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Nov. 7, 2014, 6:17 a.m.
11/7/2014
By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com
Everybody knows that Friday is meant for reminiscing old times. Each week we take you back in time as we flashback to some of R/C racing's greatest moments, products, drivers, and more!
Flashback: 2011
S&N's Trackside Hobbies hosts tenth annual Spektrum Off-Road Championships
Next week, LiveRC will be broadcasting from the 200mm IC World Championships in Bangkok, Thailand - but not before hitting up Trackside Hobbies and Raceways in Brookfield, WI for what has become affectionately referred to as "the Spektrum Race." The event is rooted in Scotty Ernst's original ownership of what was then S&N's Trackside Hobbies, most famously known for the annual Novak-sponsored U.S. Touring Car Championships held on one of the best carpet tracks in the country. The mid-2000's brought about a radical change throughout the R/C industry, however, as off-road racing - and the short course craze in particular - took over, prompting track owners like Ernst to consider adapting their business model to favor the dirtier side of radio control. Eventually, Trackside's carpet track was covered in clay and converted into an off-road-only facility, which launched their annual marquee off-road race, that started all the way back in 2002, into the national spotlight.
To celebrate the tenth running of what has become one of the largest off-road races in the country, and what is typically heralded as the last major electric off-road race of each season, over 400 entries attended and LiveRC was not only there to stream the race live, but report on what happened.
Ryan Cavalieri (right) may have taken a break to watch team manager Brent Thielke drive once or twice that weekend, but that was about the only time he wasn't flying. The Top Qualifier of Modified 2WD had his hands full of TLR's Dustin Evans, though, as the the 2011 National Champion raced from the third spot on the grid to win A2 and force the 2WD title to go down to the final race. Ryan got some help from his teammate, and local favorite, Chad Due in the third A-Main as Evans never got by him to make an attempt at the overall, leaving Ryan out front to bring home the championship.
Evans, flanked here by part-time LiveRC broadcaster Marshall Skare and a younger Dakotah Phend, got the upper hand on Cavalieri in Modified Stadium Truck to take the all-important TQ spot heading into the triple-A Mains. Dustin needed only two main events to wrap up the win, squeaking out a five-second lead in A1 and narrowly getting by for the extra lap, then holding off his rival by less than a second in A2 to seal the deal.
Evans capped off the best year of his career in 4WD, once again taking the TQ spot over a 4WD field that sadly lacked some of the biggest talents in attendance. An uncontested A1 saw that year's Reedy Race Invitational winner cross the line some ten seconds up on Michael Paige, who had worked his way past Due and Thielke from fourth on the grid. In A2, Paige put together an incredible drive to push Evans to the end, finishing just .021 seconds behind the champ! Despite a poor finish in A3, in which Due won ahead of Thielke, Paige earned enough points to finish second on the podium
The champion of the Pro-2 class was decided with just a single 7-minute A-Main, and Team Associated's Ryan Cavalieri ran away from the TQ position to beat teammates Kody Numedahl and local boy Chad Due in spectacular fashion. As the only driver to make it by for the extra lap, Ryan finished nearly ten seconds up on the rest of the field.
Team Associated engineer Kody Numedahl closed out the SC10 4x4's first year on the market with a terrific showing at the Spektrum Race, capitalizing on a wild 7-minute final in which the first ROAR National Champion of the class, Dakotah Phend, was knocked back all the way to fifth. In his place, Numedahl got by Cavalieri and held off his teammate for the win by nearly five seconds.
Here are the A-Main results from the 2011 Spektrum Off-Road Challenge:
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