Krieg led X-Factory 1-2 in Stock Short Course at Cactus

0 March 14, 2016, 10:57 a.m.

By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Race report from X-Factory:
www.xfactoryrc.com

Driving his *Infinity* SC5M, X Factory Team driver Alex Krieg won the 2016 Cactus Classic 17.5 Short Course class this weekend with a dominating drive from second on the grid in the 7-minute A Main. Privateer Robert Molina, also with an *Infinity* SC5M, came from 6th to lead laps three and four before he and Krieg switched places, running 1-2 for the last 11 laps of the race. Krieg slowly built a 6-second lead over Molina, who finished 3.5 seconds ahead of world-renowned race announcer Scotty Ernst in third.

Krieg TQed two rounds of qualifying but started second on the grid based on the tie-breaker, even though he had the only 27-second laps of qualifying with a ballistic 27.4 in round three. With the fastest truck in the race, Alex charged into the lead on the first lap, lost it with a small mistake on lap two, but took over for good on lap five. Krieg had by far the fastest lap of the main with the only 27-sec lap, a 27.8. Molina, running a good steady race, had the second fastest fast lap, a 28.2. No one else got below 28.4 in the A main.

After the race, Alex Krieg said, “I had a big advantage out there today. The X Factory *Infinity* carbon fiber chassis improves performance to the max. Especially in stock, the 75 gram weight saving is noticeable in so many ways. The truck seems to spring off the jump faces, and it soaks up bumps like nothing else. Because of the light weight, my *Infinity* truck’s performance fell off less than the others in this long 7-minute main, so I was strong and confident at the end.”

Krieg also placed 8th in the 17.5 buggy A main and 7th in 13.5 buggy, driving the same stock motor *Infinity *B5M in both classes! Alex had TQed the last round of 13.5 buggy with his stock motor *Infinity* car (!) to sit third on the grid for the A main, but a first lap problem set him back.