Team Futaba driver Mark Smyka had a great run last weekend in Maine! Read all about his adventures here: So last weekend i attented the Horizon hobbies air meet /NEOC race in Sanford Maine i last went to this race two years go when i was at the same facility and since it was a great time with off road racing on road racing rock crawling and the air show with jets planes and helicopters there is a ton of stuff to do or watch . We packed up the truck and trailer thursday night after work to get started on the three hour drive north . We arrived around eith thirty thursday night and checked into hotel then tryed to find some dinner (that was a tuff thing snce its a seasonal town everything seemed to close at eight) after finally finding a open pizza place we sat down and ate while bench racing and all the trash talk was staring before we even seen the track . After a goon night rest we headed to the track stopping for the normal dunkin doughnuts coffee to get everyone awake . we arrived around nine am and unloaded trailer setup our pits and started looking over the track . Pictures of the track we saw online made it look huge well that was not the case it was about half the size as we thought so i headed back to the pits to make some changes to put my normal setup on my nitro buggy . we practiced all day friday and i as really happy with how everything felt i tryed a couple different tire setup and compounds and realized i was fastest on m3 holeshots but i only have limited sets of them and they were wore out after 5 minutes so i tryed m3 blockaids and like them but needed a little more so i switched to x3 blockaids and loved the way the car felt i could push the car with out it geting loose . We cleaned our cars up charged everything and packed up for the night . we hit a local steak house and all i can say is Maine can not only make a hell of a lobster but they can make a mediumrare steak like the best steak house i have been to. Saturday was two rounds of qualfing and then a track side BBQ with a night fly going on after that . The first round i made a few small mistakes in the opening laps of nitro and fell back in the race order but i started throwing down some really good laps to take the lead on the final lap and taking tq for the round . In electric buggy my car was really good after two laps so i needed to be easy for the first lap or so then i could push it as hard as i wanted to so thats what i did and i ended up taking tq in this class also . For the second round i made a small change in my electric buggy and all i did was mount new tires for my nitro buggy and i again won both heats but could not better either of my first round tqs . After that we cleaned our cars packed up and headed over to the Horizon hobbies tent for the BBQ and lobster dinner . I must saw no expense was spared for this meal drinks dinner desert and everything was top notch i didnt see anyone leave the tent hungry or upset . After dinner we hung around for a while talked with other racers ,talked with the race director a bit and gave him some pointers for the next event .Then the sun went down and the air show begun the last time i was at this race the air show was canceled due to a huge storm coming in so i could not wait to see this one since im not a huge plane helicopter guy i wanted to see how they can fly them when they cant see them . I was impressed watching the show it was like a lazer light show going threw a cloud of smoke i didnt think they could do some of the things they did with the helicopters it was awesome. Sunday morning we are at the track after our pit stop for gas and dunkin coffee we setup our pits i mounted some tires for the main and got my cars ready for the third and final round . The track was very hard now with a slight black groove in it and alot of bumps now so you had to drive hard but smooth to beat the time i set in the first round right off the start i made a big mistake sending my car off the track . so with that i tryed to make up for lost time but as you know that never happens. I ended up second for this round but my tq still held by a small margin over my friend and team mugen driver Paul Quartuccio. I clean my cars changed my clutch,air filter and charged my reciever pack . Nitro buggy was up first i was starting on the pole and knew i needed a clean start so i was not mixed up in the middle of the pack cause it was very hard to pass on the tight track . the tone went off and i took off and never looked back my car was awesome easy to drive but had a ton of traction and held awesome corner speed i lead for tone to tone and was pumped for taking the win . Electric buggy was the last race of the day and i had mounted the same tires that i ran in nitro for my ebuggy so i knew traction would not be a issue . this class we were all very close so i knew i needed another clean start the tone wen off i took off and i had a great start till i hit the up hill back straight when i hit the brakes my car made a weird noise and when i came out of the corner i could see something was wrong and my car only had three wheel drive the corner marshal picked it up and saw a rock wedged under the front drive shaft and lower arm . He did everything he could to get it out and finally it did but i was three quarters of a track down and needed to make up alot of time so i will save i drove th wheels off this car and made a hard charge to catch the leader and with twenty seconds to go i was two seconds behind him and gaining but i just didnt have enought time and i finished second to fellow Proline driver Carl Doran . All in all i had a great weekend taking two tqs and a win and a second i would like to thank everyone that has helped me this year with my racing Hot Bodies usa REDS Racing usa Proline racing Futaba Odonnell racing fuel Advantage racing products
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 17:08:50 +0000