The O’Donnell race was held for the first time on the east coast at R/C Excitement in Fitchburg, MA.  This was the first time for me at this facility.  I finished up some loose ends on my 801XT with the throttle and steering linkage and finished the last tank of break-in on my new OS V-Spec.  The track layout was fun and a little challenging for me.  The back sections had a few spot where the track angled away from you just slightly but almost appeared to be a straight from the drivers stand.  The weather was not too cooperative for the weekend.  We had some rain overnight Friday into Saturday and rain on Sunday morning before the mains.  However, the weather was not a challenge for the hard-working track crew that kept the show running.

For the first round of qualifying, I ran some old Proline Calibers.  I felt that my 801XT had a slight push going into the corner causing me to use a lot of break to try and get the truck into the turn.  Overall, it was a solid qualifier for me and I felt I ran pretty consistent.  I mounted up a set of AKA City Blocks and I-Beams for the second round of qualifying.  I also changed the wheelbase of the truck to help redistribute the weight to gain more steering and traction.  Since the track was getting a few rough spots, I raised the rear hinge pins to help keep the truck more stable.  The second round of qualifying started off well in warm-ups and the changes I made seemed to have made a huge difference, but after I refilled for the start of the race my truck stalled out.  I quickly changed the glow plug, but that wasn’t a quick fix.  I came back to the pits to diagnose the problem by checking the clutch and drive train.  Everything seemed free, so I rose up the idle just a bit and went out in the last few minutes to make sure the truck was ok.  Just the slight motor tune seemed to be the trick and I was now set for the last round of qualifying for the day.  The last round I wasn’t able to get much faster, but felt more confident now that my 801XT was handling better for the main.  I was seated fifth for the start of the main.

The start of the main was pretty clean and I was able to get up to the third and fourth position.  After the first few pit stops, I did fall back in the pack.  I kind of lost my rhythm and it was such a tight field it was hard to regain ground.  Towards the last 10 minutes of the main, I was running in the 5-6^th position and my motor had richened up.  Since there was not much time left, I decided to remain out on the track.  It caused me to fall to the 7^th position.  It was a great weekend and I hope this track has this race again next year!