Mon June 28th, 2010

"Welcome To Colorado" - That's what the locals kept saying when out of state racers kept struggling with their engine tune. Also when the weather changed from one extreme to another in a matter of moments. It was a tail of extremes at this years ROAR Nationals held in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

We were some 6,200 feet in elevation! Thats nearly 1.2 miles into the stratosphere! If you've never raced at such an altitude just realize that engine tuning takes on a whole new meaning! With less oxygen in the air you are doing what you can to make more power. Most drivers were running 40% nitro. (some rumored to be running 50%). I personally ran 40% and removed the restrictor.

Truggy Qualifying: They were to take your 2 best qual point rounds out of 5. My best runs were in Rd 1 and 4 where I placed 7th and 6th respectively for the round. Each round I had some crashes which cost me some higher positions. Either  way though I was able to secure a semi-final position whilst qualifying 10th overall.

Buggy Qualifying: Again my best rounds were 1 and 4. First round I just made to many mistakes but managed 16th overall. Come the 4th round I needed a good run to get into the Semi's. They were taking 22 to the semi's so I needed at least a top 10 to feel good about it. I ran clean until my third to last lap when I made a big mistake. Lost about 4 seconds on the lap. Still finished strong however and got 8th for the Final round. Qualifying me 18th overall.

Truggy Semi's: My truck got better and better as the weekend went on and in the Semi's i felt confident. I worked my way up to a strong 3rd and felt great. About 10 minutes in however I noticed my front wheel tilting in and out. (sure sign of the knuckle screw coming out) I tried to take it a bit easier for the remaining 20min. I prayed that it would stay together and allow me to finish the Semi! I fell back to 6th by the end but held on to take the final guaranteed bump position into the Final!

Buggy Semi's: I had a great start and worked my way up to 3rd place. Then about 5min in I had the lap that just kept getting worse! A 50 second lap time! Lost about 12 seconds on a single lap. I just couldn't do a thing right. I settled back into a groove and ran in 10th place the remainder of the race. I had a front shock blow out with about 5 minutes to go but still tried to catch up to 9th place (as I knew that getting 9th would have given me a shot at making the main). I caught up and was withing a second or two on the last lap when I crashed over the tripple and blew my chance! Turned out my time was fast enough to get 5th in the Previous semi, but in my semi I settled for 10th and thus 16th place overall for the event.

Truggy A-main: Starting 12th on the grid I knew it would be hard to make it though the pack. Especially on this new surface we were running on. (it had just down-poured for an hour, track crew did an amazing job to get us racing again!) I had a rough start and got punted to the rear. I steadily worked my way up and got up to about 6th. Then I started putting together some quick laptimes. My truck was quick and i was giving it all she had. I had a few battles for 3rd - 5th place in between pitstops but made a couple to many mistakes. I had the car to finish top 3 but I just didn't do it justice. I ended up in 5th place overall.  5th Place at the Nationals in Truggy isn't to shabby and I just hope to build off of it for the next event!

Looking forward to going home tonight and seeing my little girl and wife!

Until next time, Happy Tamiyaing everyone! :-)