3rd Annual Losi Invitational Race at the Minnreg Club in Clearwater, Florida.
Factory 4wd Modified
Qualifying Round 1
1. Ryan Cavalieri 13/5:24.88 XXX-4
2. Mike Truhe 13/5:26.02 XXX-4
3. Jukka Stenair 12/5:00.19 XXX-4
4. Adam Drake 12/5:00.92 XXX-4
5. Jason Ruona 12/5:01.12 BJ 4X4
6. James Schlick 12/5:01.94 XXX-4
7. Travis Amescua 12/5:02.26 XXX-4
8. Matt Francis 12/5:02.63 XXX-4
9. Jesse Robbers 12/5:05.24 XXX-4
10. J.R. Mitch 12/5:08.82 BJ 4X4
11. Joe Pillars 12/5:08 XXX-4
12. Ryan Eckert 12/5:10 BJ 4X4
13. Chris Brightwater 9/3:47 XXX-4
14. Brian Kinwald 8/3:17 XXX-4
15. Ryan Dawson 6/2:37 XXX-4
16. Brad Reeves 6/2:45 BJ 4X4
17. Joey Powell 1/0:26 XXX-4
Ryan Cavalieri turned in the fastest time and Mike Truhe had the fastest lap with a 23.7. Truhe
also had three 24.4s and a w24.5. Ryan's best was two laps at 24.4, and a 24.5. Brian Kinwald had SEVEN
laps in the 24s plus a 25.1 when he landed off the track after one of the cross-over jumps. The XXX-4
landed nose down and angled to the3 right side, breaking the right fronht lower control arem.
Jason Ruona took 5th with his new BJ 4X4, but the three other BJ drivers ndidn't fare so well. J.R. Mitch,
with the second 4X4 is on the bubble, less than a second ahead of Joe Pillars with his Peak-Sponsored Losi.
Qualifying Round 2
1 Mike Truhe 13/5:23.54
2. Jukka Steenari 12/5:01.39
3. Brian Kinwald 12/5:04.09
4. J.R. Mitch 12/5:04.35
5. Ryan Cavalieri 12/5:05.19
6. Ryan Dawson 12/5:06.39
7. Adam Drake 12/5:07.35
8. Jason Ruona 12/5:08.35
9. Ryan Eckert 12/5:10.09
10. Chris Brightwater 12/5:12.47
11. Jesse Robbers 12/5:12.84
12. Brad Reelfs 12/5:20.71
13. Matt Francis 12/5:21.24
14. James Schlick 12/5:21.78
15. Chad Cunningham 11/5:26.65
16. Keith Manton 8/3:35.99
17. Joe Pillars 7/3:01.29
18. Joey Powell 7/3:06.98
19. Travis Amezcua 1/:25.08
So that's the complete results after 2 rounds of qualifying. The two heats will be resorted
for tomorrow based on best time for one run in heats 1 or 2. The mains will be sorted using
qual points from all four rounds of qualifying with two throw-outs. Confused? Join the crowd.
The event is running late, with the last heat of gas truck on the track as we're writing this
in the dark. Good thing they've got lights, but those guys are at a disadvantage as the earlier
heats has some daylihgt.. We didn't start until 10 AM, which accounts for some of it, but
things just seem to be dragging. The result is that the track started to cool off when the sun
got low in the sky, and that's when the second heat of 4-wheelers ran. In buggy, which was run
earlier in the program, the times from heat two were mostly faster than times in the morning.
Holeshots were hooking up in the morning, which is the usual at Minnreg, and in the second heat
of buggy the hot track liked Red Taper Pins again as usual. By the time 4-WD rolled around, the
travck was cooling off and the Tapers were losing their bite. Of the top 11 qualifiers, eight
were first-heat times. Oddly enough, it was Mike Truhe, who placed third in the Worlds held here
last October, setting TQ with his time from heat two! But all of the next 8 relied on their heat
one times. Brian Kinwald, who broke in heat one, won race two in heat two, but with the race two
track even cooler than the race one track, his time was only good enough for 9th in the resort.
On the bubble, J.R. Mitch is also using his H-2 time.
So as of now, two Bj 4X4s are in the show -- Jason Ruona in fifth and J.R. Mitch in tenth.
All the rest of the top 10 are XXX-4s.Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be much like today, possibly
a little warmer, so tire uncertainty may go on. Stay tuned.
Qualifying Round 3
1. Ryan Cavalieri 13/5:14.17
2. Jesse Robbers 13/5:16.36
3. Matt francis 13/5:17.42
4. Travis Amezcua 13/5:17.52
5. Mike Truhe 13/5:17.69
6. Jason Ruona 13/5:20.57
7. Jukka Steenari 13/5:23.23
8. Adam Drake 12/5:01.20
9. Joe Pillars 12/5:01.39
10. Ryan Eckert 12/5:01.48
11. James Schlick 12/5:04.34
12. J.R. Mitch 12/5:05.65
13. Brad Reelfs 12/5:11.87
14. Ryan Dawson 12/5:12.27
15. Keith Manton 12/5:13.61
16. Joey Powell 12/5:16.80
17. Chad Cunningham 11/5:02.69
18. Chris Bridgewater 3/1:17.87
What did we ever do before transponders? Positions 3, 4, and 5, and positions 8, 9, and 10
were all within 1/4 of a second. The top 10 were within 11 seconds. that's some really tight racing.
And everybody had become serious -- only one racer broke in this qualifier.
Even though this was morning and the track was relatively cool, Ryan Cavalieri set the hot pace with
three laps of 23.7, backing that up with a 23.8 and a 23.9. Most importantly, Ryan avoided a bad lap.
Jesse Robbers had a 23.8 and a 23.9 and was on the TQ pace, but made two small mistakes with 25-sec
laps and had to settle for second. Francis also had a 23.7 and eleven 24s, but a 26 killed his TQ bid.
Truhe had four 23s, but two 25s.
Qualifying Round 4
1. Travis Amezcua 13/5:14.46
2. Ryan Cavalieri 13/5:15.39
3. Matt Francis 13/5:17.47
4. Mike Truhe 13/5:18.92
5. Brian Kinwald 13/5:19.55
6. Jason Ruona 13/5:21.96
7. Chris Bridgewater 13/5:23.00
8. Adam Drake 13/5:24.66
9. James Schlick 13/5:24.86
10. J.R.Mitch 12/5:00.82
11. Joe Pillars 12/5:02.60
12. Jukka Steenari 12/5:08.04
13. Keith Manton 12/5:08.57
14. Brad Reefls 12/5:12.10
15. Joey Powell 12/5:13.60
16. Chad Cunningham 12/5:15.29
17. Ryan Dawson 7/2:52.59
18. Ryan Eckert 2/ :50.10
19. Jesse Robbers 2/ :50.68
The sun has been out all day, with temps in the 80s, and by 5:30 red Taper Pins reigned.
Travis Amezcua simploy took off, with 2 laps of 23.8, two more of 23.9, and all the rest in
the 24s, the highest a 24.7. That's consistancy: 13 laps within .9 seconds!
Of the six drivers tied on 11 points after three rounds, how did they emerge?
Three of them stayed on 11 points and the other three moved up. None went down.
Amezcua, who TQed round 4, jumped up to third. Francis' third gave him fifth, and Kinwald's
fifth put him 6th. The others are sorted by throw-out.
Final Qualifying Order
A MAIN
1. Ryan Cavalieri XXX-4 0 pts.
2. Mike Truhe XXX-4 2
3. Travis Amezcua XXX-4 4
4. Jukka Steenari XXX-4 5
5. Matt Francis XXX-4 6
6. Brian Kinwald XXX-4 8
7. Jason Ruona BJ 4X4 11 (6)
8. Adam Drake XXX-4 11 (8)
9. Jesse Robbers XXX-4 11 (10)
10. J,R. Mitch BJ 4X4 14
B MAIN
11. James Schlick XXX-4 15
12. Chris Bridgewater XXX-4 18
13. Ryan Eckert BJ 4X4 20
14. Joe Pillars XXX-4 21 (16)
15. Ryan Dawson XXX-4 21 (16)
16. Brad Reefle BJ 4X4 26 (14)
17. Chad Cunningham XXX-4 26 (16)
18, Keith Manton XXX-4 29
19. Joey Powell 32
Final Results
A - 1
1. Jukka Steenari 13/5:12.15
2. Mike Truhe 13/5:13.46
3. Matt Francis 13/5:14.06
4. Adam Drake 13/5:16.15
5. Jason Ruona 13/5:18.89
6. Brian Kinwald 13/5:23.26
7. Ryan Cavalieri 12/5:02.66
8. J.R. Mitch 4/1:22.52
9. Travis Amezcua 4/1:32.70
10. Jesse Robbers 0
The first A main was the seventh race on the Minnreg program, starting shortly before 10AM
on a sunny Forida day. The track was still cool at race time, and tires were a major concern.
Everyone settled on Holeshots, front and rear, except Jukka, on Taper Pins and Drake on
Tapers and Blockheads. This track layout has two major features, and both were to play a big role in the A-1 results.
Right in front of the driver's stand is a three-foot deep hole, called "The Pit," which has
a chicane in the bottom. Cars enter from the right side of the stand, make a right turn near
the top and head diagonally down the side. A pipe extends straight out from the stand down
into the pit. The pit is banked up like a bowl. You go down the pit wall diagonally, make
a left around the pipe, and climb back up the left wall, where ther'e a small jump on the top with
a big bank on the right side you don't want to hit.
The second feature is the double table-top, at the far left side of the track. The main straight
is across the back of the track from right to left, with a banked 90-degree turn at the far end
leading to a straight coming back toward the driver's stand on the left side of the track. On
this straight are two medium table-tops, and the mod buggies and 4-wheelers double them. But it's
hard -- they can just make it, and if they don't land right, the crash is really ugly. The marshall
in the corner is often dancing around in a dangerous spot.
We had a long wait before the beginning of A-1 because Mike Truhe broke a belt on the warm-up laps.
They figured out what was wrong, and there was no way Mike could fix it in time to make the race,
so Orion/Losi team-mate Joe Pillars loaned Mike his car! A few minutes later Truhe was on the stand,
with his body on Joe's car, and the race started.
The start was on the back straight and the finish line was just before the pit. Jesse Robbers
broke after the last jump before the pit, never crossed the line, and was officially a DNS.
TQ Cavalieri crashed right after the start on the double table-top and the whole field went by.
Truhe crossed the line first with Francis right behind. By lap five they were together and
stretching their lead over Steenari, with Drake right behind him.
With about a minute to go, Francis aired it out over the double table-top, passing Truhe.
Matt had been running a string of consistant 24-second laps on the cold track and kept doing
it now with Truhe and Steenari a bit back and Drake waiting patiently. At the beginning of
the last lap, Matt caught the pipe in the bottom of the pit and rolled onto his roof, letting
Truhe and Steenari by. With the race in his grasp, Truhe bounced it and rolled after the double
table-top, and Steenari led for the first time at the only time that counts.
A-2
1. Travis Amezcua 13/5:03.78
2. Adam Drake 13/5:05.72
3. Matt Francis 13/5:06.05
4. J.R. Mitch 13/5:09.57
5. Jesse Robbers 13/5:10.64
6. Jukka Steenari 13/5:11.92
7. Jason Ruona 13/5:16.11
8. Mike Truhe 10/3:59.41
9. Ryan Cavalieri 5/1:54.64
10. Brian Kinwald 2/0:43.40
This race started about 2:15 PM with the temperature about 80 degrees, and everybody
was wearing Taper Pins on the rear. Truhe, Kinwald, Ruona, and Mitch used Taper Pin fronts,
while all the rest had Blockheads. Most of the rears were red and most of the fronts silver.
With the warmer blue-groove track, A-2 times would be almost a second/lap faster than A-1.
Ryan Cavalieri got away cleanly from the pole this time, though he seemed to be having trouble with
the car glitching. Truhe crashed over the double table-top this time, and Travis Amezcua closed
up on Cavalieri's bumper, with Matt Francis just a few feet back.
On lap 4 Ryan crashed over the table-tops, Amezcua took over, and he motored off to the win
with a total of five 23-sec laps and six 24s. Cavalieri then fulled off with the glitching problem.
The real story of the race was the battle for second between Matt Francis and Adam Drake.
Drake started 8th and moved to third in the first four laps. He and Francis battled for most of
the race, with Drake finally taking second by 1/4 second.
A-3 RESULTS
1. Matt Francis 13/5:07.93
2. Jukka Steenari 13/5:08.65
3. Adam Drake 13/5:13.82
4. Jason Ruona 13/5:14.46
5. J.R. Mitch 13/5:25.57
6. Travis Amezcua 12/4:54.27
7. Mike Truhe 12/5"02.59
8. Jesse Robbers 10/4:10.07
9. Ryan Cavalieri 7/2:57.65
10. Brian Kinwald 2/0:41.08
At 20 minutes to seven we were finally ready to decide the title. The sun was lower in the sky,
shining right in the drivers' eyes, so the track was a bit cooler than A-2, but two 30-min gas
truck races had laid down lots of rubber and we had traction! Everybody was on Tapers for the
rear with six on Blockheads and four on Tapers for the front. Adam and Matt had Blockheads,
while Jukka had Tapers. Kinwald touched the wall on the start and rolled it, effectively putting
him out of the race. The lap one freight train was headed by Cavalieri, Truhe, and Francis.
On lap two Cavalieri rolled after the first cross-over double letting Francis through, but Matt
rolled after the infamous double table-top, and Jukka took the lead. On lap four Adam Drake passed
Jukka in the chicane before the straight to take the lead. By lap six it was Drake, Steenari, and
Francis pulling away from Ruona in fourth. Francis passed Steenari going over the second cross-over
double to take second, but the trio continued to pull away from Ruona and the field. By lap nine
only one second separated them, with about 5 seconds back to Ruona. They were all turning consistant
low 24s with an occasional high 23. All had a chance to win the over-all title by taking this race.
With one lap to go, Francis hit Drake trying a pass in the chicane and Yukka got through to make it
Steenari, Francis, and Drake a bit further back. Just a few seconds later, at the end of the straight,
as Steenari slid through the banked left-hander his car almost traction-rolled. Luckily it just stood
up on two wheels and came back down, but Jukka's speed was now too slow and he had to one-and-one
the double table-tops. Francis, close behind, skied them big, passing Steenari in the air, and went
on to take the win.
FINAL POINTS STANDINGS
1. Jukka Steenari XXX-4 199
2. Matt Francis XXX-4 198
3. Adam Drake XXX-4 197
4. Travis Amezcua XXX-4 195
5. Jason Ruona BJ 4X4 193 (94)
6. Mike Truhe XXX-4 193 (93)
7. J.R. Mitch BJ 4X4 193 (93)
8. Jesse Robbers XXX-4 189
9. Ryan Cavalieri XXX-4 186 (92)
10. Brian Kinwald XXX-4 186 (91)
FACTORY B MAIN RESULTS:
1. Joe Pillars
2. Ryan Eckert
3. Ryan Dawson
4. Chris Bridgewater
5. Keith Manton
6. Chad Cunningham
7. Joey Powell
8. James Schlick
Sportsman 4wd Modified
A MAIN RESULTS
1. Bobby Credeur 200 pts.
2. R.J. Scadden 199
3. Bobby Phillips 198
4. Mark Konja 195
5. Mitch West 194
6. Ed Weaver 193
7. Christian Ginter 191
8. Kip Ellerbusch 189
9. Joseph Spann 189
10. Michael Martin 187
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