RC Pro Series East Division Round 1 -Richland North Carolina…Wow what a drive!. Close to 8 hours on the road to make it to the Turkey Farm Raceway.  Don’t let the name fool you…it was a great place to race.  Track owner a turkey extraordinaire Dwight Horne was an great host and made all of us R/C racers feel at home.  The track footprint was medium size but overall it was a tight technical track with a few tough sections that had me frustrated during practice.  The track had 2 small sweeper style turns with telephone pole style logs spread evenly in a spider web like shape. They were crazy fun and tricky. 

Practice-  Sandy and loose.  The track is known for grooving up and getting high traction….so the locals say.  First few tanks I didn’t even worry about setup or tire selections.   I just wanted to get familiar with the layout.  After a few hours the track started to groove.   

Qualifying -   1^st round I was trying to get by with some tires that where a little worn( running a little Low on truggy tires)…Mistake!  The 1^st few laps where like skating on ice and I didn’t have enough traction to get over the jumps coming out of the turn. But I was able to finish second overall this round.... And the 2^nd place finishing bug would get all 4 rounds…making me qualify 3 over all….But I felt good going into the main..my 801xT was hooked up!

Main – Horn sounded and my pit Duane Evans(Tamiya driver) set me down and my engine went Rich causing me to struggle for a hole shot. I instantly dropped down to 4^th on the straightway but regained 3^rd in the second turn on a tricky step up.  After a few laps I gained the lead and  was able to get a 10second lead over 2^nd  place.  This started to change after the pit stop a few bobbles  had  Mugen driver John McGinty catching me fast.  We battled it out for the entire main.  It was a great race….the crowd was cheering  and the intensity was high.  After John (2^nd place) pitted that placed me a few seconds in front and all I had to do was hold him off for a few laps.  I knew John could click off some fast laps and he could make up 3 seconds with only slight bobble on my part.  My 801xT was hooked up !  I was able to hold  on and win …VICTORY!

AMS…here I come!

JP