10th Mike Truhe
Truhe was fast, but is sort of in the same boat as Cody King. If he cared about RC Car Racing he could be up there. Talented individual, but doesn’t put in the work, so making the main is about all he can do at this point. I didn’t really watch him in the main, at the back of the pack for the entire race.
11th Joe Bornhorts
Degani says he should stick to Truggy. A lot of mistakes in the main. He will be a contender once he gets his buggy good and comfortable like his Truggy is.
12th Alex Zanchettin
I remember a few years ago at the Neo Race, when Alex was new on the scene, he seeded into the top heat. In one qualifier he had a bad run and proceeded to have a mental meltdown, hitting everything and everyone in the process, for the duration of the qualifier. It’s like something gets jammed in full punch mode in his head at times. This was one such moment again. You would think that after crashing for the 10th time on the same triple you would figure it out, but no. Alex is super fast, but needs to mature a bit on the mental side when it comes to racing. On the positive side, at least he finished, which has proven to be a weakness over the past few years. definitely a great driver, but not as mature as Ongaro for example, who shares Alex’s pace.
13th Tanner Stees
14th Ty Tessmann
In buggy I predicted before the main, that Tessmann would be off the podium, not because of an issue, but because of mistakes. He didn’t look quite as comfortable as normal, making mistakes, miss timing jumps, and crashing. And that’s sort of what happened in the main too, it wasn’t the normal Steady Eddie Tessmann we are used to seeing. No doubt he just needs a bit more time with his car.
On another note, we can now conclusively determine once and for all that praying does not make you win RC Car races. God does not make you cross the finish line 1st any more than he gives babies malaria in Africa. So let’s look at what’s happening shall we.
There is a simple rule in racing, you have to KISS it. Keep It Simple Stupid. Yes a DEANS plug can feel tight, well guess what, so does a screw. Why do you loctite them? Because they vibrate loose. I strongly believe that some things should be made as foolproof and simple as possible. And the radio tray is one of those things. No over engineering allowed, no switches that can break, no funky connectors, KISS it. This is now 3 times Tessmann is out due to power loss at the DNC in two years. Hmmmm.
XRay
To be honest I didn’t really pay attention to the car. I would say the car is fine, Tessmann just needs some time to adjust.
15th Dakotah Phend
Dakotah started off strong, I can’t say I expected it. He was on a roll, and it was looking like it would be a Phend Maifield battle, but then an increasingly worse steering servo issue put him out. Such a shame, it could have been a good race. Dakotah was looking solid.
TLR
Not the best surface for the TLR car, what with good grip and bumps, but Phend made it work. The TLR has however always been great on jumps, and that’s something this track had a lot of! The real question is, what’s going on with TLR’s racing program, who is developing their cars, and will they have a team in 2018-19?
THEQuagraine 