Wednesday –
After a long travel day we have arrived in California and setup for the Reedy Race of Champions. I’d like to thank Dan Hartson for bringing out our JConcepts tent and pit area specifically for this race. Thanks to John Piant for bringing us to the airport at the crack of dawn so we could make our flight.
I’m traveling with Paul and Daimon but we are here to service and help our many great team drivers and customers. The open class is absolutely stacked with competition. I might be more curious who is the hot driver in open vs the invitational.
I walk by the Reedy pit area and another memory of Reedy hits me each time. Looking at those brushed motors sitting in the queue ready for a cut just makes me smile. No matter how many times, it was always a privilege to get the nicely trued motor for your next qualifier.
Moving on to about the track and facility this layout looks like a departure from events in the past. This feels a little more open to me and perhaps some quicker lap-times are in store. I’ve heard some rumors of maybe a few tweaks to the double coming on the main straight and drivers are hoping for some wear on the stutter bump mound on the up and downside.
After some socializing with friends and getting up to speed with the new track and touching base with our drivers we decided to call it a night.
Thursday –
We were up bright and early to see everyone get their practice on and the practice line was out of sight. All the way down and past the on-road track sometimes the line grew past our tent. Great day of watching open and invite drivers getting their vehicles dialed in and trying to improve their resort position before qualifying begins. We introduced several new products to the racers and the hobby shop now has them available for a limited Reedy Race sale. Look for a full video coming soon detailing the new items and release dates.
So far in the open practice the standings look incredibly close. Looks like Carson Wernimont is sitting on top of 2wd practice with the fastest 3 lap average and JQ running his prototype 4wd electric buggy is sitting on top of that class with the fastest 3 consecutive laps.
The invitational class has been interesting and I believe Ryan Maifield has the fastest 3 consecutive laps in 2wd and 4wd so it appears Ryan’s vehicles are on point in practice and we will see how that transfers into racing today and in the heads up format. Points are determining factor and low points keep you in the running.
For those who don’t know this is a controlled tire event where drivers have received their tires and inserts during registration and have mounted them at the track and not allowed to take them home or to the hotel after racing. Tire break-in has been really critical and the fronts and rears have been rounding into shape toward the end of practice so I expect the drivers to be quick this morning. Gold compound JConcepts Bar Codes on the front of 2wd and 4wd along with our profiled closed cell inserts on the front of each vehicle. We are very honored to be a part of the Reedy Race of Champions and stay tuned for more updates coming to you directly from the track today.
