Sanford and Son RC headed out to CVRC Raceway in Chula Vista, CA on September 14th for Round 3 of the TLR Off Road Grand Prix Series.
My competition for this event would include TLR’s Don Vinkemulder and Tim Long, XRay’s Mason Elliot, OFNA’s Dylan Elliot, Kyosho teammate Pierre Kiti, and a number of very fast local racers. The track would be watered every other race for both rounds. With some big races coming up, it was a light turnout, but the racing is always good at CVRC Raceway, and this time would be no different.
1/8 Scale Expert Truggy
For Truggy, I opted for AKA Super Soft Impacts for Round 1 of Truggy. The Impacts have always worked well at CVRC, and that would hold true this time. I got the Round 1 TQ, and then bested that time in Round 2. I would start on the pole for the A-Main. In the A-Main, I got a good hole shot, but after a mistake on the long triple-single, the pack had closed on me. Kyosho teammate Pierre Kiti ran a good race, and pressed me for the remainder of the race. However, my Kyosho ST-RR on AKA rubber was on rails, and I managed to get the win, having to pit only once in the 15-minute A-Main.
1/8 Scale Expert Buggy
I bolted up a new set of AKA soft Impacts, and it proved to be a good choice. As the tires broke in, I slowly worked my way up from fourth to first. However, on the final lap, 20 feet from the finish line, I cased the big triple, losing precious time and losing the TQ by .8 of a second. In round 2, we had the wet track, and the 1st round TQ would hold up, so I would start in 3rd position for the A-Main.
In the 25 minute A-Main, I remained consistent, and worked my way up to the lead position. However, entering the pits for my first pit stop, I caught the edge of the ramp and flipped. My pit crew was at the far end of the pits, so by the time they reached me, refueled, and got me out of the pits, I dropped from first to fourth. I gradually worked my way up to second, but I could feel the engine lean-bogging, and was very difficult to clear the big triple. I would have to have my pit crew richen the engine two hours on my next pit stop. I lost precious time, and again dropped down to fourth. No way I was going to catch the leader, but I drove mistake-free the rest of the race, and landed on the podium in second place. Not a bad finish, considering all the trouble I had during the race. My Kyosho MP9 on AKA rubber and DE Racing Speedline wheels could not have been better.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Kyosho teammate Pierre Kiti, who shared his starter box with me the entire day. My starter box had a freshly charged battery, and was working fine the night before the race, but was DOA once we got to the track. Pierre is a class act, and even refused our offer to pay his entry fee. Thank you, Pierre!
I would also like to thank all of my sponsors for making it happen: Sanford and Son RC, Kyosho, AKA, DE Racing, Track Star RC, Tekin, TTN Racing, Upgrade RC and EKD Paint Labs. Thank you also to TLR and DE Racing for sponsoring this event.
If you need an RC Driver web page, or an E-Commerce website, please visit Sanford and Son RC on the web at www.SanfordAndSonRC.com.
