Race Report: Thumb RC Championship Point Series Round 1
Provided by Tom Claerhout, Thumb RC Raceway
Record Turnout for Thumb RC Summer Series Opener
The 3rd Annual Thumb RC Championship Summer Series got underway on June 25th at Thumb RC in Gagetown, MI. The event featured 1/8 through 1/18 scale electric classes. The track received no rain for a week before the race so it was a challenge keeping the dust down. The track crew and volunteers had to water two or three times per round. The sunny skies did not help keep the track moist either. It was a high of 90 degrees and sunny all day. Despite the heat, a series record 92 entries made this a competitive race from the first heat race to the last main.
Youth & Women
The Youth & Women’s class was smaller than normal for the first series race. We had a total of 5 entries in the class. Annabelle was the number one qualifier for the class. She took the early lead and never looked back. For the first four laps, she did have a battle with Joe Bandlow. However, Joe had a few mistakes that cost him and allowed Annabelle to pull out a two lap lead by the finish. Rounding out the podium was Hayley in third. Jill Harding was running a LC Racing mini and finished fourth. Joey Rezler had podium speed but struggled with car issues all day. The unlimited open class was also included in this race. Thomas Inches was the only entry. He took the win with his Losi Monster Truck.
1st: Annabelle
2nd: Joseph Bandlow
3rd: Hayley
4th: Jill Harding
5th: Joey Rezler
Open Class
1st: Thomas Inches
4x4 Short Course B Main
The biggest class of the day was 4x4 Short Course. The class has become a staple here at Thumb RC. A total of 20 trucks entered the class for the day. Damaine was the top qualifier for the B main. Jimbob gave Damaine a run for his money in the race, but Damaine was too consistent. He never lost the lead and won by nine seconds at the finish line. Damaine took the bump to the A main. Jimbob finished second and Bob Keyes a strong third.
1st: Damaine
2nd: Jimbob
3rd: Bob Keyes
4th: Ben Gonzalez
5th: Steve Gonzalez
2WD Buggy
The 2WD Buggy class featured the best battle of the day. Toecutter, Josh Salewsky, and Justin Protusiewicz battled hard all main long. At the finish line, less than five seconds separated the leaders. Justin had a chance to take the lead on the last lap but got stuck on the wall corner. Toecutter snuck by Josh on the last lap to take the win with a 1.3 second lead. Skeeter took fourth and Jeremy Salewsky finished fifth.
1st: Toecutter
2nd: Josh Salewsky
3rd: Justin P
4th: Skeeter
5th: Jeremy Salewsky
Open Mini B Main
Ryan Burch had car troubles during both of the qualifiers and started near the back of the pack. He was not to be denied though. After the first lap, he had taken the lead and started to gap the field. It was a good thing that he lapped the field as he had car problems on lap ten. However, second place finisher Mick Harding finished ten laps at the checkered flag. Ryan won the race and the bump to the A main based on his overall finishing time for ten laps. Jacob Dohrmann completed nine laps and took third in the race. Froggie took fourth and Brandon Bischer fifth.
1st: Ryan Burch
2nd: Mick Harding
3rd: Jacob Dohrmann
4th: Froggie
5th: Brandon Bischer
1/8 Buggy B Main
Keith Trottier was the number one qualifier for the 1/18 Buggy B Main. He did not take the lead until lap eight. Justin Lawrence led for most of the race, but made a few too many mistakes to hold onto the lead. Keith finished with twelve laps, Justin finished with eleven laps in second place. Third place went to Steve Gonzalez. Bob Keyes was fourth and Team Caster Racing’s Mick Harding in fifth.
1st: Keith Trottier
2nd: Justin Lawrence
3rd: Steve Gonzalez
4th: Bob Keyes
5th: Mick Harding
2WD Short Course A Main
The 2wd Short Course class was one of the most entertaining races of the day. Josh Salewsky and Skeeter put on a show for the crowd. Jeremy Salewsky did lead for six laps of the race but eventually fell back to fourth place. Around the half way mark, Josh made his way to the front with Skeeter in tow. Skeeter kept the pressure on, but Josh did not crack. Josh had a six second lead at the finish line. There was a good battle for the final podium spot. Jeremy Salewsky, Randy Drapinski and Patrick DeGuise traded spots several times. In the end, it was Randy taking third, Jeremy fourth and Patrick fifth.
1st: Josh Salewsky
2nd: Skeeter
3rd: Randy Drapinski
4th: Jeremy Salewsky
5th: Patrick DeGuise
4x4 Short Course A Main
Josh Salewsky was the top qualifier in the 4x4 Short Course B Main. He had a few bobbles during the first few laps and allowed Skeeter and Rich Gonzalez to get around him. After seven laps, Josh put in some fast laps to make his way back into the lead. From there on, he maintained a gap back to Rich in second. Rich did get close a few times but was never able to make a pass stick. Toecutter came from way back in the early laps to make it a three truck fight. Josh finished five seconds ahead of Rich with Toecutter another seven seconds back. Skeeter took fourth and Randy Drapinski was fifth. This will be the class to watch for the summer.
1st: Josh Salewsky
2nd: Rich Gonzalez
3rd: Toecutter
4th: Skeeter
5th: Randy Drapinski
Open Mini A Main
One of the biggest classes at Thumb RC is always the mini scale class. LC Racing is the vehicle of choice for these racers. Patrick Deguise was the top qualifier but ran into problems when his battery came out on lap number eight. He was able to get the battery back in and finish fifth. Once Patrick was out, Toecutter took over the lead and checked out. He finished one lap ahead of Ryan Burch in second. Jason Butts was third 1.5 seconds behind Ryan. Brian Trammel took fourth with the LC Racing mini short course truck.
1st: Toecutter
2nd: Ryan Burch
3rd: Jason Butts
4th: Brian Trammel
5th: Patrick DeGuise
4WD Buggy Main
4WD Buggy was one of the smaller classes of the day. The top qualifier was Justin. He had no problems in the main either. Justin stretched out a twenty-four second lead when time expired. Rick Delreal finished second and was the only other racer on the lead lap. Keith Trottier took third, Damaine was fourth and Brandon Bischer finished fifth.
1st: Justin Protusiewicz
2nd: Rick Delreal
3rd: Keith Trottier
4th: Damaine
5th: Brandon Bischer
It was nice to see the Stadium Truck class make a comeback for this race. There were six entries in the class. The pack quickly separated in the main. Josh Salewsky took an easy win. He was one lap ahead of the field. Randy Drapinski was second. Another lap back was Jason Butts in third place. Fourth was Pat Langley and John Raasio was fifth. Jeremy Salewsky was as high as third place but he ran into truck problems.
1st: Josh Salewsky
2nd: Randy Drapinski
3rd: Jason Butts
4th: Pat Langley
5th: John Raasio
1/8 Buggy A Main
The wildest race of the day would be the 1/8 Buggy A Main. These cars can easily clear all of the jumps on the track including a quad that was at least thirty feet right out of a corner. Rob Mirsky was the top qualifier and led for the majority of the race. Jimbob did lead for five laps when Rob made a mistake, but he slowly made his way to the lead and took over first by lap seven. Rob finished with a lap lead over the field. Jimbob ran a clean race and finished second. Brian Trammel, Wesley Mix, Kool-Aid and Keith Trottier seemed to battle for the entire race. The cars were running sub thirty second lap times when the track was the roughest of the day. It was easy to make mistakes and led to some crazy crashes and great battles. Brian Trammel emerged from the battle to take third, Wesley Mix was fourth and Kool-Aid was fifth.
1st: Rob Mirsky
2nd: Jimbob
3rd: Brian Trammel
4th: Wesley Mix
5th: Kool-Aid
A big thank you goes out to all of the drivers for making this race a huge success. The next race at Thumb RC is on July 23rd.
Thank you to these great sponsors: JConcepts, Tekin, Hobby-Pro USA, Blue Fox Gifts, Panther Tires, Hobbywing, Robinson Racing, MIP, Boca Bearings, Castle, Team Associated, Tekno RC, Nankin Hobby, Chinahobbyline.com, Caster Racing, and RC Screwz.
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