Tamiya North American Finals, Aliso Viejo,CA, August 25-26 2012.
My dad and I had practiced for 8 months for this race and we were looking forward to it ever since. During the first few days of practice, there were many racers who were passing us by on the track and were matching our fastest laps. We did not however, let this get the best of us during the practice rounds. Once the weekend of racing began, we pushed all our worries aside and prepared for battle against our competition.
Qualifiers 1-4
I started 3rd in the first qualifier and raced it out with the rest of the competition. My car was handling well but I had to make sure that I didn't screw up. I qualified very well in the first round. In the next round I was just as focused and I was able to pick up the pace. The third round I was able to qualify second and move up the rankings. After that I was able to focus on tomorrow for the last round of qualifying.
The next morning, I did some practice before the final round of qualifying. Once practice was over, I prepared myself for the last round. In the last round I upped my game and was able to maintain my 2nd place position. I then prepared myself for the triple A mains.
Triple A mains.
In the first A main, I was quite nervous but I was doing my best to control my emotions. I was however much more calm than I was in the Tamiya North American Finals in 2009. I started second on the grid in a single file restart where cars form a single line and are not side by side. When the race started, I got off to a good start, I was trying to keep up with the leader since my car was handling well but then first place began to pull away and then I focused on the third place car behind me. Juan Avetia, the driver behind me, was challenging me for my position and was clearly faster than I was. He is doing everything he can to pass me. Every time he tried to make a move on me I would always cut Juan off and not let him pass. With more than a minute to go, Juan got on the inside of me and rolled me over as we collided. The race announcer told Juan to let me by or else it would be a penalty for him. He let me by and we diced it out until the last minute. Juan tried everything he could to get by me, on the last turn, Juan got me sideways but I was able to pull ahead and place second in the first A main. Before the second A main, I was pumped up to win and try to prevent Rod Canare from winning A main #2 and the overall championship. When the second A main started I got off to a good start and got Rod a little sideways bit I let off a little and the racer behind me, Timmy Valles, got in front of me and him and Rod dueled it out for the win for the entire race. Rod Canare ended up taking the overall championship which left me an opening to win the third A main. In the final A, I got taken out by Timmy on the first 30 seconds of the race but the race director demanded Timmy to let me by, which he did. I got past a slower car and hunted down the leader, who two laps later, clipped one of the curbs and flew 5 feet in the air with the crowd going nuts. I would go on to win the third A main a take second place overall. Now I have a real good shot of winning the North American Finals next year because Rod Canare has to wait two years before he can contend for the title again.
Thank you for reading my report of the Tamiya North American Finals, my next race is the Speedtech RC Grand club race this September 22.
19 Jul 2012, 1:49 pm
