ROAR Region 1 Championships Day One

Well it started early. about 2am for Chet and 4 am for me. Forecast was 30% chance of scattered showers later on in the day. We got on the road around 5am and cruised through the border crossing and after about 2 hours (including a stop at the Duty Free) we arrived at Glenwood. Nice sunny day, not a cloud in the sky! We set up shop and started to practice and get caught up. The track layout is really sweet! Super flow with perfectly timed jumps. Traction was decent in the morning but we were still trying all sorts of tire combos. First round in 2wd was a learning curve. Tire choice is a bit of a crap shoot. I chose Double Dee's and they were a little slick. I think I was about 4th after the first round. 4wd...well we didn't make it to 4wd as part way through Steve's heat, the thunder, lightning, hail and rain hit. Took shelter for a while but it was a rather large cloud and it was lightning right on top of us! The rain cleared after a bit but the track was soaked. We headed back to the hotel while they cleaned it up. We called the track from the hotel and they said they would be running again in about a 1/2 hour. We rolled in after about 15 minutes and they had already started and we all missed our 1st round in 4wd. Great. A little mis-communication I suppose. The rain left the track nice and tacky and for Round 2 in 2wd, I laid down a scorcher! A good 11 seconds up on the field. 4wd was good too, I took TQ in both classes. Round 3 was fierce! I couldn't better my round in 2wd and broke an arm in 4wd. Brian Bellinger put it together and stole the TQ from me by about 3 seconds. Hot Bodies Goff Ryan also snuck in ahead of me by about 2 seconds. So TQ in 2wd Mod and 3rd in 4wd Mod. It's triple A Mains tomorrow though so anything can happen still. The tracks conditions change quite a bit throughout the day so finding the right tire for that time of day will be crucial. Gotta get some sleep...will fix the cars tomorrow morning.

Random Thoughts:
- The Sid's crew all made the A Main in 2wd. Gino and myself made it in 4wd, Steve in 2nd in the B and Chet is CQ after not really getting a good run in.
- The Glenwood guys did a fantastic job in this track layout. It is really fun and has so much variety to it.
- The dirt here is weird. Kind of like a talcum power.
- Being his close to Buffalo, we had some wings at dinner along with some fine Rolling Rock beer!
- The 8th scale electric cars are waaaay cool out there
- I am doing the Filipino Rain Dance hoping the track remains wet as the traction was perfect in Round 2.

Mikeism's:

- Mike would rule here as IFMAR Pins (his favorite tire) seems to be the tire of choice
- There was plenty of hot water at the bar we ate at (none of us had fish and well they forgot to give us our salads)
- Many beers beer consumed (not one Club Soda was seen in the bar)

Some pics: