Gibler and Ciccarello Win The 2022 CRCRC 1/8th Midwest Champs

Press Release From Team Xray:
www.teamxray.com

Race report by Paul Cicarello

This past weekend was the 35th Annual CRCRC 1/8 Midwest Nitro Champs find the results for nitro buggy and ebuggy here.

I was able to top seed Ebuggy Friday night and then TQ the first round on Saturday morning but after that qualifying pretty much went downhill. I was able to salvage a 6th, 3rd round of ebuggy to put myself 3rd on the grid over all but in nitro buggy I just never got a handle on my driving and slow speed of the track with the car. I qualified 3rd in the Bmain in nitro buggy.

Sunday were the mains and I was up for the nitro buggy b main. The race started off a disaster, I was crashing myself, getting raced by lapped cars, and getting taken out repeatedly. Needless to say it was not going well, I fell back as far as 7th, I even got lapped at one point and thought to myself, I think I’m just going to pull off, this is impossible. Then I said, if I want any chance of making the main, I really have to start driving better and make something happen. I started picking off guys and unlapping myself, then catching 2nd and 3rd place. I was able to make the passes and take the last bump spot into the main. That was probably the most I have concentrated in a race since I was racing slotcars at a high level and 20 years younger.

Next up was the Ebuggy A1. I got off to a good start and was second for most of the race until Adam Johnson came out of no where to pass me and Gaven to take the win. Gaven was 2nd and I was 3rd. I didn’t like my tire choice for the 2 races so far so after talking to a few guys I decided to run Clay typos for the nitro A main and A2 of ebuggy.

The nitro main started out ok. I started last but my car was really good and kept a pretty consistent pace with very little mistakes. I kept picking off guys and then found myself in 2nd place with about 10 minutes to go. 1st was long gone so I thought so I just thought well, this race hasn’t gone all that good for me so I’ll take a 2nd and feel great about it. Then I just kept my pace going and was catching the leader, he made a few mistakes which helped me close in and then make the pass for the lead. I honestly couldn’t believe after thinking about pulling off in the b main I was leading the A main and took the win! A lesson learned for me and anyone else reading this, never give up, sometimes great things can happen when you least expect it, but if you quit, you’ll never know!

A2 of ebuggy went really well, Gaven and I swapped the lead a few times with him taking the win and me second. Adam was 3rd and Xray went top 3, Gaven, Adam then me.

Pro Ebuggy results:

1. Gaven Gibler - XRAY
2. Adam Johnson - XRAY
3. Paul Ciccarello - XRAY

Nitro buggy results:

1. Paul Ciccarello - XRAY
2. Ralph Krumme Agama
3. Adam Johnson - XRAY