properchopper
03-26-2018, 02:02 PM
After last year’s season ended with a whimper, not an (orange) bang, things got off to a great start Saturday with some new rules brought in with the assistance of Insane’s Steve Lopez. A 4 boat minimum with some flexibility in the “P-Ltd” class designation (36-61 mm motors) was instituted and also, race-day registration was permitted. These will be discussed/modified if need be as the season unfolds. Energized by fresh entries in both P-Ltd Cat and a surprise last-minute-qualifying P-Ltd Sport Hydro class the FE ranks were set for some hot racing. We welcomed some new competitors in the P-Ltd Cat class with both the Pro Marine Skater and Ray P’s new smokin’ hot, ultra-fast Rayzerdesign Cat. [Mikey C. showed up and revealed that his Ex-Presnell MC will be ready by next race] This class was hotly contested – unfortunately my MC in its seventh season of racing had a terminal case of glitches and ended up committing Hari-Kari on a shoreline starting table. (A Viking Funeral is in the works ).The P-Ltd Sport Hydro competition unfolded as a welcome reminder of just how exciting racing can be when there’s close action. I’ve been in many races where the field stretches out and you’re simply driving around the course by yourself. Not so Saturday when my old Club buddy Mike (theShaughnessy), piloting an FE30 I built for a former club member battled it out nose to tail with my personal FE30 in the two last heats. I beat him in round three for first place but after holding him off for a butt-clenching five laps in round four I went wide in the final turn (I do that a lot) we had a mad drag race to the finish line (complete with wild cheering from the spectators) where he beat me by a sponson tip. ( I almost broke my throttle trigger squeezing it so hard at the dash to the finish line) . Man it was fun and brought back that “feeling” when racing is at its finest. I took first overall and went home with a Home Depot gift card. (yay- more Velcro). The best part of it all was that some fresh blood showed up in P-Ltd Cat – Dennis P, Todd S., Mike C. flexing from IC, and my newly broken- in pit man JohnnyMac ( who survived and still had all ten fingers at day’s end). After we packed up the good vibes just wouldn’t subside so we re-convened at a local Mexican restaurant for fish Tacos and post-race fellowship. The race was called the SCSTA Race/Fun Run. It totally lived up to that designation!