2008 3rd Annual Fall Classic - Sid's Raceway

It was a little cool out, but finally NO RAIN! The field was a little light as there was the GLORCS Nitro Series Final, but it was a great day of racing to cap off the summer!

In 2wd, my Kyosho RB5 was awesome as usual. The track was pretty bumpy after a season of use and my car was dialed in the bumps. I swept the qualifying rounds to TQ and never looked back in the main. Sean Hurley's Losi XXX-CR was handling awesome out there and he managed to put it second on the grid. I think Sean had some bad luck in the main as he dropped down after the first couple of laps. Steve put up a tough fight in my quest to lap the field and on the last lap we swapped positions numerous times but I put an inside move in the last corner and my Orion Vortex brushless motor powered me past him right at the line. The car was flawless today!

In 4wd, my Lazer SP was having a little trouble in the ruts. I managed to lay down a pretty good run in one of the qualifying rounds to sneak out the TQ from Martin Palenik (who drove great for his first race back after being on vaction for a while in Europe). For the main I made a couple of suspension tweaks and at the tone we got off clean and started to train it around, but with the track this rough all of us had some bad luck with some crazy rut rolls and weird bounces 3/4 of the way down the straight. I had a little less bad luck I suppose than the rest as I think Martins BJ4WE was handling the bumps better. Steve's BJ4WE was also flying out there and we all swapped the lead a few times during the race. After a couple of bobbles by Steve and Martin, I got into the lead and played it safe in the ruts to take the win.

In the Truck class (I didn't get to see much of it) Jay Lovegrove took his sweep of Qualifying into the main and lead wire to wire. Jay has become the man to beat in the Truck class as of late!

Random Thoughts:

- It felt great to defend my TQ & Wins for both classes in the Fall Classic. Great way to cap off the season!
- New comers Ryan & Dimitri have gone from newbies to (almost) A Main contenders in a very short time. Both drove great races and have progressed a ton. Great to see the new guys getting up to speed! You will see them in the A Mains next season for sure.
- The track held up quite well for the whole season with minimal maintenence. It was just starting to get blown out about a week before this race. Renting the vibrating steam roller thing at the beginning of the year was money weel spent!
- We all missed having Chet out there duking it out. His surgery went well though and we should see him back (haha pun intended) out there in the next couple of weeks.
- Hopefully someone finds a way to get an indoor dirt track open for the winter.
- Thanks to all the people who helped us out during the season. There are a great group of guys who come out and race and really make the atmosphere a great one. After seeing first hand some of the antics that go down at some of the nitro races, it is really good to have a great bunch of laid back racers in the electric scene!
- Full results and videos of the races are here: www.sidsraceway.com

Thanks to Ryan @ Kyosho America, Joe @ Team Orion & David @ Adrenaline R/C for the continued support!


Mike'isms

- Last outdoor race of the year and Mike finally cleans up his trademark "Landfill" pit space!
- Mike had regular water (no club soda's) at the post race dinner at Swiss Chalet.
- Mike's car was lacking "punch" out there. He wondered if it was his 2 year old (very well used) LiPo's. I told him it was and that the swelling of the one pack was not a good thing either...lol. Time to ante up and get some new packs buddy!
- I thought that I wouldn't have anything too funny to put in this column until on the way out of Swiss Chalet, Mike swiped all the little packets of butter off the table as he said he was out of butter at home....classic!

Mike's surprisingly clean pit area!


Some Pics (videos are coming)


Johnny Chow laying down the power


John Stewart's B44 hovercraft









Steve getting ready for the Mains

Mike and Martin getting the awards ready.

Cars are good to go. Yummy Italian bakery goods & drink in the background. Moley moley moley (inside joke for John, Steve & Jay...haha)

New guy: Ryan King's cars. Great driving out there!

Kyosho "Sweep"! TQ & Win 2wd Open, 4wd Open.

2wd Open - A Main


4wd - A Main

Truck Open A Main

*Bonus*

Congrats to Ryan King for winning the B Main. Ryan lead wire to wire and drove a great race for being new to the hobby. You will see him in the A Main next year!