Link to Full Results and Lap Times
50 RACE CARS, 9 FIRST-TIME DRIVERS AT RC SPORTS SEASON 3 ROUND 1
RC Sports kicked off their third racing season on January 19th with off-road round #1, which featured 24 drivers and 50 race cars in the event. We were stoked to welcome 9 first-time racers to the the track, our new single-event record, including 6 kids. The largest classes were Spec Slash with 12 entries, and the newly-revamped Mini Turbo division with 10 entries.
The Mini-Stock class featured a full cast of racing kids making their first ever starts at RC Sports. Travis Reisenweber joined the Mini-Stock class having just purchased a Mini-Stock truck a half hour before, and looked like a racing veteran right out of the gate, cruising to a big Heat race win before electing to move up to Mini Turbo for the mains. Parker Hawley also made his first RC start with his mini-stock truggy equipped with supercar tires, and earned the top-qualifier spot for the main. But the A-Main win went to Lennox Uridil in his first-ever RC Sports race! The battle for second place could not have been closer, as Parker battled Maddox Uridil for the 2nd spot with Maddox edging him out by just 0.03 seconds!! Hendrix Uridil came home 4th and Corbin Feldkamp rounded out the top five. We’re stoked to have so many new young drivers join us for Season 3 – hope to see you all season long!
Over the Season 2-3 break, the “Mini-Stock Advanced” class was tweaked slightly and renamed “Mini Turbo.” The brushless versions of the Mini-Stock are now allowed in the class, and cars may cut springs to lower the suspension and use the supercar class tires if desired. Racing a short-course converted truck, Mike Karl established himself as the man to beat in the mini turbo class early, sweeping the night with narrow victories over Ben Moore. Third and fourth went to Tom Dessart and Shane Thomas, both piloting Arrma Granite Groms. Mini-Stock Kids class reigning champion Wesley Vande Voort started the year with a top five, 6th went to Tyler Nystrom, and 7th newcomer Travis Reisenweber. Aaron and Ian Bodart 8th, DNS.
The Spec Slash class was loaded with 12 drivers on the night. Ben Moore won Heat Race #1 and Tyler Nystrom earned his first RC Sports race victory in Heat Race #2. Charlie Reed dominated the B-Main and bumped to the A, where he quickly rose from the #7 starting spot and made it as high as second place in the race at one point. But for the most part it was Tom Dessart and pole sitter Ben Moore fighting for the win – Ben appeared to have it in the bag but ran into some traffic on the last lap and Tom was there to take advantage, stealing the win in his first race defending the class championship with a Traxxas Slash. Ben settled for second, Charlie Reed impressively took home third, Shane Thomas and Tyler Nystrom rounded out the top 5. Riley Reinke took 6th, Anatole Wiering 7th, Mike Karl 8th, Gavin Hill 9th, Jason Stephenson 10th (first-time racer), Carson Hill 11th, Corbin Feldkamp 12th.
Tyler Nystrom joined the Super Ten class with an Arrma Senton Boost and scored his second consecutive heat race win, taking the victory in heat #1. Defending class Champion Andrew Pfluger picked up where he left off and won Heat #2 and the top qualifier spot. Shane Thomas piloted his new Team Associated Pro2 SC10 to a B-Main victory and bumped up to join the A. In the A it was all Andrew Pfluger, cruising to an early lead and the win, while Tom, Shane, and Mike Karl battled it out for second. In the end it was Tom Dessart and Shane Thomas finishing 2 and 3, while Mike Karl ended just off the box. Tyler Nystrom scored another top 5, followed by Nick Ward (6th), Anatole Wiering (7th), Jason Stephenson (8th), and Ian Bodart (9th).
The newly-promoted Mini Buggy class (formerly Mini Turbo) ran in the 6/7 spot in the race program, and featured a mixture of Losi Mini B’s, Associated Reflexes, and WLToys project conversions, 7 in all. Tom Dessart scored the first race win ever for a WLToys 124019 platform, piloting his custom converted short course truck to a Heat Race win. It looked like Mini B driver Ben Moore was going to cruise to the victory in the A-Main, but a crucial late-race rollover gave Tom time to catch up, and the top-qualifier stole the victory late to stand atop the box. Ben Moore settled for another second, and fellow Mini-B driver Mike Karl took third. Andrew Pfluger took 4th with the Reflex buggy, followed by Shane Thomas, who had the fast lap of the race driving a WLToys car as well. Tyler Nystrom and Anatole Wiering finished 6th and 7th.
After an early-race battle with Tom Dessart, defending class champion Ben Moore took control of the heat race in the premier off-road 21.5T Spec Buggy division. Mike Karl and Woody made it close at the end though, finishing just 3 and 3.5 seconds behind. Ben was in control of the A-Main until tragedy struck, as he made contact with the wall and broke a steering component, which ended his run. Woody inherited the lead and cruised to victory, followed by Mike Karl and Tom Dessart. Class newcomer Anatole Wiering took 4th in his first buggy race, and loved the feel of his new car. Ben Moore officially logged a 5th and Aaron Bodart took 6th after an early DNF.
Thank you to everyone who participated in off-road round #1! It was an awesome start to what will be our best season yet. We are looking forward to kicking off the oval series this Friday night! Thank you to Mike, Tom, Shane, and Tyler for staying and building the oval.
Full race results and lap times: https://rcsports.liverc.com/results/?p=view_event&id=425690
Join the off-road racers group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/212203231417351
