Been busy, but here's the belated story :

Being blessed with the ever-increasing acceptance and warm welcome from the IC guys in D19, we FE guys had the opportunity to once again run P-Ltd Cat during the SCSTA events. This is a fun class and with the availibility of some nice competitive RtR's it should help spread the word that organized racing is achievable without a major investment.

With only three classes that day (Scale Thunderboat, Crackerbox and FE P-Ltd Cat), things began in a relaxed and casual manner.
Leonard and I set the course buoys, and in a decision that would bite me in the butt later on, we decided to only use three turn buoys instead of the normal five. Not being an official NAMBA points event, the district rules allowed this, as well as a three-boat "exibition" P-Ltd Cat class.

The FE field consisted of Stephen (Geico), Naveed (Mean Machine) and myself running my Motley Crew. First heat Naveed went airboat, and I led Stephen for all six laps for the win.

Second heat Naveed had gremlins and I cut an (expletive deleted) outside buoy but led Stephen until he did his six; I did my seven for 2nd place.

Third heat was a repeat of the second, but I cut a buoy on the MILL LAP and led Stephen for six, which he finished while I did my seven. ( excuse alert : the three-buoy turn radius made it hard to navigate a decent WOT turn without cutting inside the far buoy. I could plead oldster vision, but Stephen consistantly rocks the course seeing with his one good eye only). [ For a full acount of my rant about why a one-lap penalty for cutting a buoy on the mill is excessive, given that I achieved no meaningful advantage, go to : IMACRAPPYDRIVER-SORELOSER.com]

Fourth heat : I was pumped up to give Stephen the race of his life(He propped up and his Geico was nicely tuned and FASST) the buzzer went off and the Legg Monster reached up and bit off my prop right at the start

Results : First Place - Stephen (Chiefy_44) MG
Second Place -Sore Loser MC
Third Place - Naveed MM

Two first-Time class winners , John Michaud (Gas Cracker) and Stephen (MG) were curiously nowhere near the water's edge when it was time for their traditional first-win Baptism ('Tho they were advised to keep their wallets and cellphones in the pits at the next race)

Addendum : For giggles, Naveed and I had a MM grudge race (I retrieved my P-Ltd MM which was in the pits as an organ donor). Naveed went airboat and I flogged the MM until the motor self-fornicated.

Happy Days !!!

Tony
SoCal Fast Electrics RC Raceboat Club
rcboatbuild@hotmail.com