Washtenaw R/C Raceway Winter Series - Round #2
SE Michigan and Northern Ohio racers braved sheet ice on the roadways to attend the second of nine rounds of the Washtenaw R/C Raceway’s winter series this past Saturday November 22, 2014. This program is located just south of Ann Arbor, Michigan at the Washtenaw County Fairgrounds. The heated facility is a 100x52ft track with large driver’s stand and pit area to support well over the 102 entries in 14 classes that attended. Our nine race series allows two drops leading to the series title. In additional to the track and pit space there is a full service Trackside hobby shop provided by Nankin Hobbies.
20 drivers on the driver’s stand for the King of the Hill race. No marshals! Patrick Ferris came out on top for this event’s King of the Hill!
King of the Hill: Patrick Ferris – Sponsors: WRCR
Racing was intense in the many classes and 2wd Mod Buggy was no exception. The start was clean as the field rounded the initial sweeping turn leading to the large table step-down. The initial laps saw battles between the top 5 drivers with Chris Peterson leading the first two. The 2010 ROAR Stock Buggy National Champ Kenny Ferris pressed Chris hard with some very fast laps and was able to get by Chris on lap three. The running order settled in with Kenny leading the field to the end. Chris held off Tom Erickson and finished 2nd. Tom would hold 3rd place ahead of Forrest Remington.
2wd Mod Buggy Class
1st Place: Kenny Ferris (TQ) – Sponsors: WRCR
2nd Place: Chris Peterson – Sponsors: Tekin, Panther tires, DE Racing, Nankin Hobbies
3rd Place: Tom Erickson – Sponsors: Novak R/C, Nankin Hobbies
Current Season Points:
1st Kenny Ferris 202
2nd Chris Peterson 198
3rd Forrest Remington 195
Modified truck and Masters Truck will be merged into one class for the next round. In Modified truck Trevor West would take the TQ for the main. Unfortunately he was not able to start the event. Matt Hall and Dave Ferris would finish 1st and 2nd. Master’s truck also had Dave Ferris running his Team Associated T4.2 where he TQ’d and won the class. Second and third place battled early on with Mark Thompson edging out Tom Fais. Tom was able to hold on for third.
Master’s Truck Class
1st Place: Dave Ferris (TQ) – Sponsors: WRCR
2nd Place: Mark Thompson – Sponsors: Nankin Hobbies
3rd Place: Tom Fais
Mod Truck Class (not shown)
1st Place: Matt Hall
2nd Place: Dave Ferris
3rd Place: Trevor West (TQ)
Current Season Points:
To be recalculated as these classes are merging
Excitement continued in the Open 2wd Short Course class with TQ Randy Drapinski and Gio Enea challenged in the first lap by Nankin’s Mark Thompson. Mark could not hold off Randy and Gio for long as they charged hard to catch him. Mid race the running order settled in and the field finished as they started with Randy in first place followed by Gio and then Mark to complete the podium.
Open 2wd Short Course Class
1st Place: Randy Drapinski (TQ)
2nd Place: Gio Enea
3rd Place: Mark Thompson – Sponsors: Nankin Hobbies
Current Season Points:
1st Zachary Kohler 194
2nd Randy Drapinski 101
3rd Conner Stanley 101
The Washtenaw track has a good mix of challenging jumps and many lines to grab that fast lap or set up a pass. In the 4wd Buggy class this was most evident with the lead changing 8 times between 3 drivers. The winner was not determined until the last laps with Forrest Remington battling with Patrick Ferris allowing Tom Erickson to catch and join the fight after TQ Chris Peterson was out with a mechanical failure. Crossing the line in first was Forrest 1.9 seconds ahead of Patrick Ferris. Tom finished 3rd only a few seconds behind Patrick. Very tight racing with the fastest laps of any class.
4wd Mod Buggy Class
1st Place: Forrest Remington – Nankin Hobbies
2nd Place: Patrick Ferris – Sponsors: WRCR
3rd Place: Tom Erickson – Sponsors: Novak R/C, Nankin Hobbies
TQ: Chris Peterson – Sponsors: Tekin, Panther tires, DE Racing, Nankin Hobbies
Current Season Points:
1st Forrest Remington 199
2nd Chris Peterson 196
3rd Tom Erickson 195
The powerful 4x4 Short Course class totaled 10 entries to run the 7 minute main event. TQ Matt lemorie jumped to the lead right away and lead the field from start to finish. The battle for 2nd place would be fought hard in the first 5 laps with Randy Drapinski coming out ahead of Greg Shelton. Gary Fritts drove hard toward the end getting close but not quite close enough to get the last podium spot.
4x4 Short Course Class
1st Place: Matt Lemorie (TQ)
2nd Place: Randy Drapinski
3rd Place: Greg Shelton (not shown)
Current Season Points:
1st Matt Lemorie 200
2nd Greg Shelton 196
3rd Glen Handy 190
This season we have added a spec Short Course “Hand-Out motor and battery” class. All drivers are running the 5000mAH 40C RC King battery and Duratrax 13.5 fixed timing motors with their own speed controls in blinky mode. It all comes down to driver skill and chassis/tire selection. Qualifying on its own was very exciting with Ben Belote and Tom Erickson switching each round leaving TQ honors to Ben Belote with a nearly flawless third round. The 7 minute A main would see the same. The first lap saw Ben pass the line with a comfortable lead with Tom behind Mark Thompson and Matt Lemorie. Tom passed both Mark and Matt and was all over the bumper of Ben for most of the middle of the main event. The last 5 laps were intense with lead changes between Ben and Tom. On the last lap Ben had the lead and Tom was only a fraction of second behind setting up a battle to the line. Ben rolled it over on the big Table Step-down allowing Tom to pass and take the win. This format has been a very exciting one for the series. There are still a few spaces open in this limited entry class.
13.5 Spec Short Course Truck class – Sponsored by Nankin Hobbies and Duratrax
1st Place: Tom Erickson – Sponsors: Novak R/C, Nankin Hobbies
2nd Place: Ben Belote (TQ) – Sponsors: Nankin Hobbies
3rd Place: Matt Lemorie
Current Season Points:
1st Tom Erickson 199
2nd Ben Belote 198
3rd Phil West 192
The Stock Buggy class started with a battle in the first sweeping turn catching both TQ Sean Carney and Series point’s leader Nat Potter sending them back in the pack. Brent and Ken Chilcutt came across the line in 1st and 2nd in the first lap. Brent recently moved up to Stock Buggy from Novice and is looking good! Ken flipped his buggy as Sean and Nat were fighting to get back to the lead group. What a great race to watch!! There were battles all over the field. Joe Ferris kept her buggy up in third place for a few laps before a mechanical failure ended her day. The closing laps had Brent in solid 3rd place and Sean regaining the lead and Nat closing in 2nd place. Sean could not hold off Nat who passed for the win.
Stock 17.5 Buggy Class
1st Place: Nat Potter
2nd Place: Sean Carney ‘007’ (TQ) – Sponsors: RadioPost, Express Motorsports, Nankin Hobbies
3rd Place: Brent Chilcutt
Current Season Points:
1st Nat Potter 201
2nd Joe Ferris 191
3rd Sean Carney 100
Qualifying in Stock Truck was a battle between Uncle Bob and Dan Dresselhouse. Uncle Bob would TQ rounds one and two with Dan very close behind both improving each round. The last qualifier saw Dan run an almost perfect round besting Uncle Bob’s previous TQ by 5 seconds securing TQ for the main. Dan leveraged this TQ to take and hold the lead for most of the race with Uncle Bob gaining after an early battle with Matt Hall and Andy Dresselhouse. In the closing laps Uncle Bob passed Dan with a smooth landing after the triple on the inside of Dan just before start-finish line. Matt would hold Andy back to retain 3rd when the finishing tone sounded.
Stock 17.5 Truck Class
1st Place: Uncle Bob – Sponsors: Fantom Racing, B-Team,
2nd Place: Dan Dresselhouse (TQ)
3rd Place: Matt Hall
Current Season Points:
1st Uncle Bob 201
2nd Dan Dresselhouse 199
3rd Andy Dresselhouse 195
The grid for the Stock Short Course Truck class was full of drivers with the potential to win. Uncle Bob TQ’d every round and was the favorite heading to the main event. At the tone Uncle Bob jumped out with a very clean first lap gapping the field as mayhem collected Dan Dresselhouse and Sean Carney who started close behind. Uncle Bob was untouchable running a very clean main event to win start to finish. The remaining spots on the podium were up for grabs! In the early laps Gary Fritts and Tom Massel laid claim to them but could not hold off the very consistent Dan Dresselhouse and hard charging Sean Carney. By lap 6 Dan had regained 2nd place running a 96% consistency holding to the finish. Sean Carney passed first Gary and then Tom to settle into the 3rd position on lap 12 of the 20 lap final.
Stock 17.5 Short Course Truck Class
1st Place: Uncle Bob (TQ)
2nd Place: Dan Dresselhouse
3rd Place: Sean Carney ‘007’ – Sponsors: RadioPost, Express Motorsports, Nankin Hobbies
Current Season Points:
1st Uncle Bob 202
2nd Tom Massel 194
3rd Dave Ferris 190
Now in its second season, the Stampede class has grown to a full class. This is a fun-for-all class that pits stock Traxxas Stampede chassis with Monster Truck tires and bodies against each other. Intended for lower budget racing with stock systems and reverse allowed too!! The start is a land rush style which often leads to large tires tangling in the first laps. Ben Belote took the early lead but the lead would change between the top three throughout the race. Joe Gates led with his Monster Mutt body for the middle of the race but it was Matt Lemorie that would capitalize on a roll over to take the win. Joe would hold off Ben for Second. What is always fun to see is all the drivers laughing as they leave the drivers stand.
Stampede Class
1st Place: Matt Lemorie (TQ)
2nd Place: Joe Gates
3rd Place: Ben Belote – Sponsors: Nankin Hobbies
Current Season Points:
1st Matt Lemorie 200
2nd Ben Belote 197
3rd Joe Gates 194
Always a growing class is Powder Puff. This week’s win went to Joe Ferris leading Start to finish with her 2wd Stock Buggy. McKenzie Massel drove her Stock Short Course truck to a 2nd place finish putting pressure on Joe early on. Kymm Thompson brought home third place with her 2wd Short Course truck.
Powder Puff Class (no photo)
1st Place: Joe Ferris (TQ)
2nd Place: McKenzie Massel
3rd Place: Kymm Thompson
Current Season Points:
1st Joe Ferris 202
2nd McKenzie Massel 198
3rd Kymm Thompson 195
Novice Class
One of the most import classes is Novice bringing new participants to RC Racing. The full field of entries meant a lot of racing split into two groups! The Top Qualifier was Evan Peoples who is starting to look good enough to move out of the Novice class. Evan led the initial laps but soon was pressured initially by Jaxon Bolster who would give up 2nd place to Jason Jeppesen. Jason has also improved a lot and ran a smooth race. Evan and Jason are testing their skills already in the high classes. But the winner of the day was Eric Peoples who came from behind to pass the top three. Jason held on for 2nd place and Jaxon edged out Evan for the final spot on the podium in 3rd place.
Novice Class
1st Place: Eric Peoples
2nd Place: Jason Jeppesen
3rd Place: Jaxon Bolster
TQ: Evan Peoples
Current Season Points:
1st Evan Peoples 202
2nd Eric Peoples 198
3rd Andy Finkbeiner 195
The organizers at the Washtenaw R/C Raceway want to thank everyone for attending. We also would like to thank our sponsors:
And a special thanks to:
11/28/2014
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