This past weekend at HRC Raceway in Flamborough, Ontario, Canada, the outdoor season opener got underway with the 4th Annual Spring Showdown race that resulted in nearly 150 entries. Some of the best drivers and manufacturers all around Canada were there to compete for the title at the end of the weekend. 1/8th Scale Nitro Buggy: In the Nitro Buggy class the best in the country consisted with only a few missing. Qualifying had got underway with a rocket round format for three rounds. Throughout the qualifying things looked tight, but in the end Mugen Seiki/Alpha powered Derek Sousa would come out on top having held on the top qualifier honors all three rounds with Mugen Seiki/Alpha powered Justin DaSilva second and Mugen Seiki/Alpha powered Mark Sousa in third. With all the drivers ready to get underway the A-Main final began with some drivers having good starts with others falling down positions.
Mark Sousa along with Tamiya driver George Stilliadis was a couple of the names that had unfortunate starts but began to climb back up. In the first few minutes it was Derek in front, Mugen Seiki/Novarossi powered John Semple in second and Xray/Novarossi powered Jerome Tregnier in third.
Throughout the race the battle was for third between Jerome, TLR/Nitrotec powered Dave Henry and Justin DaSilva with Mark not able to find an answer within the first few minutes having had a bad start. With the main now comfortably underway Derek and John were getting away from the pack, but with Mark making some good passes he had climbed up to third. Throughout the race since the beginning Derek Sousa’s tire was beginning to blow-out and since the beginning providing him with not the ideal traction and just getting worse throughout the main making it difficult to drive. Mark eventually got by John for second and was quickly able to pass Derek for the lead. Approaching the end of the main Derek was trying to make up time to catch up to Mark and he was making up slight time and then Mark made a couple crashes as Derek drew even closer.
However finally with about a minute to go Derek’s tire finally gave out and was riding on three tire’s as the other tire had the foam come out and was riding on the rim of the tire for the last couple minutes. Although taking away nothing from Mark Sousa in the end he would put on an amazing performance and getting a longly anticipated win in the Nitro Buggy class as he would take the checkers and congratulations to him along with Derek Sousa in second and Justin DaSilva in third and the top two drivers running for Team HRC Raceway.
Top 5 Overall in Nitro Buggy:
- Mark Sousa/Mugen Seiki/Alpha/VP Powermasters
- TQ/Derek Sousa/Mugen Seiki/Alpha/VP Powermasters
- Justin DaSilva/Mugen Seiki/Alpha/VP Powermasters
- David L’ecuyer/Team Associated/LRP/Sidewinder
- Eric Deschenes/Team Associated/LRP/Sidewinder
1/8th Scale Nitro Truggy:
In the Nitro Truggy class saw more of the same contenders as the Buggy class just missing a few. Throughout qualifying it was between Mugen Seiki/Alpha powered Justin DaSilva, Mugen Seiki/Alpha powered Derek Sousa and Xray/Novarossi powered Jerome Tregnier for the top spots. In round one and two Jerome would set the TQ with Derek running into mechanical issues the second round. However in the third round Derek would bounce back and reset the TQ overall putting in a good run to set him up on pole position for the main, with Jerome Tregnier starting second and Justin DaSilva in third. The 30 minute A-Main final got underway and the top three was beginning to get away from the pack early on and were swapping positions at the front. As the main went on both Jerome and Justin were battling for second as Derek began to get away. As the main was coming to a close people behind the top three were battling for those last important spots and in the end Derek Sousa would take the checkered flag for the win with Justin DaSilva second and Jerome Tregnier in third.
Top 5 Overall in Nitro Truggy:
- TQ/Derek Sousa/Mugen Seiki/Alpha/VP Powermasters
- Justin DaSilva/Mugen Seiki/Alpha/VP Powermasters
- Jerome Tregnier/Xray/Novarossi/Sidewinder
- Kody McCullough/Mugen Seiki
- Gareth Houban/Tamiya/Reedy
1/8th Scale Electric Buggy:
In the Electric Buggy class saw again some great battles with some twists. In qualifying Mugen Seiki/Tekin powered Mark Sousa would put on consistent qualifying rounds and TQ all three rounds with Serpent America’s Steve Bullman in second and Team Durango/Great Hobbies driver Brian Belanger in third. In the 10 Minute A-Main Final saw some great battles for 2nd and 3rd but Mark having a great start and able to get away from the pack with Mugen Seiki/Tekin powered John Semple having to work from the back of the pack all the way up to second and eventually everyone was creating a gap from each other and in the end Mark Sousa would take the checkered flag for a comfortable win, John Semple second and Serpent America driver Steve Bullman in third.
Top 5 Overall in Electric Buggy:
- TQ/Mark Sousa/Mugen Seiki/Tekin
- John Semple/Mugen Seiki/Tekin
- Steve Bullman/Serpent/Tekin
- Mike Sloat/TLR/Tekin
- Steve Newstead/TLR/Tekin
In the 4WD Sct class it was Dave Henry who came out on top with a TQ and overall win with his TLR SCTE 2.0 and would put on amazing performance throughout the day. In the end it was a fantastic weekend with some tough competition. Credit goes Joe, Jay and Molly Cristiano as well as Michael Johnson for all of their hard work in preparing the track and the HRC Raceway facility and next stop is the start of their Southern Ontario Sunday Series beginning May 19th followed by the long anticipated The Offroad Dirt Challenge 2013 and is set to run a 1/8th Scale program and a 1/10th Scale program from May 31st-June 2nd 2013. Thanks again for a great outdoor season opener.