Monday, August 16th,

HOT. Yup, that about sums it up! I have never felt such heat in my life. 103* with about as much humidity as possible. Yea, HOT.

Luckily it was also very fun and a great time! I first want to thank Corey Guidry for helping me to attend the race and putting on a great show! I also want to thank Barb and Martin Harrison for opening up their home to a stranger and hooking me up with a ride to and from the airport! So much appreciated!! And last but not least to local racers Chris and Ben for allowing me to pit in their AC trailer so I didn't melt! Thanks to all of you!

Now with my 7 hour delayed trip home to California well under way lets get to some racing action!

I chose to head to the south Rd # 3 because I needed a second round for points and I knew there was a very good turnout of 200+ entries for this event and that the competition would be very good. The track had some technical sections with many jumps in the corners or through the corners. A section called the "Wagon Wheel" brings that to light. Qualifying went my way for the most part. In Truggy I felt pretty solid all weekend. My 801Xt was handling the track very well and I was able to TQ the first 3 rounds solidifying my overall TQ.  I tweaked set-ups here and there and it gradually got better and better. In the 4th round I decided to have a little fun and put on a show. I drifted the fluff and managed 2 of 3 backflips on the front double. (No small feat, as it wasn't really a backflip type of jump) I had a good time and had some fun with Mr. Castleberry racing side by side and jumping over him and such! It was a good time.

Buggy was a bit more of a challenge. The track was a little blown and had loose marbles on the edges with a semi groove through the middle. This is generally my hardest track condition because It doesn't bode well for my free flowing driving style. I messed with my set-up every round and really didn't find anything I was comfortable with for all of qualifying. I was still able to manage to TQ the last 3 rounds of qualifying to take the overall TQ. The track had gotten rough and staying on your wheels was paramount and I was able to accomplish that pretty well which helped me in my cause.

Truggy A-main - At the tone we were off. I held the lead from the Start but local hot-shoe Derek Guidry was in hot pursuit. He remained close for the first 5 minutes or so but made a couple of mistakes which were all I needed. My truck was hooked up very well and I just worked at keeping it clean. I stretched my lead to about a lap and a half by the end of the 45 min main. On the last lap I barely squeezed out another backflip on the front double to finish my race.

Buggy A-main - I didn't know what to expect. We had gotten a bit of rain about 2 races earlier which was much needed. By the time our race was up though the track had dried off but I felt was in a bit better shape than it had been thanks to the rain. I went out for warmup hoping that my car would be hooked up. I was surprised to feel how good it actually felt! I had finally found the set-up I had been looking for on my 801X for this type of track! My car felt very good for the conditions and I took the lead at the start and just extended and extended. I was pleasantly surprised and very excited that I made the right changes to my car and by the end of the 45 min main had about a 2 1/2 lap victory.

All in all it was a Great weekend. Double TQ and Victory for my Tamiya vehicles! I was very happy with the performance my cars gave me this weekend. I also can't say enough about the type of people that were at this race. Everyone was so friendly and hospitable! Also that Cajun food is Awesome! Grilled Crawfish and Catfish are amazing!

Anyways, next trip up is South Korea. Not sure on what type of event it is but I know one thing for sure....I'm going to have fun!

Keep on Tamiyaing everyone!