Mini-Z Road Trip (Feb 7th, 2009)

Finally the write up from the trip. Enjoy. flex

Our trip to Wyoming to Race at the Wild West Winder Carnival was a great trip and yielded some great results for Salt Lake Mini-Z Members. First we all met at my house and left for our drive to Wyoming. We planned on leaving later but a storm was planned and we wanted to get on the road as soon as possible on Friday. We loaded all our gear in the van and set off.

The drive although long (5+ hours) went by fairly quick and really without incident. We hit a small storm on the back side a south pass but it wasn’t slippery. We arrived in Riverton and checked in to the hotel. Then off to dinner. Chad, Luke and Russ decided to go check out the casino, since I had Cygen with me we just decided to hang out in the hotel for a little R&R. We planned to arrive at the track at around 9 the next morning.

The race was being held in conjunction with the Winter Carnival which is an annual event in Riverton, the Race was being held at the Wind River Casino on the outskirts of Riverton, Wyoming. The race was being held in one of the rooms’ right of the main casino floor. Inside the room was plenty of room for all the Racer and chairs were even set up for spectators. We arrived after most of the people were already there. The turn out was pretty good, with the locals their, along with some racers from Pueblo, Colorado and the 5 in our group from Salt Lake. I believe there were right around 17 racers participating in the 5 classes that were run.

We were just getting the classes’ setup and entered in to the timing system when we were having some issues with tags not scanning. After some testing and some trial and error. It turned out to be some electrical interference from the casino floor. In order to fix the problem we had to move the timing system and the all the AV equipment to the opposite end of the track. Once we had everything moved and up and running & the racers entered we began with the qualifying heats.

The Racing was tight and very close between lots of racers. Qualifying Races were 5 minutes long, and the Mains were 8 Minutes.

MR-02 Stock Mini-Z the final qualifying positions: MR-02 Stock Qualifying Results

Nic got the TQ spot for MR-02 Stock Mini-Z followed closely behind by myself and Paul on the same lap, Chad Qualified 4th. Russ Missed making the “A” Main by one position.

On to the Mains, though starting second I didn’t have a real good start and dropped to 4th after the first lap, then I started to work my way to the front and by lap 5 I was in the lead and maintained it for the remainder of the race. Nic had the faster car and was pulling off some really quick laps, he suffered from a few inconsistencies and it didn’t help him move up. Chad had a good start moving up to 2nd, but then quickly dropped back all the way to 5th. Chad had a consistent drive and his steady pace eventually moved him into 2nd place where he finished. Nic and Paul were both in contention for 3rd, Nic manage to take 3rd on his second to last lap. Russ and Luke made the “B” Main and finished 3rd and 4th respectively. Cygen was in the “C” Main and finished 2nd.

MR-02 A Main
MR-02 B Main
MR-02 C Main

F1 Mini-Z Qualifying Positions:F1 Mini-Z Qualifying

Nic was very dominate in F1, he TQ’ed by 2 laps over the competition. Followed by Shannon, and Sam. Myself and Chad qualified 5th and 6th respectively, and finished the main in the same positions. Russ and Luke placed 1st and 2nd in the “B” Main and Cygen came in 4th.

F1 A Main
F1 B Main

Kyosho Stock Mini-Z Qualifying Positions: Kyosho Stock Mini-Z

Only member of Salt Lake Mini-Z competing in this class way Cygen. This was essentially the beginners class. Cygen Qualified 2nd behind Sean.

Cygen got behind early and I think just was just to excited, he overshot his corners early on, but managed to calm down and start gaining on the leader, a few more laps and he probably would have caught him. Cygen finished 2nd to bring home his first competitive trophy. (yes, I’m a proud dad big-grin

).

Kyosho Stock A Main

The Last Class of the Event was Modified Pan Car. This was a closely contested race. Qualifying was really tight. I managed to TQ for the class, but is was very tight. Myself, Paul and Shannon all finished with 28 laps, and all within 2.39 seconds of each other. I managed the fastest lap of the weekend in my second quallifing session with a 9.09 second lap. Russ also made the “A” Main by .49 seconds over Luke.

Modified Pan Car Qualifying

In the “B” main it was all Luke. He dropped to 2nd on the first lap, but regained the lead before the second lap was finished. He was off and finished 1 lap up on the rest of the competition. Great Run with his Pan Car.

In the “A” Main I started TQ and lead from the very start, it was a great result with my first competition competing with my Pan Car, It was hooking up great and had more speed that I could use, even with the 40+ foot straight. I managed to finish the race with a 2 lap lead over the closest racer with 48 laps, the highest of any class for the weekend. Paul finished 2nd, followed by Shannon for 3rd and the final trophy. Russ put in a great showing with his first race with his Pan Chassis (We built it on Thursday night before we left). Russ finished 4th with a respectable 36 laps. This class was really fun to race in an watch. It’s amazing how fast these little cars can go.

Modified Pan A Main
Modified Pan B Main

This was a great trip to go on, Wyoming RC hosted a fantastic event, great prizes, event better people. This trip was a great success for our club bringing home 2 First Place, and 2 Second Place Trophies, but above that was the fun that was had by all that went and participated.

Every one should plan on making this trip and annual event. I’m in for sure next year.

Special thanks to Shannon & Julie Watts for hosting and putting on this great event. I know how much work goes into hosting an event, you did an excellent job.

Pictures of the event can be seen here Ice Melter Photo Gallery

And the Trophy Presentation pictures can be seen here: Ice Melter Trophy Presentation