On January 5th, the KBRL Finals were held at Scottsdale RC Raceway. Although the weather was a little bit cold, I think it was a great night of fun racing.
After missing round 6 in Tucson, I dropped a little in the points race. For the 17.5 2WD Sportsman Buggy Class I was sitting 9th in the points at the beginning of the day, and for the 13.5 Pro-Lite Class I was sitting in 26th in the points. After getting all setup in the pits, I was really looking forward to the racing.
Sitting in the pit, ready to race with the TLR 22 SCT and TLR 22 Buggy |
Round 1
13.5 2WD Pro-Lite
Driver Laps RaceTime Fast Lap
Ernest Palafox 9 5:36.951 35.607
Dean Vuckovich 8 5:02.931 36.135
Frank Lilly 8 5:37.313 38.538
17.5 Sportsman 2WD Buggy
Driver Laps RaceTime Fast Lap
Dean Vuckovich 9 5:29.836 34.953
Ryan Hackl 8 5:14.446 38.143
Frank Lilly 8 5:22.592 37.448
Round 2
13.5 2WD Pro-Lite
Driver Laps RaceTime Fast Lap
Ernest Palafox 8 5:01.476 35.792
Dean Vuckovich 8 5:00.276 36.424
Frank Lilly 8 5:35.737 37.975
17.5 Sportsman 2WD Buggy
Driver Laps RaceTime Fast Lap
Dean Vuckovich 9 5:22.657 34.506
Ryan Hackl 8 5:09.914 37.374
Frank Lilly 8 5:18.608 37.772
Mains
13.5 2WD Pro-Lite
For the Pro-Lite class I qualified in the D-Main, and would be starting in 2nd place.
For a D-Main race, this had to be the funnest round I have had in the series so far. The truck felt amazing, I made some further cutouts in the body, and added some more weight to the front and the kiting was gone. I started the race in 2nd place, after the first lap I was in 1st place and feeling good, I small wreck, and on lap two I crossed the line in 2nd place, back to where I started. In lap 3, I had a brain fart, and wrecked off the triple and then again off twice more in the same lap, knocking down to last place. But this is where is got fun, the truck just took off, and the I was doing some of the best driving I have done all year, within 3 more laps I was back into first place, another slight tumble on the last lap and I finished the race in 2nd place, and earning a bump into the C-Main.
For the C-Main I did not do as good I wanted, and was not sure what happened, I started in 10th and finished in 10th, and I swear I wrecked on every jump and probably hit everyone at least once in the race. Below are the rest of the Pro-Lite Mains.
For the Pro-Lite class, I ended up finishing in 22nd overall, which was an improvement for me, I finished in 28th place overall last year in the KBRL for Pro-Lite. Next year I hope to be in the teens or even to top 10.
17.5 Sportsman 2WD Buggy
For the buggy, I qualified for the B-Main, and would be starting in 5th place. The race started out okay, but after the 1st lap, the car just would not turn to the right very well, and on the 4th lap after coming off the table top before the front straight-away something happened to the steering, when I cam flying down the front straight, and came across the start finish line, the buggy would not turn at all, and I almost went straight into the wall. I pulled the buggy from the track, and the steering was locked and would not move. There was a rock jammed up inside, and after removing the rock I was able to rejoin the race. Unfortunately, at this time I was already 2 laps down. I was able to finish the race, and ended up pulling 7 laps.
Below are the Mains for the Buggy class.
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For the buggy, this was the first year that I raced it. I ended up finishing in 8th place overall, and it was great to finish in the top 10. Next year I want to shoot for top 5 or even top 3.
Below are some of the pictures I took during the day.
Ernest on the left and Dean on the right |
Me ready for some racing |
Dean showing off his Kyosho colors |
Dean's black stadium truck |
Ryan on the left and Tom on the right working hard in the pits |