This past weekend I headed up to The Plex in Omaha, NE to run one of their summer series rounds. The 2016 1/10 ROAR Nationals will be held at this same track in August, so I am wanting to get some added practice there. Friday afternoon I started on my 3.5 hour drive north from KC, arriving just after 4PM. Practice for the event would start 4PM, so I got all setup and hit the track. The layout had some changes since the last time I was there a month ago. With a pretty short weekend race schedule, 4PM-10PM Friday practice, then 7AM-10AM Saturday morning practice, 2 qualifiers, using your single fastest time and single mains, I decided to only race 2WD Mod and 4WD Mod. The key at this track is getting your tires right.

The ROAR Nationals with be a spec tire sauce, and I have never used this stuff before. Most of Friday was spent working on breaking in my tires. I felt like I got them pretty good and both my cars were feeling great also. For 2WD, I brought my RB6 with the lay down transmission that was designed for carpet. I started with the shocks on the front of the arm, which will take traction away, compared to having them on the back of the arm. It was feeling pretty good, but I needed some more traction. My ZX6 was in the same configuration I used at Cactus, and it was driving really good.

Saturday morning I would test my RB6 with the shocks moved to the back of the arm. The feeling was different, and I felt I had much better rear traction, especially entering the corners. It was time for qualifying to start, and I was very happy with both cars.

Q1: 4WD was up first and I had a really good run. The track had a good flow and was really fun to drive, so I was enjoying myself. I was fast and had a clean run to take TQ by over 10 seconds. 2WD was also feeling very good and I was going fast, but made a few bobbles. I got a little loose under braking two different times and snagged a pipe, needing marshals both times. I was still able to grab the TQ by a few seconds.

Q2: 4WD would go about the same. I had my Proline MC Electrons working really good and my Kyosho ZX6 was feeling perfect. Again I would do a clean run and keep my TQ position. In 2WD, I would have a little more competition. I started the heat 1st, and was feeling pretty good, but the second place car was staying pretty close. I made a good save at the end of the straight, as I went on two wheels, but it was enough to lose my lead spot. I started to push a little harder and just two laps later, I would lose it at the end of the straight and fly off the track. The crash cost me 4 seconds, and I was frustrated and driving too hard, crashing the next lap in a different section, losing 2 more seconds. I would find my groove and come back within 2 seconds of the win, but I would lose out on the heat and the TQ.

4WD Main: With just a single 8 minute A-Main, I knew a clean start would help. My car was driving perfect and I launched off the start and right away was building a gap. I lead all the laps and took the win with a pretty good gap. The Kyosho ZX6 was so good on this track, Kyosho finished 1, 2, 3!

2WD Main: This main was awesome!!! I was starting second and very motivated to win. My car was driving really good and I was excited. Both Alex and I got off to a good start and started to gap 3rd. I expected him to make some early bobbles with all the pressure I had on him, but he was driving awesome. I had a little more speed than him, but he was driving good and not giving me any room to make a pass. I tried a few times, but couldn’t make anything stick, and we raced each other hard for the whole 8 minutes, with the gap under 1 second the entire race. I was really pushing him hard in the whoop section, actually hitting the back of his car a few times, and on the last lap, he went a car width wide after the whoops…..and I went by to take the lead and the win! It was a really entertaining and fun race!

Sunday I would host a 1/10 2WD JTU. This class sold out super fast and everybody seemed excited. The group of drivers I had was awesome, a good mix of stock and mod, and a good mix of age. My class is designed for any skill level, but the better drivers get more from the class, so the I was happy to have a lot of pretty skilled drivers, and drivers with similar speed driving together. The class went great, thanks to Proline and MX for the support, and The Plex for allowing me to host the class. The drivers really learned some good things and gained consistency all day, especially when it comes to understanding and seeing the racing line around the track. We mixed it up some and added a Stock and Mod race at the end and then a really fun backwards $1 race with no marshals. All 3 races were exciting and the class ended on a great note. I hope to add some more classes in the near future.

Thanks to my fans, my family, Kyosho, Team Orion, MX, Proline, Ko Propo, Speed RC, JTP, Upgrade-RC, TD Paint, Lunsford, Rock Brook Church, LiveRC.com, and the Good Lord Jesus Christ!

Thanks for reading, see you at the next race, and God Bless!