| Race: Points Race #14 Date: 10-17-2004 Location: Richmond, Va. Track: 360 West Shopping Center Temperature: 68°F & Sunny |
What was originally scheduled to be last race of the points series ended up being the next to last due to a postponed race #11 which has been rescheduled for November 7th. The track layout from the last two events was so popular club members decided to reuse it for a third time. (See diagram below) Don't be surprised if you see it for the series finally.
![]() Setup went quickly due to the efforts of many . Many thanks to those who helped. After track setup registration and practice opened and everyone took full advantage. John Laster regained his strong hold on qualifying in the 1/8th scale class by moving to the top of the board with a solid 21 lap run on a 5:01.01. Keeping up with his performances of late he also won the TQ honors in Electric Touring & Nitro Touring Pro with a 17 lap on a 5:03.02 & a 20 lap on a 5:06.26 respectively. Other pole winners were David Basl in Nitro Touring Sport, Spencer Atkinson in Nitro Truck, and Aaron Bartlett in Nitro Monster Truck. With qualifying done and lunch behind us, the mains were posted as everyone hurried with their preperations for the main events. The usual format was followed having the 1/8th Scale on the track first. At the start of the event Mike Bowman driving his new Mugen MRX4 moved quickly to the front of the field followed closely by a Sean Tabor and John Laster with their mugens in tow. Mark Poore, driving a Serpent 950R, held onto the back of the front runners for a few laps but fell back after a run in with the pit road wall that would ultimately park him for the remainder of the event. Ken Harris, Chuck Lienbach, Stan Medlin, and Terrance Brown had their own race within the race dicing for positions with Stan ultimately moving ahead and securing the 4th position. Terrance would retire with Mark as mechanical problems sidelined him just 23 laps into the race. As the race continued up front Sean and Mike dispatched John in the latter parts of the race to make it a two car shoot out. When all was said and done Sean would prevail with Mike a close second. John rounded out the top three with Stan, Chuck, & Ken finishing out those running at the end. Next the Electric Touring drivers had at the tarmac but computer glitches caused a delay in running the event until the end as after the start of the race the computer promptly ended the race one lap later. Drivers recharged their batteries and waited. Nitro Truck featured no upsets this time as polesitter, Spencer Atkinson took the starting tone and led from finish to end. Earl Ingram made up for a bad performance in the last event to get the better of son Tommy and take the second spot. Tommy wound up third. Nitro Touring Sport Class had a few surprises as polesitter David Basl had probably one of his worst races of the year. Jon Barnes and Aaron Bartlett took advantage of David's injured racer and put ground in between them selves and the current points leader. David struggled with a ill handling race car to finish third behind Jon and Aaron. Paul Knab and Travis Johnson could not avoid enough bad luck to make up any points but were able to finish the event. Drivers not running at the end were Justin Jacobson, Joe Harler as Ashley stringer, Gregg Phelps, Neil Mullins, and Chris Booberg did not start. Nitro Touring Pro saw Mike Bowman get the best of John Laster in a heated battle that featured some awesome driving skills and pit strategy. Through the early moments in the event three drivers Mike, John, and Jack Honeycutt all moved to the front for brief periods. Further back in the Terrance Brown and Kevin Randolph battled each other ferociously with Robbie Medlin entering into the mix early on before entering the pits for a lengthy stay. Josh Lancaster lost touch with the front runner early and retired from the event just 8 laps in. When all was said and done Mike came away with his fourth win of the year followed by John, Jack, Terrance, Kevin, Robbie, and Josh in that order. Normally last, The Nitro Monster Truck class ran very close to its qualifying order as TQ Aaron Bartlett wasted no time in showing spectators his dominance as he moved away from the rest of the field by some eight laps. Victor Boger found himself fighting a ill handling truck and would finish third behind Aaron and Neil Mullins. Lastly the Electric Touring Class found itself closing the days event with a second attempt at running the main. This time it went off without a hitch. John Laster continued his dominance in the event in route to his tenth win of the year. The rest of the field found their own running space and seemed content to keep it that way as the field spread out quickly and was run mostly un eventful. Win the days races were concluded the Electric Touring Class finished in this order. John, Paul Knab, Louis Pollard, Todd Hook, Angie Ingram, Spencer Atkinson, Joe Harler, Tommy Ingram and Chris Booberg in that respective order.
I'd like to thanks all those drivers who stayed around and helped with track tear down. ---Mark Poore |