I arrived Tuesday afternoon in Roseville, California for the 2006 ROAR On-Road Championships. I was coming off a victory at this yearâ™s Reedy Race no more than 2 weeks ago so my confidence was high coming into the weekend.
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On Wednesday we had 2 hours of open practice followed by two rounds of controlled practice. I left my car untouched for the first day of practice as I focused on getting the track layout down. At the Reedy Race, Andrew Ellis and I worked together the whole weekend and we did so again this weekend. For the 2nd day of practice (Thursday) I made setup changes leaning the shocks way in and adding front/rear sway-bars, and I also went to 4° caster blocks to smooth the car out going into the turns and to give a better on-power feel as well.
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My lap times were better and the car was now easier to drive. For the final practice on Thursday I raised my front camber link and shortened the link as well. It gave me a little bit more reaction and I was very happy going into qualifying on Friday as I felt I had the strongest car and most consistent lap times throughout practice. Andrew Ellis was nipping on my heels; we had identical cars and we both looked good for qualifying on Friday. Friday turned out to be a test of nerves and also gave me a message that one day you can be on top but the next day can be the total opposite.
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I completed only 6 total laps in my first two rounds of qualifying due to radio trouble, leaving me in the first qualifier for Saturday's re-sorted rounds. I had incredible luck in the qualifying rounds on Saturday. Coming from the worst qualifier I put in a sensational 3rd place run in Round 3. In Round 4 all of the weekâ™s hard work paid off as I TQâ™d the final round and put myself in 2nd place on the grid for Sunday's finals. It was a big relief to be in the Finals after such a poor first day. I couldnâ™t have done it without Ralphy's spotting⦠thanks WG.
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Sunday was final's day. I had my diff and shocks rebuilt by my main man Jared Scott to help ensure a victory. The first Round of A-finals went perfectly; from the sound of the tone I could feel that with Jared's mechanical skills my car was now perfect. I put pressure on Jeff Brown (Corally) for two laps and then he cracked and I passed to take the lead and pulled away for a convincing victory, turning the Race's fastest stock lap time in the process with a 14.7sec time. Not too bad compared to the Mod A-main times of 14.2 & 14.0sec for Hara.
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The second Final was a little different. It was hot and Jared thought about opening up all the holes in my pistons to get better grip for the hot and slippery conditions. It was definitely the right decision as my car was very very good. A little too good because even though I was way over aggressive, I was following first place when I took a corner and the sheer speed of the T2 was no match for the RDX so I hit Jeff Brown and flipped around to about 5th place. I made my way up to 2nd place after a series of body tucks and encounters with other cars.
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So my plan for winning the first two mains had to be extended to three. I left my car the same as in the 2nd final because Jared had it dead perfect. The tone went off and again my T2 was perfect. The RDX of Brown was stalked until he mistakenly went one car width too wide and in only 2 laps I was in the lead and pulling away. With about 2 minutes to go I had a 3 second gap on 2nd place and I knew the race was mine and I was National Champion!!!!! I cruised home for the victory and that was that.
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I would like to thank Ralph Burch for his support all weekend as well as all of my teammates, and a REALLY big thanks goes out to J-Rod. Chad Reed wouldnâ™t be 3rd best if J-rod was on the wrenches. Thanks again to everybody.
Travis Schreven
PS: Keep up the awesome work every car produced by XRAY is better and better. I hope the Worlds go's awsome an I cant wait for Las Vegas. That is my next big race. Thanks again for all of your Support Mario, Martin, Juraj
