2021 ROAR 1/10 Electric Offroad Nationals

Tuesday was pit setup and it also gave us some time to glue and prep tires for the Wednesday practice and do some finishing touches on the cars.

Wednesday was track run practice controlled by heats, the grip was higher in the morning and slowly faded as the track got dusty, and ended up being medium grip and my cars felt great.

Thursday was ROAR controlled practice and seeding later in the day, I believe that they reglued the track every night so in the morning the grip was a bit higher and faded a bit during the day but it was fairly consistent. I was able to seed second in 2wd, fourth in 4wd and third and truck. My cars felt good and I was ready for qualifying to start.

Friday was two rounds of qualifying and we had a drivers meeting in the morning before the 2 minute practice sessions and they announced that they were going to blow the track off for every heat so definitely the grip was going to change but no one knew just how much. The grip ended up being quite a bit higher, my XB2 handled it well and I was able to take 2nd for the round, in stadium truck I had a mistake and would only take 4th for the round, and in 4wd I struggled a bit as my setup didn’t agree with the higher grip and I would finish 12th for the round. In the second round we made small adjustments to my XB2 and the car was better but I had some small bobbles and with racing as tight as it was I would only finish 3rd for the round, in truck I made some more adjustments but would still only be able to get 4th for the round, in 4wd we made a lot of changes but my car was still very hard to drive and I would finish 10th for the round. Friday night they had the track open for practice after qualifying so I was able to get some laps in along with some more tire prep for the next day. After practice they added a bunch more glue to the track surface for the next day.

Saturday was another two qualifiers, and again a full round of 2 minute practice sessions in heats first thing in the morning to run the track in. The grip was quite a bit higher than the previous day. I used the 2 minute practice to break in tires for the day. The third round of qualifying I was able to run with no mistakes in 2wd and was able to take the TQ for the round, in truck we made some more changes again and I was able to get 2nd for the round right behind team mate Chase Lemieux, and in 4wd we again made a lot of changes but somehow the grip seemed to climb dramatically and we were just a step behind in the setup for my XB4 and I would finish 11th for the round. In the fourth round I would finish 3rd in 2wd and lose the tie breaker for 2nd which would give me 3rd overall. In truck I would finish 4th for the round which would give me 4th overall, in 4wd I was able to have a good run but it wasn’t enough to get me in the main, I would finish 6th for the round which gave me 11th overall, starting 1st in the B main.

Saturday night they again had the track open for practice and I tried some different things on 4wd and broke in more tires for main day.

Sunday would be triple A mains for me in 2wd and truck and a single B main for 4wd. They had a full round of 2 minute practice sessions by heats to break in the track. My first main up would be 2wd A1, right off the start I would make a mistake trying to avoid the car in from of me while trying not to get hit by the car behind me, and I would lose 2 positions, then have a couple more issues in the race that would put me in the back of the pack and I would only finish 9th. Next up would be the truck A1, the race was going pretty well until there was a pile up going on the the straight, and I got tangled in that and needed a marshall and wouldn’t be able to catch up and would settle for 6th for the race. 2wd A2 went well and didn’t make any mistakes and I was able to get into 2nd and hold off a hard charging 3rd until the end of the race and I would finish 2nd. Truck A2 I was able to move up into 2nd and that is where I would finish. 4wd B main, we made some more changes and my car was a lot better and I was able to take the win. In 2wd A3 I had a bit of a rough start but was able to catch up and make my way up to the lead and was able to take over the lead and finish with the win which would give me 2nd overall. In A3 of truck I was able to move into 2nd but just didn’t have enough to catch Dakotah and would finish 2nd which would give me 3rd overall.

After the trophy presentation we stayed and did some more testing on the 4wd, since it is impossible to get these kind of high grip conditions except at a race.

I want to thank all my team mates that were at this race we really worked hard to achieve good results as a group,

I want to thank my sponsors for giving me the best products to do it with Xray, RC America, Hobbywing, FX Engines, Hot Race Tires, MKS, A Main Hobbies, HUDY, VP fuels, Protek Rc, EZ Customs, Stickit1, Lunsford, Avid rc, OCRC and 110% Racing.

Thanks to my Mom, Dad and sister for all their support, help and the sacrifices they have made throughout my career, thanks to my wife and most importantly I would like to thank my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, without him I would not be where I am.