The Psycho Nitro Blast 2013 is in the books and Sweep Tyres made its premiere showing for the new Square Armor 1/10th scale buggy tyres during this event. While the crew was on hand to provide off-roader’s a glimpse of their tyres, those who are familiar with on-road already know Sweep’s commitment to quality. Throughout the multi-day event, drivers were impressed with the handling of the Sweep tyres, especially on the Double Action and Battle Star 1/8th scale pre-mounts.
Making a stellar appearance at the PNB, Shay Brand (Home Track: Loganville R/C) had some early trouble with his 2wd buggy during the qualifiers. Breaking an A-arm early, Turtle Trax Hobbies’ Gene Samuels helped wrench Shay’s buggy back into contention. Through teamwork and dedication to consistent driving ability, Shay overcame qualifying woes to end up third in the A-main of 2wd Buggy. In other races, Brand finished 14th in the B-Main of 1/8th scale Pro Buggy and 9th in the A-main of Pro Truggy. It looks like Brand is going to be the driver to watch in the coming years.
After heading to the Sweep tent all week for tips and tricks to get his car dialed to the track, Jonathan Maxey out of Athens, GA found just the Sweep tyres he needed to place a respectable 12th in the 1/8th scale Pro buggy A-main. This is quite impressive due to the fact that Maxey had to pull off the track due to mechanical failure. His wrenching team, headed again by Gene Samuels, got him back on the dirt and he worked his way through the cars to get a top 12 finish. Maxey also placed 13th in Pro Truggy’s A-main after a 3rd place B-main finish provided a bump-up.
A consistent and focused driver who typically also runs at Loganville R/C, Bryan Chang is a third-year medical student at Emory School of Medicine . Through testing and working with some interesting track changes throughout the event, Chang managed a 7th place B-main finish in Electric 1/8th scale buggy. A respectable showing for Bryan all around.
Other Sweep team drivers had well-placed finishes in this year’s Psycho Nitro Blast. Sweep driver Cole Ogden had a good showing with a 17th place finish in the A-main of Pro Truggy and Orlando LeBron placed 8th in the C-main of Pro Truggy.
With the great work of Dave and Ollie, the PNB 2013 event was a nail-biter from the beginning to the end.
Report: Tina Samuels