2007 RC Pro Series Nitro Off-road Finals - B&B Raceway Hudson
Thursday, November 15th, 2007 | 334 viewsOnce again, Gene Hickerson provides us with this complete race review of the recent RC Pro Florida Nitro Off-road Finals. Here, in his own words. 
The 2007 RC Pro Florida Nitro Off-road Finals were held at B&B Raceway in Hudson. The 4th and final round was worth 1.5 times the points to determine the State Champion. Everyone was allowed 1 drop. The track layout was not difficult, but had many elevation changes and was very fun with lots of air time. 106 entries were ready to battle for the RC Pro Series Championship. Saturday saw 3 rounds of 10 minute IFMAR qualifiers, best 2 of 3 seeded you for the mains. On Sunday, we ran the IFMAR Tree format, with 1st & 2nd going directly to the A-Final, while everyone else had to bump from the Semi-Finals.
Team Associated 1/10th Gas Truck:
In gas truck, Michael Delay took the TQ spot after 3 rounds of qualifying, followed by J.P. Tirronen and Juan Mendez. The main event was 30 minutes long. At the start, Joey Leveque took the early lead, followed by Delay and Mendez. Around lap 17, Juan Gascot took over the lead. Near the half way mark, Delay took over the lead and went on to win, lapping everyone but 2nd place Gascot. Tirronen finished 3rd. That gave Delay the Championship as well.
Traxxas Monster Truck:
In MT, Michael Jones took the TQ. Jones was not running the whole series, but was the fastest all through qualifying. Tom Avera was 2nd and Daunte Villanueva in 3rd. The A-main was 30 minutes. Avera took the early lead and dominated the whole main event to take the win. Series leader Scott Beiswinger finished 2nd and won the Championship. Mike Jones came back from early problems to finish 3rd.
Carolina’s R/C 1/8 Arena Truck:
The championship for truck was very close. In qualifying, Tony Pattishall took the overall TQ, followed by Mike Jones in 2nd. They both went straight to the Final. In the 20 minute Even Semi, Jeff Keeton, Tony Rivas, David Solomon, Jose Contreras, and Stephen Pounds took the 5 bump up spots into the A-Final. In the Odd Semi, Anton Watson, Sean Kersten, Kawri Brown, Roy P Hines, and DJ Hoelzle took 1st-5th for the bump up. The A-main was 40 minutes long and a very exciting race. Jones, Pattishall, Kersten, and Keeton all lead during the 1st half of the main. The last half of the main was a bumper to bumper battle for the lead between 1st & 2nd place in the points Keeton and Kersten. When the tone sounded, Sean Kersten had taken the win, giving him the Championship as well. Keeton took 2nd and Pattishall 3rd, all on the same lap.
Pro-line 1/8 Sportsman Buggy:
In sportsman, Tony Pattishall took the TQ in the 1st 2 rounds to go directly to the A-final along with Scott Beiswinger. In the 20 minute even Semi, Kawri Brown, Armondo Ledesna, Rene Infante, TJ Allen, and Jesse Stuiso took the bump ups. In the odd Semi, Jose Contreras, Patrick Batezel, Richard “Joe Dirt” Speights, Pete Caballero, and Ken Van Curen finished 1st-5th to bump into the A-Final. The A-Final was 30 minutes long. Series leader, Bob “spanky” Bjorkman broke during the semi and failed to make it to the A-final, ending his chance at the title. That left the door open to the rest of the top 10. At the start, Armondo Ledesna took the lead. Pattishall soon regained the lead, but broke at about the half way mark. That gave the lead to Kawri Brown who went on to win by lapping everyone but 2nd place Rene Infante. The 2nd place for Infante gave him the Championship and title of 1/8 Sportsman Buggy RC Pro Florida Nitro Off-road Series Champion.
Machine’s R/C Hobbies 1/8 Expert Buggy:
The expert buggy was giving out $1,000 cash at the finals for a total of over $1,700 for the series. JR Mitch took the TQ in round 1 and 2 to go directly to the A-Final. I (Gene Hickerson) TQ’d the 3rd round, but Ryan Eckert took 2nd with two 2nd’s and headed for the 40 minute long A-final. in the even Semi, Jeff Keeton, myself, Jim Larrimore, J.P. Tirronen, and Luis Perez bump up to the A-final. In the odd Semi, Anton Watson, Bart Collins, Joey “Batman” Perez, Lucas Mardis, and Sean Kersten took the final 5 spots in the A-Final. At the start, Mitch took the early lead and started to streach out a big lead. I quickly moved into 2nd and started to run down Mitch. On lap 3, I did the fastest lap of the weekend with a 32.1, almost 1 second faster then any other lap of the race. At about 1/3rd of the way in, I caught Mitch. But before I got to battle with him, he flamed out and soon broke at the 5 minute mark trying to make his lap back. Keeton held on to 2nd for the rest of the race and Kersten in 3rd, while I went on to take an easy win by lapping the whole field. The points were added, and 3rd place gave Sean Kersten the Championship, followed by myself and Keeton to round out the top 3.
The series was a great success for its first year and we look forward to an even better year in 2008. Thank you all of the racers who supported the series and our series sponsors: Machine’s R/C Hobbies, CEN Racing, Maxy’s Fuel, J-Concepts, Pro-line, Carolina’s R/C, Traxxas, Mona Vie-www.getacai.net, Dark Identity, JK Enterprizes, and Team Associated.
Report By: Gene ‘the machine’ Hickerson
http://www.rcprosites.com
Top 10 Final Points standings-
Machine’s R/C Hobbies 1/8 Expert Buggy:
1. Sean Kerstin - 751 points
2. Gene Hickerson - 743 points
3. Jeff Keeton - 727 points
4. J.P. Tirronen - 713 points
5. Michael Delay - 693 points
6. Luis Perez - 693 points
7. Bart Collins - 677 points
8. Juan Mendez - 630 points
9. Joey Leveque - 601 points
10. Felipe Rodriguez- 584 points
Top 10 for the Traxxas MT class:
1. Scott Beiswinger 782
2. Tom Avera 769
3. Walter Cruz 721
4. Paul Peterman 707
5. Derek Zamot 601
6. Daunte Villanveva 510
7. Greg Sabol 484
8. Brian Shook 203
9. Robert Eller 199
10. Danny Jones 183
Top 10 for the Team Associated 1/10 Gas Truck class:
1. Michael Delay 774
2. J.P. Tirronen 747
3. Bart Collins 713
4. Joey Leveque 711
5. Juan Mendez 710
6. Felipe Rodriguez 677
7. Luis Perez 673
8. Scott Bell 573
9. Glenn Carlson 468
10. Nick Contugno 418
Top 10 for the Carolina’s R/C 1/8 Arena Truck class:
1. Sean Kerstin 783
2. Jeff Keeton 763
3. Tony Pattishall 694
4. Richardo Jordao 671
5. Walter Cruz 649
6. David Hodge 641
7. Ken Van Curen 631
8. Bob Bjorkman 630
9. Josh Martin 602
10. Jose Contreras 486
Top 10 for the Pro-line 1/8 Sportsman Buggy class:
1. Rene Infante 727
2. Jose Contreras 718
3. Bob Bjorkman 701
4. Armondo Ledesna 700
5. Ken Van Curen 697
6. Patrick Batezel 697
7. Shane Martin 651
8. Kawri Brown 539
9. Pete Caballero 456
10. Eduardo Ferrufino 436
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