This past weekend we headed to Redlands RC Raceway in Redlands, CA for Round 6 of the Top Notch Series. This would be my first time on the Redlands track. There were approximately 200 entries for this round. I was impressed by the Redlands facility. The pit area was rather small for a big turnout, but the seating allowed for a very clear and close view of the track, allowing everyone to watch all the racing action right from their pit table.
My competition for this race would include Barry Baker, Brent Thielke, Chris Jarosz, Nick Wautlet, Brian McDuffie, Josh Mitchell, David Jenson and most of the Tekno race team. I competed in two classes this round, 2WD Mod Buggy and 8th Scale E Buggy.
2WD Mod Buggy
We showed up on Friday for practice. I used my setup from West Coast Raceway for this track, as the clay was very similar in consistency and traction. The track was small in size, but fun, and included a wall-ride section that I have never experienced before. On Saturday, I TQ’ed the first round of qualifying over Team Associated drivers Jarosz and Thielke. The track was faster come round 2, so everyone’s times improved. I was on a new TQ pace until the wall ride got the better of me on lap number 3. I would go on to finish third for round 2 of qualifying. In the main, I worked my way up to 2nd, but had a few mistakes and ended up finishing 3rd on the podium.
My RB6 with the RS Pro ESC and Gen 2 7.5 motor worked extremely well all night on the high-bite surface.
8th Scale E-Buggy
8th scale was a flat out blast to run on the small track. The way the track was designed allowed for 8th scale cars to clear everything the 10th scale cars could not. Two triples and a huge table top transfer made this class the most entertaining to watch. I TQ’ed the first round of qualifying by a full lap over the competition. The RX8 ESC and Redline T8 1900 motor in my MP9 allowed me to run a tighter line and still land all of the jumps with ease, while other cars had trouble. My Top 15 lap average was better than the next fastest racer’s single fast lap. Round 2 of qualifying would be the same story, as I went on to set a faster TQ pace over my first round run. In the A main event, the start tone sounded and I never looked back. I went on to put in a perfect run, winning by more than a lap over the field. I set the overall fastest lap of the entire night as well, with a 15.6.
My Kyosho MP9 TKI3 with the RX8 ESC and Redline T8 1900 motor was absolutely dialed for all three rounds.
