Held at LCRC in Oakland Mills, PA | June 16-20, 2021
Finishing Results
ClassNitro Truggy
Qualifying Position: 3rd
Finishing Position: 2nd
Setup Sheets
Download XB8’21 Setup SheetEvent Photos
Race Report
This past weekend was the 2021 1/8 Roar Fuel Nationals held at LCRC in Oakland Mills, PA, this is a great facility, very clean and well prepared.
We arrived Tuesday to setup and do last minute preparations for practice on Wednesday, then headed to the hotel for some rest as it was going to be a long week.
Wednesday was 3 rounds of track controlled practice by heats but there was a by pass line that you could stand in and fill any gaps if there were less than 13 cars in any heat. So you were guaranteed 3 rounds on the track per car along with as many runs that you could get by filling in spots on the drivers stand. It was a long day but I was able to get a good amount of practice in and had my cars feeling very comfortable and my tires figured out and I had a lot of confidence going into Thursday ROAR controlled practice and seeding.
Thursday came and the schedule for the practices was a bit up in the air and changed throughout the day but we were able to do a round of 2 minute practice in the morning and then a round of 5 minute controlled practice by heats to sort in to the heats for the seeding round. Last was a 7 minute seeding round to seed you into your qualifiers for Friday. Again my cars were on pace and I seeded 3rd in truggy and 4th in buggy and felt comfortable with my overall time and was ready for qualifying.
Friday held the first 2 rounds of qualifying, but first thing in the morning we had a round of 2 minute practice by heats to break the track in from the previous nights watering. My cars felt good in the morning practice and I was looking forward to getting qualifying started.
The first heat of truggy went ok but I ran too firm of a compound and had some struggles with traffic so that would be my throwaway round. The first round of buggy went much better, my car felt very good, I just put in clean, fast laps but since everyone was so close it was hard to tell where you were on the clock, but at the end of the race I would end up 2nd for the round.
The 2nd heat of truggy the sun was out and the track was dry so I ran the same tire as the first qualifier and this time it was the right choice, again everyone was so close but I was able to take the lead late in the race and take the TQ for the round. In buggy I made a couple of small changes and had a little bit more speed and was battling for the TQ but would miss out by 1/10 to Hotrace team mate Cole Ogden and would settle for another 2nd place finish for the round.
Saturday was round 3 and 4 of qualifying. There was a threat of rain for round 4 so I wanted to make sure I had a good point in round 3 to put with my TQ, so I put in steady clean laps and just tried not to make mistakes and was driving a little more conservatively and would take 4th for the round which would have me starting 3rd on the grid for the final. In round 3 of buggy I knew I had 2 good points already so I tried a different tread pattern to prepare for the long finals, my car didn’t feel quite as good but I was still able to put in a good run with almost the same speed as before and take another 2nd for the round, which would give me 2 qualifier overall and have me starting 1st in the even semi final.
Halfway through round 4 of truggy qualifying it started to sprinkle so they stopped the races for a rain delay and eventually ended up cancelling the complete 4th round of qualifying. We started rebuilding my cars for the mains and spent the evening getting everything ready for the mains]. Once the rain stopped the track crew worked very hard to get the water off the track and get it dried out and they were able to run some of the lower mains Saturday night.
Sunday we had a 10 minute warmup for each class, truggy was up first, my truck again felt very good and I had good pace in the warm up and I was excited for the final.
In the truggy main I got off to a good start and was able to move up to 2nd fairly quickly and basically stay there for the entire race, I would try my best to catch Ryan but I just didn’t have the pace. I had a flameout in the pits as I was revving a little bit too hard which put me another 10 seconds back but still in 2nd. At the end of the race Cavelieri would put on a hard charge and I was able to maintain a comfortable gap and finish in 2nd.
Immediately following the truggy main was the semis warmup, I was in the 2nd warmup which gave me about a 10 minute break before the warmup started. I went out with medium Amazzonia and my car felt amazing, the track was cleaner than in qualifying and I felt like my car had even more pace and was easier to drive. I was very happy with the car but I knew it would be a bit warmer for the semi so I went up in shock oil slightly and mounted a fresh set of medium amazzonia tires for the semi.
Watching how Cole was doing in the first semi on the same tire, I knew this was the right choice and I was excited for the race to start. My semi started off good, but I would end up making a mistake early on but once my tires scuffed in I was able to regain the lead and pull away and have a safe gap. I had a little bit of traffic issues at the end of the race but I was still be able to hang on for the win which would have me starting 3rd on the grid for the final with my time.
This is the point where my weekend went downhill rapidly.
I had teched my car multiple times throughout the week/weekend and there was never an issue with the volume, I was always well within the limit. Unfortunately Sunday was the hottest day and they check your tank by using a fish tank pump to pressurize the tank which on very hot plastic can stretch the tank ever so slightly. Being that I won my semi, my car, right off the track and very hot was the first to be teched and it was over in fuel capacity by less than a cc, Maifield’s car was teched next so it had a little chance to cool and he was also over the fuel limit. They let our cars cool and rechecked, Maifield’s car passed but his fuel capacity was still higher than when he had teched throughout the week, and unfortunately my tank still was over by less than a cc. Cole Ogden who won his semi also did not pass tech, again his car was very hot off the track and was the first to be teched of his group. I can only assume that pressurizing the very hot tank stretched it slightly which put me over. So the end result was that both Cole and I were disqualified from running the final. It is unbelievable and very disappointing, but we will come back stronger and better than ever next time. Congratulations to Ryan on his double championship.
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 the team for working hard together and for all the help throughout the weekend.
Thanks to my family for all their support, help and the sacrifices they have made throughout my career, thanks to my wife for her support and most importantly I would like to thank my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, without him I would not be where I am.
