THIS IS NOT FREDDY AGAIN!
It's not logging me out for some reason.
(Pickles, I do what I WANT!!!)
That's right! The first inaugural eXpress Paved On-road Championship comes to a thundering close.
The racing was TREMENDOUS and the buzz in the pits was that this was one of the most enjoyable races people have attended. Throughout the weekend, we had swaps back and forth for TQs in each class. Obviously, I'm biased, but I think this was the most fun I've had at an R/C event ever.
First and foremost big props go out to the Jackson crew for putting on an excellent program. For their first quasi-national level event, the proceedings went on with very little drama. Dean, Al, Greg, Ray and the other Jackson members--thank you for your hard work. We couldn't have done it without you!
I'd also like to thank all the sponsors of our event: Tekin (for the ultracool three fastest laps awards), BMI, Associated, Parma PSE, Rubberneck Racing.
Onto the racing itself: first and foremost Team eXpress was out in full force and pretty much dominating the mains: 8 out of the 10 drivers in the A in stock and 3 out of the 10 in 19T were running eXpress Motorsports batteries and motors.
Where to begin...the first two rounds were as expected: Jeff Cuffs, Tim Getchell, Robbie Dodge, Mike Herald and I were the top qualifiers in stock. In 19T, Mike Dobbs owned TQ while Cuffs, Mike Herald, Craig Xavier and Mike Dunnigan were top 5 after two rounds.
For the third round (aka: 'rocket round'), things were heating up nicely. First of all it was nighttime and the lights were blaring and the cars were looking *FAST*! The atmosphere was charged. (It's amazing how much your depth perception changes at night--believe me.) The stock A round was super tight: Jeff Cuffs and Mike Herald Jr. fought for TQ until the very end with Cuffs coming out on top. 3rd, 4th and 5th were all fought within 1.5 seconds between Robbie Dodge, Tim Getchell and me.
19T A qualifier was similarly dramatic with Cuffs, Mike Haynes and Craig Xavier fighting for the top spot. Mike Haynes ended up securing TQ by a slim margin over Cuffs and Xavier.
In nitro, eXpress driver Mike Mal walked away with TQ by a landslide foreshadowing what was to come in the mains.
For the mains on Sunday the weather was beautiful. The mains followed suit: in sportsman stock, the battle was furious for 3rd through 7th positions with our very own Freddy Bordenabe battling back from last to claim the third spot (watch out for the takeout, Chris the Cop!) In nitro as predicted Mike Mal won by an astonishing 9 laps over 2nd place. (There were even bets in the pits on how *many* laps Mike would win by. :LOL: )
In stock, the racing again was super tight with Mike Herald following bumper to bumper with Jeff Cuffs until the end. Jeff in his usual fashion prevailed and took the 1st place plaque in stock touring. Finishers were: Cuffs, Herald, Getchell, Williams, Saunders.
19T was a similar battle was under way with Cuffs quickly taking over the top spot and Craig Xavier shuffling Mike Haynes back to third place. Further back in the field, Mike Dobbs and yours truly worked hard after getting pushed back to 9th and 10th positions respectively at the start to work our way up to a respective 5th and 6th positions.
In modified, a hard fought three-way battle was ensuing between TQ Andrew Gray, Mike McMahon and Ray Darroch. Ray Darroch had the fastest ride of the three, Mike McMahon the most balanced chassis and Andrew Gray a good comprimise between the two. Positions were swapped back and forth until Andrew Gray prevailed with the freshest tires--the guys were sliding around in the sweeper after using the tires up halfway through the main.
Again, big thanks to all the racers for coming out from as far as Ontario, Canada to run at our event. We're looking forward to possibly putting on a carpet event in the near future and definitely another aspalt event same time next year.