Hi all! So the new buggy is built, the new engines are broken in, and we are ready to go racing!  Last Friday, we traveled to the town of Reedsburg, to race under one of the coolest announcers ever, Scotty Ernst. 

 Friday Practice- Ryan Lutz's Nationals setup- Diffs 7-5-7

Hitting the track for the first time, I was surprised at how well the 801X handled the high speed sections of the track.  I knew I was one of the fastest threw the high speed sections right off the bat, but I felt like the buggy needed to "jump" off the line quicker.  We changed the diff setup to 5-7-3.  The car was much better, and I felt good going into tommorow

Saturday- Race day 

Well, as I rolled out for warmup in my first qualifier, I knew that every change I needed to make for the rest of the day was going to be regarding tires.  The car was working good with AKA Medium I beams all the way around.  I ended up taking round 1 TQ by six seconds over 2nd.   The car felt good, and the new Werks B5 engine was running strong

2nd Qual.

 I decided to change tires for the second round, and that was a bad mistake.  I went with AKA Citybeams, and the car grabbed a lot of ruts.  I missed my TQ time  by four seconds, but my closest competitor, Jason Mayer, was nipping at my heels, falling just one second short of my round 1 TQ time.  I would stay TQ for the second round.

Third Qualifier 

I knew that AKA I Beams were going to work good, but I still felt like I needed more forward bite.  So for the third round,  I went with AKA medium crossbraces in front, and AKA medium I beams in back.   The car was excellent, the best it had been all weekend.   Jason Mayer and I were neck an neck the whole qualifier, learning how to race each other clean, but also putting down a blistering pace.   I ended up beating my Tq time from the first round by three seconds, but Jason got the better of me, out running me by a half a second.

The main-  Starting 2nd

GO GO GO!  We were off, into the first turn.  Jason had to check up, so I went to the outside to make a pass, but ended up getting caught in a rut, and my car flew off the track.  I restarted in last, but by the five minute mark, I had quickly worked my way back to second, right behind Jason.  We battled until the end, leaving about six feet between me and him when it was all said and done.  I took second, but Jason drove one heck of a race, not crashing when I put pressure on him, and racing me clean when we were side by side.   The new buggy worked great, and I was very pleased with it.

The next race for me will be Dirtheaven Hobby and Raceway's 8th annual Cornroast, which we will have some of the top pros attending.  LUTZ, MAIFIELD, STOUGH, and KINWALD just to name a few.  I start school two days after, and then take Thursday and Friday off to travel to the RC X Fest in Cambridge Minnesota.  Check back here in the next few weeks.

Sincerely,

Brad Shearer

Tamiya - AKA - WERKS - liverc.com - Kalgard