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| This weekend was the first large regional race in Region 9. The event was called the Ice Breaker II and was held at RC Raceway and Hobbies in Waco Texas. Last year this race had a great turn out of about 90 or so racers but this year it was in the 190 range. The turn-out size is comparative to RC-Pro series races in this area. People from Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Harlingen, and even Oklahoma showed for this one day event to see who would be crowned the 2006 Ice Breaker champion. |
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Being home of RCAMERICA, several of the factory and team guys were present at this race. There was practice Friday evening and Saturday morning. Qualifying got underway at 10am and we all knew the first round was going to be the fastest because with that many racers on the track it was bound to blow out. Tommy Tang started off first and he set the pace at 10 5:25, then I (David Joor) went out and turned a perfect run with no mistakes and registered a 10 5:21, Patrick Castleberry was up next and was just on it and turned a 10 5:19 and he had a couple of wrecks in his run, then Mike Battaile got his shot for round 1 and just made us all look like novices but turning a blistering 10 5:16 which would become untouchable for the rest of the day. What was neat was that all four of us were running different setups on our XB8's. I was testing a setup that the Wheelers had come up and it felt good but just wasn't making laptimes like some of the others, in fact it was a full second off per lap in round 1.
Round 2 would actually show to be the fastest round of the day due to the heat but no one would top the TQ pace set early on by Mike. I had changed my setup, I added caster, lengthened the car, lighter front sway bar, lighter rear diff, and cut the outside edge of my Crime Fighters with the new molded foams. On the gate I got a horrific start but this time around my lap times were 0.5 faster than my teammates that were setting the fast pace in the following round so I was pleased and knew I had a car for the main event. A few others jumped into the mix in round two and three such as Jared Bockholt, Jason Branham, and Patrick Holley.
Two get into the main you had to run a 10 lap run and the spread was from 5:16 to 5:29, there were about three 5:19 runs, two 5:21, two 5:23, and then it began to got to singles to the 5:29.
We knew the mains were going to be late and cold, but what we never expected was for them to be WET. That is right, it started to pour at 10pm and so you know what we did, WE RACED!!! Think of wind chill in the 40's, covered in water, and still out there running our cars. I was truly impressed with the attitude of our region and it makes me proud to see such a great group of racers to go against the weather to see who would take home the gold. It was a site to see I tell you, cars no longer had paint schemes, we were all running the same thing, doo doo. Some of the races had amazing traction while others got more rain that made it slippery.
So it was about 1:30am before the Expert 8th started and once again no love for about the majority of cars off the gate, just like all weekend. Patrick Holley took demand early on and just ran away from all of us. After about 5 minutes into it was Patrick Holley (Mugen), Mike Battaile, David Joor, and Tommy Tang. Mike and I would soon get close to one another and have a great race going for about 7 minutes or so swapping and bumping. The cars were feeling great at the first pit, the weight on the bottom of the chassis from the mud didn't allow cars to make the easy triple anymore but the corners felt great and the tires were sticking. It was about this time that Mike and I started to get close to Holley and Mike got caught up with Castleberry as he was trying to lap him which allowed me to step into 2nd place. I had already considered Holley checked out and was just driving my own race and at about 7 minute mark I was on the back of Holley, I was told he had a wreck and then coming out of the pit had another wreck. Right at this time Mike was all over me and we began swapping the lead for a good 4 minutes. During this time Tommy Tang went out for a few minutes with either engine or fuel problem. Then the rain started coming harder and the track got super slick. Battaile had a wreck that cost him 6 seconds and I took the lead and never looked back. My lead turned into 7 seconds, then 15, then 22, and at the end of the race I was behind the battle for second. I had no interest in racing anyone, if someone was behind me and they pushed me at all I just letting them go so I wasn't about to try and battle to lap the field. In fact the battle was so good between Mike Battaile, Patrick Holley, and Patrick Castleberry that I was trying to watch. Castleberry didn't come on in the race until later on and he was on a mission making up a ton of ground on the others. On the last lap he made it past Mike and we all freight trained over the finish line. I took the win, Holley second, and Castleberry pulling off a great comeback to take 3rd, and Battaile in 4th. |
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The conditions were brutal and really tested the capability to pull a 15 pound car around the track. After the race I just went to the hose and cleaned my car off with it, no way that stuff was coming off it you let it dry. The race ran so smoothly and was able to run 3 rounds with 190+ entrees and mains in just under 15 hours. A fellow racer made these amazing trophies in his machine shop, they are heads with the race info engraved into the top of it within a glass container. This was definitely a great race despite the conditions and if you have want to see a track hold up to mother nature and brutal RC cars, DeWayne Grantham (Owner of the hobby shop) knows how to put it together. There were no complaints anywhere to be heard.
8th Scale Expert
1. David Joor XRAY XB8
2. Patrick Holley
3. Patrick Castleberry XRAY XB8
4. Mike Battaile XRAY XB8
5. Mike Sauer
6. Tommy Tang XRAY XB8
7. Steven Doggett
8. Jared Bockholt XRAY XB8
9. Dave Mangelsdorf
10. David Green XRAY XB8
11. Mike McCrary
12. Jason Branham XRAY XB8 |
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