Race: Rd. 3 of the RC Pro Series EAST division
Track: Phil Hurd Raceway Savannah, GA
Dates: September 28-30th 2007
Track:
The Savannah crew did an awesome job building a track that was extremely smooth and hard packed with some technical jump combinations. It was apparent very early on Friday during practice that there was going to be a ton of traction and who ever could set their car up better would have the best shot at winning.
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Racing:
With this race being the last in a series of three tensions were high to get in another good round. Coming in all of the championships were up for grabs. In 1/8th Expert buggy I had problems all during qualifying but fellow Xray drivers Chris Crews and Ryan Lopez were on the ball putting their cars solidly in the main. Crews put on a hard fought battle for the TQ spot and saw a tie in points not go his way to put him 2nd on the grid. After 4 rounds of Qualifying the buggy main looked like this:
1/8th Expert Buggy:
1- JR Mitch 2- Chris Crews - XRAY XB8EC
3- Robin Nelson
4- Mark Moore
5- Travis Dupree 6- Ryan Lopez - XRAY XB8EC
7- Shane Ogden
8- Jason Smith
9- Patrick Rossiter
10- Gene Hickerson
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In 1/8th Truck it was a different story. My truck was awesome and I took the first round TQ. In the 2nd round Chris Crews took the top spot with me right behind him. All four rounds saw a different guy in the 1st position but luckily for the last three rounds I finished 2nd giving me the overall TQ for the 1/8th Expert Arena truck class. The qualifying was extremely close and our trucks showed they were going to be the ones to beat.
1/8th Expert Truggy 1- Leon McIntosh - XRAY XT8
2- Brandon Cutchins
3- Gene Hickerson 4- Chris Crews â“ XRAY XT8
5- Jason Smith
6- Travis Dupree
7- Seth Wrobel
8- Justin Cranford
9- Jeff Keaton
10- Pete Worth
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The mains were on Sunday the 30th and saw an intense fight for the win in all classes. In Buggy JR Mitch took the Early lead with Chris right on his back. Shortly into the 45minute main JR had dropped out handing the lead over to Chris. Chris was starting to stretch out a huge lead on the field until he flamed out on the backside of the track. This left Robin Nelson and Patrick Rossiter to duke it out for the rest of the main. In the end Patrick held it together to take the win in the highly competitive Buggy class.
Finishing order 1/8th Buggy:
1-Patrick Rossiter
2- Robin Nelson 3-Chris Crews - XRAY XB8EC
4- Shane Ogden
5- Brandon Cutchins
6- Mark Moore
7- Gene Hickerson
8- Jason Smith
9- Garret McKamie 10- Ryan Lopez - XRAY XB8EC
11- JR Mitch
12- Travis Dupree
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1/8th Truggy saw Crews dominate the race from start to finish. I missed the start of the race due to a bad glow plug but I knew if anyone could keep their Xray up front is was Chris. Over the 45 minute main Chris went on to lap the field 2 times. He drove an absolutely flawless race. I managed to recover a 3rd.
The final results 1/8th Arena Truck Final:
1- Chris Crews â“ XRAY XT8
2- Brandon Cutchins 3- Leon McIntosh â“ XRAY XT8
4- Gene Hickerson
5- Jason Smith
6- Seth Wrobel
7- Pete Worth
8- Tony Pattishall
9- Justin Cranford
10- Alan Burton
11- Jeff Keaton
12- Travis Dupree
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All in all it was a great race. While I didnâ™t have the best of luck in Buggy my two previous round finishes, Win+TQ and a 2nd, were good enough to make me the RC Pro Series EAST division champion and get another championship for Xray. In Truggy I thought I wrapped up the division but ended up 2nd overall by 1 point. The Savannah Crew did an awesome job putting on the race and fellow XRAY drivers Chris Crews and Ryan Lopez drove awesome. Thanks to Xray and all my other sponsors: Futaba, Werks, Pro-Line, Next Level Hobbies.com, and Novak. See you guys in Texas at the Finals
