KBRL - Round 1 at Competition Hobbies in Tucson, Az

Saturday, September 8th, 2012

Round 1 of the KBRL Electric Series is in the books, and it was fun and exciting event.  Round 1 was held at Competition Hobbies, down in Tuscon, AZ.  I believe there was 219 entries for this round, and the competition and racing did not disappoint, and the crew down at Competition Hobbies did a great job in hosting this event.  All though the night did go late into the evening, everyone was in good spirits and it did not seem to bother that many people.

I made the trek down to Competition Hobbies with my friends Dean and Dragi from WolfPak Racing, and our friend Ernest.  I would like to thank Dean for driving us all down, driving down as a group made the trek very enjoyable.

Ernest, myself, and Dragi in the background, all setup in the pits.

Debuting my new body for my TLR 22 Buggy, now matching my 22 SCT.

For this round I would not be racing my TLR 22 SCT, I did not have the truck setup for the KBRL, so for round one I would be just concentrating on my TLR 22 Buggy.  For this years event, I would be entering a new class debuting at this years event, 17.5 Buggy.

On to the racing:

Round 1 - 17.5 Buggy

There was 13 of us in the 17,5 2WD Buggy class, broken up into two heat races per round.  The first round went well, I was able to pull in 10 laps, and I felt that I could have pushed it a little harder, but overall was happy with what I had accomplished.  Below is the round 1 results.


17.5 2WD Buggy
Round# 1, Race# 19

Driver           Car#  Laps  RaceTime  Fast Lap
Parker Ayers      #3    12   5:22.344   25.000
Kevin Kilday      #2    11   5:10.858   25.941
John Schreck      #6    10   5:15.694   27.991
Dragi Vuckovich   #7    10   5:19.337   28.652
Frank Lilly       #4    10   5:25.304   27.848
Javier Olmo       #1    10   5:26.500   26.356
Martin Beavers    #5     8   5:09.317   30.714

17.5 2WD Buggy
Round# 1, Race# 20

Driver           Car#  Laps  RaceTime  Fast Lap

Mike Kokot        #3    12   5:09.050   24.947

Dean Vuckovich    #4    12   5:14.075   25.188

Ryan Hackl        #6    11   5:03.012   26.004      

Mike Burdeshaw    #5    11   5:06.679   25.426

Justin Ament      #1    11   5:09.177   26.382

Jo Christensen    #2    10   5:04.561   26.757

Round 2 - 17.5 Buggy

For round 2, I did not do as well as I wanted.  I changed tires and that was not a good idea.  Although my traction was way off, I still was able to pull off 9 laps.  Below is the round 2 results.


17.5 2WD Buggy
Round# 2, Race# 19

Driver           Car#  Laps  RaceTime  Fast Lap
Parker Ayers      #3    11   5:08.499   24.866
John Schreck      #6    11   5:20.791   25.656
Kevin Kilday      #2    11   5:21.997   26.327
Javier Olmo       #1    10   5:16.497   27.694
Dragi Vuckovich   #7    10   5:25.799   28.508
Frank Lilly       #4     9   5:19.154   28.627
Martin Beavers    #5     6   3:53.543   33.350


17.5 2WD Buggy
Round# 2, Race# 20

Driver           Car#  Laps  RaceTime  Fast Lap
Dean Vuckovich    #4    12   5:20.610   24.924
Ryan Hackl        #6    12   5:26.594   25.732
Justin Ament      #1    11   5:09.437   25.885
Jo Christensen    #2    11   5:12.425   26.636
Mike Burdeshaw    #5    11   5:17.676   25.854
Mike Kokot        #3    10   5:03.176   26.639



Mains

17.5 Buggy "B-Main"

For this main 2 of the drivers would not be able to make the start, so it came down to a shoot-out between Schreck, Dragi and myself.

17.5 Buggy "A-Main"

Since I was able to bump from the B-Main, I was able to race in my first A-Main in the KBRL Series.  I would be racing with my friends Dean and Ryan.  I had a great start, and was up as high as 6th place after the second lap.  But a bad jump, with me landing on another racer, I had a ball cup pop off.  Although one of the turn marshals was able to get the cup placed back on, that damage was done.  I was able to finish in 8th place.  Although I was a little disappointed in my finish, I felt overall I did well, and I learned a lot racing against some good friends.

I was also able to grab a video of my friend Dragi's A-Main in the Novice Short Course class:

5th Annual Pro-Line Surf City Classic 2012 - Late Event Recap

I'm a couple weeks behind in my blog posts, but the weekend of Sept 1-2, was the 5th Annual Pro-Line Surf City Classic at OCRC Raceway in Huntington Beach, CA.  This was a great event, and the first one of this type that I have been to outside of my home state of Arizona.  I made the trek to California with my friends from WolfPak Racing, Dean and Dragi.


I would like to thank Dean for driving us to California, it was a long drive and we made good time.  We arrive around 5am Saturday morning, grabbing a much needed bite to eat at Denny's before getting to the track at 6am when they opened.

I was going to do a complete write up of this event, but my friend Dean from WolfPak Racing did a good job at recapping the event.  So for a complete write-up, click on this link: http://www.wolfpakracing.com/2012/09/5th-annual-pro-line-surf-city-classic.html

Here are our Main results:

Stock buggy Main

Stock Short Course Main

Below are some of the images I took over that event.

My pit space, my new TLR 22 SCT and TLR 22 Buggy ready to race.

New addition to the Draft Wheels Racing garage

Saturday, August 25th 2012




Today I got a major surprise, a TLR 22 Short Course Truck for my birthday from a great friend, Dean from Wolfpak Racing.  This was totally unexpected, and I can't wait to get this truck out on the tracks.

This is perfect timing, as I plan on getting the truck ready for our trip next weekend to the Surf City Classic in Huntington Beach, CA.  And this year racing in the KBRL, I will be racing pure Team Losi as this truck will join my TLR 22 2WD Buggy.  I was so stocked getting this truck that I dug right in and started the build.

TLR 22 SCT

With already having built my 22 Buggy, starting and building this kit was very similar, and I felt very comfortable with how the build started.  Since I was not sure of the starting setup, my friend Dean suggested that I follow Travis Brock's setup, since we will be racing at the OCRC tracks next weekend, and his setup is based from that track.  I got past the first couple of steps with no major issues, and had no real problems getting the servo mounted and installed.

First steps done, and servo mounted.

After completing the front end, I really liked how the front bumper assembly was designed, and the bracing looks like it can withstand the strains of RC racing.  I went ahead and did the Steering Ball Cup Modification as suggested on the TLR Racing Blog.  With the front end completed, I started on the rear, and that part like the rest so far went pretty smoothly.

Here is a picture of me starting the transmission build.

After getting the transmission built and installed, the truck was really looking sweet.  I am really impressed on this kit, and how nice the build has gone.

The last part of the build, and it was shock building time.  On my 22 Buggy, I have not gone to running the emulsion style build for them.  I like the fact that this kit came with that setup, and it was a nice surprise to see the metal shock caps with the bleeder screws.

Finishing up the build, with electronics/motor and getting some tires on just to test and get an initial base ride height, etc.  The truck has a very nice stance, and I can't wait to see this thing on the track.

The next steps are to get the body painted up, and get the truck ready for next weekend.  I will followup this post in a day or two with the body painted and mounted up.  Then look forward to next weekends posts with updates from the Surf City Classic.

KBRL Series Updated Flyer

Really looking forward to racing in this years series, as an update, here is the updated flyer for the series.  The classes are updated on this one.  For more information about the KBRL and the series head on over to http://www.racekbrl.com/.  The sportsman buggy class should be really fun with the 17.5 motors. And this year I will be racing a new truck, the TLR 22 SCT in the Pro-Lite class.

Looking forward to the Pro-Line Surf City Classic

Getting ready for the Pro-Line Surf City Classic being held at the OC/RC Raceway in Hunnington Beach, CA.  this will be a 2-Day event on September 1st and 2nd (2012).  I am excited about this one because it will be first time I race outside my home state of Arizona, and should be a blast.  At this time I will be running my TLR 22 in the 17.5 Stock Buggy class, and if I get my TLR 22SCT in time, I will be entering that into the 17.5 Stock Short Course field.  I don;t have any plans on trying to race my HPI Blitz in the race, but it all depends on whether I get my new truck in time.  I will be making the trek with my friends over at Wolfpak Racing, Dean and Dragi.

Below is the flyer for this years race: