| Race report by David Joor |
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Date: April 16 & 17, 2005
Sponsored by: RC AMERICA / XRAY / HUDY / PANTHER TIRES
All entries were entered in raffle for a brand new XRAY XB8 KIT...
RC America / Xray / Hudy drivers attending the race:
Justin Wheeler
Josh Wheeler
David Joor
Race Is Over
Sunday 17th, 2005
1st - Josh Wheeler XB8
2nd - David Joor XB8
3rd - Michael Harrison |
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| Arrived to the track late Friday and the track was setup and people had been running on it for a week. So the track was run in very well and ready to be conquered. The Wheelers showed up a few hours after I (David Joor) arrived and got on the track shortly there after. The race was setup for 3 quals on Saturday with food from Bone Daddys (everyone's highlight). Sunday had a last chance qualifier and then the mains. |
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| Saturday was here and we were getting setup for the race to begin. The one tricky part about this track was making actual runtime in the 7 minute qualifiers. There is still no real explanation as to why it was difficult to make 7 minutes but all different types of motors were having to face this issue. |
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| Round 1, Josh Wheeler ran a 14 7:19 to take tq, Justin ran a 14 4:22, and I was a turn ahead of Justin in this round but ran out fuel. Now something to mention was the starting gate, it was brutal because right after you take off, there is a quick right then left to get onto the straight. In round 2 the track was dry and slowed down a bit, but Josh still improved his TQ time of 14 7:17, Justin ran another 14 7:22, I was pleased to get 14 laps after getting shot off the track at the start, and Quincy Hughes almost got 14 laps by running a 13 7:01. That placed Xray in the top 4 qualifying spots. |
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| Fast laps were also set by Xray's as well, they were the only cars to hit 29 second laps if I am not mistaken. Now in round 4 for the last chance qualifier Josh put in awesome laptimes on a drying track, turning a 29.00 second lap but ran out of fuel. Then Justin and I were up for our qualifier and they decided to water the track. The water improved the track conditions and I took TQ running a 14 7:06 and a fast lap of 29.19, but if Josh had the same conditions it would have been a different story. I apologized to him for them changing the track for the two heats, and his response was "dude, it doesn't matter to me". josh, justin, and i were the only 14 lap runners and feeling very confident getting the main underway. |
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| We lined up for the start in the main Le Mans style, which was a relief. The buzzer goes off and we are off. Justin got tagged from behind which stuck him back into the pack. Josh and I quickly separate from the field and on lap three through the technical section, it was apparent that he was going faster through the short shoot sections and the final jump. I would double single the final triple and he was hitting it just perfectly. When he hit that triple three times in a row behind me and had to brake check from not hitting me, I decided it was better not to fight the inevitable and let him go to insure an Xray would take the win. I just played follow the leader and hung with him for about 10 minutes, neither of us making mistakes. We had all decided to pit at 6 minutes to play it safe and Rich Starr was getting Josh through the pit so fast it was crazy, so glad he is on my side for the big races. |
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| Josh and I had no pressure on us from the start and kept pulling away, and Justin had moved himself up to third about 8 or so minutes into it and pulling away before he started running into motor problems. Which eventually took him out of the race for sometime. I had a few bobbles between the 10 and 12 minute mark and could no longer sniff Josh's blood. So I just started running laps and on the 18 minute pit mark I amazingly passed Josh while he went into the pit area. After the race we both had no idea I had gotten close and when I noticed that I was back in the game I fell apart for a couple of laps and he laid the smack down for the rest of the race because he knew he couldn't cruise. We finished 1 and 2, he was 3 laps ahead of 3rd and I was 2 laps on third. |
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The race went off very well and the Wheelers proved to be a great addition once again to the Xray team. They represent the company well and did a great job this weekend. It was a shame that Justin ran into problems in the main, but we all feel confident going to the Nationals and representing well.
Video from this race is available for download here.
Set-up of David Joor is available for download here. |
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