Motown Enduro 2013 Race Report by Eddie Alves

A huge thanks goes out to Eddie Alves for the following wonderful race report from the 2013 Motown Enduro.

To download the results please click HERE

Modesto, CA (Dec 28th)– Modesto RC Raceway held their first annual Motown Enduro on Saturday, December 21st. The three hour race consisted of five teams with three drivers on each team. The rules for the event were pretty simple. Any Short Course Truck (SCT) with a 17.5 motor ran in either blinky or boosted mode. There was no battery limit and any off road SCT tire was allowed. The teams were required to do their best to make sure each driver got the same amount of track time and had to have one turn marshal on the track at all times.

The Enduro started just after 11AM. As the race finished shortly after 2PM all five teams were still on the track battling for positions. The track was prepped before the start of the race but no water was put down during the race. This caused very loose conditions all over the track. Teams were able to grab a broom and sweep some of the loose dirt off of the racing surface but no other track changes were made.

When it was all said and done Team “J3′ completed the most laps (398). ‘J3” consisted of drivers Chris Jones, Jason Smith, and Jeff Amos. Team J3 drove a Losi 22 SCT in mid motor configuration. They elected to use full size battery packs, a Orion R10 Pro speed control in blinky mode and their motor of choice was a Trinity D3.5 17.5 motor. They chose Pro-Line Hole Shot’s for front tires and AKA Gridirons in the rear.

Originally their plan was to run shorty battery packs and boost but after some practice Saturday morning they came to the conclusion that the track was going to be very loose and decided to go with the heavier stick battery packs and run the race in blinky mode. “We just couldn’t lay the power down in boosted mode” said Chris Jones. “We tried a variety of tires in practice and felt the gridirons would work the best in the rear.” Team J3 also decided to switch to a Velcro battery strap which would allow them to change batteries faster during pit stops.

Chris Jones started the race for Team J3 and ran for about 28 minutes. Then Jason Smith took over during the battery/driver pit stop. When Smith took over for Jones they had already accumulated a four lap lead over the other teams. However, they quickly lost that lead after realizing that their transponder was not working correctly. “We had to push the transponder wires in more after a battery pack change. Sometimes it would stop and we would have to pit to push the wires in again, but we worked thru it.” Jones said.

Jones would go onto say that “all three of us are very good controlled drivers so we didn’t crash a lot and had smooth battery changes. We did have one problem with our transponder not counting here and there at times. Besides that our entire team had a awesome time. It was great fun going thru the SCT and preparing for such a long race. Can’t wait to do it again, hopefully with a new transponder.”

Finishing second was Team IDGAF which consisted of drivers John Harrison, John Smith and Roy Birchler. Officially they finished 12 laps behind Team J3 as they completed 387 laps. Team IDGAF chose John Smith’s Team Associated SC10.2 and used a Hobbywing Stock Spec V3.1 Speed control and a Hobbywing V10 17.5 motor boosted at 30%. Team IDGAG elected to use Pro-Line Suburbs tires all the way around. “We ran mostly 5000mah Gens Ace batteries, but Roy had one 6500mah battery that we started and ended the race with. We miscalculated just slightly on the run time for the 6500mah battery as John Smith limped our truck around the track the last few laps.” Said John Harrison.

During the Enduro Team IDGAF made 7 driver/battery changes which let John Smith start and finish the race and John Harrison and Roy Birchler each drove two times in between. They had zero mechanical failures but after John Harrison’s first run he noticed their radio was beeping indicating that their batteries were dieing. “We decided to change the battery in the truck and send John back up to drive another pack while Roy tried to round up some AA batteries for the radio. Lucky for us Randy S helped us out and we changed them out during the next pit stop.”

Team IDGAF really had no strategy other then to have fun, which I can say we accomplished.” Harrison said. “Our team seemed to drive steady all race. We had no mechanical failures all race and fairly smooth pit stops. It was amazing to see how close everyone one after 3 hours of running.” Roy Birchler said.

Finishing third was Team Mammoth. That team consisted of Udo Richter, Eddie Alves, and Nate Holderbein. They ran a Team Associated SC10.2 with a Tekin Gen2 ESC and Tekin Gen2 17.5 motor boosted. They chose to run Proline Holeshots all the way around.

Udo Richter started the race for Team Mammoth and kept the truck in the top 3 for the majority of his run. On lap 45 the team noticed something was not right on the truck as it appeared to have a hard time turning. The team chose to make a pit stop about 5-7 minutes ahead of schedule. Team Mammoth discovered that a front turnbuckle had popped off. It made for a quick fix, battery change and Udo handed the driving duties off to Eddie Alves.

“We knew we had to make quick pit stops, have no mechanical failures, and have the truck on the track as long as we could between pit stops.” Alves said. “We ran SMC 6500mah batteries during most of the race and I think my first run I was on the track longer then anybody was all day. That really helped us out since we had to pit early with Udo.”

Team Mammoth had no other issues during the race. They ran a high of second and a low of fifth as pit stops cycled thru. “We had a lot of fun and it was very interesting to see other teams strategy.” Richter said.  “It was definitely a learning experience for next time.” Nate Holderbein said “the track was so loose that it was hard to drive but also very fun to drive. We all had a blast and cant wait to race at Modesto RC again.”

Finishing in fourth place was Team Slow Poke which saw Casey Nydahl, Rob Philips, and Trey Jones take turns racing. Team Slow Poke missed finishing on the podium by just seven laps.

Finishing fifth was Team Too Phat which saw Randy and Sean Syester team up with Brian Van Hook. Team Too Phat completed 365 laps and was 7 laps behind fourth place.

A big thank you to Randy Syester for taking pictures during the Enduro. To view the pictures click here.

Prior to starting the Enduro Roy Birchler presented a plaque to Pickle for all of his hard, dedication, and keeping RC racing alive in Modesto. Thank you to both Roy, Pickle, and all the racers for making Modesto RC a fun place to race.

1.   Team J³ (Chris Jones, Jason Smith, Jeff Amos) 398 laps in 180:12.80
2.   Team IDGAF (John Smith, Roy Birchler, John Harrison) 387 laps in 180:16.24, 11 laps behind 1st
3.   Team Mammoth (Nate H, Eddie A, Udo R) 379 laps in 180:17.11, 8 laps behind 2nd
4.   Team Slow Poke (Casey N, Rob P, Trey J) 372 laps in 180:26.13, 7 laps behind 3rd
5.   Team Too Phat (Randy S, Brian V, Sean S) 365 laps in 180:21.08, 7 laps behind 4th
The 2013 Motown Enduro was the final race on the 2013 calendar. Be sure to check out www.modestorc.com for the exciting 2014 schedule.

Modesto RC Raceway located at Funworks in Modesto
4307 Coffee Road
Modesto, CA 95355
(209) 549-7888
http://modestorc.com/

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Posted by at December 29, 2013
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