Photo Credit: Cheryl Joye-Shiver
Well I headed down to Shiverville Raceway for round 3 of the 5 race points series. I had a chance to lock up the 4×4 SC and E-Buggy classes with another TQ and win. I had some great runs with the B44.1 in the 4wd buggy class but there are several that can still take the class. Since there are 2 drops I decided to go ahead and get in on the mod SC class as well.
Round 1 of qualifying went well.
In practice I had my mod SC set to blinky with a 7.5 motor. I’ve run it this way on many occasions but this time it seemed kinda slow. I added some turbo timing to it just before the race. During the warm-up it still felt sluggish. Then I discovered that my EPA was set to 80. I had turned the speed down for my nephew to run the truck at round 2 and completely forgot. I cranked it back up to 100. Lol, not a good idea. It took several laps to get used to it. I got a handle on it and qualified second.
The 4wd buggy had more grip than I expected and I had several mistakes early. Again I was able to settle down and secure a second for the round.
The Tekno EB48.2 was perfect but we only had 3 show up for E-Buggy. Very disappointing but I still a good time.
I was excited try a new shock setup on the Tekno 410. It’s been an amazing truck and I really haven’t changed much from the box stock setup. This truck never disappoints. It set the TQ by a full lap. Love that thing.
Round 2 went about the same.
In mod SC, I think I may have been on a TQ pace but got too anxious, carried too much speed coming out of the sweeper, and got into the back of some traffic that knocked me back into second.
The 4wd buggy was awesome this round. I ran some worn blue JConcepts Bar Codes. I was doing some tire management and saving a new set of JConcepts DD’s for the main. I won the heat but came up 4 seconds short for setting the new TQ.
Despite the low turnout I was still enjoying the track time with the EB48.2. I threw some worn blue JConcepts Stackers on for the high bite surface and set a new TQ time. The drove very smoothly and handled the tight turns easily.
I made some adjustments to the droop and installed a stiffer front sway-bar in the SCT410 based on how high the traction was. I was able to push the truck even harder and bettered my round 1 TQ.
The race order changed a little bit for the mains.
First up was the 4wd buggy. I’m in the running for the points lead in this class so I really wanted the win. Early on I hung tight to the leader Daniel and felt I was a little faster in certain section. All I had to do was not lose ground where we were equal. I was able to move into the race lead several laps in and a mishap gave me a nice lead over Daniel. It looked like I had it in the bag with 25 seconds to go. Then I rolled and had to sit and watch Daniel pass me as I laid on my roof. With only a lap to go there was nothing I could do. It was a great race that I wish I could do over.
Next was E-Buggy. Unfortunately one of the three cars had broke in the second qual. and he was unable to fix it. This really wasn’t how I wanted to win the class so I’ll be running the last two rounds with the EB48.2 to hopefully show that I deserve it.
The sun was going down and the shade started taking over the track. When track starts to cool it loses it’s traction. I stuck with my JConcepts blue Bar Codes on my SC10 and hoped the traction was still there.
I planned on learning from my mistakes and played it safe on the start of the mod SC main. It was a great start for all as we were single file through the first 3 turns. Coming into that tight sweeping 3rd turn I was still in second but was worried about 3rd and 4th place running into the back of the truck as I paced the leader, so I went wide and allowed them to pass me on the inside. By the straight-away I had moved back into 3rd. The leader caught a pipe going around the large sweeper and slowed up 2nd enough that I was able to pass them both and move into the lead. I settled in and held the lead for the race win.
Last up was the 4×4 SC class. The sun was going down, the lights were on, and the whole track was in the shade. I was betting on the track being slick so I went with some JConcepts 3D’s in green. I was clear from my warm-up lap that we no longer had the traction we enjoyed all day. I was glad I changed to greens and looked forward to taking advantage of my pole position. I knew I couldn’t push the truck like I had earlier so I just tried to maintain a steady consistent pace. The second place driver, Cody, and I broke away and I was able keep a small gap between us. I held on for the win and locked up points series.
I’d like to thank all of my sponsors. Tekno RC, JConcepts, Trinity, Hobbywing, Radiopost, Boys Making Noise, Boca Bearings, and Kal-Gard