Round 3 of the 2013 Short Course Showdown Nationwide Tour came back to where it all began in 2010 at S & N’s Trackside in Milwaukee, WI. Race director Scotty Ernst and the entire Trackside crew put on another great event this weekend as we saw 168 entries competing in eight different classes:
- 5 & Under Super Stars
- Novice
- Stock 2WD Short Course Buggy
- Traxxas Spec 4WD Slash
- Traxxas Spec 2WD Slash
- Mod 2WD Short Course Truck
- Stock 2WD Short Course Truck
- Mod 4WD Short Course Truck
This is the 3rd year in a row that the Showdown has hit the road on a nationwide tour, and it is also the 2nd consecutive year that short course buggy has been offered as a class after it 1st debuted as a demo class back in 2011.
This year’s race also featured a special 5 & Under Super Stars class where all the drivers were under the age of 5. It was great to see some youngsters out on the track competing in their own class and they were definitely a crowd favorite.
The Showdown is a unique event that features only short class vehicles and heads up starts. The race program that weekend called for 4 rounds of qualifying, and each class TQ was determined by the fastest run from any given round. The single A Main consisted of 8 drivers with the top 6 being seeded from qualifying, and spots 7 and 8 were bump up winners from lower mains. In all of the lower mains the top 2 finishing drivers would bump up into the next main so drivers technically still had a shot to bump their way up into higher mains, possibly even making the A Main.
On Friday practice began as racers started to file in the door and make their way to the pits. Practice ran from 10am-8pm that day and many fast racers from the local area were in attendance along with some factory drivers that flew in to race with us.
The track had a nice flow to it and the layout even included an option A & B lane right after the triple in front of the driver’s stand. Most opted for the farther lane (B) but sometimes depending on the carnage and bottlenecks ahead of you it was faster to use option A, and this added another unique element into the race action that weekend.
One cool thing about racing at Trackside is the family atmosphere you feel. A lot of local racers were at the event, and they were willing to help out with the race program when called upon. And speaking of family, one interesting story I found was the Wright family who was in attendance for the Showdown at Trackside for the 4th year in a row.
Each year this family of racers competes in the Showdown at Trackside, and they all run custom painted bodies courtesy of mother-in-law Jan Purfuerst.
This year Jan painted 9 different bodies with similar paint schemes, including three that featured cool retro video games.
Many manufacturers and race teams were in attendance this weekend so I went to check out what the latest gear was in the pits.
AKA’s Greg Hodapp was in attendance this weekend and he brought along AKA’s new product releases.
On display were their new wider SC tires and asymmetrical inserts, plus their new Handlebar STD (Standard Tread Depth) buggy tires, tire prep cloths, and 2WD buggy Hexlite wheels.
JConcepts driver Dave “Double D” Duncan was in the house this past weekend and he brought along the latest JConcepts gear.
One item on display was their new wheel dishes for Hazard short course wheels and many drivers were spotted running them during the event.
MIP’s Eustace Moore and Matt Olson were at Trackside this weekend to race with us and provide on-site product support. They were also testing out some of their latest gear they have been working on.
For 2WD vehicles competing in 17.5 stock racing they are developing aluminum outdrives and CVD bones. This new aluminum gear would shave some weight and increase your power output, but since you are running aluminum on aluminum the parts could wear out quickly. So to combat this issue MIP designed a plastic bushing that they refer to as a “puck”.
The puck is the contact point between the outdrive and CVD bone and is strengthened by a steel pin that runs inside of it. Once the puck wears down you can easily replace it with a new one and keep your aluminum gear looking fresh.
For the Losi TEN-SCTE 2.0 they are working on a new Pro4mance chassis and tuning package.
Their trucks were seen testing out their new lightweight drive system that utilizes pucks, 41t and 39t spur gears, plus inside the center diff they are developing new parts that will reduce wear and extra weight.
On Saturday the doors opened at 7am for some practice time, and then after a brief driver’s meeting the 1st round of qualifying got under way. We ran three qualifiers that day, and after the 1st round was complete the cars would start in reverse order for round 2. When round 3 rolled around all drivers would be resorted based on their lap times which grouped all the fast guys together and made for some exciting race action.
Later that afternoon we stopped down the race program for our spectator raffle. Thanks to the Showdown’s great sponsors two lucky folks from the crowd walked away with new rides that day. The Showdown has conducted this spectator raffle every year since it started and it a great way to get new folks into RC that otherwise might not ever get a chance to try it out.
Scotty ran a tight race program and we finished qualifying for the day shortly after 7pm. The track was then open for another hour of practice which many drivers took advantage of to test out new setups and tire combinations.
On Sunday there was another practice session starting at 7am and then at 8am we started up the fourth round of qualifying. There were some intense battles on the track and in a few classes we saw a new TQ time set in the final qualifying round.
After we had finished up all the qualifying we stopped down the race program to hand out some goodies to all the racers.
Drivers walked away with some great gear again this year thanks the Showdown’s generous sponsors. After all the prizes were handed out, the mains were printed and then we started up the mains.
Since we weren’t running AAA mains the single A Mains made for some exciting race action again this year as drivers had one shot at glory, and there were a few upsets and lots of fender rubbing that day.
NOTE: For the results please go to the bottom of this story.
After the mains had completed we held out last spectator raffle and three individuals walked away with new vehicles thanks to Traxxas and Team Associated.
After the raffle was complete we handed out all the awards, drivers exchanged high fives, and another round of the Showdown was officially in the books. Next tour stop is at Flowood R/C in Mississippi June 7th-9th. Please visit http://www.shortcourseshowdown.com for more information.
Results
5 & Under Super Stars
1. Wright IV, Larry (TQ)
2. Bengston, Drew
3. Blundon, Julian
Novice
1. Slosarczyk, Joe
2. LeBeau, Drake (TQ)
3. Burk, Chris
4. Waters, Jon
5. Ayers, Lee
6. Olson, Jamison
7. Kittleson, Caleb
8. Kemp, Jayson
Stock 2WD Short Course Buggy
1. Richards, Dustin (TQ)
2. Duncan, Dave
3. Nelson, Mike
4. Hills, Jason
5. Pratl, Ryan
6. Duncan, Trevor
7. Blundon, Jacob
8. Deibert, Don
Traxxas Spec 4WD Slash
1. Gratz, Adam (TQ)
2. DeBuhr Justin
3. Deibert, Don
4. Joers, Arny
5. Wright the Third, Larry
6. Wright, Nick
7. Carson, Kevin
Traxxas Spec 2WD Slash
1. Blundon, Jacob
2. Balisterri, Tony (TQ)
3. Hamill, Pat
4. Zenil, Dana
5. Strum,Brian
6. Whitt, Tyler
7. Deibert, Don
8. Carson, Kevin
Mod 2WD Short Course Truck
1. Kinwald, Brian
2. Hodapp, Greg
3. Tollard, Cole
4. Richards, JP
5. Due, Chad (TQ)
6. Richards, Luke
7. Liebherr, Corey
8. Sunderlage, Matt
Stock 2WD Short Course Truck
1. Mueller, Nicholas (TQ)
2. Lutz, Brian
3. Stenson, Chad
4. Moore, Eustace
5. Duncan, Dave
6. Minnich, Christopher
7. Ska, Adam
8. Krivitz, Eric
Mod 4WD Short Course Truck
1. Due, Chad (TQ)
2. Olson, Matthew
3. Richards, JP
4. Walters, Alec
5. Kinwald, Brian
6. Sunderlage, Matt
7. Tollard, Cole
8. Timmerman, Taylor
All Videos
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If you like this article, check out this additional article on Online Race Coverage.
The post Online Coverage Of The 2013 Short Course Showdown Nationwide Tour #3 (VIDEOS ADDED) appeared first on RC Car Action.
