2021 Rocket City Challenge Results

Press Release From RC3:
www.rc3racing.com

This past weekend,  252 entries descended on Rc3 and the rocket city.  We had racers from Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and of course locally in Alabama.  The action started Friday with open practice and weather watching.  Weatherman changed the forecast last minute and bumped rain chance up to 50%.  With a little luck, we missed all the heavy storms and only got light showers mostly early Saturday morning.  Saturday saw some great qualifying action.  Race Director Ben Robbins decided to run 2 heats of rocket rounds on Saturday with longer heat times to maximize track time for everyone.  For a surprise, all the 1/10 classes were full heats, that was great to see.  1/8 classes had some of the best racers in the south shooting in out.  As the day went on, the track began to let us say "get some character" in it.  With the forecast being iffy, the track crew could not water as much leading up to Saturday so track being dry let some pretty good hole form.  Saturday went great though, and everyone seemed to enjoy the change of not such a smooth track and the race was living up to its name "Challenge".  After two heats, the Mains were set for Sunday, but before Saturday night was over we had two special events.  The buddy race and pit stop challenge.  The buddy was the funniest thing I have seen in awhile.  Congrats to Logan Powell and Ben Reed on their win and don't forget the marshal ( one marshal per car) Taylor Faulkner.   Onto the pit stop challenge and there Danny Smith and Justin Whitcare were able to barely squeak by for the best time to take the win.  Then before everyone stopped for the night, we were able to give away the grand prize of a new 7pxr radio by Futaba USA.  Jimmy Barrett was the lucky person this year!   Thank you Futaba again for being the title sponsor.

Sunday rolled around and we started running the Lower Mains working our way to the grand finale.  Great battles throughout the day in the heat and dry track conditions.  Tire choice would be key on this day to do good.  Several good racers found themselves in lower mains and some were lucky enough to work their way to the A's.  Now onto the the big shows and A Mains.  Highlights in the 1/10 classes were Justin Whitcare taking 2wd buggy, Stadium truck, and 4wd buggy this year.  Jeremy Stump took 2wd short course,  Daniel Myers took 4wd short course and David Sawyer took Spec Slash.  Greg Datcher was able to take Mini truggy as well. 

After those close battles,  the big boys in 1/8 put on a show.  Blake Boggs was TQ in both buggy classes and people were wondering if anybody had anything for the Team Associated driver.  Randy Carte Jr was holding the TQ in 40+ Ebuggy and Mark McPherson was TQ in 40+ Nitro buggy.  Other TQ's in truggy were Drew Williams and Logan Powell in nitro.   Onto the Mains,  1st up was Nitro Truggy.  As the Main started Logan Powell jumped out to good lead,  but right before 1/2 mark of the Main, his steering servo had issues.  That turned the lead over to Tyler Schrimsher and he never looked backed.  Drew Williams chased but Tyler was able to hold a good lead and got the Win!   Drew was second, Danny Smith was 3rd, Jody Johnson 4th and Michael Hill was 5th.   Nitro Buggy was up next and except for one bobble at the beginning, Blake Boggs lead from the tone!  His team associated rc8b3.2 was handling the bumps with ease and he drove to victory.  Jeremy Reid was 2nd, Izriah Osborne 3rd, Drew Williams 4th and Daniel Myers was 5th.    40+ Nitro saw a good battle from the old guys, haha.  Jody Johnson was able to take the win in his Mugen ride.  Michael Hill was 2nd, with Mark McPherson and Bobby Moore finishing 3rd and 4th.  Mark Thomas rounded out the podium with 5th.   

Onto the Electric classes and the battles continued.  In Etruggy Drew Williams and his Tekno 2.0 was not to be beat.  He was able to take the win followed by Zach Barrett 2nd, Ben Reed 3rd, Jimmy Barrett 4th and Jeremy Stump 5th.   In 40+ Ebuggy , Randy Carte Jr. put on a show and his HB 819rs took the win.  Brian Looper give chase but came up 2nd, Jody Johnson 3rd, Mark McPherson 4th and Brian Kadow 5th.  Now on to the big show with Pro Ebuggy.  Man what a great battle between friends for the whole race.  Blake Boggs and Chris Rakus fought it out the entire 10 minute main.  Blake would lead for awhile but some untimely mistakes let Chris Rakus get the lead and hold off Mr. Boggs for the WIN!  Chris's HB buggy was soaking up the the bumps and looked good.  Blake Boggs 2nd,  Izriah Osborne 3rd, Jeremy Reid 4th and Drew Williams took 5th.

Overall this was the best race and entry count ever at Rc3!  Rc3 would like to thank all the racers for there patience during the changing forecast and with the rough track conditions at times.  We definitely look forward to 2022 and we will do this all over again.  Congrats to all the winners!  For all the results 

https://rc3racing.liverc.com/results/    or Check out our Facebook page: Rc3racing group.