KBRL Round 4 - Competition Hobbies in Tucson, Az

Saturday, November 10th, 2012

With round 4, the original location was supposed to be at Canyon Vista R/C, but with the rainy weather we had Friday into Saturday, Kenny (KBRL) decided to make a last minute change on Friday afternoon to move the race to Competition Hobbies an indoor track, also down in Tuscon.  Even though the weather did not turn out as bad as expected, I do appreciate Kenny trying to look out for the racers, and trying to make this a successful event.  I was kind of bummed that we didn't race at Canyon Vista, with practicing there the weekend before, I really liked the track layout and had a blast racing on that Saturday.  On the other hand, I was glad that we were racing at Competition Hobbies, I loved their layout, and its a great facility.  Okay, enough of the into stuff, on to the racing.

All setup in the pits, tires a little dirty from getting in some practice time.

Qualifying - Round 1

For round one in the Short Course truck, I did not do as well as I hoped.  I did manage to pull off 11 laps, but finished 8th out of 10 drivers.  My fried Dean from Woldpak Racing finished 2nd in round 1, and our friend Earnest who was racing in the second group of Pro-Lite's finished 7th in his heat.

Pro Lite  -  Round# 1, Heat 2

Driver           Laps  RaceTime  Fast Lap
Dean Vuckovich    12   5:14.191   24.764
Ernest Palafox    11   5:00.268   25.237
Frank Lilly       11   5:19.377   26.315

For round one for the 17.5 2WD buggy class, I managed a personal best of 11 laps in this heat, but ended up finishing 7th overall on round 1.  My friend Dean broke early on lap 4.  Our other friend from Warehouse 3, John finished right behind me in 8th place.  For me the buggy felt good, I did not crash as much and was looking forward to round 2.

17.5 2WD Buggy  -  Round# 1, Heat 1
Driver           Laps  RaceTime  Fast Lap
Frank Lilly       11   5:22.358   25.661
John Schreck      10   5:07.421   27.461
Dean Vuckovich     4   1:40.626   24.778

Qualifying - Round 2

Round 2 for the SCT ended up about the same for me.  I still cannot get a handle on this truck, and will try to work on the setup before the next round of the KBRL.  I still managed to get 11 laps, but I feel there is a lot more this truck can do.  I can;t really blame it all on setup, as I need to get our more and practice with the Short course truck.

Pro Lite  -  Round# 2, Heat 1
Driver           Laps  RaceTime  Fast Lap
Dean Vuckovich    12   5:09.304   25.137
Ernest Palafox    12   5:17.304   24.452
Frank Lilly       11   5:12.964   25.893

For round 2 of the buggy, felt AWESOME!!  I upped my round 1 personal best, and pulled in 12 laps, which for Competition Hobbies is a personal best for me.  I ended up finishing in 3rd in the heat, and was qualified 5th overall for the A-Main.

17.5 2WD Buggy  -  Round# 2, Heat 1
Driver           Laps  RaceTime  Fast Lap
Dean Vuckovich    12   5:03.087   24.143
Frank Lilly       12   5:24.695   25.744
John Schreck      11   5:15.118   26.608

The MAINS

Pro-Lite Mains

Congrats to my friend Dean from Wolfpak Racing for making the A-Main.

17.5 2WD Buggy Main

For the A-Main, I had a great start, but some crashed in the first couple of laps put me way behind the eight ball, and I could not catch up after that.  I was having a good battle with Kevin Kilday towards the end of the race, but he overtook me in the end.  And a BIG Congratulations go out to my friend Dean for finishing 2nd and making the podium.  This is his second podium finish in the KBRL, his first came in round 1 at this very same track. 

Final thoughts

This was another great round of racing with good friends.  Although I did not do as well with the Short Course Truck as I had liked, I still had a blast.  I think with a few more round of racing, I will be finishing up towards the podium with my buggy.

Practice for Round 4 of the KBRL at Canyon Vista R/C

Saturday, November 3rd, 2012

My friend Dean from Wolfpak Racing and myself made a trek down to Canyon Vista R/C for some practice for the upcoming round 4 of the KBRL series.  Round 4 will be on November 10th, 2012.

Since they were also club racing that day, we arrived when they opened to try to get in as much practice as we could.  Each of us was able to get in some good runs while the track was fairly empty.  We only brought the 2WD Buggies down with us to try out different tires/setup combinations, and to get an overall feel for the track since the layout won;t change for the KBRL race.

We did not stay for the mains, we only raced the two rounds of qualifying.  There was 4 other drivers there also practicing for the 17,5 buggy class.  It was nice to get in some rounds with other racers that will be in our class for the KBRL race.