www.johnnyboy.ca - Almost Live Race Coverage: May 2008

Well not too much going on. Had a club race on the weekend. First race of The Summer Challenge Series (best 3 of 5 races). I like to use these races to test out new set ups and parts and to relax and have a little more fun as I take the other bigger races way too seriously...haha.

2wd
The RB5 was actually hooked up pretty good (Would have qualified 2nd in 4wd!) so I just left it as it was from the last race. In the main I rutt rolled in the first corner and this put me down to dead last. I managed to pass 3 guys by gapping the monster jump and with it being a 10 minute main I wasn't too worried. I got NAILED though at the end of the straight and we had the Novice class marshalling and well it took a while (flipped me back onto my roof too). Back down to dead last and then some. I figured I was down about 20 odd seconds to the leader at this point. Had nothing to lose at this point so I started hammering down the laps and just ran out of time. The RB5 was on fire out there. I managed to get into 2nd place and within 5 seconds of the leader and was closing in about 1 second per lap. I think I needed a 15 minute main LOL. It was a super fun race actually trying to battle back like that.

Steve eying up the inside on Mike

Trying to make up ground!

Nothing good can come from this...lol

4wd
I played with a bunch of stuff on the Lazer SP though. Different shock positions (upper and lower) and even moved the rear shocks to the forward mounting location (in the front of the shock tower and arms). I really like it. The car does not seem as whippy in the corners this way. This time I traction rolled going onto the straight but managed to stay in 2nd place. I was putting some decent pressure on Steve though and trying to get him to bobble. I was right on his ass! Steve caught a rut and it spun him around and I drove right into him and snapped a front arm (it was really cold out). Pure racing incident though...them's the breaks (litterally!). I managed to do 3 laps with 3 wheels (actually was clearing most of the jumps too) then I didn't want to get in the way of the leaders closing in on me so I finally pulled her off.

Before :)

After :(

Steve cruising to Victory!

I think there is the next Summer Challenge Series Race this weekend so I better get my cars fixed up again. Hopefully the weather is a little better!

Random thoughts:

- I was wearing everything I would to go snowboarding (including goggles and thin gloves) as it was crazy windy and pretty cold out there.
- Steve has been nailing it in 4wd lately. Good to see him chock up an A Main win!
- Same with Chet. He drove a clean and consistent race in 2wd to take the A Main win.
- Good to get all the broken cars and crashes out of my system in the club race and not the trophy race I suppose!
- I still love the new layout. Really fun to drive.
- Lap times are dropping fast. We were about 3 seconds faster per lap than at the trophy race.
- Bowties were still the tire of choice in my opinion

Mike'isms
- Still jumping the big jump
- Still having Club Soda at Swiss Chalet
- Still using IFMAR pins

Mike XXX-CR landing off the Monster

2008 Annual Spring Shakedown
Brought to you in part by:

www.sidsraceway.com

May 4th, 2008.

Wow, what a weekend....Things start up for me at 6am and dragging my butt to the track to see how well the tarps held up after days of hard rain. There were lakes sitting on top of the tarps (Mike and Steve even pumped all the water off the day before). Martin P, Alexi and myself began pumping all the water off with this sweet industrial pump from the garden center. By then Sean showed up and we began to remove the tarps. After the first tarp came off and we saw that water had seeped through the seams, I was wondering if we needed to call off the race. By then racers had started to show up and many looked disappointed. With the help of one of the garden center employees manning the bobcat and helping us dump some sand on the wet spots we (and many racer/volunteers) got down to business in getting the track prepped. We delayed the start until about noon and kept on working. The sun finally broke through and after much work the track was ready for practice! Nobody really had any practice before the race so the new layout was fresh for most of us. The new features proved to be challenging and fun with many line options and room for passing.

Round one in 2wd kicked off the event and a lot of guys looked like they picked up the pace over the winter. I had some bad luck and broke a front hub on the triple on the first lap! This let Chet Kelsey take off and take the round TQ with his Fantom powered A/E B4. He was the only one on 11 laps. I had to buckle down in round two and even with the track drying out I managed to steal back the TQ spot with a pretty good run. This put only Chet and I on 11 laps. I think I squeaked him by 6 seconds. With the track continuing to dry out, it started to get a little loose. I made some changes to the car but they didn't seem to help and Chet took the last round on the second last corner after I got a little sketchy, but it wasn't enough to take me off the Pole for the A Main.

Your A Main line up would be as followed:
John Summach Kyosho/Orion - CAN - RB5
Chet Kelsey Fantom Racing - CAN - B4
Martin Palenik - CAN - RB5
Mike Grmek - CAN - XXX-CR
Gino D'Amario - CAN - RB5
Andrew Rosier Glenwood R/C - USA - RB5
David Mandl - CAN - B4
Kyle Inman Glenwood R/C - USA - B4
Steve Mostacci - CAN - B4
Jay Lovegrove (Bumped Up) - CAN - RB5

In the 4wd class, I must say I had my Lazer SP pretty much dialed in. I won the first round. I still thought the car could be a little better so I went to a lighter spring front and rear. This really made a big difference and in round two the car was REALLY dialed! The track was getting looser as the day went on but the Lazer SP was really predictable out there and was really easy to drive fast. So TQ for me in 4wd as well with Chet Kelsey again slotting in behind me for second (second time driving his B44 no less!).

Your A Main line up would be:

John Summach Kyosho/Orion - CAN - Lazer SP
Chet Kelsey Fantom Racing - CAN - B44
Abiye Birku Sprucewood/Losi - CAN - XXX4
Mike Grmek - CAN - BJ4WE
Brian Bellinger Glenwood R/C - USA - B44
Kyle Inman Glenwood R/C - USA - B44
Steve Mostacci - CAN - BJ4WE
Jay Lovegrove - CAN - BJ4WE
Martin Palenik - CAN - BJ4WE
Kevin McNerney Glenwood R/C - USA - B44 (Bump Up)

I didn't get to see a lot of the truck stuff. With trying to prep my own car, helping out other with set up stuff and announcing some heats it was tough to watch the racing! Brian Bellinger though was on fire and handily took the TQ slot.

The A Main for truck was:

Brian Bellinger Glenwood R/C - USA - T4
Rick Siller Glenwood R/C - USA - T4
Martin Petre Grand River Hobbies - CAN - T4
Kyle Inman Glenwood R/C - USA - T4
David Mandl - CAN - T4
Jay Lovegrove - CAN - T4
Rob Mackenzie - CAN - T4
Kevin Nolan - CAN - T4
Richard Calistan - CAN - T4

Mains!

2wd A Main was up first. 10 minute main! Lots of racing time. At the tone, we all got off pretty clean and were freight training it. On the start of the second lap I bobbled and it allowed Martin to take the lead with Chet in tow for second. Lots of tight lines and lots of passing attempts ensued for the next couple of laps. All this fighting for 1-2-3 let Gino bridge the small gap and get into 3rd for a bit. I managed to get by Gino and Chet and began to hunt down Martin who had checked out a little while the rest of us fought for position. It was crazy racing action! I managed to bridge the gap on Martin and kept right on his butt putting the heat on him. Martin kept a tight line but cased the triple and it slowed him down enough for me to take the lead with just over half the race over. I kept focus and proceeded to keep it pretty clean and check out. Andrew in the meantime was just cooking it and worked his way into 3rd from 6th on the grid. I couldn't see what was going on but there must have been lots of position changes going on behind me (will have to watch the video). A sigh of relief when the buzzer finally sounded after 10 grueling minutes and I cruised across the line to take the first big outdoor race of the season! Drew drove a great race and took 2nd with Martin hanging on to 3rd, Chet in 4th and Steve coming from 9th on the grid to grab 5th. Awesome race! Kyosho RB5 Sweep the Podium!

Equipment used:
Kyosho Ultima RB5
Team Orion Vortex 7.5 Brushless Motor 24/78
Team Orion 3600 Race Spec LiPo
Team Orion Advantage Carbon Charger

Truck A Main was up next and favorite Bellinger rocketed off the start with a little bit of carnage behind him. Bellingers car though all of a sudden lost throttle input and ended his race on the first lap! The battle between Kyle Inman and Rick Siller was probably the best of the night. Each guy would pull ahead, bobble, switch lead places numerous times in the race. Kyle even put THE move of the race on Rick when rick double doubled the quad an Kyle flew over him taking the whole quad AND the lead! This battle lasted right until the last lap with Rick right on Kyles tail with about 4 turns to the finish Rick was pulling out all the stops but caught a pipe letting Kyle take the win. This video should be awesome! Jay battled early with Martin for third but pulled ahead later on to take 3rd, Martin 4th and Kevin rounding out the top 5.

4wd A Main was the last race of the day. At the tone Myself and Chet took off and he put some early pressure on me, but I managed to eek out a second here and there and never looked back. Again, hard for me to see what was going on out there but Chet sat pretty comfortable in 2nd. A hard charging Brian weaved his way into 3rd by the halfway mark. Martin rocketed to 3rd (from 9th!) by the second lap but fell off a little and had to settle for 4th with Abiye bouncing around to finally take 5th.

Equipment Used:
Kyosho Lazer ZX-5SP
Team Orion Vortex 6.5 Brushless Motor 22/78
Team Orion 3600 Race Spec LiPo
Team Orion Advantage Carbon Charger

Random Comments:

- I told you Gino would surprise a few! He drove clean and collected to qualify 5th in the A Main!
- Steve M also drove a great 4wd race. His BJ4WE was looking awesome out there!
- Jay was my other "dark horse" pick and he made all 3 A Mains! Good job! Just remember to switch your transponder to the next car!
- Sean H also drove stellar and almost bumped up to the A Main from the C Main!
- Drew Rosier from the USA...stealth drive of the day to weave his way up and take 2nd place in the 2wd A Main!
- Gotta love the Glenwood guys for showing up with a pit trailer...those guys don't mess around!
- Speaking of Glenwood. Those guys took a decent amount of hardware back to the USA. They put up a great fight are a bunch of fast dudes for sure!
- I have to say all the guys talking crap about the conditions when they arrived and left missed some really great racing. The Sid's crew and helpers really got the track into order!
- The 2wd A Main was interesting as the drivers rear tire choice was all over the place: Goosebumps, Bowties, Holeshots, IFMAR Studs, IFMAR pins, X-2000's...weird.
- The new layout is super fun with a great mix of features!
- Kyosho RB5's swept the podium! Suckaaaaas!
- The level of competition this year is AWESOME! it is a battle to make the A Main now!
- Chet Kelsey is another guy who has gotten fast...fast. He was fast "back in the day" and I guess it just took him a bit to get his groove back with the new cars.
- The U.S. guys LOVE their big air. Double doubling the quad was NOT an option for these guys...lol
- There were lots of non RC spectators. It was cool to see all these people interested in what was going on and asking questions.
- there were lots of new names racing. Awesome to see more people taking up the hobby and getting out there to race.
- I like J Concepts Goosebumps...alot
- It was a long day...up at 6am home at 9pm
- Announcing races is actually pretty fun
- The pre race trash talk on the forums was hilarious...we need to keep that up (Adam Lancia...get you ass out to the races!)
- 10 minute A Main's and "bump ups" waereabsolutely amazing! I think that is the perfect race time.

Mike'isms
(New Monthly Feature):
- Mike informed me today that he did in fact have two Club Soda's at Swiss Chalet with Steve after the race (no word on if there was hot water in the bathroom though).
- Mike didn't want to pit with us because we were too close to the parking lot and there were a lot of people milling about....This from the guy who left ALL his gear out in the open over night all week at CRCRC's race.
- Mike had a sweater over his hands on the stand because he was cold.
- I was very proud of Mike though I must say for gapping the quad in both 2wd and 4wd pretty much every lap. This shows growth in the aggressive department!
- I was surprised however that he attempted it on the first lap of the 4wd A Main in all that traffic (he ended up crashing and breaking there on the first lap).

Mike Airing it out!

Full Results & Videos: http://www.sidsraceway.com/results.php

Some Pictures On Here From JROD (most of them). Check out his awesome Full Gallery: http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg196/JROD996/

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