My onroad season officially came to a close last weekend as the final leg of the North East Grand Slam series made its way to Fastcats. I ended up just running 13.5 rubber since the turnout for the race was rather disappointing and I didn't feel like rushing to get my 12th scale ready to race with only a handful of guys in the 10.5 12th scale class. I got my 416x working really well at the race and was definately in contention for the win. While on a 2nd or 3rd place run in my 3rd qualifier I had a mishap with a lap car which saw me end up grabbing 4th on the grid for the start of the mains. I wasn't too disappointed because I knew I would be able to put up a fight since my car had been very fast all weekend. From the sound of the tone, my John Force-like reaction times which I have become known for allowed me to leap frog Paul Ciccarello and pull right up behind Martin Crisp. Keven Hebert turned the fastest laps all weekend in his first 5 laps of the race so he had checked out on the field pretty quickly, which put the race on for 2nd. With Joe Glover added to the mix we had a 3 way battle on our hands for 2nd place! After some of the most exciting racing all weekend, I tried a bonzai pass in the last minute of the race to try and improve my position but to no avail, I ended up 4th. However, like our Canadian Ski-Cross athlete who choked at the Olympics this year while running in second said, "who cares if I didn't end up on the podium, I wanted Gold or nothing!"

Speaking of the Olympics, the Gold Medal game is tomorrow between Canada and the USA in men's hockey. If you love hockey, chances are you have cleared your busy Sunday schedule like I have to watch the game. If you don't care about hockey, this would be a great time to start caring because there is a lot of pride on the line for both countries. In my lifetime there has been no bigger rivalry in hockey then the one between Canada and the USA. The Russians like to think they have this rivalry with us but its just been us spanking them as of late. The Americans however, have put up some great competition for us, and there is nothing more exciting to watch then a competitive, hard fought game of hockey.

The upcoming offroad season is looking to be packed with races and is going to contain some great competition. Its hard to explain how much I'm looking forward to this coming offroad season. Last year was my first year running offroad and I found success rather quickly and I really enjoyed it a lot more then I initially thought I was going to! This year is going to be a lot different because now I have some experience, and I am expecting a lot more of myself. I was happy to win the Ontario division of the RC Pro Series (same as winning your state), but this year, with the finals Canadian Finals in Ontario, I want more. The ultimate goal would be to win every race I attend but in reality its just not that easy. This year I want to find myself on every podium and contending for every win, and get more local offroad guys to buy Tamiya products. Hopefully the weather cooperates a little more this year and we don't have as many races shortened due to bad weather!

GO CANADA GO!
Steve