Last Sunday, The Dirt raceway hosted the 1st round of the Best of the West Series. Notable entrants were Jeremy Kortz (Kyosho), Kris Moore (Mugen), Marty Korn (GS), and Dean Sexton (Jammin/OFNA), as well as Team Xray's Gene Hickerson and Greg Waller.
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Qualifying was very close, as Team Mugen's Bobby Tillman took TQ, with the top 7 drivers all with in 9 seconds of each other. The very bumpy track was a real challenge in the 100' plus heat. At the start of the 45 minute A-main, Hickerson was involved in the 1st turn pile up. Jeremy Kortz took the lead and started to stretch his lead over Sexton and Tillman.
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Hickerson's Andy Brown P5 mod powered XB8 was dialed for the main. He was turning laps about 1/2 a second faster then the leader Kortz. By the 10 minute mark, Hickerson had come from dead last to catch and pass Kortz for the lead. Hickerson started to stretch his lead until trying to lap 4th and 5th place Sexton and Waller. Hickerson got caught in traffic a few times,
allowing Kortz to take back the lead.
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Unfortunately, Hickerson lost his air filter at the 17:30 mark to end his race. That gave Kortz a big lead,
followed by Tillman and Waller. Kortz eventually broke at the 30 minute mark, giving Tillman a huge lead and the win, followed by Greg Waller's XB8 in 2nd and Kris Moore's Mugen finishing 3rd. Kortz, Hickerson, and Korn all DNF to take 8-10th.
Race report by Gene 'the machine' Hickerson
Photos by RC Car's Allison Mann
