Well.  If I was asked where my favorite place to race was.  It would be RJD Hobbies and Raceway in Lincoln Illinois.  The greatest people, the greatest facility, and some of the greatest racing! 
This past weekend was the 2nd annual Slashbash.  65 entires for the one day race, and even though a snowstorm raged through the day before, entries were still high.  I managed to win Mod Short Course, Modified Buggy, and finish 2nd in Modified Truck, with Michael Paige winning.

I have the best of times at this track.  I live 9 and a half hours away, but yet my parents and I still find the time to come down here A LOT.

Happy Tamiyaing!

Brad Shearer

Hi everyone!  Brad here.  Yesterday was the last weekend of our 12 race series at www.dirtheaven.com.  I tq'ed Modified Truck, and qualified 4th in Modified Buggy.  I finished 2nd in truck and 5th in buggy.  It all in all was a great practice weekend. 
As for that, I have some exciting news to share.  Due to my father and I not being able to make it to CRCRC  (Semester Exams UGH!)  we will be flying out LV to mix it up at the Silver State Nitro challenge.  My 801 series vehicles are ready to rock, along with a new Werks B5, Ko Propo radio, and AKA tires.

I will be attending the 2nd annual SlashBash at RJD hobbies and raceway this coming weekend, to keep my driving sharp for our trip to the SW!  www.rjdhobbiesandraceway.com.
Check back soon for a full race report!

Brad Shearer

Well, I wasn't able to get a good connection at the track, but this race turned out a-okay!

This race held by Scotty Ernst has been getting bigger every year, and Spektrum came in to make it HUGE!!!!  With drivers like Ryan Cavalieri, Dustin Evans, Matt Chambers, Chad Due, and Dakota Phend attending, it was sure to be a world class event.

I ran Modified 4wd, Mod Truck, and Mod Short Course.  QUAL POINTS- Best 2 out of 4

Qualifying-  My trk was running strong, but the driver had some work to do on throttle control.  Mod 4wd went well, putting in a 7th place finish for the 1st round.  Note: Some of the Losi guys had broken in their heats.   The first run in Mod Short Course went well, but running the stock tires didn't provide  any traction what so ever, but I made the best of it.

 I would end up being CQ of mod trk :(, however I did have a great race with Paul Sinclair from X Factory.  In Modified 4wd, I would be placed 3rd on the starting grid, behind Dustin Richards, and Liverc's own Bq Brandon Rohde!  As the two started to battle in front of me, I slowly moved in.  I proved to be catching them to slowly, and ran out of time.

Short Course- Well,  I ended up having some back luck  in qualifying.  Fortunately, a local from my home track (Troy Konitzer), let me run a set of Proline Bow Ties for the main.  So I must thank him for that.  It turns out I had qualified 5th for the B main.  I knew I had a top 3 truck and could bump to the a easily, but at the start I was rear ended and shuffled to the back of the pack.   I made it all the way back up to the lead with one minute to go.  So I moved on to the A main to finish 4th.

Thanks to my sponsors and everyone that helped me this weekend.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Zac Rose, Jim Neubert, Curt and Cole Cayemberg, Troy Konitzer.

Tamiya ~ AKA ~ KO PROPO ~ JBPAINTWERX ~ WERKS ~ KALGARD ~ TKO ~Liverc

Hi all.   This past week contained the Thanksgiving shootout held by Dirtheaven Raceway.  It was a great race with 65 entries.  Classes included Mod-Buggy/Truck- Stock- Buggy/ Truck, and finally Mod and Stock Short Course.

I ran modified truck.  This was a huge preparation day for me, because the 2009 Spektrum Offroad championships are this weekend coming.  My T4 was looking good in practice, and after softening the front springs just a touch, we headed into qualifying. 
1st Round-  A smooth run, which is what I was looking for.  But,  I missed tq by 4 seconds, giving it to Zac Rose for the round. 
2nd round-  I knew I'd have to step it up for the last run, but just wasn't patient enough for lap traffic.  I started 2nd for the main.

A - MAIN -  At the start of the tone, Zac and I took off.  We didn't check out right away, but we had a decent amount of space to battle it out.   On the fourth lap, I jumped over Zac coming into a 180.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get back to the gas fast enough to keep him from rear ending me.  My car was sent upside down.  Zac ran away with the main, but I took second.  A good prep for next week.

Check back here soon.  If the connection is good at our hotel+track, I will try and give everyone an update every round on December 4th, 5th, and 6th.   Please visit LIVERC.com for more!

www.dirtheaven.com

Hello everyone!  I hope things are well.  The nitro season here is now over with, and the snow has started to fall.  I am running Modified truck this year piloting an Associated T4.  I WILL be attending the 2009 Spektrum Offroad championships held by the one and only Scotty Ernst on the first week in December.  Then in January, I will be going to Colombus OOOOOHHHHIIIOOOOOO for the Midwest Nitro championships.   I have an exciting few months ahead of me! Check back here soon!  Keep Tamiyaing!

Sincerely, Brad Shearer

TAMIYA-AKA-WERKS-KO PROPO-KALGARD-TKO-LIVERC.COM

Hi all! Sorry for the delay!  Been really busy starting my Freshman year in High School, but I've managed to get out to a couple races.  The RC X Fest was one, which was just a fun filled week of bad luck for me, but you're going to have those!  So last weekend, my parents and I made the 7 hour drive to RJD Hobbies and Raceway for their 6th annual October Bash.  Its one of the most fun races I get to travel to.  The rains had pelted the track Friday, so lets get to it....

FRIDAY- THE DAY OF RAIN

Well, there isn't much to say here, as when we arrived the track was covered in oil dry and kitty litter.  The rain had stopped, but later that night it began to pour.

Saturday- RACE DAY!

When we arrived at the track Saturday morning the track was wet, but the clay had taken the water well.  We started racing at 10am sharp, and every car that came off the track had a little mud on it.  My 801XT was really good off the bat, but the 801X needed some work in practice.  The muddy/but smooth condition seemed to make my buggy twitchy.  I was running AKA SOFT I Beams on both cars in practice, but I chose to go with AKA Gridirons for both cars, to hopefully keep the mud from packing up on the tire.  The gridirons worked well, especially on the buggy.  I did have to run the ride height a little higher to keep off the mud, but both cars were dialed for qualifying.

RND 1

Both cars were working good, but consistency on the not so consistent track was tough.  I ended up third in buggy for the round, and 2nd in truck.

 RND 2

 Again, both cars were handling awesome.  I still wasn't consistent enough to challenge Michael Paige for TQ in truggy, but the buggy was getting there.  Same spots for Rnd two.

 Rnd 3

 This is where it was do or die.  I wanted TQ in at least one class for the weekend, and I got exactly that.  I took a little F/R droop out of the truck for round 3, and it was hooked up.  Thanks to a little coaching from Ryan Lutz the previous week, I was able to keep focused on staying smooth.  I was six seconds faster than Michael Paige, and tq'ed Expert Arena truck overall.  Buggy went well also, but missed TQ by a little less than a second.

Buggy Main:  This was basically a race between me, Michael Paige, and Jim Kvidera.   At the beep, Jim and I broke away from the rest of the pack, and had an amazing battle for the first five minutes.  The car was really good, but after I left the pits at 7:30, the steering servo died.  It was a heartbraker, because we had a good shot at taking the win, but it happens!

Truggy Main:  The Truggy A main was pretty interesting, as Michael Paige and I broke away from the rest of the pack.  I was able to get a half a lap lead on Michael 10 minutes through, but made a couple mistakes.  Michael and I battled for three more laps, before he got out in front of me and ran away.  I had the fastest lap of the race, and came in second. 

Buggy- Tamiya 801X

Motor- WERKS B5

Radio- KO PROPO

SERVOS- KO PROPO

Fuel- Byron Gen 2

Tires- AKA Soft Gridirons 

Truggy- Tamiya 801XT

MOTOR- WERKS B5

RADIO- KO PROPO

SERVOS- KO PROPO

Fuel- BYRON GEN 2

 Tires- AKA Soft Gridirons

It was a great weekend all in all,  and I'd like to thank Michael, Lori, and Darrell Paige for their wonderful hospitality and hard work to get the track ready.  I'd also like to thank my parents, and my sponsors for all their help.

Brad Shearer

Tamiya/ Werks/ AKA/ KO PROPO/ KALGARD/ wwwliverc.com/ www.dirtheaven.com/rjdhobbiesandraceway.com

Hi all! So the new buggy is built, the new engines are broken in, and we are ready to go racing!  Last Friday, we traveled to the town of Reedsburg, to race under one of the coolest announcers ever, Scotty Ernst. 

 Friday Practice- Ryan Lutz's Nationals setup- Diffs 7-5-7

Hitting the track for the first time, I was surprised at how well the 801X handled the high speed sections of the track.  I knew I was one of the fastest threw the high speed sections right off the bat, but I felt like the buggy needed to "jump" off the line quicker.  We changed the diff setup to 5-7-3.  The car was much better, and I felt good going into tommorow

Saturday- Race day 

Well, as I rolled out for warmup in my first qualifier, I knew that every change I needed to make for the rest of the day was going to be regarding tires.  The car was working good with AKA Medium I beams all the way around.  I ended up taking round 1 TQ by six seconds over 2nd.   The car felt good, and the new Werks B5 engine was running strong

2nd Qual.

 I decided to change tires for the second round, and that was a bad mistake.  I went with AKA Citybeams, and the car grabbed a lot of ruts.  I missed my TQ time  by four seconds, but my closest competitor, Jason Mayer, was nipping at my heels, falling just one second short of my round 1 TQ time.  I would stay TQ for the second round.

Third Qualifier 

I knew that AKA I Beams were going to work good, but I still felt like I needed more forward bite.  So for the third round,  I went with AKA medium crossbraces in front, and AKA medium I beams in back.   The car was excellent, the best it had been all weekend.   Jason Mayer and I were neck an neck the whole qualifier, learning how to race each other clean, but also putting down a blistering pace.   I ended up beating my Tq time from the first round by three seconds, but Jason got the better of me, out running me by a half a second.

The main-  Starting 2nd

GO GO GO!  We were off, into the first turn.  Jason had to check up, so I went to the outside to make a pass, but ended up getting caught in a rut, and my car flew off the track.  I restarted in last, but by the five minute mark, I had quickly worked my way back to second, right behind Jason.  We battled until the end, leaving about six feet between me and him when it was all said and done.  I took second, but Jason drove one heck of a race, not crashing when I put pressure on him, and racing me clean when we were side by side.   The new buggy worked great, and I was very pleased with it.

The next race for me will be Dirtheaven Hobby and Raceway's 8th annual Cornroast, which we will have some of the top pros attending.  LUTZ, MAIFIELD, STOUGH, and KINWALD just to name a few.  I start school two days after, and then take Thursday and Friday off to travel to the RC X Fest in Cambridge Minnesota.  Check back here in the next few weeks.

Sincerely,

Brad Shearer

Tamiya - AKA - WERKS - liverc.com - Kalgard

Hi all! Welcome to my blog! I'm excited to get started with Tamiya, and will be getting my 801X very soon.   I will have a laptop with me for most of the races as this year, so as I learn more about the awesome TAMIYA equipment, check my blog to see what I'm up to!

-Regards

Brad Shearer