Hi guys:
I'd first like to thank CP Raceway & Kyosho for holding a great day of racing. Special thanks to Dave ("cupcake"), the announcer, and all participants for their professional manner & sportsmanship (for the most part...). I personally finished 8th out of 22 competitors in the F1 field and had a great time doing so. All classes were exciting and fun-filled - from the high flying and crashing Overlands to the Porsche taking the Ferrari on the inside of the sweeper, or the 6 F1's flying into the first turn. The day was long but worth it (I only ran one class...so had a lot of wait time).
One thing needs to be brought up here though...CP Raceways lap counting system should have been used, at the very least, for a back-up to the piss poor Kyosho set-up. The winner of the B-Main, who would have bumped up to the A-Main along with the second place finisher in the B, was absolutely robbed. On his second lap, his transponder did not count and all racers could tell by the run down that was being given by the announcer. We were actually talking among ourselves as we were racing, about the mishap. And at the end, the number one finisher was actually counted as the last place finisher. All racers knew what had happened and Eric of CP Raceway pursued the issue with the Kyosho rep. It was quite obvious on the printout that he was put down one lap by mistake. The Kyosho rep, Alex, refused to go by what everyone saw (including his own eyes) and went by the transponder readouts, thereby robbing Tom of a chance at the A-Main. As if this was not bad enough, we now go to the A-Main. Ten laps into it, the race was black flagged and called for a restart. Once more the Kyosho system has failed us. The leader at this point, Jamie, with a half-track lead, was forced to give it all back due to the fact that his car did not count on lap two. On the restart, instead of being up a half lap, Jamie was involved in a first corner crash and within the first lap, was down a half lap. Through some very impressive driving over the next 7 minutes, he caught up and ended up with a trophy in his hand for third place. You could kind of say...from first to third, thanks to Kyosho's lack of professionalism in the lap counter/transponder department. The second place winner was local fast guy, Gerd, and Bill Crotty, Jr. took first. But, I doubt he would have come even close if it wasn't for the restart.
Other than this problem, which needs to be addressed, Kyosho and CP Raceway put on a kickass regional race and I can't wait for next year! By the way guys - they unveiled the first body in a series, "American Muscle" - a 427 Cobra - blue with white stripes - nothing but a windshield and rollbar on top, white side pipes on the side. I'm sure there will be more to come (hopefully a '64 Impala, several years of Corvettes, GTOs, GT 500 Mustangs, first & second generation Camaros, 442s, Superbirds, and if we're real lucky, some Lead Sleds from the 50's or maybe the best body they could ever put out - a 30's era Willies coupe).
Hopefully next year we'll have a class for those kick ass monsters and split this into a 2 day race running F1, Monster Trucks, & Overlands on one day, and Stock Mini Z, Open Mini Z, and MRO2 on the second day. With 88 competitors this year, and sure to be more next year, the 12 hours it took this year to complete, could be split into two days and everyone would be happier (especially if there is an extra class for the Monsters).
Yours Truly,
Passin Ya On The Inside - F1 Ernie