Another Update
Well we're through 3 rounds of qualifying and things are looking promising.
Juho was on a TQ pace by 2 seconds in 19-turn and got tangled with Ralph Burch and sent over the pipe and had to be marshalled back...he lost about 3.5 seconds and is a little over a second off TQ in 3rd place overall. In modified, he had two breaks in round 1 & 2, so today's heat was all about the re-sort. He should now be in the "B" re-sort.
Joel was in the first qualifier for 19 turn and had to just survive the heat to move to a better re-sort for the 4th round. He'll be wicked fast and has a good chance to stay on pace with his AE/Reedy/LRP team mate Juho. In modified he jumped in to 7th place, a little over a second from 3rd overall.
Craig wasn't able to improve his 19 turn time due to a tucked body on lap 1. In modified he was moving up in the "A" qualifier, but had some issues with traffic and didn't improve his time. He had passed eventual heat winner, Barry Barry on the track 3 minutes in to the run after starting 9th in the heat. Barry is now 8th with that run.
Rick has been steady and fast, just a few hang-ups here and there. In 19 turn he had either a cell fall off or the motor went. He lost over 3 seconds in the last 10 laps alone, just due to power. In modified, he's been fast but traffic has been gnarly. Cars are bouncing all over the place and a good run requires a bit of luck...so far he hasn't had much of that.
Both Eric and Walter are running well. They just need to keep it clean for 5 minutes and they also have a shot at the mains.
I've heard from more than one competetor that the AE cars all look really good. We've been able to learn from these past few races and apply that across the team and we are having success.
Brandon Melton is running the car in rubber tires and is currently in the 19 turn main and the top of the "B" with only 1 qualifier in stock. His car has looked good, but with such limited time on the car and the first time racing rubber tires on carpet it's a bit tough to jump right in.
On a quick sidenote, Marc Fischer is running brushless in 1/12th scale and killing it. Dumas is close, also with brushless, but doens't have the speed Marc does. Walter Henderson is holding on to 3rd overall with a brilliant run in round 2. I wish J.O.B. were here...this is his type of layout and with the LRP brushless he'd have the speed to compete with Fischer.
...that's all for today.
Last edited by 51; 02-09-2007 at 02:00 PM.