Finally got to kick-off my 8th scale nitro season this past weekend at AMS Raceway in Michigan with a very successful race! I ran both the buggy and truggy just to shake down both cars before the Canadian Indoor Offroad Shootout in Tillsonburg next month. My buggy started the weekend off super loose as my shot in the dark clay setup was as close to a fail as one can get! However, I was able to get the car figured out quickly and learn the track before qualifying started. Once qualifying started, I had a clean first run and put myself 3rd on the grid behind Al Horne and Tamiya Teammate Abiye Birku. I failed to improve my run in the following rounds, as did everyone else as a matter of fact so the order stayed the same as after round 1 for the main. When the main started, an ugly first corner saw me grab 2nd and hold it for the first 10min. Once the first round of pit-stops cycled through I had some contact leaving pit lane dropping me back to third. I had to put up a fight to hold off the 4th place car for the last 8min of the race but I had pushed too hard so on the last corner of the last lap...I ran out of fuel!!!!! I ended up a frustrating 4th place.
In Truggy, my 801x-t was defiantely the class of the field. With my shot in the dark clay set-up being absolutely dialed from the minute I put it down on the track, the only change I made was adjusting the brake bias to compensate for the tight corners at AMS (tight as far as a truggy is concerned). I set the TQ in round 1, reset it in round 3, and drove my Reedy powered 801x-t for 30min with just 2 fuel stops to take the win!

All in all the roadtrip to Michigan was very productive. We got a chance to play with setup, and experiment with fuel strategy. Looking forward to Tillsonburg!

Steve