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View Full Version : NAMBA Dist 19 had some FE action this past weekend



D. Newland
04-11-2011, 05:54 PM
The NAMBA District 19 race was this past weekend in Tucson, Az. For 2011, they have allowed P-Sport Hydro to get on the schedule as long as we have 5 entries. Also, FE can run in "Open". In addition, if 5 FE's enter in "Open", they will combine us so we can run "FE Open", time permitting. It's a good start for FE integration into our District.

For this race, we ran P Sport Hydro on Saturday and "Open FE" on Sunday...with the same boats and drivers. I also entered "Open" with a new Q mono to race in the gas class.

The weather was right in our face Saturday. Bitter cold, rain and wind...all day long. Lenny Blake has been racing for years. I asked him if it's the coldest he's ever raced in. No, it wasn't. There was a race many years ago in Montana that was colder, but we don't expect weather like this in Arizona! Even in these conditions, the Tucson club pulled off 78 heats by 4:15. Very impressive. One thing seemed odd, though. The number of guys bleeding that day was troublesome. I mean, we're in close proximity to sharp turn fins/props, but the bloody rags I saw in numerous trash cans was freaky. One guy did fall in the mud, scraping up his hand. Maybe we just need to be more careful!

We ran P-Sport Hydro on Saturday with 5 drivers (all Insane hulls) and 2 of us ran LSH motors. 3 others had 1515 1Y's. However, it didn't matter too much due to the wind that day. Roger Payne and Steve Garcia, big gas racers from L.A. and members of the Insane Team, were in attendance (Tony-thank you for getting Steve going), and Dick Roberts, Ted McKay and myself made up the Phoenix/Az contingent of this class.

Dick and Steve were having ESC problems early on, and Steve never recovered all weekend. Dick drove home Saturday night to grab a spare so he could run Sunday. Ted McKay has a beautiful Insane hull, done up in an In-N-Out Burger theme. Ted and I continued our side-by-side racing that we had the weekend prior at our last club race, and made the best of the racing conditions. I think in 1 heat the waves were so big in turn 3/4 that I actually leap frogged over his hull. The water did lay down for at least 2 good heats. The one I care to remember is me holding off Roger's 1515 1Y powered boat with my UL-1 motor for an entire heat. Little did I know at the time that Roger Payne, is "The Man" in the district, and that's saying something, considering the talent at that race with names like Blake, Michaud, Osborne, Grim, Muth, and Dale Roberts (Dick's son) from Dist 7. Roger ended up taking the P-Sport win that day, as well as (I think) 3 out of 4 gas wins as well. That guy was on fire.

The weather broke on Sunday, but it was still breezy. At least the sun came out! We ran the P-Sports again and Dick had his ESC issues taken care of. However, the fatigue of surviving Saturday in the elements was obviously setting in on every racer in attendance. Dead boats gallore...with some carnage as well. Again, we managed to scrape together a few good heats of P-Sport, but DNF's took it's toll. I dumped mine in heat 3 because we started racing before the retrieval boat wake subsided...woops. Then in heat 4, Ted and Roger were going at it in turn 3 with me right on their tail. They collided, flipped, and I went right over 1 of them. Easy heat win for Dick, with the class win going to...Roger Payne...again! Like I said, the guy is on fire!

I also entered a newly build Q Mono in "Open" on Sunday to run against the gas/nitro guys. It's a 40" Delta Force, 1527 1Y, 6S2P, Castle HV 240 and an X455. The boat was impressive during open water on Friday, but I was worried about the sloppy conditions on Sunday and I was battling an overheating driveline during the last few test runs.

6 boat heats with G1/GX1 Sport Hydros/monos/riggers, a C Mono and some Jersey Skiffs thrown in for good measure. At the start of my first heat, I took lane 2 coming up to the start, with a Jersey Skiff in Lane 1. It looked like I was racing against an aircraft carrier! Out of 4 starts, I nailed 2 of them and, what seemed effortlessly to most (I was actually shaking and pee'd a little), extended my lead with most of them...except for Michaud. He was typically the fastest guy chasing me with his sport hydro, and I could only hold him off for 4 laps...twice! Roger got me the same way in Round 4, but I had a cut anyway so he may have been laying up until the end.

Out of 11 Open boats, only 2 of us finished all 4 heats. Me and Roger Payne. Roger took the class win! 1600 pts with his Sport Hydro. Michaud took 2nd as he had (3) 1st places and a DNF to my (3) 2nd places and a third. It was a blast, and I couldn't be happier with my new build. 24 laps of hard racing in less than ideal conditions and the boat only made 2 moves that made me pucker a little bit!