The weather was pretty good all trip, but of course, the wind had to blow at least one day. Blow it did, the wind was probably a constant 30mph with even bigger gusts. It was gnarly. It completely dried out the track and blew all the dust off. They decided to not water all day because it was blowing so hard it would have been impossible to keep wet.

The morning started off with A Main practice. The wind was coming straight at the drivers stand too, so driving was tough. I stood on a brick all weekend on the stand, and in practice I got blown off the brick and lost balance. My truggy also flew off the track as I almost fell over on the stand. You had to position yourself further back and lean forward to balance through the wind. We only had practice in the nitro classes, and both my cars felt great. I was really feeling the flow and was having fun choosing lines and blasting some deep outside lines around the holes. The track felt different with no dust and a ton more bumps after all the mains the night before.

The first main was the truggy main. The sun was hot and the wind was still blowing. We had everything all ready, but then 30 minutes before the main, we decided to mount up medium compound tires because the track was way more abrasive and responsive having all the dust blown off. I started 3rd and got off to a good start, passing the Drake on the second lap. On the fourth lap I made a mistake after the loop. I was running the far outside line and hit a bump that put me off the track right before the triple. I crashed and dropped from 2nd to around 6th. I got back in my groove and started working my way up. I was doing a 9 minute pit strategy, and most of the other leader guys were doing the same. After the first pit, I was back up battling for the lead. Me and Carson battled for the lead for most of the race. Every time I would start to pull a little lead, I seemed to make a small mistake and we swapped the lead back and forth. It was a clean and really fun battle. Right after the final pit there was a crashed car going up the step up and I got tangled and about 5 more cars all got tangled. I had a couple seconds on Carson, and then it was about 5 more seconds back to Drew Moller. After that disaster on the step up, Moller was right there. He was pushing pretty hard and made a pass on me with 3 minutes or so to go. I got caught off guard a little, and then I tried pushing hard to stay right on him and pressure him to the finish. Unfortunately I hit a big rut in the final turn before the straight and ended up upside down and was back battling with Carson. I got back into 2nd and that’s where I finished. It was a really good race and I was happy to fight for the win the whole main. I would have loved to win, but with it that close all race , sometimes the ending result is a toss up.

Up next was E Buggy. My weekend has been pretty tough in this class and I haven’t felt comfortable all weekend. I made a few changes to my car for the main and also decided to run medium Impacts. The main was a single 10 minute race. I started 8th and got a terrible start. Someone crashed up the step up and I got blasted off the track going up it. The first lap I was in 12th I think. It was like a flashback of The Dirts electric main. I felt really good out there though, and just wanted to run a smooth main and try to get up as far as I could. I started to just pick up guys one by one and after halfway, I was reeling in the lead pack. There was a big pile up on the step up and I passed some more cars. With around three minutes to go, I was in 3rd and catching fast. Then Ty crashed and I moved into 2nd. Josh Wheeler was leading and I was catching him by 1 second a lap. Coming onto the last lap I was 1 second behind Josh and I was pushing to try to catch him. I went a little too fast by the loop and hit a big rut that sent me to the outside and I crashed off the triple. Then Ty was right behind me and trying to get 2nd. On the last turn me and Ty were both just going for 2nd and we were both full throttle drag racing through the bumps to the finish line. I just barely beat him to the loop and finished 2nd. I was super happy to get a good finish after all the struggles in qualifying.

The final main of the day was nitro buggy. The wind was still blowing, not quite as hard as earlier, and it was getting later in the day and the temp just dropped 10 degrees or so. I made a couple changes to car and decided to run soft Impacts with the cooler temps. I started on pole and was feeling awesome. The start went great and me and Ty were pulling away from the rest of the pack. A few minutes in I hit a bump and and I was ripping the outside after the camel hump triple. I just missed the edge of the berm and flew off the track. I gave up the lead, but was still right there. Me and Ty had a great battle all the way till the first pit. After that Kyle was right there in the fight too. I was able to hold onto the lead for most the race till just after halfway. My engine started off feeling pretty decent, but it was slowly changing tune and I was losing my good feeling at had. At the 3rd pit my engine died while getting refueled. Joe and Chris where amazing in pit lane and got it started in under 10 seconds, but I went from the lead to 3rd. After that I put a really strong charge and had some great lines. I gained back 7 of the 10 seconds I lost and was right there again, but I was on edge. My engine was running on real bad the initial feel was very difficult in the bumpy conditions. I was pretty worried coming into the last stop, but I kept the throttle on while getting fuel and it stayed running. After the last stop I started making a lot of mistakes and crashed a few times. I dropped back about 12 seconds and just had to settle for 3rd. It was fun and good to battle so hard and show speed and lead a lot of laps, but I wanted to stay up front till the end. Bummed to drop back to 3rd at the end.

Silver State 2014 was fun and it was a very trying week. I fought some issues and kept on plugging away. I would say it was a successful weekend. No wins, but I had a good shot in all three. Thanks to all my great sponsors: Kyosho, Orion, AKA, Maxima, Ko Propo, AmainHobbies, Upgrade-RC, Lunsford, Jam Air Paint, MIP, LiveRC.com, Specialized Bicycles, Bike Source, Rock Brook Church, Joe Pillars for all the hard work, Chris Tocco for the help, all my great fans, my amazing family for all the love and support, and my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.