save you a pit spot next to the fence Kevin :)