ARCORR Race 1 - Alison's Off Road

Race 1 of the 2009 ARCORR series finally kicked off on Sunday March 29th in Little Rock, Arkansas. I made the 5 hour trek over on Friday so I could be well rested. I went to a pizza place for dinner called Bostons. It was recommended by some of the guys on a sport truck forum I read. Next time I hope to try out a place called the Flying Fish. They are supposed to have really good catfish.

Saturday morning I got up and drove to Thunder Valley Raceway near Antioh. The track was huge and provide for some fun practice. I started off by breaking all 3 of my cars on their maiden packs on the track. The depth of the track was enormous and it took me all of practice and really my first qualifiers to get used to it. I ended up the tq of 4wd and had a great battle with Shane McCall, which in the end he got the upper hand. I tried one last banzai move on the last lap, but there was not enough track to make it work. In 2wd truck Shane ran off and never looked back. I finished second in truck as well. I drove decent and the cars felt good, so the race 1 the following day was not looking too bad.

I managed to get up the following morning, it is a miracle considering I ate McDonalds the night before, and headed down the road to Alison's. I proceeded to break my truck first pack out. This was the 4th pivot plate in 2 weeks. I ran all 3 points classes ( 2wd buggy, 2wd truck, and 4wd buggy). The track stayed very slick all day, and made being smooth the premium over blistering fast. Some guys are just wheelmen and were able to still post some really good times. I made all 3 shows, with a 3rd qualifying spot in 4wd being the highlight. The program ran a bit long so makeshift lighting was setup so we could run the mains. This did not bother me any because I have ran at practice tracks in alot darker conditions.

The 2wd buggy A-main was first up. The track was alot better after dark but I still did not feel real good with the buggy. It was just not very consistant. I did manage to work my way up to 5th, but that was the best I could do. I was at least able to move up a few positions from how I qualified.



Next was the truck A-main. I got a horrible start and ended up punted off the track and in last. I put my head down and worked my way through traffic. The truck was feeling really good. It is too bad I had to start so far back. On the last lap I was able to nudge my way into 3rd place. Eric Gahn and I drag raced to the start finish line for the position. I got a bit loose and tagged a pipe and had to settle for 4th. I wish I could have gotten on the podium, but 4th is not bad after coming back up from last.



My final race of the night was 4wd. With a 3rd spot on the grid, I knew I would have to do my best to get through the first parts of the track clean. The tone went off and about the top 5 or so go away pretty decent. I made a few mistakes early and then started putting in good laps. I was able to work my way up into second where I maintained pace and finished. Shane McCall had got away from the pack and cruised to the win.



Race 2 will be in a few weeks, depending on weather cooperating. If you would like to see other videos from this event, please check out Jim Kuca's YouTube page for more videos him and his brother have filmed.