| Race report by Gene 'the machine' Hickerson |
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| Gene Hickerson brings home the Xray XB8's first podium finish in the USA at round 4 of the Pro-line Southern California Saturday Series. Last Friday at the Dirt in Hemet, all of the top drivers on the West coast were there to compete on a new challenging layout at the famous "Dirt Raceway" just back from the Ifmar World Championships in Sweden. |
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| Some of the drivers in attendance were 3rd place world finisher Jeremy Kortz, 4th place Mark Pavidis, 5th place Chad Bradley, and semi finalists Jared Tebo and Ryan Cavalieri. After qualifying Friday night, Jared Tebo took TQ, followed closley by Chad Bradley and Gene Hickerson with his new Mac powered Xray XB8. During the short main event Friday night, Jared Tebo took the win, followed by Bradley, Cavalieri, and Hickerson as the drivers prepared for the Series race the following day. |
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| On Saturday, Mark Pavidis took TQ in round 1 with a fast 11 lap run. Round 2 was a battle between Adam Drake and Gene Hickerson. The 2 drivers swapped the lead back and forth each lap of the race. Hickerson finally got a clear track on the last lap and tried to put down a fast lap to take TQ, but rolled the car 5 feet before the finish line. Adam Drake took TQ with a 12 lap 5:20, followed by Hickerson, 3 seconds behind. Chad Bradley and Bobby Tillman also went 12 laps. |
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| The main event look to be tight as the top 8 drivers were all very close in qualifying. Adam Drake crashed at the start, handing the lead to Hickerson. Hickerson the bobbled and droped to 3rd. Adam Drake ran out of fuel at the 6:45 mark, giving the lead to Scott Hughes, followed closly by Hickerson. |
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Hughes and Hickerson battled it out for a few laps, until Hickerson had a few bad crashes, giving Hughes a big lead. Then during the last minute, Bradley made a charge and caught and passed Hickerson to take 2nd place,
with Hickerson bringing the XB8 home for 3rd place.
Hickerson was very happy with the performance of the new car (only his 2nd time racing it there), but is still looking for the perfect set-up on the very bumpy Hemet track. |
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