Round 2 of the Texas State RC Pro Series was held at STARCAR Raceway in Corpus Christi, TX. STARCAR always does a great job getting the track and facilities ready to go and with the turn out larger than expected the format was moved to a two day event. The track had quite a lot of rain prior to us getting there but the crew did a great job getting the track drained and in shape for us to race on. The rain actually helped the track stay together and it formed a nice racing groove with good traction by the end of practice Friday.
In qualifying I started out solid by taking TQ honors for both truck and buggy for round 1 but as the high winds and cars beat up the track it began to get rough and some of the grooved sections were breaking up causing the track to become inconsistent and challenging. I was chasing set-up and tires the rest of the day and not doing a very good job of doing so. TQ would slip away from me in both classes with Brian Henn of Hot Bodies taking TQ in buggy and Mike Battaile of VP Fuels/Losi taking TQ in truck, I would start 2nd in both. Cade Whitenton put in some hard work getting both of his Xray rides in the mains starting 7th in buggy and 4thin truck.
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On mains day the track was really deteriorating badly leaving broken up sections in a lot of places. In some places traction was good and others loose so you had to be on your toes. In the truck main I quickly found out that I choose the wrong tire compound therefore Battaile was able to pull away from me. I drove a really good main and kept myself within striking distance of Mike but I had to wait for him to make mistakes which he didnâ™t do enough of. I was able to close the gap towards the end as I was on a 10 minute pit strategy and Mike was pitting at 7:30 but I just didnâ™t have the grip or corner speed to catch and pass him so I had to settle for 2nd. Still though I leave Corpus with the points lead over Mike for the State Championship heading into to Dallas where round 3 will be held
Truck Final:
1. Mike Battaile 2. Jason Branham â“ XRAY XT8
3. Mark Morrow
4. Thomas Wells
5. Anthony Chapman
6. Robbie Darby
7. Thomas Rogers 8. Cade Whitenton â“ XRAY XT8
9. Rick Lindsay
10. Tyler Hooks
11. Albert Statton
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In the Buggy main I was determined not to make the same mistake as I did in the truck main so I decided to change set up by changing my tire selection, going to lighter shock oil and from the 2 stripe springs all the way around to 1 stripes all the way around. Also from talking to some of the team guys I decided to try the tapered 1.3x8 hole pistons but flip them around from the normal way I run them which is tapered side up. Immediately during warm up I felt very comfortable with my car and more confident about dealing with the track for the main, it was like driving a Cadillac compared to my previous set up. I quickly past TQ Brian Henn on the first lap and never looked back and in the end found myself with a lap + over the filed. By taking the win I will carry the points lead for the state championship into Dallas for round 3 in July.
Buggy Final:
1. Jason Branham â“ XRAY XB9 2013
2. Jake Dellinger
3. Mike Battaile 4. Cade Whitenton â“ XRAY XB9 2013
5. Robbie Darby
6. Mark Morrow
7. Roger Ayers
8. Brian Rickard
9. Alex Molina
10. Mike Terrell
11. Smiley Henn
12. Thomas Wells
