This weekend was the 2014 Silverstate Nitro Challenge. I was able to go to California the day before to get in a little practice. My cars were good from the start and I did not have to change anything except for shock oil because of hot temperature. I kept the same setup that I used for Dirt Nitro Challenge last month.
Practice day went well, my cars were good and as the track got bumpier my buggy and ebuggy began to shine! My truggy was very fast also but a couple mistakes with traffic put me in the B Qualifier. My XB8 was awesome in the bumps and I managed to get the second place spot to start qualifying. I also put my ebuggy into the A qualifier.
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Qualifying was a lot of work with racing 3 classes but the day turned out fantastic. I qualified 9th in truggy but was one small mistake away from 5th. The racing was very close despite all the bumps and difficulty of the track. Ebuggy also went very well and ended up qualifying 6th for the main. My car was really fast each run but a small mistake could make or break your run.
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My XB8 was great from the start. The first qualifier I drove really smooth and wanted to make no mistakes. My car was easy to drive but fast as well. I ended the first qualifier 2nd overall and was very excited about the result. The second qualifier started off well however a crash on the last lap put me from 5th to 14th. After 2 runs I had a 2 and a 14 and was barely in the main. I needed my 3rd qualifier to be a good one to guarantee my spot in the main. The 3rd qualifier started and from the first lap I was in the lead but Jared was close behind. Jared and myself battled on the clock for the entire qualifier however a small mistake by myself would get me 2nd overall for the round. With 2 2nd place runs I ended up 3rd overall behind Jared Tebo and Ty Tessman.
Main day started and I was ready to go. Truggy main would be up first. I started 9th and ended up 7th. I was surprised there was very few crashes despite all the bumps and difficulty of the track. My truggy was good and I ran a good race.
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Ebuggy main was up next and I was starting 6th. When the race started we were single file around the track waiting for someone to make a mistake. I move to 4th spot after some drivers crashed and was close behind the leaders. Around the 4th lap 3rd crashed and the leaders got into each other and crashed as well. Through all the crashing I took the inside line straight to the lead. From that point on I kept a fast pace with no crashes. Tessman started to get close with a few laps left and eventually crashed. Tebo then made a hard charge to catch me and it looked like a possible last lap battle. However a las lap crash by Tebo let me cruise to victory! My XB8e was amazing all week. The bumpier it got the better my car was!
Buggy main was the last race of the night and the sun would be going down as the race was going on. I started 3rd and the track was bumpier than ever. My car felt great during the entire race and I was happy with the result. I got really close to 4th with about 15 minutes to go but after the sun went down I had problems seeing without my glasses to see at night. I ended up getting 6th and was still close to leaders.
I would like to thank all of my sponsors and especially XRAY with the new XB8.
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Final results e-buggy:
1. Josh Wheeler - XRAY XB8E
2. Jared Tebo
3. Ty Tessmann
4. Drew Moller
5. Carson Vernimont
6. Kyle McBride
7. Cody Smith
8. Ryan Lutz
9. Ryan Cavalieri
10. Mike Truhe
