Phend and Denton win at Michigan State Champs Rd.5

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Mike Garrison

0 June 18, 2012, 9:01 a.m.

Round 5 of the Michigan State Championship Series

The beautiful track of The Backyard Track was host to round #5 of the Michigan State Championship Series on Saturday June 16th. All the top contenders were present again and ready to battle. The series is starting to get noticed by different teams and Serpent recently picked up Scott Ullig and Tony Carnes as their new drivers. VP PowerMaster fuels has come on board as one of the series sponsors.

1/8th Scale Nitro Buggy

This race was the chance for TLR/Team Orion/Proline sponsored Dakotah Phend to clinch the title, but he would have to fight for it. Throughout qualifying everybody tried to stay close, but Dakotah did come out on top to claim the first spot on the starting grid in the A Main. After a fairly clean start, Dakotah was out front, closely followed by the rest of the field. With Dakotah slowly creaping away from the field, the battle over positions 2 through 5 continued throughout the 30 minute main. In the end it was TLR/Team Orion/Proline sponsored Dakotah Phend taking the win with Werks sponsored Mo Denton in second and TLR sponsored Michael Weihl in third. With this win, Dakotah Phend would put claim on the 2012 Michigan State Championship in 1/8th Scale Nitro Buggy!

Results:

1.      Dakotah Phend

2.      Mo Denton

3.      Michael Weihl

4.      Scott Ullig

Current Standings (no drops taken into consideration):

1.      Dakotah Phend (760 points) – Champion

2.      Michael Weihl (717 points)

3.      Tony Carnes (699 points)

4.      Mike Marshall (684 points)

5.      Nick Vasquez (680 points)

1/8th Scale Nitro Truggy

TLR/Team Orion/Proline sponsored Dakotah Phend also had the chance to claim the championship in the Truggy class today. Early on in qualifying it was obvious that he was serious about claiming the title and was top qualifier once again. After the start of the A Main, Dakotah was challenged by Mo Denton for a few laps, until Dakotah started checking out. It seemed that this would be an easy win again for Dakotah Phend and that the fight would be for the remaining podium spots. This was until Dakotah's car flamed out on lap 46. Dakotah's pit crew scrambled to get the car fired up again, but unfortunately this took a long time due to a failing glow plug. When Dakotah's car was finally running again, he was in 5th position and everybody expected that the charge would be on, until his car flamed out again 2 laps later. While all this was going on, Werks sponsored Mo Denton and A Main Hobbies/AKA/OS Engines sponsored Scott Rapoport were battling for the top position. Dakotah finally came out back on the track in 7th positions and started charging forward. Unfortunately too much time was lost and Dakotah only managed to come back to 5th position, possibly saving enough points to still being able to claim the title by the end of the year. When the 30 minutes were over, Mo Denton crossed the line in first place, followed by Scott Rapoport and TLR sponsored Mike Marshall.

Results:

1.      Mo Denton

2.      Scott Rapoport

3.      Mike Marshall

4.      Bill Bridges

5.      Dakotah Phend

Current Standings (no drops taken into consideration):

1.      Dakotah Phend (755 points)

2.      Mo Denton (735 points)

3.      Caleb Henry (657 points)

4.      Scott Rapoport (581 points) (-1 race)

5.      Bill Bridges (561 points) (-1 race)

1/8th Scale Electric Buggy

The championship battle in the 1/8th Scale Electric Buggy class is between Team Tekin sponsored Nick Vasquez and A Main Hobbies/AKA sponsored Scott Rapoport. Both drivers were in attendance and ready to battle. At the end of qualifying it showed that Nick Vasquez came prepared and he claimed the top qualifying spot. Scott Rapoport would start right behind him. The A Main started off clean and the whole pack was following the leader Nick Vasquez. Nick and Scott Rapoport slowly pulled away from the field and the battle was on. Scott would loose contact with Nick after a few laps and Nick put it on cruise control. It looked like the top 2 had been decided, but Mike Raaz was on the move and he was slowly closing in on Scott Rapoport. Mike Raaz managed to pass Scott Rapoport on the last lap and crossed the line less than 1/10th of a second ahead of Scott. Team Tekin sponsored Nick Vasquez took the win over Mike Raaz and A Main Hobbies/AKA sponsored Scott Rapoport in third.

Results:

1.      Nick Vasquez

2.      Mike Raaz

3.      Scott Rapoport

4.      Brian Trammel

Current Standings (no drops taken into consideration):

1.      Nick Vasquez (746 points)

2.      Brian Trammel (679 points)

3.      Caleb Henry (643 points)

4.      Scott Rapoport (595 points) (-1 race)

5.      Christopher Stroh (528 points)

2WD Short Course

The 2WD Short Course class showed the usual suspects and it was Panther/TrakPower sponsored Johnny LoGuidice that took the top qualifying position. The main did not start off clean, but Johnny was able to take the lead. Unfortunately, 2nd place qualifier Jimbo and 10th place qualifier Jon Countegan were collected in a few collisions and had to retire on lap #2. While Johnny LoGuidice started to check out, battles were found throughout the fields. Some had a bad start, while others gained several positions because of it. At the end of the race, Panther/TrakPower sponsored Johnny LoGuidice crossed the line almost a full lap ahead of Russell Chester and Russ Bryant finished in third.

Results:

1.      Johnny LoGuidice

2.      Russell Chester

3.      Russ Bryant

4.      Terry Stough

Current Standings (no drops taken into consideration):

1.      Russ Bryant (591 points) (-1 race)

2.      Jimbo (571 points) (-1 race)

3.      Russell Chester (567 points) (-1 race)

4.      Jon Countegan (538 points) (-1 race)

5.      Ben Boileau (534 points) (-1 race)

So far the closest battles in the championship of any of the classes has been in the 4WD Short Course class between Serpent/VP PowerMaster sponsored Tony Carnes and TLR sponsored Steve Culbert, but unfortunately Steve had to skip this round of the championship, giving Tony the opportunity to capitalize. But there were other contenders ready for battle in this class. At the end of qualifying, it was Team Orion sponsored Mike Sontag that put the claim on top qualifier. After the start of the A Main, Mike Sontag would take the lead and he had a clear track ahead of him to put in clean laps. 2nd place qualifier, Tony Carnes, was not so lucky and dropped all the way back to 7th place at the end of the first lap. Tony Carnes would recover and climb his way back through the field all the way to 3rd place, saving valuable points in the process. At the end of the race it was Team Orion sponsored Mike Sontag that crossed the line in first, followed by A Main Hobbies/AKA sponsored Scott Rapoport in second and Serpent/VP PowerMaster sponsored Tony Carnes in third.

Results:

1.      Mike Sontag

2.      Scott Rapoport

3.      Tony Carnes

4.      Snickers

Current Standings (no drops taken into consideration):

1.      Tony Carnes (730 points)

2.      Brian Trammel (672 points)

3.      Mike Sontag (601 points) (-1 race)

4.      Scott Rapoport (588 points) (-1 race)

5.      Steve Culbert (585 points) (-1 race)

The novice class was full of great racing for kids that just are starting out. Some of the usual suspects were missing at this round, which could result in a surprise winner. At the end of qualifying it was Mike Valentine Jr that put his claim on the top qualifying positions. After the start of the main, Mike Valentine Jr took the early lead, but made several mistakes that caused him to drop back as far as 4th place. At this time it was Carly Strole that took over the lead. Brady Countegan crossed the line at the end of the first lap in 5th, but managed to climb his way up all the way to the lead by lap 13 and would never look back until the race was over. Mike Valentine Jr was able to recover from his early mistakes to take second and Carly Strole dropped back to third place.

Results:

1.      Brady Countegan

2.      Mike Valentine Jr

3.      Carly Strole

4.      Austin Weihl

Current Standings (no drops taken into consideration):

1.      Austin Weihl (734 points)

2.      Hayden Heith (587 points) (-1 race)

3.      Mike Valentine Jr (583 points) (-1 race)

4.      Brayden Bridges (539 points) (-1 race)

5.      Kody Culbert (439 points) (-2 races)

The organizers of the Michigan State Championship Series would like to thank everybody for coming out and supporting the series and helping it grow into the ultimate off-road series of Michigan. A very big thank you as well to the series sponsors: O'Donnell Racing Fuel, Duratrax Performance Tires, Team Losi Racing, M2C Racing, Dirtburner Racing, Twisted RC and VP PowerMasters Fuel.

Round #6 of the Michigan State Championship Series will be at the Northern Michigan RC Club (NMRCC) in Gaylord, MI on July 7th 2012.