Carolina Cup Challenge Round 1 Recap

This weekend was the first race of the Carolina Cup Challenge series, in which people from all over the east coast challenge for an individual cup, and two teams from the Carolinas challenge each other for a team cup.

This will be a recap of the race day from my perspective, with a direct focus on my tuning and driving experience. 

This race was hosted at Hobby Town USA located in Mooresville, NC, which is about 4.5 hours from my home in Myrtle Beach.  Chad and I decided to make a long day out of it to save hotel costs, and get maximum time with the family over the weekend.  I picked him up about 4:45am, and we headed off for the race.  We arrived about 9:15, with plenty of time for practice and tuning before the racing was scheduled to get started.

I decided the day before that I only had one car ready for this race.  I didn't want to spend my time fighting set up, but rather have some free time to socialize, and to really focus on tuning and driving the one I had the best I could.  I opted to run stock only, and set my CanAm car up with a new 599XX Ferrari body, on my 96mm VDS set up.  
 
Once we got our table set up and pits aligned, I popped some batteries on charge, and took my car over to the tech table to make sure I was legal.  The tech jig that Pedro (from HS) designed was a marvel of engineering genius.  All in one jig we were able to tech our extensive body rules, which have been designed to replicate real scale racing rules.  There was another smaller device used to tech rear bumper height and wheel sizes, as well as another pass through jig for checking over all size of the cars.  It seems like a lot, but this set up will allow us to tech cars from 10 different classes which all have different sets of rules....pretty awesome if you ask me.

I was right on with weight (1-1.5g over like I prefer), and my wing only needed to be lowered a tiny bit to conform to spec.  The wing I was running is a mini blind creation of mine that is easily adjustable, so I just folded the back down a little, and was within compliance.

Once I had some practice cells ready, I hit the track.  Conditions were pretty good for my car.  Traction seemed less than desirable for most, and it was variable through different parts of the track.  I was very happy with the layout though.  It had a nice blend of high, mid, and low speed corners, and the flow was very good.  There weren't many breaking points, but if you tried to keep it pegged the whole lap, you would find yourself in big trouble in more than one spot.  My rear grip was a little lacking, and the car was a little tough to run really consistent.  I cut enough laps to see what kind of lap times I could get with my personal 70t motor.  This would give me an idea if the hand-out was nay good.  I got down to a 12.4, pretty quickly, and heard Matt was about the fastest stock car around 12.2.  I'm usually not that close to Matt on hot lap, so .2 was very good for me.

I went and got my handout motor from Mike at the tech table, and soldered it in.  It didn't take me but one trip down the straight to see I had a great motor.  It wasn't as punchy as mine, but the 14t pinion I had on it was screaming down the straight, and the less punch, actually made it easier to drive out of the infield corners.  About 4-5 laps in, I got a good clean lap, and went to check the PC.  12.366...I was happy with that time, and ecstatic about the motor.

Now, it was time to gain some rear grip.  I replaced my mostly worn K20Rs with a fresh set, and the car felt better.  I still had a bit too much steering, but the rear wasn't kicking out.  It just turned too much.  I tried dialing it out with the Tx, but turning the steering travel down only made it very hard to navigate the tight spots.  I was using some fresh K40Rs, and decided I needed a tire with more scrub.  I found the thickest set of 40s that I could that didn't have any tread left on them, and mounted them to my 19mm Mantis wheels.  Almost perfect.  The car was much more drivable, and all though I didn't get down in the 12.3s any more, the car felt WAY more consistent.  I felt that I had a car that could make the A, if I could avoid trouble in the qualifiers.  I didn't want to just make the A though.  Since I was only running this one class, I wanted to get the car good enough to challenge for the win.  Matt is always strong in stock, and EMU has been a goal of mine  for a while now.  I finished less than a second behind him at the PN regional in NJ a couple of years back in a 70t pan class.  I finished above some people who I didn't think I could, and that race proved to me that I could run with these sponsored guys, and Ive been trying to get my name above EMU's in the results ever since. I've manged to get within a few seconds a few times, and lost position to him on the last lap a few more.  I had my sights set high this time.

After going back to the pits and trying to figure out how to get my car a little more dialed I was looking it over closely.  I didn't really need more grip, just a bit more stability.  I was running +1/+2 offsets, and have heard talk on MZR that this car could handle +3/+3, so I was evaluating whether or not to widen my offsets.  As I looked it over though, I didn't like the idea.  I like to have my front tires tucked under the body, and running at 96 wouldn't allow any clearance with any wider track.  I was running the PN reconfigurable pod, with an RR MM soft T-Plate.  I decided to change it to a 96mm T-Plate, and leave the pod like it was to end up with a 98mm wheel base.  I've seen Chad do this before, and thought it would be worth a try.  This would give me the option to go to +3 rears if I felt it was necessary.  Immediately the car was better...more consistent, easier to navigate the higher speed sections, and not so nervous coming onto or off of the straight.  I felt like I really had a car now, and just started cutting laps to try and learn the track as good as possible.  After about 20 more laps or so, I felt the car start to decline.  I was just getting into the groove, so didn't want to pull it.  Within a few more laps, it was almost un-drivable, so I pulled off and went to the pits for another look over.  The rear tires had some tread left, and still looked good to me.  There was about 20 minutes until racing started, and I couldn't find anything wrong with the car, so I opted to change rear tires to fresh ones and see what happened.  With about 5 minutes of practice left,  I went out on the fresh meat, and the car was good again.  I needed to stay up on tires, unless grip started coming way up.  I looked at the PC, and I had turned just over 100 laps.  I knew 20 or 30 of them were with the previous tires, and about 15-20 more were after the tires were ideal.  With a handful more run on this final set, I knew I needed to keep my total laps under 50 per set to be safe.  I pulled off and waited for the drivers meeting, and the heats to be posted.

Once the heats were posted, I saw I was in a good heat.  Looking all of them over, they were sorted very evenly.  Pretty much every heat had a couple of top guys, a couple of medium guys, and a slower one. 


Round 1
My goal coming in was to get in a clean run, feel out the car with others on track, and see where I was gaining and losing time to others.  When the horn sounded I went off without a hitch, and began my run.  I settled with the car pretty quickly, but for some reason it felt a tad edgy again.  I ran a VERY clean race only having 2 stops on track.  I did run off line quite a few times, and was very timid with the throttle, so I knew I had room for improvement if I could make the car a tiny bit more manageable.  I finished with an 18/4:09, which was fourth after the round was complete.  Matt barely snuck under the bridge for an extra lap on his run and was sitting in the TQ spot with a 19/4:11.  I didn't know if I had that in me, or my car, but I knew I could easily hit a low 18.  Rodney was second with 18/4:05, and Pedro was right in front of me with 18/4:08.  I was gunning to jump those two before the main, and felt I had it with a few minor tweaks, and a good run.

I went back to the pits, cleaned my motor, added some voodoo, loosened the diff a tad, and realigned my rear wing for a bit more down force.  I was hoping the diff adjustment would allow me a tiny bit more rotation in the infield, while the wing adjustment would compensate and keep me stable at high speed.

Round 2
Starting fourth was good for me.  I like the fact that when you are on your own clock, and chasing some one, you just need to get close to them and there is no need for a pass.  I knew I needed to get close to Rodney though, and Pedro was between us.  On the start, I parked it right before the bridge, which meant I had a big gap from me to Pedro.  It didn't effect my time though as it was before I crossed the bridge.  I just didn't carry any speed, and had to regain my rhythm.  My first lap was still a little off pace.  The car felt great though, and I set right out to chasing Pedro down.  Once I caught him, I could tell he didn't want to let me go.  He was faster than me through the middle, and was more consistent on the left side of the track.  When I was tight, I would gain on him on the left, but most of the time, I was off line compared to him, and had to regain ground on the straight (thanks to my hot motor), and draw up close to him in the rhythm section on the right.  A few times I hit him, or pushed him off line trying to pass, and we would both lose ground.  After this happened a couple of times he let me by when I caught him, but then I tagged the wall and collected him.  This actually happened twice, both times with me ending up pulling off the wall after him, since it was my fault.  Finally with about a minute to go, I got by...a little rough, but neither of us suffered much damage.  I settled in to a good clean run, but then the rear end started to go.  I was running a conservative line, but was trying to stay on throttle as much as I could comfortably, until Mark called me in the lead with 30 to go.  I plugged it three times in the last section coming onto the straight, then caught the wall coming to the bridge on the final lap.  I beat Rodney and Pedro, but only improved to an 18/4:08 that was a few tenths behind Pedro's first round time.  With a handful of tie-ups with Pedro, and the massacre I put on the wall in the last couple of laps (lost 7+ seconds between those two laps), I knew I had a 19 lap car.


I was concerned about the lack of rear grip at the end of the race though, and headed back to the pits to figure out what went wrong.  I found the tread was almost gone from the tires, and swapped to a new set for the third round.  I also added more orange grease (my own creation) to the side shocks of my TDS.  Without running other classes, I had the time to go ahead and prep another new set of tires on another set of rims for the main.  If I couldn't run two qualifiers and a little practice, then I wasn't going to make a qually and the main.

In the break for the resort, I ran one of the new sets of tires in.  After it was run in perfect, I checked to see how many laps had been run on them.  It was about 15.  I took them off, and ran about 20 laps on the other set I had just mounted, and they felt pretty well perfect.  The new grease on the rear really made the car settle well, and I could pitch it into the corners harder, and get on the throttle aggressively coming out of the slower corners.  I was ready for the final round.


Round 3
In the third round, I was still fourth, but EMU had bumped up from the C group to run with us.  I knew he was gonna be quick before we started, because he ran an 18/4:09 in the slower traffic.  I had a good start and ran very clean.  Pedro, and I managed to avoid each other the entire time, but I just couldn't quite catch him.  We both ran very strong, and in the middle of the race, Mark was going between Matt, EMU, Pedro and I calling who was in the lead.  I knew all of us were flying, and that I had a shot at TQ.  With 20 seconds to go, Mark called Pedro in the lead, then he said I took it from him.  On the last lap, both of us parked it a couple corners from each other, and gave the top honors back to EMU, who finished a mere second ahead of Matt.  They just snuck under the bridge to go around for 19/4:10 and 19/4:11, while Pedro and I got caught by the time.  I finished right behind Pedro's 18/4:01 with an 18/4:02.  Rodney's early 18/4:05 held up for the last spot on the grid.  Close behind him were Chad and Wade, who on the last run tied down to the .001 of a second, just in front of James.  Wade's hot lap was a bit faster and won him the tie break.  There was less than a lap separating TQ from 3rd in the B, so the A win was going to be any ones game, and the winner could very come form the B.

The round specified here is not necessarily correct.  There were some PC issues.

Note: Wade and Chad had the exact same time, down to .001 sec.

B-Main
The B-Main wasn't as close as I thought it was going to be.  Wade got away clean at the start while Chad got tangled in the turn one mayhem.  James hung himself in traffic on the second lap, and he and Chad were fighting to catch up to Wade the whole time.  Wade got away clean, and never looked back.  He ended up putting two laps on the field while they all battled for positions.


A-Main
With Wade coming form the bump, I knew he was going to be one to watch.  Some of the best finishes Ive seen him have came from the bump spot.  The way they run the race with the A following the B, he was going to be starting the race "in the groove" with a warmed up car. The rest of the grid was mere seconds apart, and any mistakes were going to be costly.

I checked all the screws on my car, mounted the scrubbed in rear tires, checked for tweak, cleaned and lubed my motor, then loaded up a hot set of TRP 900s.  I ran around the track a few times to make sure the car was still there, and honestly, it felt better than it had all day....even better than the final round.  EMU's car had been progressing all day, and I figured he needed to be my target early.  He and Matt both are typically fast and smooth in stock, and I didn't want to be chasing them for the race.  I needed to get out front quickly.  I practiced some test launches, and the car had jump, even with the tall gearing.  With Rodney and Wade ready to pounce and the necessity to get by Pedro to take the fight to the RR guys, I was putting a lot of pressure on my start.


As we lined up I took a deep breath, and waited for the tone.  When it sounded we all took off quick, and every one got away pretty clean.  Rodney and Wade ran up on me, but had to check up as I slowed to follow Pedro into the rhythm section.  Pedro stayed close to Matt, and EMU was running conservative to keep Matt behind.  On the next run down the straight, Rodney got a good run coming on and ran up on me quick.  My car was really good at the end of the straight, so I didn't budge, but rather pushed up on Pedro.  He slid a little wide on turn one, and let me up next to him.  With the transition the other way, I didn't get all the way by, and had to go wide to keep from taking us both out.  Pedro stayed tight on the inside, but I dove hard for the inside of the next corner which I was in position to take.  With it going back to the right (from the car's perspective) I had the inside line, and led Pedro into the chicane section.  All this happened with Rodney less than a tile away.  I wouldn't doubt if all three of us were touching the corner exit tile at the same time.  That's how close were were.

The rest of that lap happened so fast, and I was so jacked up on adrenaline I'm not even sure what happened.  I do know I got passed Matt, then EMU parked it in front and let me by for the lead.  I think Matt had to dodge him a little, and he had to stall to pull off the wall, so they gave me a little bit of a gap.  I do know the next time down the straight I had the full length of the straight for a cushion.  The following time by there was only a half straight lead, and I knew things were about to get tough.  Third time by I made an awesome entry pushing into the rhythm section at the end of the straight, and made up a lot of time.  The car felt so good, I wanted to push harder.  I ran off line at the end of the chicane shoot, then bumped the wall coming around the two hairpins on the right side of the track.  Matt and EMU were closing in fast.  I couldn't tell which one was leading, but they were close to each other, and moving in on me.  I told myself to settle down and not give it to them.

I wanted desperately to make them pass me clean, but coming to the bridge carousel, I hit the wall on entry, and my car ended up on its side.  Both of them got by.  The marshall tapped me over, and I pulled off right in front of Pedro with a little gap back to Rodney.  Wanting to make up the ground I just lost (and looking down the straight at EMU and Matt) I tried to run a tight line onto the straight.  I caught the sweeper, and the car ended up on its side again.  The marshall got me quick enough that Rodney didn't get by, but I relinquished a position to Pedro.  I set off to run him down, and with Rodney close behind, I hit a wall and bounced around a bit.  Rodney let off, and swerved to miss me getting himself in trouble, but we never touched.  I got off the wall quicker than he did, and I think Wade passed him there.  I felt bad, but couldn't do anything but focus on what was up ahead.

I soon got passed Pedro when he hit a board and set out to run EMU and Matt down.  I could see them going down the straight (EMU with small lead over Matt) as I was coming into the last complex leading to the straight, and just started pushing as hard as I could safely.  It took me quite a few laps running very clean and tight to gain any ground.  As I closed in, I could see Matt starting to apply pressure to EMU.  I wanted to be close to them, in case they tangled with each other, so I pushed hard.  As I was getting close I started really pushing at the end of the straight.  They tangled each other, and let me get right behind them.  On a good run off the straight, I came through the rhythm section quick, and saw on the last apex EMU parked, and Matt going wide to get by.  I tried to tuck inside thinking EMU would back off of the wall by the time I got there, but he did the responsible thing and waited for me to get by.  So, instead of getting by, I hit him in the side and knocked him off of the wall.  I took his place parked, facing the apex, and he sped away to keep second place.

When I was coming through the left infield I could see his car looked jacked up going down the straight, but it didn't seem to be effecting his handling.  Matt already had a little gap, and I knew it was going to take him making some serious mistakes to catch up, but I was only about 2 seconds or less behind EMU, and that was achievable.

I settled in and slowly started tightening things up.  The closer I got to him, it seemed like the worse his car acted.  I was thinking he was feeling the pressure of me getting close until all of a sudden he hit a board right in front of me, and I tagged him in the side again, this time pretty hard.  I got straight through, but his body got knocked off.  Apparently when I hit him the first time, it half dislodged his body, and this contact sent it all the way off.  With Wade close behind, I set out to chase Matt down, and build some gap over Wade and the other chasers.  I never broke concentration, and started running clean tight lines.  I would see myself gain on Matt for a few laps, then he would stretch the gap again.  I never got much closer than 3-4 seconds, but he never got more than 6 or 7 away.  He made a couple of bobbles late, but nothing enough to even get me into striking distance.  He and I made it through for one extra lap over the field to finish with 36 laps, me trailing by about 5 seconds.  EMU and Wade got tangled up close to the end and let me put them a lap down, but every one finished with 35 or 36 laps.

It was a great race for me, and a very relaxing event.  I think I will consider running less classes at all the events I attend.  These last two events were some of the best times Ive had in the hobby, with some of my best performances too.  I feel so much more relaxed when I can focus on the car, and actually have time to make changes.  Not only did I have time to make changes, I had time to run the car around and see if they were valid.  So many times I end up half way trying things, and only getting to test them during the rounds.  This was much more effective for me.  If I only run 1 or 2 classes per event, I may not have a chance at the Carolina Cup, but maybe I can score some wins along the way.....


Until next time.....

Capital Challenge Recap

 

MBMZR was in full attendance for the Capital Challenge in Gaithersburg MD last month.  It happened to be my birthday as well, which helped add to the mood of the weekend for me.

At some recent events I have been putting a lot of pressure on myself to do well, and this has hindered my enjoyment in our great hobby.  I went into this event with a clear, stress free mind, and the idea that I was going to enjoy myself no mater how I performed.  My only goal was to drive clean.

Friday Night
I arrived Friday afternoon, about 3 hours later than planned, and feared coming in that I was going to be tuning on a packed track, and fighting for clean laps.  Much to my surprise there weren't many locals in attendance, and the track was relatively clear.  I spent a few minutes to great my fellow MBMZR racers who were already there, and also went around and saw some of the others who were there for practice.  Its always good to see folks you know from other areas, and since our area is kind of hard to travel too, I have to make the most out of visitation when we go places :D

Once I got my "hellos" out of the way, I hit the track with my mod car.  The track was a very good balance of high speed, mid speed, and low speed corners.  Even the high and mid speed areas were very technical, and although there was plenty of "run-off" areas, the driving line was pretty narrow.  I was running an RR  TDS + lo pro car with a VDS and the new ATM 17mm 48t motor.  The car had too much rip for me, but balance was decent.  I tried to tune out some of the squirt I was getting coming out of the corners, but it took me some time to get the car drivable out of a couple of the hairpins on the layout.  I had to swap to PN rear tires, change to a less torque happy motor (PN50T), and adjust my line coming into those corners.  After a little practice I had something I thought would work, but as night set in, the temperature started dropping, and I didn't want to spend too much time compensating for a situation that would change in the morning. 

I moved over to my stock car, and it was horribly unstable and out of balance.  We have been running 80t motors on small tight tracks at home, so I wasn't prepped for this properly.  I knew this was going to be the case, so I started doing some body and wheel swapping to get something close.  I finally settled on an 05 NSX with worn PN6 radial rears.  The car was decently balanced, so I just started cutting laps and learning the lines of the track, with the idea to wait til morning on fine tuning.

Morning Practice
When I got there Saturday morning, I was surprised again to see an empty track.  I grabbed my dad's, and my hand out motors, and started the break in process.  In the mean time I pulled my stock car out and hit the track to make a morning evaluation.  Mike Gee was coming off of the drivers stand as I went up, and I ended up putting in a long session before any one else came onto the track.  My car was feeling even better then when I left it the night before, I just drove the track for a full set of batteries.  My mod car was much the same.  I ended up swapping to some newer PN6R rears, but otherwise the tweaks form the night before had my car pretty dialed.  I was just timing it for when the track was mostly clear, and putting in practice laps to get more and more accustomed to the layout.  As final practice wined down, I saw there was some confusion over at the lap counter PC.  Some of my MBMZR buddies were over there with Matt checking out the transponder conflicts.  I made a few changes to the first round for them, and we went on with it. 

Q1
Stock was up first and I felt ready to roll!  When my name was called and it was my turn to go, it was a different story.  I pulled out onto the straight, and my car immediately turned right, into the wall.  I backed off, and ran down the straight, and as soon as I turned right, the car spun again and I ended up facing the wall.  I had to ease around the track, as I didn't have any rear traction.  After a couple of really slow laps I started driving the car as normal, and it felt pretty good again.  I was guessing the tires were worn out, but then thought it must have taken them a while to warm up.  I ended up running pretty clean for the rest of the run, and finished with a respectable 19 5:05, which was around the bottom of the B.

Mod started off much the same way.  On the start I pulled directly onto the inside wall of the straight.  I had three very long laps trying not to spin it out until tire temps came up.  Once they did, I had a good car and started throwing down some laps.  I got too caught up in pace, and flipped the car a couple of times while pushing too hard.  I lost a lot of time on my lid, but still ended up with a 19 5:01, which was around the middle of the B.

I was in the place where I needed to be, but there were some people below me that I could expect to put in better runs and move me down, so I needed to focus on making two 20 lap runs the next round.  I was thinking a low 20 would get me into the A in Stock, but it was going to take a 21 for the A in mod.  I thought I had that in my cars.....as long as I could make a proper start, and hold it together for 5 minutes :D 

Q2
As I was getting my stock car ready for the next run, I decided to make a change and put on some new rubber.  As I was getting some out of my box, I got a call from the PC again.  We started Q1 about 30 minutes late due to various delays, and Matt was thinking if we didn't do a resort that we could start Q2 sooner and make up some time. Well, Chad thought he tricked the PC into switching format, but it was not happening.  I spent about 5 minutes on the PC trying to get it to work like Matt wanted too, then just went ahead and did the resorts and resolved transponder conflicts so we could get moving. 

My stock heat was up first, and it was time to start, and I missed out on shaking down the new set of tires, so I opted to go with the ones I already had mounted.  Same old story, I didn't have grip at the start, and fought a spinning car for a few laps.  Finally after one of my spins I got hit hard and knocked my body off.  With that type of time lost after a poor start, and knowing I needed new tires, I pulled off and conceded my run.

Mod didn't go much different.  I tried to baby the car down the straight the first time, and didn't turn very hard at the end of the straight.  I lost so much time I got passed by the person who started a second behind me at turn 1.  I could tell the car wanted to spin, so I eased into the infield, and let another car pass.   As the leader on the track came around (before I was even to the middle of the infield), I pulled over and let him go.  As the next car approached, I tried to do the same, but hit the wall and collected him.  I felt bad, and didn't want to be in the way any more.  I conceded this one with 0 laps complete.

The next round was gonna be my round though, and I had high hopes that new tires and a good rework of my tri-shocks was gonna have me back in the action.  After all was said and done, I wasn't in bad shape.  I was sitting B7 in stock, and C1 in mod. 

Q3
More drama unfolded immediately.  I got the new set of tires for my stock car mounted, but had no time to look at rebuilding the shocks on my tri-shock.  Chad called me over to the PC again, as there was still trouble with the resort.  Since we swapped the format mid-race, the first round of stock was there, but the second round was lost, and it wouldn't sort.  I had the print outs of each heat, so Jennifer and I went through the painstaking process of manually entering every ones best run.  It took about 20 minutes, and by the time I was done, it was time for the heats to start, and again, I didn't get a single lap in.  I also missed out on eating with every one else, but had a little time, and scarfed some Popeyes chicken before I had to go up for my run.

The car was a handful, but since I got to heat up the tires with the warm-up, I could actually drive it for the first lap.  About midway through it started digging though.  I was pushing harder than before, but I wasn't making the time I needed to, and the car was acting really funny on the mid speed corners in the infield.  I only managed an 18 lap run, and got bumped to C1.  Upon checking the car after the race I found out that the new rubber was hitting inside the body, and this was likely causing the erratic behavior. 

In mod, I came in with a good attitude.  I had nothing to lose.  I was C1, and the fastest in my heat, so I shouldn't have much trouble with traffic.  I didn't want to get bumped down further, but wanted to learn how the rest of the field would race the main should I not lift myself out.  Traction had come up a lot, and my car was a handful.  I still managed my cleanest run of the day, and got up to a 21 5:10 pace.  I had two flips that cost me about 5 seconds each, including one on the last lap, which made the difference of a mid/high 20, and a low 19.  I would have been towards the bottom of the B had it not been for that last error (it was a 20 second lap).  I still won the heat and put down another 19 5:01 to match my first round score, and knew the car had 21 laps in it, if I could hold it together for 5 minutes.

Prep for mains 
In the break before the mains I decided I wanted to do something drastic for stock.  I was C1, but my car hadn't felt like the first round of qualifying since then, and if it was anything like the last round, I could probably count myself out for any chance at the bump.  The C was my goal for stock, but I felt I had a chance to exceed that goal with a good race.  The group was very tight.  There were a bunch of us with mid 19 runs, so I was going to have to race for it, and I needed a car I could drive for that.  My instinct was to swap the mosler onto my mod car and put the hand-out motor in it.  I thought that I could pull off swapping the VDS and mosler around for mod and stock, which wouldn't leave me at a huge disadvantage for mod.  My hand-out (CTP70T from reflexracing) was very fast, and was as good as my 50T down the straight with slightly taller gearing.  I had to do it if I wanted any shot at the stock B.  Chad, Collin, and Eric were all seated in the B, and Griff and Daddy Rabbit were in the D.  I wanted a shot to race with my guys in the B, so I went with it!  I swapped the CTP70T  into my mod car, and switched the body over to the mosler.  Stock was running first all day, so I assumed that would be the first C main running. It looked like I had a few more moments, so I went ahead and rebuilt the shocks on my TDS, as well as cleaning out my lo pro springs.  I lubed them both up with new damping grease (a new concoction of mine that I may try and market), and set some batteries up to re-peak. 

Chad stepped up and did all the PC work again.  This time it went off without a hitch, and before I knew it the mains were sorted and posted.  Myssie jumped right into it and started calling the stock D-Main to the stand.  They were up and running their practice laps before I even got over to see the schedule.  I looked it over, and the schedule was different than I expected, but understandable.  The Stock D was first, then mod C, stock C, mod B, stock B, hatch A, mod A, stock A.  I had my two races back to back, and if I bumped from them both, I'd have four in a row. I didn't want to waste time swapping bodies, so opted to stay with the mosler for both classes, and I also glued on a new set of PN6R on the back to hopefully make it through all the mains.  

The mains

I had two club mates in the Stock D-Main so I went over to track-side to watch as my batteries continued to charge, and my car sat ready to load them.  Daddy Rabbit and Griffin were setting up on the grid when I made it over.  DR was in third with Griffin on the pole.  DR's car had gone from his best car ever, to very unpredictable and difficult to drive through out qualifying.  I was hoping for the best for him, but he bailed out after three miserable laps and a body pop.  Griffin never relinquished the lead.  Although Sam Gotts was slightly quicker, and applied some pressure early, Griff held his composure and his line, and drove all the way to victory with very few mistakes.  He is one cool driving 11 year old. 

Mod C
As I came back to my pit from watching the D, I saw I had a set of batteries where only one was done.  I looked on as the whole C group walked onto the drivers stand, and debated what to do.  Do I wait, or do I go get practice?  It was a brand new car, and as I thought about the need to get out there, all of my batteries finished almost simultaneously.  I popped them in and went up to the drivers stand.  I got in three laps before she started calling people to grid.  There was some one fidgeting with their car in the corner, so I tested with a few practice launches off of the line.  The car was super stable, and set for a good start.

On the start I ripped it off the horn and got a good jump so I could cruise into the first turn complex with some breathing room.  I got through it clean and eased into the infield trying to shake the first race/lap jitters and quickly settle into a groove.  As the rest of the group came into the infield I heard some body clacking behind me.  I didn't want to look back, but I could tell almost every one was involved.  As I came onto the straight I glanced back and saw the rest of the field was still all bunched together and just coming into the left hand section.  I had a comfortable lead, and the nerves just went away.  On my second full trip down the straight away I passed the majority of the field going through the chicane on the other side, and decided I could start pushing the car a bit to see where it could be fast.  I immediately flipped in a spot where I hadn't all weekend, so rethought that idea, and backed off trying to find cruise control.  I settled into a groove pretty quickly, and just tried to work my way through lap traffic as cleanly as possible without interfering with other battles on the track.  I didn't get through every thing perfectly clean, but over all I had a very good run, never really felt any pressure, and lapped the field.  I also got a chance to test the car a little while being out in front.  It had a little different line than the VDS/50T combo had, but I felt I could compete in the Bs with it.  I just needed to make the stock B next, and I had the confidence to do it.  I would be racing basically the same group of guys, but all of us would be on 70Ts this time.

I quickly rushed over to the tech stand to check my car in and retrieve it so I could run it again.  I then dashed to my pit to get some batteries installed, and put another set on to peak for the mod B.
Video of Mod C-Main 

Stock C
I went pretty quickly up onto the drivers stand, and the only one up there was my buddy Griff who took the D bump to come up and run the C.  It was gonna be fun driving next to him, but I really wanted to race his dad and big brother in the B :D  I got in a few practice laps, and made a few test launches, and my car still felt great.  As every one came onto the stand I sat back and tried to get into a good mental state.  I had confidence in the car after the last race, and I felt like I could find that groove again pretty quickly. 

This time as the horn sounded every one got away clean.  I still had a good run through the first complex, and took a good line into the infield.  The field was spreading slightly, but there were a few right behind me when I plugged one of the hairpins coming to the bridge.  I let Seth and Brandon by, but managed to squeak out right in front of Gary.  My car was strong and by the end of the straight I was right up on Brandon pressuring him.  When he made a slight bobble on the right side of the track I pounced and slid by.  It didn't take me long to reel Seth in, and I wanted to get by him quickly while the batteries were kicking out power. I made a run down at the end of the straight, but couldn't stick the line.  I backed off and followed him as closely as I could waiting for a mistake. His first bobble was on the left hand side of the track, but I was outside of him, and could only dodge him, and not get by.  I just stayed right with him until we started catching lap traffic, which is when I wanted to make my next move.  When we came to lap the first car (I think it was Brandon who was getting his transponder checked. The marshal sat him down on the straight right in front of us.) he wrecked Seth at the end of the straight and I got through clean.  I let Seth back by in the first complex, but Brandon got in front of us.  As we followed him I could tell Seth wasn't taking as good of a line onto the straight so I set up for a move at the end.  I tried it twice in a row, and the second time we passed two lap cars together at the end of the straight.  He got through them even cleaner than I, so I had to keep following, as we had relatively clear track in front of us.  Finally he hit an apex on the left side of the track, and let me by.  The mistake gave me a small gap, and I wanted to push it to a bigger one to put him in the hot seat.  Within two laps I flipped the car on the sweeper on the right infield, and let him back by.  Trying to gain it back quickly I also caught the same apex of one of the hairpins coming to the bridge again.  I had to regain my composure, so I took a deep breath while driving down the straight.  I could tell my car didn't have as much rip at this point, so I wanted to concentrate on good smooth lines, and no big mistakes.  I had been able to stay close, so I had confidence that my car would re-catch Seth's.  After about three passes down the straight (I was gaining abut a half straight per lap) I was up on his bumper again, and we were coming into more lap traffic.  I think it was Brandon again, who was almost matching pace, but on a little wilder line.  He had proven to be difficult to get by a few other times, so I stayed on my toes.  Again as Seth altered his entry line onto the straight I tried to get inside.  I tapped him and hit the wall, and he got by Brandon all in one motion.  About that time Myssie called 1 minute to go so I went straight to pushing to close the gap and try and make my move.  Within a lap Brandon let me by, and I was hawking Seth hard.  This time there wasn't much time left, so I drove as close to his rear bumper as possible trying to stick my nose in every where I could.  It was very tense, as I was trying not to hit him while keeping momentum up, and have the pressure lie on him to hold me back.  It worked, as he hit a board coming to the bridge, and let me sneak by.  I was close enough that even though it was a small mistake (hard hit, but didn't take much time, or send him way off line) I got through.  He stayed right behind me, and followed me down the straight less than a tile away.  I was pushing, but determined not to give it away.  After such a close clean race I didn't expect Seth to hit me for the win, so I wanted to make him work to get back by, or hold him off for the last 30 seconds.  On the next pass through the chicane, we all heard the sound of disaster.  From the hit on the side Seth took, his motor plate was knocked lose and his gear mesh came un-done.  I felt like I deserved the win, as I did pass him cleanly before the problem, but I would have loved to run out the last three laps with him to see how it would have ended up.

There are no pictures on a score card, and although it was one of the most tense races of my life, I came away with a full lap lead over the field, and won another bump up to race in another B-main!  Again I had no time for chit chat, and ran my car over to the tech table, then to my pit for batteries.  I dropped the fresh batteries into the car for the mod B, and put another set on for the stock B :D
Video of Stock C-Main 

Mod B
As I was snapping my body on for the mod B, I heard some one call for a minute. I took the extra time to spray out the front suspension, and the motor.  I reapplied my grease to the rear shocks and front suspension, as well as putting some voodoo on my freshly cleaned motor.  

I only ran one lap around the track, and the car still felt good.  I wanted to keep my batteries hot, so I pulled onto the grid for a few test launches, and to wait for call to grid.  As we pulled onto our grid spots I eyed up the field.  Chad and Collin were two MBMZR members in the field, along with Matt and Larry who I have long histories of good battles with.  Saint Arpus and Bill Cooney were both in the filed, and I had great races with both of them the last time I saw each of them (Bill at the PNWC SE regional, and Saint at CCC#4).  Mike Keely was the only one I had never raced close with, so I felt like I had just as good of a chance as any one if I put down a clean run.

Once the grid was set I heard Cristian's voice on the mic.  He had stepped up to help Myssie call some of the mains, and I heard him say 5 to go.  I tried my best to time the horn, and my finger was flexing as it went off.  I made a great jump!  Chad who was directly in front of me pulled his trigger, but his car slowly rolled off.  I plowed him pretty hard and drug him down the straight a bit.  He recovered quickly, but I still felt bad, but went on.  Some one else plugged it at the end of the straight, so I found myself up two positions after just one turn.  I made it up to fifth and then got tangled with some one in the left infield, and went back to 7th.  On the next lap I passed two stopped cars, and one moving one to get back to fourth.  Coming through the chicane the next time, I saw a wreck up ahead.  I chose a clean line through and got by another car.  Mike Keely was involved in the tangle, and I came out right behind him in third.  He flipped his car on the left infield sweeper to let me up to 2nd.  I looked up to see Saint on the straight getting stepped on by a marshal!  As he recovered I passed by for the lead with a gap.  I plugged it coming into the chicane though, and let Collin, Chad, and Mike catch up to my bumper.  Some how Mike didn't make it onto the straight with us, and on the next lap I hit an apex and let Collin and Chad by.  I snuck off the wall just in front of Mike, and as we came to the bridge Chad was recovering from a wreck right in front of us.  He got away between us and the three of us flew down into turn one all within a tile of each other.  I tried to push to hold them off and flipped it to fall back to 5th.  On the next lap Bill hit the wall (from 3rd) at the end of the straight, and Chad flipped on the right infield sweeper to let me back to 3rd again behind Mike.  On the next lap Mike made a mistake coming into the first turn complex, and gave second back to me.  I was a straight and a half or more behind Collin with Matt and Mike close behind, but turned in at turn one a foot too early to go back to third.  At that point I noticed the car was feeling very edgy...probably due to tire temp, as I was pushing very hard.  As Matt drew up on me, I pushed too hard and traction rolled the car in two different spots on the same lap.  One let Matt up to my bumper, and the other let him by to drop me to fourth, right in front of Larry.  Larry is super smooth, and usually runs similar pace to me, but I knew I could hold him off.  It was going to take some clean driving which I hadn't been doing this race so far.  I took a couple of deep breaths, and pressed on, until I saw Mike parked at the exit of the chicane.  I tried to get by on the outside, but he backed off the wall right into me and spun me to let Larry by.  He was off the wall on our contact, and sped away as well, leaving me in fifth again.  They got together in front of me coming to the bridge, and let me by, but Mike overpowered me at the end of the straight and took it back.  I pressured him into flipping in the infield and got back by about the time they called a minute to go.  I knew he was gonna be coming so I wanted to push with little time left.  On the next lap I flipped it in the same spot he had, but I went off the track.  The marshal got me quick, but I couldn't see my car where he sat it down.  He hesitated getting off of the track cause cars were coming, and since those cars were coming I needed to go.  I drove straight into the wall, and when he moved, I saw my car facing the wrong way.  3 or 4 cars got by, and all I could hope was that they were lap cars.  In this race though, we were all very close and I dropped 3 spots to Mike, Bill, and Larry.  I drove into the chicane with Matt following to put me a lap down.  I hit the wall on the straight and let him by, then on the last lap, some else hit the wall on the straight and collected me to set me back a lap down to Collin as well. 

I didn't even know exactly where I finished after the last two mishaps, but I didn't have time to think about it.  I needed to reload my batteries, and hit the track again for the stock B.  For the last time I would run from track, to tech table, to pit table, then back to the drivers stand.  In the brief moment I was at my pit table, I dropped some newer PN6Rs on.  They were run for one run on my stock car, so although they didn't have many laps, they should have been broken in enough to be consistent.  I didn't have time to think about it really......I just knew the ones I had mounted were going off by the way the car handled at the end of the mod race.....
Video of Mod B-Main 

Stock B
So, after hanging with the guys in the mod B while making mistakes, and running a 70t, I felt pretty good coming into this race.  I needed to keep a cool head, and find my rhythm quickly.  Starting from the back that was gonna be hard, but majorly important.  I looked up at the drivers stand as I walked over.  Every one was checked in, and Myssie was making the last call for me.  I glanced up at who was on the stand, and outside of one person, I had history of good battles with every on up there.  I duke it out with Chad, Collin, and Eric pretty regularly, and I've had some awesome races with Larry in the past.  Saint and I had only raced one event together before this one, but in both classes we were running together, we were separated by mere seconds.  He was some what of a goal for me for the weekend.

As we started lining up on the grid, I realized there was one person missing.  Bob Van Wagner decided not to run, so I was gonna start 7th.  We lined up, and I got my trigger finger ready.  I jumped two cars on the horn, but one got me back at the end of the straight.  Every one was tightly bunched, and as I came to the bridge there was carnage.  I saw Eric parked sideways, and Saint pulling off the wall.  I snuck by Saint and drag raced him down the straight.  He made a bobble at the end and gave me some room to breath in fourth.  Coming into the chicane Chad plugged it, and although I hit him as be bounced off the wall, I got through pretty quickly, and tried to go straight after Larry and Collin.  We all drag raced down the straight in close proximity, and Larry flipped at the end of the straight to let Collin and I by.  Saint came up behind me, and got by coming to the bridge, but I stayed close and made a move to take the position back on the straight.  I ran up on Collin quick, and could see I had more car than him.  I wanted to use that, and tried to cut tight lines.  I ended up hitting a board and letting Saint by, but then he returned the favor, and gave it back.  I knew Collin was settling in, and I know he is ice cold when he gets into a groove.  I tried to find a a consistent line, then just slowly tightened it up.  After a few laps holding pace, I could see I was gaining a little with each trip down the straight.  Once I caught Collin I had the mind to just maintain and wait for an opportunity to pass since he wasn't giving much space.  Finally, he hit a wall coming into the chicane while trying to dodge a wrecked car, and let me by.  As I came onto the straight I saw Collin catch an apex coming under the bridge to give me more breathing room, so I just settled down and tried to drive a clean race.  The next time by I could see Collin just entering the left infield as I came onto the straight, and knew it was my race to win.  On the next few passes I noticed Saint made it by Collin, but was still about the same distance behind.  I tried to settle in, but flipped the car a couple of laps later.  Nervously, I caught an apex on the same lap coming to the straight.  On the straight though, I could see Saint was still a considerable distance behind, so I took a deep breath, and tried to hold composure.  I was able to maintain, and even with a few small bobbles I managed to hold onto a 5 second lead to take the bump to the A!

It was a great race for me, and I was proud to put it together to go into an A-Main that was filled with sponsored drivers.  There was one non-sponsored guy in there, and the rest were typical A-Mainers every where they go.
Video of Stock B-Main

For the first time during the mains I had to marshal.  It was the hatch race, and I was happy to have a front row seat to this one.  I chose the center of the straight to try and help cover the chicane.  I picked a busy spot, and got my full days worth of marshaling done in that 10 minutes, lol.  Junior ran off with the win, but Eric and Sai had a stellar battle for second.  They traded mistakes for a better part of the middle of the race, but as Eric's batteries faded, Sai's power advantage took him to the second place position. Eric held onto the third podium spot, and Chad managed a solid 4th place finish for MBMZR as well. 

Stock A
Coming into this I felt like I was at a big disadvantage.  I was way off pace in qualifying, as most of them hit 21 laps, and only a couple had 20s, and they were still a whole lap ahead of my best time.  I had surprised myself in 3 mains so far, so I didn't want to count myself out.  I was also driving a great car that I just had four races in to get accustomed to!  I did get a chance during the mod A main to clean my front and rear suspension and re-lube them both.  I also cleaned out my motor, and timed a set of TRP 900s perfect for the start. 

On the horn, I got a decent jump, and by the exit of the first complex I was up two positions.  I followed the train into the infield and stayed close to every one.  There was a tangle, and I got another car coming to the chicane, and by the time I made my first trip down the straight I was in fifth, less than a half straight away from 2nd.  Next time by Keely and Matt got together coming under the bridge and let me by for third, behind Maj and Junior.  Matt followed me pretty closely down the straight, and punted me at the turn two exit coming into the first complex.  I ended up on the wall and fell back to 5th waiting for a marshal.  It felt like something broke on my car.  I flipped on the next two corners (a right, then a left) and was back into 7th, not knowing how I was gonna drive if I was gonna flip in both directions, even on low speed corners.  I settled in and got used to the edgy car for a few laps.  Luckily every one else was battling for positions, so I stayed pretty close to the field.  Once I got rhythm (different lines, different throttle delivery, and WAY less steering input) I felt like I was gaining again. I gained on Gary Jr, and as he made a mistake coming to the bridge, I ducked inside.  I felt like I had the overtake made, but then he flew back across the lane and pinned me on the apex.  I made a good recovery and followed him down the straight.  I got by again, but he got on the side of my car and drove us both directly into the wall at full bore.  After this I was really frustrated, and didn't feel like I could do much of anything.  I was determined to get by him though, and pulled back out to pursue.  My car was now edgy to the right, and pushy as heck to the left, which made it tough to take good lines in the infield, especially at the chicane entry, and it was nearly impossible to carry decent speed at turn 1.  Once I flipped coming down to the end of the straight and I felt like all was lost.  As the leaders began to catch me I wanted to push to see if I could match pace, but the car was crap.  I was flipping or spinning out on every other turn, and decided I was gonna be in the way more than anything else, so I pulled off...sadly....from 6th spot.  I think Bill bailed at the same time as I did, but I was ahead of him, and ended up with a 7th.  After such a good start, and feeling a little beat up, I was down on things while standing on the stand waiting for it to end.  Once the race was over, and I got to look around at the guys who I had a short chance to race with, I was very proud to even be up there with them.  I could do nothing but smile ...like this :D
Video of Stock A-Main 

Summary
I met my B-Main goal in mod, and got a win in the C to boot, which made me happy.  In stock I had one of the closest battles in my racing career with Seth, and proceeded to far out-perform my goal of a C main, by making it to the A.  I won 3 out of the 5 races I participated in, and Griff won another to give MBMZR 4 wins out of 8 mains.  Although I spent a lot of time on the PC, I still had a fair amount of time to visit and hang with my buddies track side.  I had a great birthday, and am ready to race again!  Next up, Carolina Cup Challenge, Race 1 in Mooresville NC on April 9th!