Our two fastest guys (who are fast in any class they run) did have stellar, certified motors. Weekly the battle for first and second was between those two and the real action was third through eighth. LOL
But luckily for us, those two guys realized that they are top runners and have decided to take a break from this class to try to revive 1/12 scale pan cars and beef up the 17.5 class. One of them even put his USGT motor up for sale locally to give others a shot and not have any excuses.
I've never been one to blame my equipment for a lousy performance. I might blame setup, but that again falls back to me. I normally blame my lack of consistency and making dumb mistakes. I know the way to improve is to work on my setup and get more trigger time.