Shortcourse Showdown Nationwide Tour report from Holeshot Raceway

 

 

Report by Kraig O’Brien

The fourth stop on Short Course Showdown Nationwide Tour found itself at Holeshot Raceway in Sanford, Florida, just north of Orlando. We were received with welcome arms by Kris James and his staff. Kris recently expanded the facility about one month before the tour arrived and put in an excellent layout that would test the driver’s ability to stay consistent and not overpower the track.

For those of you who have never been to Holeshot Raceway let me explain the track layout for you. The track itself is made up of what I like to call Florida red clay. It has an on-site store and air conditioned pits to keep you comfortable. The recent expansion meant relocating the drivers stand to the roof of the air conditioned pits. From way up there you can see the entire track no matter where you stand.

The straight is the closest part of the track to the drivers stand. The straight ends when you proceed into the sweeper. As you work your way thru the sweeper you start to climb up a hill. Now here is the interesting part of that hill. Around 2 feet before the elevation change flattens out, aka top of the hill, the corner starts. To be fast you want to stick the truck into that 2 foot area between the pipe and the top of the hill. Then it is a straight shot down the hill and if you don’t watch your speed you are going to miss the line going into the next corner.

Upon the exit of the corner you have a jump that you will most likely want to roll over it because if you don’t and jump it you could end up missing the entrance into the jump along the back wall. That jump you want to get enough speed up so you can land on top of the table top. Shortly after landing on the top, well the boys with courage (4x4 trucks) land on the down side and proceed into the next 180 degree turn. There are some rumble strips in the track and if you are sideways it sure makes your truck do funny things. Then there is another 180 with a run up to a small table top style jump. As with most of the jumps here you need to be mindful of your speed because you could easily overshoot the next turn, which just so happens to be coming onto the straight. So the track isn’t exactly like a motocross track that you see on TV but it is a track that will make you produce big lap times if you don’t have throttle finger discipline.


Our last A-Main of the day was 4wd Short Course. Just like all of the other mains, except Novice, we had to wait and see who would finish first and second in the B-Main so we could fill out the A-Main field.

With the B-Main set the top three drivers, Leon McIntosh, Chris Viesins, and Chris Gould were separated by less than one second. So the question was, would it be two of these guys to move up or would it be Scott, Austin, Dion, Riker or Ken who would play spoiler? Unfortunately for everyone else it turned out to be a Leon and Chris Viesins show and all everyone else could do is watch.

Now that we have Leon and Chris Viesins added to the A-Main grid it was time to race. At the sound of the tone Matthew took off with the rest of the field falling in behind. It wasn't long before chaos struck. Coming down the hill into the next turn a pileup of trucks occurred. With so many trucks involved and happening so fast I couldn't see exactly what happened from my vantage point. What I can tell you is that by lap five we have Matthew stretching out his lead with Scott in second followed by Felix, JR, Leon, Daimon, Cole and Chris. Things started to get interesting, well maybe not for Leon as he fell from fourth to eighth on lap eight. Felix fell from third to fourth but regained third a few laps later.

Back at the front Matthew was opening up his lead on second place JR Mitch. On lap eleven we saw a change for third place as Felix was able to get around Scott. From there on out Felix would maintain that third position and JR would maintain the second position.

Scott would continue to battle with Cole for the fourth spot and at one time losing it and then getting it back. Then on lap twenty eight everything that could go wrong for Scott almost did. A bobble meant that Scott would fall from fourth to sixth and then eventually seventh. Taking advantage of the bobble was Daimon, Cole, and Leon. When all was said and done the order was Matthew, JR, and Felix your top three.


In Mod Short Course, JR Mitch was the only driver to turn 23 laps and Scott Brown just missed a 23. What we really didn't know going into the B-Main was who was going to finish first and second and bump up into the A-Main. Well...when the dust settled or should I say time had expired we were proud to introduce Cole Tollard and Daniel Castaneda into the A-Main.

Now that our grid was set with 8 trucks it was time to see if JR Mitch would continue his dominance or would it be Scott Brown, starting second, put a stop to it. At the tone everyone roared off into the first turn and after lap one it was JR, Scott, Matthew, Ryan, Daimon, Daniel, Cole, and Leon. On lap three a mistake coming around the Novak corner caused a huge pileup that involved almost everyone except for JR. By the time the marshals were able to sort out the mess JR had extended his lead and the running order looked different than it did the previous lap. Scott fell back to fourth, Matthew moved up to second, Ryan moved to third, Daimon, Leon, Cole, and Daniel were good boys and didn't gain or lose their original spots.

So with JR in the express lane of the checkout it was a battle trying to get to that second spot and try and catch him. Lap six saw Ryan take over the second position but after three laps he fell back to fifth and then back to eighth on the next lap. Scott moved back to second on lap nine but not that far behind him was the youngster Daimon. Daimon held that position when out of know where cam Leon who on lap seven was in eigth place and picked off five spots to move to third and then to second. Unfortunately lady luck was not on Leon's side as he slowly started his descent in the running order where he would eventually finish 7th.

On lap nineteen we saw Daimon back in second and in third was our bump up driver Cole. In case you lost track JR was still leading. With Daimon getting some light pressure from Cole but still a comfortable gap, he was hoping that his truck was faster than JR's or that JR would go into the dreaded cruise control mode and come back to him. However, JR's experience paid off and he was able to take the win. Daimon finished second followed by Cole, Scott, Matthew, Ryan, Leon, and Daniel. To recap, here is how the Mod Short Course drivers finished.



In Short Course Buggy, Tracy Carver and Matt Epps filled the last two remaining spots by finishing first and second in the B-Main.

With the A-Main grid set it was time to show everyone just how good these Short Course Buggies really are. At the tone your Top Qualifier Chris Gould was at the point with the rest of the field falling in behind. It wasn't until lap three that your Mark Burt, running in second place at the time, ran into some trouble and fell back to fifth place. This allowed Mike, Dave, and Landen to gain positions. Then on lap 7 Dave was right by Mike and was able to wrestle the position away. From there on out Dave remained in second and Mike in third. Right behind them a battle started to brew as Mark started to real in Landen and it was game on for lap fifteen and that was when Mark was able to take back at least one position he lost earlier. While those guys were battling it out, Tracy Carver moved his way into sixth place getting by Matt Epps and Brian Lewis. Unfortunately for Tracy that is all the farther he would climb up thru the field.

So where was Chris? Well, he was enjoying the view from the front and just driving his mid-motor X-Factory, Orion powered SCB around the track. With no real challenges the only thing that he had to worry about was getting caught up in lap traffic. After 7 minutes of racing his worries were over as he crossed the line first followed by Dave, and Mike. Here is how the rest of the field finished in Short Course Buggy.


In the Novice class, having nine trucks, it was decided to run all of them together instead of breaking it up to six in the A-Main and three in the B-Main. With all nine trucks lined up on the grid it was go time.

After the first lap Dalton had made his way to the lead followed by Robert, Tyler, Dexter, PJ, Adam, Zakary, Patrick, and Mike. By lap three Tyler found his way around Robert for second and would hold onto that position until lap nine when Robert would retake the second position. He was able to hold onto that position until lap twelve when Tyler would retake the position and he would go on to finish second behind Dalton and Robert had to settle for third place.

With one lap to go there was a battle brewing up for the fifth position between Patrick and Zakary. As they crossed the line with one lap to go they were bumper to bumper but it was Patrick who was able to hold off Zakary who settled himself in for the sixth position. Here is how the final order looked.


Remember when I said you could bump up from the lower mains and make it all the way to the A-Main? Well that did happen in the 17.5 Short Course Truck class. Jonathan Paulk qualified for the C-Main and went on to win. He then went on to finish second in the B-Main. Just like that Jonathan found himself in the A-Main with B-Main winner Jim Tollard.

At the start of the A-main your TQ, Billy Bruce, led the field off into the corner. He relinquished that position to Walter Cruz but on lap three he would retake the lead followed by Dave, Jonathan, Jovan, Walter, Peyton, Dion and Jim. Billy would hold onto that top spot with Dave on his rear bumper looking for a way around him. It wasn’t until lap 13 when Dave was able to get around and stretch out his lead. By this time, Dion who was in the eighth position had moved up to fourth and then eventually up to the third spot.

Further back in the field, Peyton, Jonathan, and Walter were battling for the fifth, sixth and seventh position. This battle would continue until the end when it was Walter taking over the fifth position and Jonathan taking sixth leaving Peyton with seventh. Jim dropped out early do to a malfunctioning wheel nut to finish eighth.

Back at the front Dave built up a pretty big lead on Billy but he didn’t give up. Billy continued to close the gap on Dave and before you knew it there was Billy on the back of Dave’s rear bumper waiting to pass. The two banged doors as they went thru multiple corners side by side. Eventually Billy would come out ahead of Dave and he would go on take the top spot. Dave would have to settle for second. Here is the rest of your finishing order.


What a fantastic weekend at Holeshot Raceway. I would like to give a huge thank you to Kris James and his family and all the staff at Holeshot for the hospitality and great facility they provided for the Short Course Showdown.

Up next for the Tour will be September 13-15 at the amazing Unser Racing in Denver. This is an amazing place with indoor Go Karts, Restaurant, Bar and an awesome RC Track. If you ever wanted to come to the Showdown, this will be a great place to join us! At the end, after we crown the champions, Sunday night it will be the Showdown’s Throwdown on the Go Kart Track. The winners of each class will have a Throwdown on the Go Kart Track for the overall Grand Champion of the Showdown. It is going to be a blast! Thanks to all our sponsors who believe in what we are trying to do with the tour and give their support. TRAXXAS. TEAM ASSOCIATED, JCONCEPTS, VIPER, AKA, SPEKTRUM, PROLINE, FUTABA, NOVAK, SPEKTRUM, TEKIN, LIVERC.COM, RC SCORING PRO, and MYLAPS.

Yet another successful Showdown event is in the books! For more pics visit www.Facebook.com/shortcourse.showdown.

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