RC Pro Series South Round 1
For all of our non bashers (racing fans) out there, we have a write up on the The RC Pro Series South Round 1 for your reading enjoyment.
The season kick off event for the Southern division took place this weekend at N Control RC in Austin Texas. The track crew put together a very challenging layout for this event but even with a high degree of technicality the track was still blazing fast. Practice day came with a lot of dust but on qualifying day the blue groove was developing into what would be a black groove by end of the event on Sunday. The newly bricked Bowl Turn finished with black almost all the way to the top of the turn! Normally this type of track is hard on tires but tire wear was reported as very low for the event.
The turnout for this event after the normal no shows were taken out came in around 250 which provided a lot of close racing in all classes. *1/8 Electric Buggy* Steven Doggett took the TQ and the A1 win followed by Quincey Hughes and local Victor Young. A2 was taken by Quincey Hughes
followed by Young and Doggett. A3 and the over all win was taken by Hughes followed by Doggett and Young.
*Pro Mod Truck* (formerly Monster Truck). The name change didn’t affect the results from past years! Tim Roberts took the TQ and win followed by Derek Guidry and Trevor Johnson.
*Intermediate Arena Truck* was an exciting race with eventual winner Brian Harjo taking the win after a long back and forth battle with 2nd place Scott Stanley. These guys swapped the lead numerous times in the last 15 minutes of the race with Stanley running out of fuel in the last lap. 3rd place was taken by Chad Arnold. TQ Sean Smith fell out early with receiver battery issues.
*Intermediate Buggy.* The TQ Sean Smith battled early on finally taking the lead at about the 20 minute mark and holding on to take the win over young Etan Lefebvre in 2nd and Delon Price in 3rd.
*Open Arena Truck* was another eventful race from 2nd back since the winner James Sublette got out front just after midway and pulled out a 20 second lead leaving 2nd through 4th to battle. In the end Nick Lefebvre finished 2nd followed by Colby Alleman with Victor Young in 4th. The top 4 all on the same lap.
*Open Buggy.* 3rd qualifier Courtney Tate took the lead early and didn’t look back leaving everyone else to battle for 2nd! Pablo Tejada took home 2nd and Cody Fruge moved from 10th to 3rd.
*Pro Arena Truck.* The TQ Quincey Hughes’ Losi took over the lead just before the halfway point but had constant pressure from Kyle Skidmore’s AE. At the end it was Hughes by 4 seconds over Skidmore. In another race long battle was Andrew Smolnick’s CEN passing the line in 3rd just 2 seconds ahead of Mike Battaile in 4th.
*Pro Buggy.* Another great race! TQ Quincey Hughes led early on with his Losi but developed problems at the midway point and dropped out. Leaving Jason Branham in his Xray 808 to battle with Kyle Skidmore in his AE the rest of the race. They swapped the lead back and forth until the final lap when Kyle’s buggy flamed out eventually running out of fuel from a reported leaking fuel line. 3rd place was the same battle between Mike Battaile and Andrew Smolnick that we saw in the Pro Arena Truck race with Smolnick taking 3rd by 3 seconds over Battaile.
The Pro Classes showed why they are considered Pro drivers. The racing was tight throughout the class but the amount of car control and consideration was remarkable. Everyone on the track knew who the lead cars were that were battling and they were given room to continue battling. I want to thank those classes for showing how it should be done.
