| Race report by Danny Buck |
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The 6th round of the Western Canadian Indoor Championship Series was run in Moose Jaw, SK from February 6th to February 8th. As usual, the two most competitive classes were Stock TC and Modified TC. There would be practice on Friday starting at 5PM, Qualifying Saturday, and a last chance round followed by the Mains on Sunday.
In the 1st round, Stock TC was pretty rough, with me getting into some traffic early and ending the round in 3rd overall. Modified was equally as rough in the first round, with traffic assisting a rollover which put me down to 4th for the round. However, I ended with the fastest lap in both classes, which really showed the speed of the ORCA/Trinity powered XRAY I was running.
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Second round went much the same way. After an off in my first lap, I did one more lap in stock to find that something was broken in the car, which ended up being two screws shearing off in the upper diff holder. This made the car pretty much undriveable and I pulled off, getting a DNF for the round which left me 5th overall. Modified went much better. I managed to avoid traffic, and besides two unforced errors by myself, I managed to put myself 3rd overall behind AB driver Steve Soon, and BC driver Korgae Scales. I also managed to score the fastest lap for Modified again in the second round.
The third round, the last one of Saturday, My Stock car really started to come into its own. While I didnâ™t set fastest lap, I did get to within one second of TQ holder Steve Soon, and really was pushing his pace hard in the final minute. Modified was not so good, with a couple (again) unforced errors putting me down to 3rd overall, 4 seconds behind 2nd place Korgae Scales.
Sunday, finals day. I really tend to excel on Sundays. However, it didnâ™t get off to a very good start, with myself getting no improvement in the 4th round of Stock. My car just didnâ™t feel right and I was fighting a lot of oversteer all through the race, though it did get slightly better as the run went on. Modified made up for my lack of pace in Stock, though. The run started and the car felt great right from the get go. Usually that means Iâ™ll have a poor car later, as I tend to overdrive when my battery voltage is still high, but this car didnâ™t seem to have that issue. About 7 laps in I was leading on pace, and by my judgment on track about 2 or 3 car lengths. I pushed to get a gap, and made a couple small mistakes putting me down again to 3rd overall on pace. This time however, I knew I had the car under me to get back up to where I was. I put in a perfect series of 12-15 laps to put myself back in contention for the TQ. 30 seconds left and I was pretty sure I was even with Steve Soon on pace. I pushed and did the best 3 consecutive laps of anyone at the event and managed to secure TQ by 4 tenths of a second. I was very excited, having been bested by the 2nd and 3rd placed drivers the last times I had ran against them.
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Between the 4th round and the mains, this being a smaller regional event, there was a little bit of practice over lunchtime. I decided to forgo lunch and work on the Stock car. I decided to be a bit drastic, and I went with the setup that I TQâ™d in Moose Jaw last year with, even though this yearâ™s track was much tighter and seemed to reward a certain kind of car.
The Stock TC main I felt really good about. I tested the car over lunch and it was quicker and more consistent than my previous setup. The race started and I took the first couple laps pretty easy, getting a pace and feeling out how the TQ holder was running. After 3-4 laps he had a bit of a gap on me, but seemed to really be pushing hard to get it. Taking a more risky line through the more technical sections of the track to gain an edge. I noticed this and really started pushing to try to make up the gap. It was very frustrating, as every time Iâ™d get on him and start applying pressure, Iâ™d make a mistake. This happened a few times, including on the last lap. Iâ™m sure I had the faster car, but kudos to him for driving an absolutely perfect race.
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| Stock TC: |
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1. Steve Soon
2. Danny Buck â“ XRAY T4
3. Ivan Chan
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Modified I didnâ™t feel as good about, as even in the 4th qualifier where I TQâ™d I felt there was just something not quite right with the setup. I thought it may have been the rear shock position, as the back end seemed âśhoppyâť through most of the race. I lowered the shocks in one hole on the rear to try to alleviate this issue. After the race started, however, I realized I made the wrong choice. The car had lost a lot of steering and I lost the ability to defend my position early on until the tires came in. after the first lap, I dropped from 1st to 5th.
I decided I was just going to do exactly what I did in Q4 and push and push and push and forget about the car and how it wasnâ™t as competitive as I felt it should be and drive. I ended up getting back to 3rd within a couple of laps, and started chasing down the leaders. 2nd place Korgae Scales was putting massive pressure on Steve Soon, and in doing that he made a big mistake that required him to be marshalled, putting him back with me. I did the same this as I tried to do in Stock, but this time, didnâ™tâ™ make a mistake. I made him work hard to stay ahead through faster sections of the track and it paid off with him making a mistake and letting me through. From there I knew as long as I didnâ™t make an error, I would have 2nd locked up. I made no errors, even after some contact, and took home 2nd in Modified.
Going into the last 2 rounds of the Championship, Iâ™m hoping to convert my best season yet into a championship, having come up short on two other occasions.
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Modified TC:
1. Steve Soon
2. Danny Buck â“ XRAY T4
3. Korgae Scales
Thanks again to XRAY/HUDY, RC America, EA Motorsports, and Snowy Graphics for their continued support!
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