Round One: Dallas, Texas

Main Events

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The main events took place after a lunch break on Sunday. Everyone was anxious to get going, but the first thing we had to complete was the Blindfold Challenge!

Blindfold Challenge

For anyone unfamiliar with a blindfold race, each car is driven by a team of two racers: a spotter and a driver. The driver has his or her eyes covered and is the only person allowed to touch the radio controls. The spotter is the only person on the team who can see the car and must verbally tell the driver when to turn, which way to turn, when to accelerate and when to brake. As much fun as it is to participate, it's much more fun for the spectators who just sees the car moving around the track very slowly in jerks and fits, hitting the barriers and if the team is lucky, finishing a lap!

For the Blindfold Challenge, the first team to cross the finish line 3 times is the winner. Although the fastest drivers at each race may complete a lap in 15-20 seconds, the Blindfold Challenge usually takes about 5 minutes to complete!

For this Blindfold Challenge, four brave teams dared to brave the track, their skills and the laughter from the spectators to head out on the track! Although it was a dicey start for all four cars on the track, the #2 car of Charles Poltes and Jason Brown took the early lead and never looked back. The turn marshalls were kept busy and even though the other teams traded spots for 2nd and 3rd places, this is a "winner take all" race and after Charles and Jason crossed the finish line for the third time they were declared the winner! Both of them received the cool blue HPI Challenge T-shirts with black flames for their win!

Next up: the main events for all the classes!

HPI Truck
Four entries in the HPI Truck class is a normal turnout, and although the racers made it exciting, Nicholas Haberberger ran away with the win, lapping the field twice on the way to 15 laps in about five and a half minutes. Bryan Ketterer came in second with 13 laps and James Beck was in third with 12.

Electric Rally
The Rally classes are scored individually, with each race counting towards a point total instead of being a qualifying race or a main event. By the time the last race was started, Timm Wooley had taken an insurmountable lead over his son Ivan and Tim Barklage, the only other racers in the class. After the fourth round of racing in the Rally class, the results were Timm with four wins and Ivan with 3 second places and 1 fourth place, so it was the Wooley clan, traveling from South Palm Beach Florida, that took home the first two spots in the Electric Rally class!

Micro Stock
The Micro classes contended with a small track that let the fast drivers get around 6-second lap times, and Richie Taney used his skills to his advantage to take the top qualifier spot and the win in the 6-minute long A Main race for the Micro Stock class! Richie ended with 45 laps, 6 more than second place Josh Moody.

Micro Pro
The Micro Pro racers also ran 6 minutes for their main event, however they were allowed to use a 5-cell battery pack and HPI Micro Modified motor. Mike Collins took the lead early and led the way while Mike Parker and Scott Elting battled it out for 2nd spot throughout most of the race. Mike Collins took the win with 56 laps in minutes, 2 more than Mike Parker and Scott!

Electric Sport

The A Main of Electric Sport was one of the closest finishes we had for the main events. Tommy Dang used his TQ spot to full effect, pulling out a good lead on the chasing pack until his last lap when a lapped car got in his way. Tommy was stuck in a track border long enough for Danny Beachamp to take over the lead and although Tommy cut all the corners as close as he could he wasn't able to get ahead of Danny to take back the win. Tommy finished just half a second behind Danny, both of them with 17 laps in five minutes.

Electric Pro

The Electric Pro A Main featured many good battles for positions in the middle of the pack, letting Mike Collins run away with the win after starting from pole position. Mike finished a lap ahead of second place Todd Bath, who was himself a lap ahead of third place Steven Shepperd.

Nitro Stock
The Nitro Stock class was dominated by Edward Beachamp all weekend long, taking the TQ spot and the overall win after the 5-minute main event. Edward finished a lap ahead of the field to take home the trophy and kit prize!

Nitro Modified
As usual, Nitro Modified was our largest class, providing the biggest thrills, close racing and massive crashes! The spectators love the Nitro classes!

Danny Beachamp had his work cut out for him in this class, after taking home the Nitro Mod win in Florida last year. Mike Collins took the pole and ran with it, never looking back. This left Danny to battle with Chris Cook and John Gant (our Concours Challenge winner) and they each ended the 10-minute race with 32 laps, 2 less than race winner Mike Collins.

Super Nitro Modified

The Super Nitro A Main was a close one, with 3 racers on the same lap and battling for the lead at the end of the 5 minute race. Finishing in first place with 17 laps in five minutes and 3 seconds, TQ Michael Clark went home with the big prize, just a few seconds ahead of Howard Mahute and Timm Wooley! The next four spots were also on the same lap, showing that this race was a close one!

Savage
Our first Savage race attracted several racers eager to compare trucks and race against each other, and in our last race of the weekend Mike Collins took home another victory (his fourth for the weekend), beating out the field by two laps!

Concours Challenge pictures | Racing | Thanks!

See the HTRLRC web site for more!