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Round 4 of the RC Pro Series East held at the infamous Hurricane R/C Club in
Tampa Florida. The beautiful track had just undergone new additions,
including 'The Crows Nest' (timing tower) and an elevated pit lane. Lake
Park is the home of the original blue groove track. This last weekend was no
exception, as the orange clay turned black and was one of the the most blue
grooved tracks I have seen in my 20 years of racing. It was not a sell out
as usual for the final round in a series, but there was still about 170
entries and the best drivers in Florida were there along with the
championship hopefuls from the states North of Florida.
1/8 Truck Qualifying
In round 1, it was JR mitch taking the early TQ with an 8 lap 5:15. But in
the last heat of the round, I put my CEN Matrix TR Arena on the pole with an
8 lap 5:10, giving me 0 points for round 1.
In round 2, the track started to really groove and the times came down.
Bubba Ryan set a fast 8 lap 5:02 for the early TQ. But I again took the TQ
with a blistering 8 lap 5:01 with 1 crash, just missing 9 laps in the final
heat of round 2.
For round 3, the heats were reshuffled, putting the fastest 10 together in
the last heat. This time it was all CEN Racing as I took the heat win by 3
seconds and took TQ again with an 8 lap 5:03. That gave me and my Matrix TR
Arena a perfect score of 0 points with 0 as a drop as they use the best 2 of
4 round points for the main events. I decided to sit out round 4 and let the
others battle for 2nd place. TTR's JR Mitch took the TQ for round 4 under
the lights as the track drastically slowed down.
1/8 Buggy Qualifying
In 1/8 scale, the competition was very tight and fierce. In round 1, it was
me putting my Cen Matrix in the early TQ position in heat 1 with an 8 lap
5:10. Xray's Ryan Lopez shortly stole the TQ with an 8 lap 5:09, but it was
Xray's Leon McIntosh who took over the TQ with an 8 lap 5:08 in the final
heat of the round.
Round 2 was the fastest track of the day. I again took the early TQ with an
8 lap 5:05. This time my TQ held for the round. For round 3, TTR's Mitch
took the early TQ in the B-heat just before the sun went down with an 8 lap
5:03. The final A-heat was run just as the sun started to go down, making
the track slightly slower. I went on to win the heat, but got caught in
traffic a few times and finished 2nd overall with an 8 lap 5:07. That gave
Leon, JR, and myself with one 0 so we would have to battle in round 4 to
determine the overall TQ.
In round 4 under the lights, Mitch set the early TQ with a fast 8 lap 5:08.
In the final heat, I started first and on lap 1 bobbled on the double double
double on the front straight. That put McIntosh right on my bumper and I had
too drive perfect for the rest 5 minutes to stay ahead and keep my chance of
overall TQ alive. McIntosh stayed on my bumper all the way until we caught
slower traffic in the final minute. 2 cars were battling as we approached
them on the back straight which lead up a 12 foot high table top 90' turn. I
couldn't play it safe, so I stayed on the gas until the last minute and
passed both cars during braking on the inside as I brushed the pipe and got
by cleanly. McIntosh was not as lucky as dropped back about 5 seconds. I
went on to TQ the round and the overall with an 8 lap 5:03 on the slowest
track of the day with a perfect score of 0 points.
1/8 Truck A-main
In Truck, I started 1st followed closely by Mitch in 2nd. On the 1st lap on
the huge double/table top jump, Mitch hit me in the rear as I landed and it
sent me back to 5th. Then through the hardest part of the track, the woops
section, there was a pile up and I got caught in it and dropped back to 9th
place, 22 seconds behind the leaders Mitch and Kyosho's Ryan Eckert. It was
a 30 minute race, so I slowly started my charge to the front. Eckert dropped
out and soon I was back up to 2nd and gaining on Mitch. Then with 4 minutes
left on the clock, Mitch made his final pit stop. That closed the gap to
just 12 seconds. But before I could get any closer, I stripped a clutch bell
and my race was over. That gave Mitch a huge lead over Jeff Keeton. But then
the trucks started dropping like flies. Keeton lost a front wheel, and Mitch
broke a servo giving Bubba Ryan the lead and the win.
1/8 Buggy A-main
In Buggy, it was going to be a 45 minute race of attrition on the hard
packed, big air abusive track. I took the early lead followed closely by
McIntosh and Mitch. I tried to drive as smoothly and conservatively as
possible. McIntosh got by me as I followed closely and waited for the race
to come to me. About 12 minutes in, Mitch was on a tare and quickly caught
and passed me and McIntosh but soon dropped out due to mechanical problems.
Just then, McIntosh who was stretching his pit stops came in for his 2nd
stop, giving the lead back to me. As McIntosh left the pits, he flamed out
and lost almost 1 lap before rejoining the race. That gave me a 12 second
lead over 2nd place Lopez. I slowly stretched out my lead to 20 seconds and
lapped the rest of the field with just 12 minutes left. Then the TQ blues
struck again. I came up short on a small double and rolled over. When I
rolled, the upper arm pulled out and popped out my front CVD. I tried to
limp it back to the pits pits but did not make it. It was a long stop of 258
seconds for me ending my chances of the win. That gave Lopez the lead. Just
then, Lopez went out from a bad switch. That gave McIntosh the lead back and
he went on to win after being 1 lap down from earlier problems. Because I
only finished 9th in the A-main, that gave the RC Pro Series East
Championship to my former teammate Ryan Lopez by just 3 points over my 2nd
place.
-- Expert Arena Truck - A Main --
Pos Car Laps time name
1 5 48 30:35.02 Bubba Ryan
2 2 47 29:33.59 JR Mitch
3 6 45 30:30.35 Jeff Keeton
4 12 43 30:09.52 Glenn Napurski
5 11 43 30:18.22 Larry BergeronJr
6 8 43 30:25.33 Charlie Brown
7 1 41 25:55.52 Gene Hickerson (TQ) CEN Matrix TR Arena
8 10 30 19:13.43 Chris Shadron
9 9 25 16:51.77 Jim Larrimore
10 7 15 9:53.92 Joey Perez
11 4 14 8:39.72 Bobby Phillips
12 3 13 7:46.25 Ryan Eckert
-- 1/8 Expert - A Main --
Pos Car Laps time name
1 2 68 45:00.41 Leon McIntosh
2 10 68 45:26.05 Ryan Eckert
3 11 67 45:06.55 Bubba Ryan
4 6 67 45:16.21 Shane Ogden
5 8 66 45:04.81 Nathan Wincek
6 7 66 45:14.44 Gary Mazur
7 9 65 45:01.76 Jeff Keeton
8 4 65 45:20.43 Ryan Lopez
9 1 64 45:13.89 Gene Hickerson (TQ) CEN Matrix Pro
10 5 53 45:18.48 Bobby Phillips
11 3 27 23:19.06 JR Mitch
12 12 4 11:19.73 Scott Stahl CEN Matrix Pro
1/8 Buggy East Final Points Standings
POS NAME R1 R2 R3 R4 TOTAL
1 Ryan Lopez 148 220 207 187 427 CEN Matrix/Xray XB8
2 Gene Hickerson 163 225 198 424 CEN Matrix Pro
3 Bubba Ryan 146 210 196 207 417
4 Lance Norick 199 195 211 410
5 Chris Crews 183 205 199 404
6 Brian Burnett 203 200 140 403
7 Robin Nelson 195 190 195 395
8 JR Mitch 220 175 395
9 Alan Burton 207 180 387
10 Jeff Keeton 191 169 191 382
1/8 Arena Truck East Final Points Standings
POS NAME R1 R2 R3 R4 TOTAL
1 Lance Norick 215 225 211 440
2 JR Mitch 216 221 437
3 Daniel Aycoth 199 225 424
4 Bubba Ryan 195 205 171 215 420
5 Chris Crews 210 207 417
6 Jeff Keeton 173 203 207 410
7 Patrick Rossiter 203 190 166 169 393
8 Pete Worth 187 200 142 387
9 Robin Nelson 183 185 195 380
10 Gene Hickerson 172 184 196 380 CEN Matrix TR Arena
Race Report by Gene "the machine" Hickerson
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