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After a long season of racing throughout the state of Michigan, the finals of the Michigan State Championship Series had finally arrived on September 29th. The host of the final round was The Stables Raceway in Fruitport, MI. This facility has a very unique and picturesque setting with the track laid out in a value behind a large barn, which also functioned as the drivers stand. As the racers entered the barn, they were greeted by a massive amounts of trophies, as well as a large amount of give-aways.
The surface of the track was also a little different than what most racers are used to. Instead of a hard packed clay track, the racers were provided with a loamy track that would get rougher every round. Due to the changing track conditions, the qualification method was changed to points qualifying instead of the usual rocket round.
1/8th Scale Nitro Buggy
The big absentee was Dakotah Phend, who already claimed the title and was in Argentina for the World's Warm-Up. This provided an opportunity for someone else to claim the top spot of the podium. The big surprise after qualifying was that Paul Edwards claimed the top qualifying position by taking first in the first two rounds. As the track was getting rougher and rougher throughout the day, the 30 minute main was going to be a test of endurance.
Round 8 – Nitro Buggy Podium: 2. Shane Snyder – 1. Scott Ullig – 3. Dan Cook
Results:
1. Scott Ullig
2. Shane Snyder
3. Dan Cook
4. Mike Sontag
5. Jon Rimes
Final Standings:
1. Dakotah Phend
2. Scott Ullig
3. Michael Weihl
4. Mike Sontag
5. Tony Carnes
6. Mo Denton
7. Edwin Hartman
8. Dan Cook
9. Mike Marshall
10. Nick Vasquez
1/8th Scale Nitro Truggy
Qualifying in the Nitro Truggy class showed that the battle was on between Shane Snyder and A Main Hobbies/OS Engines/O'Donnell Racing Fuel/AKA sponsored Scott Rapoport, as both were within seconds of each other every round of qualifying. Shane Snyder had the upper hand at the end of qualifying by taking the top spot every round.
Right after the start, Shane Snyder took the lead with Scott Rapoport in close in tow. After swapping positions several times, Scott Rapoport was able to take over the lead, still closely followed by Shane Snyder, until Shane put his truggy on its lid and a marshall accidentally grabbed on to the fuel lid pull, causing all the fuel to flow out and stall the engine. This allowed Ashton Grabowski to take over second place and giving Scott Rapoport a comfortable lead. Shane Snyder was able to get going again quickly and rejoined the battle in fourth place. From there on, Shane Snyder put the hammer down and was putting in very fast laps on the rough track to move his way up through the field. At the end of the 30 minute main it was A Main Hobbies/OS Engines/O'Donnell Racing Fuel/AKA sponsored Scott Rapoport who crossed the line first, followed by Shane Snyder in second and Ashton Grabowski in third.
Results:
1. Scott Rapoport
2. Shane Snyder
3. Ashton Grabowski
4. Caleb Henry
5. Chloe Myers
Final Standings:
1. Dakotah Phend
2. Scott Rapoport
3. Mo Denton
4. Shane Snyder
5. Mike George
6. Caleb Henry
7. Steve Marien
8. Dylan Gilbert
9. Bill Bridges
10. Justin Hughes
1/8th Scale Electric Buggy
The always smooth driving A Main Hobbies/OS Engines/O'Donnell Racing Fuel/AKA sponsored Scott Rapoport managed to gain some valuable points by taking the top qualifying honors.
After the start of the 10 minute main, Scott Rapoport was in the lead and started putting in consistent laps and slowly pull away from the field. Behind Rapoport the battle was between Tekin/Hot Bodies sponsored Nick Vasquez (who had already claimed the 2012 title in this class), Boca Bearings sponsored Caleb Henry and Mike Raaz. On lap 9, Caleb Henry was able to get passed Nick Vasquez, but Vasquez was able to regain the second position a few laps later. At the end of the main, it was A Main Hobbies/OS Engines/O'Donnell Racing Fuel/AKA sponsored Scott Rapoport who finished the line in first, Tekin/Hot Bodies sponsored Nick Vasquez in second and Boca Bearings sponsored Caleb Henry in third.
Results:
1. Scott Rapoport
2. Nick Vasquez
3. Caleb Henry
4. Mike Raaz
5. Terry Jonas
Final Standings:
1. Nick Vasquez
2. Scott Rapoport
3. Mike Raaz
4. Brian Trammel
5. Brian Boucher
6. Edwin Hartman
7. Caleb Henry
8. Christopher Stroh
9. Kevin Myers
10. Chloe Myers
2WD Short Course
Ever since round #2 of the series, it has been the Johnny LoGiudice show in the 2WD Short Course class. So it was no surprise to see Panther/TrakPower sponsored Johnny LoGiudice on top of the chart when qualifying concluded.
Right after the start of the main, Johnny LoGiudice took the lead and checked out. Behind Johnny the battle was on between Nate, Bryan Boucher and John 'Apple' McIntosh. At the end of the main, it was Panther/TrakPower sponsored Johnny LoGiudice who crossed the line in first, John 'Apple' McIntosh in second and Russell Chester in third.
Results:
1. Johnny LoGiudice
2. John 'Apple' McIntosh
3. Russell Chester
4. Nate
5. Bryan Boucher
Final Standings:
1. Johnny LoGiudice
2. Russ Bryant
3. Bryan Boucher
4. Russell Chester
5. Mike Valentine Sr
6. Ben Boileau
7. Jimbo
8. Paul Edwards
9. Jon Countegan
10. J-Dubb
4WD Short Course
Even though TLR/Orion sponsored Mike Sontag had already wrapped up the title in 4WD Short Course, the battle behind him in the overall standings was not over yet. A Main Hobbies/OS Engines/O'Donnell Racing Fuel/AKA sponsored Scott Rapoport managed to take the top qualifying honors, providing him with valuable points in the series.
After the start, Mike Raaz was able to get the lead ahead of Scott Rapoport, John 'Apple' McIntosh and Tony Carnes. Mike Raaz' goal for the day was to gain valuable points in an attempt to claim third place in the series and getting the win in the main could potentially do this. However, on lap 9 Scott Rapoport was able to get passed Mike Raaz to take over the lead. At the end of the main it was A Main Hobbies/OS Engines/O'Donnell Racing Fuel/AKA sponsored Scott Rapoport who crossed the line in first, closely followed by a hard fighting Mike Raaz and John 'Apple' McIntosh in third. Unfortunately 2nd place was not enough for Mike Raaz to claim 3rd in the series, which was kept by Serpent/M2C/TrakPower/Futaba sponsored Tony Carnes by finishing in 4th.
Results:
1. Scott Rapoport
2. Mike Raaz
3. John 'Apple' McIntosh
4. Tony Carnes
5. Kevin Morales
Final Standings:
1. Mike Sontag
2. Scott Rapoport
3. Tony Carnes
4. Mike Raaz
5. Kevin Morales
6. Brian Trammel
7. Russell Chester
8. Pat Strole
9. Dalton Campbell
10. Steve Culbert
Novice Class
The one title that was undecided coming in to the final round of the series was in the Novice class, with only 2 points separating Mike Valentine Jr in first and Hayden Heath in second (before taking the 3rd drop into consideration), so it was important to qualify well and finish the main well for both of them. Hayden Heath did what he needed to do to take this battle to the very end by claiming the top qualifying position, which tied both Hayden Heath and Mike Valentine Jr in the standings (before taking the 3rd drop into consideration).
The main was going to be do or die for both Hayden Heath and Mike Valentine Jr. After the start of the main it was clear that Hayden Heath was dealing with significant nerves and dropped back to 3rd place with a big gab to the front runners. Mike Valentine Jr was able to get a clean start and run up front, but he was closely followed by Nick Chester. Hayden Heath finally got into his groove after several laps and started making up time on Mike and Nick. Nick started to make a few mistakes and Hayden was able to take over second and Hayden was closing in slowly on Mike. Due to a mistake by Mike on lap 8, Hayden was able to make the pass, but Mike was not giving up and it was a battle all the way to the end. Hayden Heath managed to put claim on first place, followed by Mike Valentine Jr in second and Nick Chester in third. By taking the win, Hayden Heath managed to claim the 2012 championship!
Results:
1. Hayden Heath
2. Mike Valentine Jr
3. Nick Chester
Final Standings:
1. Hayden Heath
2. Mike Valentine Jr
3. Austin Weihl
4. Nick Chester
5. Brayden Bridges
6. Kody Culbert
7. Reese Maul
8. Zach Mittelstadt
9. Max Mittelstadt
10. Brooke Rapoport
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. Also a big thanks to all the tracks and track owners for providing challenging race tracks at every round.
For more race results and information about the Michigan State Championship Series, visit www.michstatechampseries.com.
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