USA Race Number One: San Antonio, Texas!

Qualifying Heats and Main Events

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Racing started soon after the Concours Challenge winner was announced, starting with the Electric Sport class. Nitro Stock was next, because some racers were running both electric classes. This gave the Electric Pro class racers time to change their cars over, and after their race the Nitro Modified classes started up!

But first...Cool Things Seen in the Pits!

Texan pride, even in the R/C pits

Qualifying

RS4 Electric Stock
Our only problem for the weekend came up when some racers pointed out that one of the Electric Stock racers was technically a sponsored driver. Ron Atomic graciously stepped down from Electric Stock and let the other racers battle it out. We would like to mention that Ron took apart his car each round to remove option parts for the Stock class, then install them all again for the Pro class, and also his batteries weren't high voltage special batteries.

However, Ron's withdrawal did open up the racing a bit more for the 22 other racers, letting Travis Lewis and Tim Kristel battle it out and qualify less than .7 seconds apart with 13 laps in 5 minutes, 24 seconds. The best the other drivers could do was 12 laps in 5 minutes flat, but even then the rest of the field was tightly packed in what promised to be a strong race in the main event!

RS4 Nitro Stock
"Big" Al Flores and Rusty Wigley were the only racers to make 12 laps in this class, with all other racers making 11 laps. The top 5 racers in the A Main were very close, just a few seconds apart after the qualifying was over Sunday morning. This would be very good! There's nothing like watching 23 racers battle it out with similarly spec'd cars!

RS4 Electric Pro
Austin's Ron Atomic and Eric Jones both made 14 laps in 5 minutes, 23 seconds, less than a tenth of a second apart, with the rest of the A Main stretched out behind them, making 12 and 13 laps. Just 16 racers signed up in Electric Pro, showing again that Texas is a Nitro-crazy area!

RS4 Nitro Modified
44 racers made this an interesting class to watch! Making a strong appearance in two classes, Eric Jones set TQ in Nitro Mod with 13 laps, the only racer to do so. Nearly all the other racers in the top 10 had 12 laps, with two groups of racers lumped together with similar times. Another race that promised some great racing!

RS4 Super Nitro Modified
Missouri's Tim Kristel showed off his Nitro skills in this class, setting TQ with 13 laps over the 16 other Super Nitro racers. Only Bill Sydor (also from Missouri) could come close, a few seconds behind but still with 13 laps - everyone else had to settle for 12 or 11 laps to get into the A Main.

HPI Truck and Super Nitro RS4 Rally
Our exhibition classes had a light turnout, something we plan to reverse at future events, however all the racers still had fun. We were happy to see two trucks (one Rush and one Nitro MT) make it on the track, as well as a Super Nitro Rally. Carlos Bungy, Adrian Ryan and Peter Downing still put on a good show, going over the club's jumps

But first...Cool Things Seen in the Pits, Part 2!

An honest-to-goodness Texan "commuter pod", next to our Dale Jr-edition Monte Carlo rental car. The owner of the truck just drives to the airport and back in that monster, and is planning to get a new F350. Note that all the other vehicles in the parking row are trucks.

Main Events

Since race director Kevin Mayse called all the racing action, we'll let him take over the commentary for the main events!

Two guys driving twenty-five hours from California in a Mustang to attend this race impressed me. Five more from Mississippi, a couple from Missouri, throw in a couple from Arkansas, Mexico and parts all over Texas and I almost fell over! This race broke attendance records for both the RC/RC San Antonio - Hobbytown USA of San Antonio Track and the Texas HPI Challenge. Ron Meloni was the club coordinator for this event and did a great job!

Now to the racing!

RS4 Electric Sport - C MAIN
Peter Hart qualified first in this class by more than a lap. Peter is a local racer and had his eye on his first "big event" win. Unfortunately Melissa Collins of San Angelo Texas had the same idea. Melissa drove across the finish line just 1.4 seconds ahead of Chris Vaughn with Peter chasing him down for third. I glanced over at Melissa's husband during the race to see him with both fingers crossed, up in the air, gritting his teeth. He was very excited for her! Both Melissa and Mike make the trip to race in San Antonio regularly.

RS4 Electric Sport - B MAIN
This was another close one. Clark Baisdon, the owner of our local Hobbytown USA qualified first in this main and maintained that spot until the checkered flag came out. ---- took second just 5 seconds behind him and John Nguyen of Houston came in 4 seconds behind ---- for third. Clark was all smiles! ---- wasn't too upset either. Second in the B Main isn't too bad for somebody who just traveled 25 hours in a Mustang with a bad leg!

RS4 Electric Sport - A MAIN
Not to be out done, the A Main was an even closer finish! Travis Lewis from Austin and Tim Kristel from Kansas City qualified exactly .7 seconds apart with Travis in the top spot. Mike Collins (the one crossing his fingers for his wife in the C Main) qualified third. When all was said and done, seven of the top ten drivers finished on the same lap! This time Tim finished ahead of Travis by .61 seconds to take the win. Mike finished in third six seconds back. What do they say about consistency?

Top ten in the RS4 Electric Sport class	RS4 Electric Sport winner Tim Kristel

RS4 Nitro Stock - C MAIN
The top three drivers in this heat were from San Antonio! Gregory Martinez qualified in the top spot a full lap ahead of Jerry Delos Santos. Trevor Proby took the third spot. Trevor fought hard for this race and managed to get to the top spot on the final lap. Unfortunately, in a mix up in the pits prior to the race, his car was found to have illegal tires at the tech table. Trevor accepted the ruling and gracefully stepped aside for Jerry De Los Santos to take the win.

RS4 Nitro Stock - B MAIN
Victor Mux was just having a bad day during the qualifiers, but he managed to qualify first in this main followed by Kaven Mitchell from Dallas and Stillman Jordan Jr.. Victor ran away with this race from start to finish turning in a time that would have put him in 3rd in the A-MAIN! The real race was for second place. Craig Micknicz and Mark Pena were door to door for most of the race. They finished 3.49 seconds apart with Craig taking the second place trophy.

RS4 Nitro Stock - A MAIN
Ok, now I've got to be careful. I was in this race and I want to be fair to everyone. It's obvious that I should have won, but…
"Big Al" Flores took top qualifying honors for the Nitro Stock A-Main with Rusty Wigley coming in just 5 seconds back! Shelly Dugger showed up right behind them and, as a matter of fact the next eight drivers qualified less than 20 seconds apart! At the start of the Main a big pileup on the first lap threw Kevin Mayse (eighth qualifier) out front. Unfortunately a wall jumped out in front of the car on lap two and Rusty took over. Kevin fought his way back to second place, just in front of Joe Sena in third. Rusty just WOULD NOT LET UP and Kevin couldn't catch him before the end of the race. Joe held on for the third place trophy. Rusty, Kevin and Joe were laughing and shaking hands as they walked off the stand. Everyone said I should have won, though! :D

Top ten in the RS4 Nitro Stock class	Nitro Stock class winner Rusty Wigley

RS4 Electric Pro - B MAIN
There were no San Antonio drivers in this race!
Aaron Grant from California qualified first just ahead of Danny Beachamp with Ramando Murao in third. (Danny's brother?) Edward Beachamp qualified a little further down, in fifth. I mention Edward because he didn't exactly stay in the fifth spot. Aaron did take the win with a full lap on the field but Edward and Danny were putting on a show in the second and third spots. They finished just three seconds apart, with Edward taking second. It had to be a long ride home for Danny. Having to listen to Edward gloat all the way to Gulfport, Mississippi!

RS4 Electric Pro - A MAIN
Ron "Atomic", of Austin, qualified first in this class just .18 seconds ahead of Eric Jones (Kansas City)! We expected a really close race with Bill Sydor qualifying third. Ron is one of the top electric drivers in Texas and was on a mission. From the outset, it was clear that we had overlooked Travis Lewis, our fourth place qualifier. Ron and Travis pit together and I guess they decided to race together, because they pulled away from the crowd and finish a full lap ahead of the pack. Ron took first, Travis in second. Bill Sydor maintained his position to take third.

Top ten in the RS4 Electric Pro class	RS4 Electric Pro winner Ron Atomic

RS4 Nitro Modified - E MAIN
Eduardo Catano Qualified first in this field just ahead of Andrew Ray and Alfred Sansaras. Eduardo failed to start so Andy took the lead and finished 3 laps ahead of the pack. Travis Mitchell finished second with 2 laps over the third place car of Bill Winston. These drivers were all from San Antonio.

RS4 Nitro Modified - D MAIN
Luis Maldonado, uncharacteristically qualified first in this main. Luis is a local driver and one I would expect to see in the A. He was having car problems. Charlie Pena took the second qualifying spot followed by Kathy "Team MOM" Baisdon. Kathy is Clark (see the Electric Sport B Main) Baisdon's wife and the president of Team MOM (Move Over Mister!). Our top qualifier in this race fell out after the first lap and Kathy decided to add another plaque to the family collection! Kathy finished first followed by Victor Delvalle and Bob Wyatt for third. As these were all local drivers, they had to hear the announcer remind them how "they got beat by a girl!!"

RS4 Nitro Modified - C MAIN
Edward Tubilla qualified in the top position for this Main followed by Fritz Wolf and David May, in second and third. The three top spots were only separated by 15 seconds! Fritz pulled away to win the race by 3 laps on the field with Mike Cisneros the closest finisher in second. Chris Vaughn, the guy we in San Antonio know for his "I finished a race" celebration dance at the end of a race, came in third.

RS4 Nitro Modified - B MAIN
Remember the Beachamp boys from the Electric B-Main? Well, Edward qualified first in this one followed by Eric Irvin and Charles Carr. Danny qualified a little better in the A-Main. The qualifying times were unbelievably close for this race. First and second were only .14 seconds apart. No more than 13 seconds separated the following six cars! Hard luck put Edward out of this race, so Richard Nichols stepped up to take the win by more than a lap. Romando Murao took second place and Charles Carr finished up as he started, in third.

RS4 Nitro Modified - A MAIN
Eric Jones, the second place qualifier in Electric Pro, took top qualifying honors for this race. Bill Norris Jr. and Danny Beachamp (that name sounds familiar?) followed Eric to the line for second and third. Let's go back to that word "Consistency". Take Eric's five minute top qualifier, double it (because the main is ten minutes) and add five seconds for a pit stop, you have his exact finishing time. That consistency is what gave Eric the win. Bill Norris Jr. held on for a second place finish while Danny Beachamp came across the line in third.

Top ten in the RS4 Nitro Modified class	Nitro Modified winner Eric Jones

RS4 Super Nitro Mod - B MAIN
John Pena qualified in front of the pack in this main. John had been preparing for this race at our local track for some time, but after speaking to him afterwards, he felt like he just couldn't get the car to hook up this weekend. Tony Clem and Justin Noland weren't far behind for the second and third qualifying spots. This one is easy, that's how they started and that's how they finished.

RS4 Super Nitro Mod - A MAIN
Tim Kristel and Bill Sydor, both from Missouri, were ON FIRE in this class! Qualifying only 5 seconds apart, Tim took the top honors to start the race. Ward Merrell placed his ride in the third qualifying spot. Tim was not going to be denied his SECOND A-Main win at this event! Bill Sydor came across the finish line for second place and Thomas Arce finished up in Third.

Top ten in the RS4 Super Nitro Modified class	RS4 Super Nitro Modified winner Tim Kristel

HPI Truck - A MAIN
The Exhibition class entries were a little light with three entries, but the ramps on the track made everyone take a look. Carlos Dungy both qualified first and won the A-Main with his Nitro Rush. Adrian Ryan drive his Super Nitro Rally into second and Peter Downing took his Nitro RS4 MT out for a few jumps and bumps to take third.

Exhibition Class winner Carlos Dungy

And if you've read this far...Cool Things Seen in the Pits, Part 3!

A kid's Bigfoot scooter pumps out some tunes. But where is the kid? And why are tunes coming out of this thing?	Oh, the CD player, amp, two 6" mids and 10" subwoofer is why - there's no room for the kid!

Check out the Groundspeed Web RC club site!