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Race Report by Jason Branham
This pas weekend was Round 1 of the South Division RC Pro-Series held at N-Control Raceway in Austin, TX. The track layout was set up for speed , big air, technical jump sections and with 250 entries and the South Divisions best drivers on hand it was going to be fast and furious to get off to a good start and secure the top points for the division championship.

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Qualifying consisted of 4 rounds taking the best 2 in a qual point style in order to determine top qualifying honors. Quincy Hughes had both of his cars working well all weekend and proved to be tough to beat by taking TQ honors in both Pro Arena Truck and Pro Buggy. I on the other hand struggled with finding the right set-ups and also I did not help myself by making quite a few mistakes during qualifying but I managed to qualify 3rd in Pro Arena Truck and 4th in Pro Buggy. Other strong contenders that looked good during qualifying were Kyle Skidmore, Andrew Smolnik, Mike Battaile and local hot shot Dave Mangelsdorf.

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In the Open Buggy Main it was team XRAY driver Nick Lefebvre who would lead off with TQ honors but would fall back early giving the lead to team XRAY driver Courtney Tate who would take control from there and never look back cruising to victory for the round 1 win.

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Open Buggy Final:
1. Courtney Tate – XRAY XB808

2. Pablo Tejada
3. Cody Fruge
4. James Gilbert
5. Tex Christopher – XRAY XB808
6. John Martin
7. Nick Lefebvre – XRAY XB808
8. James Sublette
9. Chris Matheny – XRAY XB808
10. Damon Harley
11. Matt Sistrunk – XRAY XB808
12. Michael Clark

In the Pro Arena Truck main my XT8 09’spec was finally working the way I wanted it to and by lap 3 I managed to get past TQ Quincy Hughes and Kyle Skidmore and I began to stretch my lead. By the 15 minute mark I had an 8 second lead over Quincy and then I lost a screw holding my steering knuckle causing me to loose steering and the front drive shaft. This left Quincy and Kyle in a close battle to the end with Quincy just edging out Kyle to take the win for Round 1.

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Pro Arena Truck Final:
1. Quincy Hughes
2. Kyle Skidmore
3. Andrew Smolnik
4. Mike Battaile
5. Tim Roberts
6. Jason Branham – XRAY XT8 09’Spec
7. Chris Rios
8. David Green
9. Chris Allison
10. Jimmy Matsler

In the Pro Buggy main I got off to a terrible start and fell way back in the field. TQ Quincy Hughes was out front and running strong until he had to pull off the track with motor issues leaving the battle for the lead between Kyle Skidmore and Andrew Smolnik. After the bad start I began to work my way through the field and I caught the battle between Kyle and Andrew and from there it was a three way battle for the lead. Smolnik had issues during a pit stop at about the half way point leaving Skidmore and I alone swapping the lead just about every pit stop.

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With about 10 minutes to go I had about a 8 second lead over Kyle and in the last minute of the race I had a bad crash where the marshal could not see me allowing Kyle to catch and pass me and on the last lap, due to a fuel line leak, Kyle ran out of fuel allowing me to take the win for round 1 in a very intense and eventful main.

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Pro Buggy Final:
1. Jason Branham – XRAY XB808

2. Kyle Skidmore
3. Andrew Smolnik
4. Mike Battaile
5. Trevor Turner
6. Mark Morrow
7. Derek Guidry
8. Hunter Kindsey – XRAY XB808
9. Gary Gaggard
10. Dave Mangelsdorf

Photos by Absolute Graphics.