Hot Race Big Apple Challenge report

Jason Schreffler's report:

Ok folks, time for a race report! This past weekend was Rohan Grant's Hot Race Big Apple Challenge and man, it did NOT disappoint! Sorry if it's long winded, it's been a bit.

This race, so far, had to be the most challenging race I've ever attended. The track was fun, but crazy challenging. From the high bite, high abrasion, blown out sections, dust and no dust, the high temps... it had every condition in one track you can think of. I wouldn't have had it any other way!

First, we'll start with Ebuggy. My E817v2 with Performa Speedo, Performa 1900kv motor, and Performa 7700mah battery performed flawlessly from practice, qualifying, and the main. I practiced with the car twice on Friday and literally left it alone. The car felt great and it was all about tires. In qualifying, I was able to TQ the first 2 rounds netting me overall TQ for the main. I ran O2 Blockers for qualifying. In the main, track conditions were way different as it was more blown out and dusty. I used R2 Kosmos. When the tone went off, I was actually kinda fortunate, the pack behind had a little pile up that gave me a clear gap and I just put it on cruise control. I lead wire to wire and finished with the win!

Now onto Nitro Buggy. I spent most of Friday on the nitro car practicing and trying to get it right. Cole was a huge help in throwing stuff to try. Some worked for me, some didn't, but I got the idea of what I could drive vs what he can drive. LOL. In qualifying, it was up and down for me. First round, I was 2nd behind Cole by 7 seconds, which I felt good about that. 2nd and 3rd rounds, I fell back more, still finished 3rd in each of those rounds, but I wasn't confident with my driving. Come Sunday morning, I mounted up some Y2 Stalkers to try and ran them in Semi warm up. I thought they felt great and had a good package for the semi. I couldn't have been more wrong. When the semi started, I went from #2 spot on the grid down to 10th and wasn't making good ground. With it only being 20 minutes, there were no room for mistakes. The tire choice was just plain wrong and it was catching all the ruts and super hard to drive. I put my head down as the car got better as the tires wore and made my way back up to 2nd, which netted me a 4th starting position for the 45 min final. We literally had 20 minutes to prep the cars for the final so a clutch change, quick cleaning and overall health check. I threw on a new set of O2 blockers and hoped I had made the right call. Josh Andrews (my awesome volunteer pit guy!!!) and I were ready for a 45 min battle. At the start of the main, I made a dumb mistake hitting another car, so I stopped and waited as the whole field went by. At which point, there's nowhere to go but forward now. I put my head down and just drove. Josh kept me calm on the headset. Those things really do help being able to talk to your pit guy. By the time the first pit stop, I was up to 3rd! I just drove consistent and tried not to make mistakes and made it up to 2nd. Ya, Cole lapped me twice, but he's paid to do that!!! So I finished up 2nd and a really tough and challenging track. It was a ton of fun.

Honorable mention goes to Brian Allen for bumping from the 1/8 final all the way into the main. The 2nd time this kid has run nitro and had to drive an hour of races before even getting to the 45 minute final. Great job Brian and Carlos!!!!!

Also great seeing some friends I haven't seen in such a long time!

Of course, I couldn't do this without my awesome sponsors. Thanks to everyone for the support and the whole Barnstormers crew for an awesome race!!

HB Racing

Performa Racing

JConcepts

Absolute Hobbyz

Trains and Lanes Hobbyz

Sanwa