The last weekend of February, the 4th annual Ice Breaker was held at Indy RC World in Garland, TX. Even though the turn out was a little lighter than in years past that didnâ™t stop the talent level from showing up in full force. The track surface at Indy always provides great and fast heads up racing. With a smooth, grooved and consistent surface lap times were very close and one mistake could easily loose you half a track if a marshal couldnâ™t get to you quickly.
In qualifying it was the Ryan Lutz show and with top qualifying honors in both truck and buggy he was the likely favorite for when the mains rolled around. My 808 and XT8 were working well from day one of arriving and I knew that if I could get my car and truck dialed in then I stood a good chance of having great success, Indy was usually a good venue for me and I always seemed to be fast there. In buggy I could never seem to have that one clean run but still I managed a respectable rd. 3 and would set my self up 3rd on the grid for the main less than half a second from 2nd. In Truck qualifying I never seemed to have the correct tire choice until the last round in which I TQâ™ed coming with in tenths of a second of Ryan Lutzâ™s TQ time therefore securing 2nd on the grid and raising my confidence going into the main.
In the truck main, TQ, Lutz suffered early problems which would take him off the track for repairs to get back into the race. I took full advantage as I lead from lap one and even though I was getting some early pressure from Associatedâ™s Derek Guidry I eventually pulled away, only having to be marshaled once in the 45 minute final. I would go on to take the win leading from wire to wire over Guidry in 2nd and RC Pro Products driver Garry Haggard in 3rd.
In the buggy main Lutz again suffered early problems when his motor cut in the first corner off the start. Team Associatedâ™s Kyle Skidmore, who was 2nd in qualifying, got caught up with Lutz when his motor cut allowing me to make a move to get around them to take the lead. Skidmore worked his way through field fast to eventually catch me and through out the 45 minute final we swapped the lead multiple times giving the crowd a great show. With 5 minutes remaining in the main Skidmore had a 5 second advantage on me so I began to push harder and harder to catch him. With 30 seconds to go in the race while on our last lap I had regained the lead but it was not to be. I clipped a pipe forcing me to swing wide in a corner and that was all Skidmore needed to regain and take the win in probably one of the most exciting mains I have ever been apart of.
My XRAY rides were working very well all weekend and it showed as I was prepared for the 45 minute finals. Too bad one bobble cost me the sweep but none the less it was a good weekend for me and for XRAY and I will work hard to continue this success through out the year.
Buggy results
1. Kyle Skidmore 2. Jason Branham XRAY XB808
3. Ryan Lutz
4. RJ Scadden
5. Jason Howell
6. Mike Battaile 7. Denver Houghton XRAY XB808
8. Gary Haggard
9. Courtney Tate
10. Frank Sell
Truggy results
1. Jason Branham XRAY XT8
2. Derek Guidry
3. Garry Haggard
4. Courtney Tate
5. Ron Fleck Jr. 6. Bill Shepherd XRAY XT8
7. Ryan Lutz
8. Mike Battaile
9. Gianni Mcgrew
10. Frank Sell
