Man! What a long night of club racing! The amount of entries for tonight was insane! 16 heats for a freaking club race! Boy! Did I pick the wrong night to run 1 class :( Lot's of waiting and watching races.
I decided to just run my T4 in Stock Truck tonight and give my B44 a break, as I did what I wanted to do with it anyway, win an A main :-) I ran the T4 for the first time last Sunday and did very well with it, so I thought I'd give it another go. Could I repeat my performance from last weekend?
It was nuts on the track during practice! There were about 15 or more cars on the track at one time, with the driver's skill ranging from complete beginner to seasoned racer. It was nearly impossible to get in 2 fast laps in a row without having to slow down for some reason. During my 1st run, someone ran into the back of my truck while launching off the "leap of faith" jump in the center of the track. The crash broke my rear body mount and put a nice big crack around the rear mounting holes. Thankfully this is not my good body :) The track was also very dry and somewhat dusty. Tire choice would be critical tonight, depending on how much water is put down between rounds and how fast the track dries out.
My race for the 1st round would be about halfway through (race 7!). Water was put down before qualifying started and the track looked to be holding the moisture ok, so I went with my Holeshots. I would be starting on the pole this race and I made the best of it! I took off on the start and checked out :) I built up about an 8 second lead and took the win with a 16:14. Fastest lap was a 19.897. My race time would've been faster had it not been for a spin I had coming onto the straight on my last lap. My Holeshots were a touch loose making the rear end slide around too much. I guess the track was drying out faster than I thought and I would need to make a tire change for the 2nd round. I was able to set the TQ though, as the winner of the 2nd heat of Stock Truck was a lap slower than my time :) Would I be able to TQ again?!
For round 2, Jeremy decided to resort the heats by qualifying times, so that you would be grouped with drivers of similar ability, resulting in cleaner races and faster times for everyone. This round would not go so well for me though :(
I switched tires to my Panther Stingers, as these should work better than the Holeshots, since the track was pretty dry. They felt fine in warm up and during the race, but my lap times fell off to mostly low 20's with my fastest being a 20.013. I had to start this race in last place and it took me the entire race to get up to 2nd place. I also had a tough time getting around traffic and even had a marshal run in front of my truck while I was in mid-air going over the "leap of faith" jump, and I hit him square in the back! Jeremy even said "Oh no! Angelito gets taken out by a marshal!" :( I finished the race in 2nd with a 15:08, losing my TQ to the winner of the Amateur Stock Truck race?!? A "sandbagger" in the Amateur Stock Truck class turned a 16:08, beating the current TQ of Sportsman Stock Truck! Jeremy would be bumping him to our class as the new TQ!
For the main, I would be starting in 4th place, being bumped out of the TQ by the guy from Amateur Stock Truck and 2 others in my class. I would have to step up my game for the main now! I decided to gear up to a 33 pinion and treat my tires with Buggy Grip, as the Buggy Grip made a big difference on my 4wd when I had to run a dry track the other week. I also ended up starting in 3rd, since the 3rd qualifier went home early, as it was a very long night. I'm usually on my way home by 7:30-8 pm, and we were just getting on the track for our main at around 8:30! The top 3 had a great start, breaking away from the rest of the field! I was running in 3rd right behind the 2 leaders. On lap 3, the 2nd place truck entered the whoops slow, while I went wider and jumped into the whoops, giving me the inside line for the "wagon wheel" hairpin! I made the pass clean and set my sights on the leader. It took me a few laps to chase him down, but I was steadily gaining on him and finally made the pass on lap 6! I was right behind him going into the "leap of faith" jump. He took the jump slightly to the right and I took the jump to the left, setting me up for the inside of the hairpin after the step-up jump. It worked beautifully and I made the pass clean to the inside, taking the lead! After that I checked out, putting 8.5 seconds on 2nd place. Traffic was very courteous too, giving me ample room to lap them. Thanks guys! I ended up turning a blistering time of 16:03, with a fast lap of 19.5! Woohoo! 2 wins 2 weeks in a row!
