I headed out to OCRC the Friday before the JBRL race to learn the layout and get some practice in. I also ran the club race to get some motor temps and lap times. The layout that was in for the JBRL was really fast with wide lanes. I was on the gas a bunch! My truck felt fast during qualifying and I missed TQ by 2 seconds. In the main however, Bill Koch had changed his setup a bit and was now on pace! He qualified in the back, but had made it into the top 3! I was running in 3rd right behind him for the last minute or so of the race. I was right on his tail on the last lap, but he drove a good line, leaving no place for me to pass, and I had to settle for 3rd. After that good run, I felt good going into the JBRL race! My T4 felt dialed, so all I had to to was put in a good run to hopefully make it into the A!
It was a busy night for me! Along with racing, I was mounting up, gluing, then balancing, 2 sets of Panther SC Switches that I picked up in the hobby shop. One set of clay compound for a damp surface and a set of Super Softs in case the dirt dried out like at West Coast. I was working on them in between my races, as I wanted them ready to try on my SC10 during the morning practice for the JBRL the next day. I figured these tires would be the hot ticket, and wanted to try them out before racing on them. I managed to finish up the clay compound tires, and I mounted them on the SC10 for morning practice.
Intermediate SC
During practice I ran the Panther SC Switches in clay compound and they felt good, so I went with them for qualifying. Unfortunately, I was in the 1st heat again and would be running on a wet, not damp, track. I put in a good run, finishing 2nd , I think. But, I dropped to 4th after the other heat of Int SC ran. I was still in the A, and that's all that really mattered. In round 2, the track was much faster, and more people put in good runs. Thus, I dropped to 9th in the A! At least I was still in the "show" and wouldn't need to bump in, like I did at Round 1.
For the main, I decided to gamble, and try my Super Soft SC Switches, as our main would be the last one before watering, thus the track would be the driest. I needed some sort of advantage to move up, and I was hoping the softer tires would give me the edge! However, the tires didn't work out and I got a bit sideways on the 1st lap, and I dropped to last. Another issue showed up during the race, which was I think my slipper was overheating. I didn't have the punch I needed to clear the big center jump, during the last 1-2 minutes of the race. I could hear it slipping up on the driver's stand! This didn't show up during qualifying, as the heats were shortened to 4 minutes to save time, due to the high number of entries. Well, at least I think my slipper was overheating. I could've just gotten lazy with my approach, as I was running last anyway. LOL! I ended up finishing where I started, 9th, and am currently 6th in the points.
Stock Truck
Things were not going as well as I had hoped :( I blew out in round 1 when the track was damp and had max traction :( because I was talking to a friend and ended up missing the end of one of the races before mine! Thus, I was still standing on the ramp during warm up, since I thought my race was the next one, not the one currently on the track! When I realized it was my race, I ran up the ramp and ended up standing in a spot really far from where I normally stand! This messed up my timing, and I basically needed to re-learn the track, which killed my lap times! I was qualified in the C main out of 5 heats!
For round 2, I went up to stand early and kept track of which race was running! But, this time the track was drier and much slower. The winners of the heats before mine were at least 5-10 seconds slower than round 1! I was screwed! I was leading the heat, and on pace to make the A main, but I caught slower traffic during the last few laps of the race. They weren't letting me by, and I was too busy driving and concentrating on not getting tangled up to yell out and ask to go by :( My pace slowed :( I won the heat, but my time wasn't fast enough to make the A. I ended up qualifying 4th for the B! :(
In the main I had a decent start and moved up to 3rd. But, on the 1st lap I clipped a pipe while avoiding a spun out truck. This dropped me down to 5th, but a wheelie and resulting back flip, a lap or so latter really killed my chances of finishing in the top 3 :( I then over-drove my car, making more mistakes :( I would move up a few spots, make a mistake, then drop back again. I ended up finishing in 7th and dropping to 10th in the points :(
Ran was racing with me again. He made both his A mains! He was able to bump into the A in Spec SC and was 2nd qualifier in Rookie. In his Rookie main, he was part of a few pile ups, but came out ok. He was running around in 3rd and closing on 2nd, when he hit him in the back! All was good though, as he left the car by and chased him down again. But, mistakes kept him from moving back up to 2nd. Then he gets blasted by a green truck in the closing laps! A lap or so later he gets hits a pipe and ends up upside down, allowing the 4th and 5th place cars to catch up and pass him. He end up finishing 5th, and is 3rd in the points. In his SC main, he moved up a bunch of spots on the 1st few laps, but mistakes dropped him back down. He did have some good racing going on at least :) He finishes in 9th and is 7th in the ponts.
On to the next round at Hot Rods this weekend! The weather is looking good, sunny and mild temperatures :) I plan to be there early Saturday for practice and racing on the dry track, then crash at the hotel, and back bright and early for round 3! See you there!
Randoms
-Can't use the 1st round to settle in. At this round the 1st round was the "rocket round". If you didn't put in your good run then, you were screwed. At round 1, the 3rd round was the "rocket round", which is when I put in my good run. Thus, I made the A!
-Almost 30 heats and a 1 day race equaled 4 minute qualifiers. All racing was completed around 9-9:30pm.
-Kept 2nd guessing my tire choice. Track was pretty consistent though.
-Keep chatting to a minimum before races.
-Going to rebuild entire suspension and transmission on the T4 before next round at Hot Rod
-Picked up 2 SXX SS's and and an X12 17.5 and 10.5 for my cars. Want to buy some SPX's?
-Picked up some AKA Wishbone's for the sSC10 to use on Hot Rods blue groove track. Hope these or my Panther Switches work!
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