Electric Nationals race results

[Jim Bickford]

Not sure if the races have been posted, can't access the Nats web page. If not, you can view the days winners here

http://members.tripod.com/psfastelectrics5/

[ReddyWatts]

Thanks for posting this info.

[Steven Vaccaro]

Thanks!

[Jim Bickford]

Thanks guys, I hope to add movies if they turn out. I'll let you know later.

It was hot in both the weather and in racing, a great time was had by all. I have just put up podium pix and will have stats on the records set by Brian Buaas in two lap time trials and Darin Jorden in "N" 1 Mono but must confirm first.

The racing and driving were the best I have seen in many years. Drivers coming to the starting line 6 abreast and makeng it through the first turn without any mishaps or DQ's, great driving guys.

Some drivers lost speed controls ( I think we all no the smell ) and some lost shafts too the water gods but thats racing on the edge.

we did have a couple of boats go down and stick in the mud but with the lake only 10 feet deep it was a good excuse to get wet, all were found and lived to race again. Joe Slaney busted a large hole in his Tunnel hull but it was retrived before it sank. Must of been some of the large carp we saw jumping out of the water on occasion.

The DMWB hosted a great event and had great help from District 9. Great job guys.

[D. Newland]

I think I've finally made up for lack of sleep during the long weekend to post some thoughts about the '08 Nat's. This is from memory, so I hope I have my facts straight.

First off, Randy, Wilmer, Joe Slaney and Kim Naylor from the DMWB, Malvey from Dist 19 handling the sign-up website, and Dave Bestpitch along with a few other Nitro racers from Dist 9 all came together to put on a terrific event. Very well organized. Nothing was left out. Joe put together a scaffold drivers stand that put our line of sight probably 15' + above the water. They had 2 teenagers running the retrieval boat (including Randy's son) at all times. The Rolling Ghetto was parked in the pits all weekend, so we had access to all kinds of parts/tools, in addition to having something good to look at all weekend long.

One of the jobs that often goes unnoticed is the person in charge of organizing the heat sheets each day. Adds, drops, frequency changes, collecting $$, etc, etc. Kim Naylor was absolutely terrific in handing this very time consuming task.

The racing. First the 2 lap rundown. I actually don't have specific times on hand, but those that ran the 2 lap really got hooked, including me. Something about racing that damn clock. Buass shined in many classes (N-2 rigger, P rigger, P mono, OPC (not with an SV spec motor), N-2 Sport, etc. Top of the field. Darrin and I got caught up in N-1 mono, with Darring taking it. Unfortunately, the weather on Saturday was hot and breezy, so we didn't run the 2 lap the final day. I had my N-1 all geeked out ready to run, too! Not.

N-2 Hydro: There was a terrific field of boats in this class. Mike Martin took it with consistant finishes and with a boat that was not the fastest in the field. Funny how that works! Randy had set himself up for the class win with 800 pts going into the 3rd heat. His rigger was running right up there w/Buass's (who got into DNF trouble), but unfortunately Randy got tied up in the 3rd heat missing a boat that was missing a dead boat and flipped on a buoy. I was really pulling for Randy in this class seeing how well he had that rigger dialed in.

N-1 Mono was the battle of the geeks. Me, Darrin and Wilmer went at it pretty hard. Darrin and Will were running the new brushless 17.5 (?) motors and I was on a traditional 27T brushed motor. Speeds were very comparable, but you really had to prop up the brushless motors due to a much lower Kv. Darrin's planning and tuning got him the win.

LSO ran 6 laps with no left turns. Very solid class using the SV 27 power system. I should have paid more attention to the hulls that were run...I used a BBY Patriot 28 mono and Douggie Twaits Jr used (I believe) a wood Wild Thing.

Q Offshore: Only 4 racers in this heat, but it was terrific competition. The first heat I was no more than 5 feet from Douggie for 4 minutes, but I couldn't push my batteries any harder for heats 2 and 3. Douggie could and propped up each heat, getting faster and faster. His driving is tops.

Spec 19 T Mono: Battle of the geeks again, but this time with Wilmer, Douggie and myself. Douggie and I were running brushed 19T's, and I believe Wil was running the brushless 13.5 equivelent. Hat's off to Wil for fending off the competition! He was top geek.

P mono continues to be the class, IMO, that really is the defining class of what FE has become with recent tech. Buass swepped it. I believe he and Douggie were running Delta's and I ran a Titan 40.

N-2 Sport Hydro goes to Scott Bickford. Again, another example of a solid setup getting 3 solid finishes and taking the class win. This is an easy class to push too hard, which doesn't help your DNF %... Scott didn't crumble under pressure! Terrific win.

P Spec OPC tunnel had a few other hulls running rather than the TS-2. Buass spent time on his sponsons and it paid off with (I believe) a 1200 pt sweep of that class. Greg Schweers also had his OPC running very well, but Brian was uncatchable.

T mono: Lots of power here and even though there were only 3 boats running, it was a crowd pleaser. John Fruge' takes the win and I will say that in heat 1 put on a show on how to set up and pass a competitor. Malvey was the recipient. Mind you these boats were well into the 50's and Fruge stayed just behind Malvey for 3-4 laps. He noticed Malvey was running a bit wide on the right side of the course and at about lap 4 or 5, set him up with a terrific inside pass while Malvey was left wondering what just happened. Fruge' never let off the throttle and took the heat and class win.

SV 27 was box stock for the most part. Left turnfins were allowed, though we didn't do any left turns. Upgraded trim tabs were allowed and we all turned in our props and did a random "pull from the hat" to see which Grim 42x55 prop you would run with. Buass and I finished the first 2 rounds with 800 pts and were paired up in the 3rd heat to see who would take it. My boat got a bit looser in round 2, so a damp rag shoved up in the nose was going to give me the additional weight up front for the final round. My hull was still a tiny bit looser than Brian's which gave me the speed advantage at the start and fortunately kept it that way for 6 laps. Ken Haines was right there, too, taking 3rd overall.

T Offshore was cut short due to the extreme heat we had on that day. It was also the class where we saw our only Lipo incident. 1 of Randy's 5S packs let go as he was pulling it in and he quickly submerged the hull to control the fire. Quick thinking! We hit 108 degrees that day, mixed with some humidity and dry lightning (that was the cause of many of the Ca fires going on right now...).

N-2 mono had some terrific competition and drivers. Many Delta 25's and at least 1 N/S 2 running and we had some wind pick up mid-morning which kept us from airing them out fully for heats 2 & 3. Ken Haines had a very competitive boat, but, IIRC, had some smoke to deal with in that heat, causing a DNF. I was able to hold off Buass in points for the class win. Darrin was right there, too.

P Offshore: Another P mono domination by Buass. No question. Darrin and Ken had terrific running boats but they just couldn't get the Snowman.

P Hydro was a show-stopper as well. Buass definitely had the field beat in speed and handling, with 1 minor exception. IIRC, his P rigger pulled a 22.XX 2 lap time and his heat race trim looked just as good. Unfortunately, there was a hole in the water just after turn 1 lap 2 of the 1st heat, and the boat cart-wheeled a number of times. Then got hit by another rigger. Nothing a little CA couldn't take care of as the boat is bulletproof. Literally. It will stop a 9 mm round. Douggie was feverishly tuning/tweaking his rigger all morning to get it to run with some speed and got a ton of help from Buass. It worked to a point, but he was still getting his Neu motor well above 200 degrees after each run. Fortunately, his steady and conisistent driving got him the class win. For those that have raced with Douggie, you know what I'm talking about.

19T Rigger was another geek motor class. Darrin and I had nothing for Douggie as Douggie was rebuilding his brushed motor after each heat. His Rumrunner rigger was unstoppable. I joked after heat 2 that if he rebuild his motor 1 more time he was going to mess something up. Shortely thereafter, he fried his ESC bench testing his setup...bad mojo I guess. He had a spare, got it running and beat us badly again for the 3rd heat!

N-2 Offshore was a kick because I set up a boat for Dave Bestpitch (Event announcer/Nitro Dist 9 Competitor and NAMBA Dist 9 Director) to run and he seemed to be having a ball. Talking the whole 4 minutes X 3 heats, etc, etc. He pulled a 4th place with 3 finishes and 0 cut buoys. Just as Buass ran away with P mono and P O/S, it was my turn in N-2 mono and O/S. Again, Ken Haines was right there in the hunt with his Delta Force.

P Sport Hydro: Again, another story about having a consistent and well running hull that finishes heats gets the class win. Hats off to Jim Bickford! Buass was right behind him with an SV 27 powered picklefork, and Joe Slaney gets 3rd with a Buass shovel that was hands-down the fasted P Sport many of us have ever seen. Joe was driving it like he stole it.

Q Mono: Douggie almost let this one slip by. He had 800 pts going into the final heat, and layed up for heat 3. But, as we all know the boats handle differently when you lay up and sometimes wierd things happen. Well, he stuffed it on lap 4 right in front of the drivers stand. But, he had enough points to get the class win with Mike Martin close on his heals. Ken Haines would have been right in there as well, but his ESC didn't arm before the 3rd heat and he couldn't shake the gremlin before the start, resulting in a DNS.

LSH was Ken's spot to shine. Terrific running hull and he gets the class win! Wilmer was right in there, along with Jim Bickford.

IIRC, 2 Hydra 240 HV"s went up in smoke during open water on Wednesday. Randy had some trouble with his N-2 Sport ESC (it was rough that heat with a lot of on/off throttle), Buass pushed an SV setup a bit too hard but I don't recall what exactly happened to his equipment, and Ken had 1 ESC issue. There were only a handful of boat collisions all weekend, and a "collision" with a hatch that was a non-issue. 2 boats sunk and recovered. All in all, not bad for 4 full days of racing. Excellent competition mixed with genuine respect and admiration for this goofy hobby of ours.

For those involved in NAMBA, Dave Bestpitch is one heck of a guy. He has a terrific perspective on our hobby, and especially FE. He gets it. my hat is off to him for all the help he provided over the 4 days of racing, as well as setting up and running the 2 lap equipment after the days heat racing was done!

[Darin Jordan]

GREAT report David!

Just to note... I was the only one running the 17.5 BL in N1... Everyone else, Wilmer included, used their 27T brushed motors...

In 19T Mono, Ken Haines and I were both running the new 13.5 BL motors... Wilmer and everyone else were using their 19T brushed motor of choice...

I think for me, the jury is still out on which motors would ultimately be fastest... I think in N1, if you can make the torque work for you, the 17.5 might be the way to go... I was spinning some SICK sized props...

For 19T, at this point, I'd have to say the 19T brushed is the way to go... I couldn't get a prop to work that would keep up with you guys in that class... At least not with direct drive...

That may be the solution.... I'm going to experiment with it a bit and see what I can do...

Can't wait to get together with all of you (and MORE) and do it again!! It was truely a great time and I'm SOOOOO thankful to have had the chance to race with all of you....