DON'T go with Holmes. There's no reason to spend a lot of money as a newbie. A couple of us in my crawling club use the HobbyKing X-Car 45A ESC and RC4WD motors. This combo can be had for roughly $21 not including shipping. Now the ESC is not waterproof, but a can of Liquid Electrical Tape changes that.

Or you can try HobbyWing's WP-1060 ESC. The Axial AE-5 is a rebranded version of this and it is more expensive. Just go straight to the OEM and buy HobbyWing. It's a 60A, brushed ESC that is waterpoof. Both ESC's have a drag brake, but neither are adjustable.

For great batteries, go to HobbyKing and check out the Turnigy or Zippy batteries with the mAh, C, etc that you desire.

HobbyKing also has BEC's.