Okay guys.  The three weeks of steady rain is finally past us, or atleast I hope it is.  This weekend withheld the 2010 Northern Hobbies Ground Pounder in Abrams Wi.  This would be my first time hitting the Northern Hobbies track with my Tamiya rides.  So, as we got some practice in Saturday morning, I felt good about my stuff.  I ran Pro truggy, Pro buggy, and Modified Short Course.

Northern is a track known to blow out in a matter of heats.  But, I managed to set Tq in the first round of qualifying in both truggy and buggy on a smoother track.  SC was 4th.  My truck was flying, and no one came within ten seconds of my time.  I had some work to do in buggy yet, tire choice would turn out to be a major factor for me later on.  I ran AKA med. I Beams on my buggy, and narrow City Blocks on my truggy.   Enduro softs for Short Course!

In round two, the track became more blown out, and started to show some deep ruts.  I kept my truggy setup from the last round, but I decided to change my buggy tires.  I went from Medium I beams, to Medium Enduros.  Although I also reset the tq in both classes, my buggy had not gotten much better.  At this point, I held overall Tq in buggy and truggy, but had dropped down to sixth in SC.

Mains-  I'll start with the good.  First up was Short Course.  After stiffening the rear shocks, and a few other minor adjustments, my SCT was flying!  I took off at the tone, passed four trucks in the first turn, and then got by the first place truck three corners later.  We battled wheel to wheel  for a few laps, and then I was able to pull away to take the victory!

Truggy-  Not much to say for this one.  My truck was awesome all day, and I couldn't ask for  more from my pit team.  I lead from wire to wire, even through pit stops.  I ended up taking the win by just under two laps.
Buggy-  I had a tough choice to go into the main with.  I decided to go with AKA Crossbraces for the main.  I also changed the rear springs to the Buggy Yellow/Black spring, from the rear RED truggy spring.  I did this to soften the rear end a little for a now extremely blown out track, and man did it work!  I got nailed in the first turn due to an accordion effect, and came out last of 13 cars!!!!  I eventually worked my way back up, and the car was working excellent.  I took the lead with 8 minutes to go.  With three minutes left, I had a 3/4 lap lead.  I then landed off a double, and my car jerked to a stop.  It appears I had a bad clutch bearing, and me performing a hat trick just wasn't meant to be!  Miraculously, I still took 3rd after being off the track for a total of 2 minutes and 30 seconds! 
Products:
Car: 801X/ 801XT
Engines: Werks B5
Clutch: Tamiya 3 shoe AL.   Buggy- 1.0mm springs  Truggy- 1.1mm
Tires: www.raceaka.com,  Buggy- Medium Crossbrace  Truggy- Medium Narrow Cityblock.
Pipe: Werks 2013
Fuel: Byron 30/9
Glow Plug- OD 97T
Servos: Hitec 7950


This was an awesome race, and a great payout to say the least.  I'd like to thank my Parents/Pitguys, and friends for making it an enjoyable Saturday.  And also my sponsors.

Tamiya/ Team TRF - Werks Engines - AKA Racing Products - TKO Bearings - Liverc.com - JB Paintwerx