This past weekend was Rd.2 of the RC Pro South Division held at Action RC in Oklahoma City, OK. With 175+ entries on hand in the hot Oklahoma summer heat it was going to make for some long days at the track. The heat played a major roll in the track conditions which caused the track to break up easily and form a lot of fluffy dirt just outside the racing line. With the dirty, dusty and hot track conditions it made it difficult to deep motors tuned correctly which caused a lot of problems during the race.
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With four rounds of qualifying on Saturday and the inconsistency of the track it played into the hands of those who drove consistent and not nessasarily the fastest. In Pro Arena my truck was really good at handling all of the conditions and I TQâ™ed the first three rounds therefore not needing the 4th round I decided not to run giving my truck a break from the wear and tear.
In Pro Buggy qualifying, even though I was the only buggy to have a 9 lap run, it would come down to three drivers Kyle Skidmore (Team Associated) and Trevor Turner ( Team Kyosho) for overall TQ in round 4. With a mistake on the last lap from myself it allowed Skidmore to win the heat by 1 second to take TQ honors for Pro Buggy.
In the Pro Arena Truck main Kyle Skidmore and I battled for the lead until the first pit stop when Kyleâ™s motor flamed, while pitting, allowing me to get out cleanly and stretch my lead. My truck was working really well and with Kyle suffering more problems I went on to win the main by 4 laps over second.
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Truggy results
1. Jason Branham XRAY XT8'09
2. David Green
3. Kyle Skidmore 4. Jake Dellinger XRAY XT8'09
5. Gene Daniel
6. Jeremy Posey
7. Mike Battaile
8. Jason Eubanks
9. Tim Roberts
10. Mark Morrow
In the Pro Buggy Main I got off to a terrible start leaving me way back in the field. Team XRAY Driver Pattrick Castleberry got a clean start and along with Mike Battaile they would open up a large lead on the field. I worked hard and caught Castleberry and as soon as I passed him he had a bad tumbling wreck which caused his motor to quit. From the halfway point on in Mike Battaile kept a consistent 5 to 10 second gap in between us but with 5 minutes to go Mike came in for one more pit stop allowing me to catch him.
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Mike and I got in the extra lap after time had expired and with only a couple of corners to go I made a pass and got by him on the inside but I was carrying to much speed and I caught a rut which caused me to flip over. Mike would go on to win Rd. 2 with myself finishing 2nd but I am still at the top of the points for the division as we head to the final division race in Bossier, LA in August.
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Buggy results
1. Mike Battaile 2. Jason Branham XRAY XB808'09
3. Kyle Skidmore
4. Trevor Turner
5. Gene Daniel 6. Jake Dellinger XRAY XB808'09
7. David Green
8. Brandon Howe
9. Jason Howell 10. Patrick Castleberry XRAY XB808'09
11. Hunter Kinsey XRAY XB808'09
12. Tommy Tang
