10th Annual Rocket City Challenge Results

By Tyler Hooks
LiveRC.com

Announcement from Rocket City Radio Control Racing Club:
www.rc3racing.com

This past weekend, The Rocket City Radio Control Racing Club (RC3) held their 10th Annual Rocket City Challenge in Huntsville, AL. With 207 entries, racers from all over the southeast came to try their hand at taking home a trophy. The packed house also wanted a shot a winning one of the three major door prizes – a Team Associated RC8T3.1 provided by Team Associated, a Tekno NB48.4 provided by Fierce RC Solutions, and the grand prize, a Futaba 7px provided by Futaba USA.

With the original date getting rained out in August, RC3 was expecting a smaller crowd, which meant downsizing from a 2-day race, to a single day event for the makeup. This led to some late-night racing, running 13 classes at over 200 entries. The final race wrapped around 2am.

On to the show…

Racing was tight all day, with changing track conditions. The first heat saw a moist track, with good traction, despite a slight layer of dust. Heat 2 threw everyone for a loop, as the track dried out from the hot Alabama sun, causing a thick dust layer and blistering track temps. By the time the mains rolled around, the moisture came out and the groove petrified in place. The red Alabama dirt turned to sticky, black pavement and traction was at an all-time high. Paired with the bumpy track conditions synonymous with a true outdoor track, it took a good setup and tire choice to run a smooth main.

In 4wd mod buggy, Bryce Taets, an RC3 local (Sweep, Trinity) was on an island to himself all day. He TQ’d handily, and carried that momentum into the main, taking the win by 15 seconds over Daniel Meyers, also an RC3 local. 

Ebuggy saw a familiar face at the top of the pole after qualifying, as Blake Boggs would set the pace for the day by 4 seconds over Team Associated teammate Izriah Osborne. Heading into the mains, racing was at its finest. Izriah Osborne and Hunter Cupp (HB) would press Boggs till the very end, around the sticky track, but with historic lap times, Blake Boggs would prevail with Izriah Osborne taking second, and Hunter Cupp taking third. Jody Johnson (Mugen Seiki) and Daniel Meyers would round out the top five.

Nitro Buggy, too, saw some incredible racing. Round 1 went to Cole Kasten of Soar Seiki, over Blake Boggs (AE) by 0.08 seconds. Heat 2 was a different story, as Cole Kasten would solidify his TQ run by 13 seconds over Boggs, setting him at the top of the pole for the main. Racing was close, as Boggs put the pressure on Kasten. Un fortunately, Boggs saw a flameout during his first pit stop, putting him nearly a lap down to Kasten with 13 minutes to go. He was able to make up ground before experiencing a few more issues. Ultimately, Kasten led from tone to tone, taking the win in a dominate fashion. Izirah Osborne (AE), Jeremy Reid (AE), and Kalob Johnstone (Soar Seiki) rounded out the top five.

- Other class podiums - 

Nitro Truggy:
1st - Chris Rakus
2nd - Drew William (Tekno)
3rd - Jody Johnson (Mugen)
4th – Nate Rogers
5th – Tony Longtin

Etruggy:
1st – Drew Williams (Tekno)
2nd - Randy Carte Jr.
3rd – Bryce Taets (Sweep, Trinity)
4th – Kalob Johnstone (Soar Seiki)
5th – Ben Robbins (Mugen)

If you’re interested in learning more about RC3, check us out on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/rc3racing/, or online at www.rc3racing.com!