Mon, May 24th.

Just got back from a fun trip to Australia. I was excited to be going back so quickly to see how the competition had progressed from last year. (They definitely  picked up the pace a bit!)

The format allowed for a LOT of racing. We got three, ten minute rounds of practice on Thursday followed by our first ten minute qualifier under the lights. Friday we then had another four, ten minute qualifiers with the last one again being under the lights. (It got dark there at 5pm, and I was just getting used to it getting dark around 8pm back home. That was my biggest adjustment). On Saturday we had a final qualifying round in the morning to complete our six, ten minute qualifiers, in which they took our best four to seed us into the mains. Just like IFMAR, no one made it directly to the A-main. You had to earn your way in through the semi-finals. I had consistent qualifiers and while never dominating, I had the fastest lap times the majority of the time. I finished top 5 just about every qualifier in both Buggy and Truggy. In the end I qualified 3rd in Truck and 5th in Buggy.

Buggy Semi Final - I got a okay start and eventually moved my way up to 2nd place. I was chugging along in 2nd place, completely complacent about my position to put me into the final. It was a 20min main and 18.5 min in and huge scare happened. I was going down a short shoot in the middle of the track and out of nowhere my engine went rich and flamed. I had no clue what happened. Eventually we got it started and I kept it running by not applying brakes and finished my final lap. I squeezed into the 12th and final spot in the final! Got very lucky!

Truggy Semi Final - I had a decision to make as I only had one set of Gridirons left for the weekend. So I chose to run Citiblocks for the Semi. It ended up being an awesome decision. I followed Renaud Savoya around for a couple laps before getting by and just pulling away. My 801Xt was flying and I ran away to a comfortable Semi-Final victory securing pole position for the A-final. 

Buggy A-main - 45min A-main was up and I had my work cut out for me. Sense I didn't know what the issue was from the semi, I simply changed my carb and hoped that would solve any issue. We got it tuned as best we could in the warmup but it ended up being a bit rich, especially on the bottom.  At the beginning of the race I did my best to work my way up through traffic. I at my high point got up to I believe 4th place and was slowly catching those in front of me. Then on my second stop my car ran out of gas! I fell back to 7th and lost a lap. So now to put in some work. I began to start working back and catching up and around the 35 minute mark or so as I was really getting into a fast groove. Then as I neared my pit stop again my engine flamed / ran out of gas again.. That put my nail in the coffin. I fell another lap back and just tried to stay out there the rest of the main. Due to attrition from other drivers and being able to put down some good laps with my 801X I was still able to come away with a 5th place finish.

Truggy A-main - After the Semis I had a big decision to make. I had a brand new set of Gridirons to run and ran them in the warmup. I had made the decision to leave them on when someone called a 10 min delay. I went down and decided to put my Cityblocks on from the Semi's.  As the main started I held the lead for a lap or so but made  a small bobble and fell back to second, then fell back to third. I wasn't worried as I was just biding my time and waiting for someone else to make a mistake to get back to the lead. It didn't take to long and I worked my way back up to first and would never look back. I slowly extended my lead the entire rest of the main. I didn't need to be marshaled at all the entire 45min main. My 801Xt was just so easy to drive and it made me look good out there! It all came together for a great race and a Truggy N.S.W State Title for me and my 801Xt!

I'm very appreciative to so many of the Aussies out there who made me feel at home! I had a pleasure racing with everyone!

Next up is the Alabama Manufacturers Shootout!