RESULTS A-MAIN # 1

TQ Ryan Cavalieri has won the first A main race at the 8th Annual Hot Rod Hobby Shoot-Out taking a 1/2 second victory over Mike Truhe after a race-long battle. Full details later when we file our complete race story.

Cavalieri bobbled the first turn, going wide in the sweeper, and two cars got through, including Mike Truhe making a demon start from 4th on the grid. Truhe shot into the lead and Cavalieri fell to third, but Ryan passed into second at the bottom of the table-top. He turned a 19.7 on lap four to take over the lead as Truhe made a small mistake. Late in the race Truhe turned an incredible 19.3, but he had made an earlier three-second mistake and couldn't quite catch Cavalieri.

1	Cavalieri	15/5:06.30 BJ 4X4
2	Truhe	15/5:06.93 xxx-4
3	Montgomery	15/5:13 xxx-4
4	Tebo	15/5:15 BJ 4X4
5	Hodapp	15/5:17 X - 5
6	Fischer	15/5:23 xxx-4
7	Numan	13/4:30 xxx-4
8	Francis	10/5:04 xx-4
9	Dawson	6/2:14 xxx-4
10	Amezcua	4/1:26 xxx-4

RESULTS A MAIN # 2

1	Travis Amezcua	15/5:07
2	Ryan Cavalieri	15/5:08.67
3	Mike Truhe	15/5:08.83
4	Greg Hodapp	15/5:17
5	Jared Tebo	15/5:18
6	Josh Numan	14/5:04
7	Ryan Dawson	14/5:06
8	Billy Fischer	13/4:58
9	Dave Montgomery	12/4:19
10	Matt Francis	6/2:14

RESULTS A MAIN # 3

After an exciting race long battle, Mike Truhe took over first place in A Main Number 3, when Ryan Cavalieri broke the right front control arm after hitting a pipe.

1	Mike Truhe	15 / 5:08
2	Billy Fischer	15 / 5:11
3	Dave Montgomery	15 / 5:14
4	Greg Hodapp	15 / 5:16
5	Matt Francis	14 / 5:04
6	Josh Numan	14 / 5:13
7	Ryan Cavalieri	13 / 5:07
8	Ryan Dawson	10 / 3:37
9	Jared Tebo	7 / 2:40
10	Travis Amezcua	2 / 0:40

Most Losi Drivers Using xx-4 At Shoot-Out

We haven't really checked out the pits, and very few Losi drivers have been running their 4WD cars yet, but it seems most of them have brought xx-4s to the Hot Rod Hobby Shoot-Out. We can confirm Travis Amezcua, Billy Easton, and Chris Bridgewater with xx-4s, and we haven't seen a xxx-4 anywhere in the Losi pits. This is interesting because the xxx-4 has historically done well at this track; however we think the Losi team is concentrating on getting ready for the Mod Nats and the Worlds', both of which will be held on tracvks better suited to the xx-4.

Nobody practiced Tuesday, and most drivers arrived Wednesday morning. On Tuesday the track was watered several times to help seat in the various patches on the track. Also, a club race was run on Tuesday night, and that's the way they run club races: damp. The "blue groove" only comes up if the tracvk is left dry -- every time the track is watered or rained on the groove vanishes -- so the factory drivers waited until this morning to begin working with a dry track. If all goes well and the track surface holds, no more water will be applied for the remainder of the race.

THURSDAY NIGHT, JULY 7th

With practice now over, all the drivers are working on cars and set-ups getting ready for qualifying heats 1 & 2 on Friday. We've had a chance to walk around the pits and talk to some of the drivers and team managers. Several describe this lay-out as challenging but fun, and we're looking forward to a tight competition. The main features of the track, in order as you go around the track, are:

A broad, fast sweeper at the end of the straight.
A very fast step-down section followed by an immediate 45 degree right leading to a steep uphill with a small double near the top. You land the double on a table-top, turn immediately 90 degres left and back down the hill.
A double with its landing in a deep depression, then uphill to a quad. Many mod drivers 2 & 4 this section, while some of the fast guys 3 & 3 it, staying out of the pit. Most stock drivers 2-3-1 this section. You can't 2-2-2 it.
A triple jump just before the straight. As triples go, this one is quite small, but there's a 45 degree corner just before, and the jump is on an angle to the drivers' stand, and the thing is far more difficult than it looks. Many top drivers bounce the chassis on top of the third hill, often with disastrous results. This section, in the corner leading onto the start-finish main straight, will make for some interesting racing on Sunday.

One driver described the track as a series of medium-to-high difficulty sections and a good flow. Often tracks have one or two prominent features and the remainder of the lay-out is fairly easy. Not so at the 8th Annual Hot Rod Hobby Shoot-Out, where the teack has one obstacle followed almost immediately by another.

On the car scene, BJ has Cavalieri, Montgomery, Wenger, and Tebo that we know of. Thielke is here with a BJ, but much like trying to spot the Unicorn, we haven't been able to see it on the track. As we said earlier, Maifield is here but running gas truck instead of 4WD. Brown is not here. Lloyd Dassonville was spotted in the parking lot as we were loading up to leave, but we don't think he's running.

Losi has Amezcua, Fischer, and Dawson with xxx-4s and Truhe with both xxx- and xx-4. Running xx-4s are Francis, Kinwald, Robbers, Easton, Bridgewater. Brian Kinwald was at the track practicing on Wednesday but stayed home today with flu-like symptoms and we don't know when he'll be back.

The fast guys today were shooting for the mid- to low 20s, and we're looking for some high 19s when qualifying starts tomorrow.

H1 and H2 Results

FRIDAY QUALIFYING H - 1

Today is sunny but not too hot due to a nice breeze. 4WD is running early in the 34-race program and there are three heats of 4WD mod. We didn't look too hard, but everyone seems to be on red BK bars in the rear. Jesse Robbers, running a xx-4 in the second heat, was on an unbelievable 5:02 TQ pace until he broke the car at about the 3 1/2 minute mark. In heat 3, Jared Tebo set the pace with his BJ followed by Charles Dawaon. Tebo had a 19.7 and two 19.8s, and Pearson had a pair of 19.8s. Third place Ryan Cavalieri had one 19.8. Tebo's 5:10 was 5 seconds faster than Pearson, Cavalieri, Montgomery, and Hodapp who were clustered together. Overall the racing was very tight with only 12 seconds separating the top ten.

H - 1 Results:

1	Jared Tebo	15/5:10 BJ 4X4
2	Charles Pearson	15/5:15 XXX-4
3	Ryan Cavalieri	15/5:16 BJ 4X4
4	Dave Montgomery	15/5:17 BJ 4X4
5	Greg Hodapp	15/5:18 X - 5
6	Ryan Dawson	14/5:00.44 XXX-4
7	Josh Numan	14/5:00.58 XXX-4
8	Billy Fischer	14/5:00.60 XXX-4
9	Kurt Wenger	14/5:01 BJ 4X4
10	Paul Sinclair	14/5:02 X - 5

FRIDAY JULY 8th 4:30 PM

Matt Francis has TQed heat two at the Hot Rod Shoot-Out with his xx-4. While he did not have the very fastest lap times, Matt was, by far, the most consistant fast driver with a string of low 20s, a 19.9, and a 19.8. Second place Travis Amezcua had a pair of 19.8s while third place Mike Truhe had a pair of 19.7s. Fastest lap of the day went to Greg Hodapp and Billy Fischer, both with a 19.6. The top five drivers in H-2 all beat Tebo's TQ time from H-1. In H-1 the top five were on 15 laps, while in H-2 the top 11 were on 15.

QUALIFYING HEAT 2

 

1	Matt Francis	15/5:04 xx-4
2	Travis Amezcua	15/5:07 xxx-4
3	Mike Truhe	15/5:08 xxx-4
4	Greg Hodapp	15/5:09.46 X - 5
5	Billy Fischer	15/5:09.78 xxx-4
6	Dave Montgomery	15/5:12 BJ 4X4
7	Ryan Cavilieri	15/5:13 BJ 4X4
8	Josh Numan	15/5:16 xxx-4
9	Ryan Dawson	15/5:17 xxx-4
10	Jesse Robbers	15/5:22 xx-4
11	Paul Sinclair	15/5:24 X - 5

FRIDAY NIGHT 10:30 PM 7/8/05

We finally have complete copies of all the results and time to look at them and figure them out. Here are the unofficial point standings after trwo rounds of qualifying:

1	Hodapp	9
2	Cavalieri	10
3	Montgomery	10
4	Fischer	13
5	Amezcua	14
6	Dawson	15
7	Numan	15
8	Tebo	18
9	Truhe	19
10	Francis	20

11	Wemger	21
12	Sinclair	21
13	Bridgewater	27
14	Chambers	27
15	Lundahl	28

None of the four top drivers who only finished one race finished 12th or above in the race they DNFed, so it is unlikely any of them have less than 15 points. The top five listed above are probably correct. We'll have another update later tonight when we've got the full story.

We're still not sure how to score Pearson (2 + DNS), and Easton (22 + DNS). One thing we are sure of: it will all change tomorrow.

SATURDAY MORNING 7/9/05

Travis Amezcua hasa won qualifying heat #3 in his xxx-4 equalling Matt Francis' 15/5:04 time in the xx-4 from H-2. The two fastest laps of the round were set by Billy Easton in his xx-4 as he turned an amazing 19.2 and a 19.5. The fastest laps yesterday were Hodapp in the X - 5 and Fischer in a xxx-4, both with 19.6s, so it's obvoius that more rubber is being laid down on the track. These "blue groove" conditions are ideal for racing on this type of dirt, and the conditions are being helped by the sunny weather and 85 degree temps. We expect now to see an 18 sometime this afternoon, and perhaps even a 16-lap run.

Winner Amezcua had a pair of 19.8s and a steady run in the low 20s. Second place Cavalieri was just a scant .27 sec behind, with a 19.7 and a 19.8. Six seconds back, after a crash was Montgomery, who had a 19.8.

Imagine the frustration of Billy Easton; He broke in H-1 yesterday while on a great run. In between rounds Grandpa Ed has put up $500 for a demonstration series. Each day 10 top Losi drivers have one race, the first dfay with 4WD, Saturday with truck, and buggy on Sunday. Points are awarded as if it were triple-A mains, and the winner gets the money. In the demonstration 4WD race yesterday, Easton broke his chassis, so he was a DNS for H-2. That meant he has to run in the bottom heat today. Billy took off like a rocket turning a 19.2, 19.5, 19.7, 19.9. But he also crashed twice, once on the last lap, and finished fourth in H-3.

RESULTS FOR H-3

 

1	Travis Amezcua	15/5:04.58
2	Ryan Cavalieri	15/5:04.85
3	Dave Montgomery	15/5:10.34
4	Billy Easton	15/5:04.55
5	Ryan Dawson	15/5:11
6	Josh Numan	15/5:15
7	Billy Fischer	15/5:16
8	Mike Truhe	15/5:18
9	Kurt Wenger	15/5:19
10	Matt Chambers	14/5:02
11	Chris Bridgewater	14/5:06
12	Paul Sinclair	14/5:11
13	Chad Lundahl	14/5:12
14	Nick Sava	14/5:14