The 9th Annual Speedworld Cup took place on July 18th, 2009. R/C Evil Empire was on hand to cover the On-Road event!
The day started off with a random visit from a ferret….yes thats right a real ferret. Apparently, it found its way to Speedworld. The animal was rescued by bay Area racer Mike Carino.
Bay Area legend/AE driver Lex Tyler was in the house. Lex looked like he was dressed for the club…and not a r/c race.
This year’s layout was the same as the Reedy Race of Champions. It featured a super long straight with returning 180. 
Outside track temperatures started out in the low 90’s and worked its way up to well over 100 degrees! At some points, the track surface was reported at over 155 degrees! This resulted in a heat challenge for car electronics.
Speedworld owner Billy Bowerman and wife Tracy provided free popcicles for the hot and needy.
The race attracted just over 60 entries. The majority of the challengers were stacked in the 17.5 and 13.5 touring classes. 3 heads up style qualifiers were run. After 3 rounds, it was youngster Eric Albano (pictured below on the left with Lex Tyler) on top of the 13.5 leader board with 22 laps in 6:16. Just behind him was Aaron Young and Tim Copp with runs that were a second or two off.
The modified touring class was TQ’ed by Team Top’s Scott Kimbrow with a 19 lapper in 5:12. Both Lex Tyler and EJ Evans would follow up with 19 5:16. All 3 top runs were set on the 3rd round of qualifying. The first 2 rounds featured a number of blow outs by a variety of drivers. The heat and mechanical error played a role in the day.
Scott Kimbrow's Top Photon
In the 17.5 class Jeff Mauer threw down the best time. The Formula One class was TQ’d by Ken Brumblay.
The mains were run under slightly cooler temperatures as some cloud cover rolled in. This helped cool everyone down immensely.
In the 13.5 class, tensions were high before the main. The stage was set for a showdown between Albano, Young, and Copp
In the first turn, a pileup occured. In the process, TQ Albano blew out. This left 2nd qualifier Aaron Young to take a commanding lead. He would be followed by Doug Lemmons. Lemmons was able to close the gap slightly with a couple of minutes to go. However, it wasn’t meant to be as Aaron Young cruised to victory.
Aaron Young's Schumacher
In the 17.5 class, Mike Buriani would take the win over TQ Jeff Maurer. The race was interupped with a power outage. The racers actually stopped in their place and waited while Billy Bowerman rebooted the computer. The race was restarted with the same time remaining and racers in their current position. This was the first time I witnessed this restart format.
Santa Cruz native Ken Brumblay would take the Formula One class by just 1 second over son Austin Brumblay.
In the modified class, a fairly clean start occurred with most racers making it through the first lap with no major drama. Eventually, Scott Kimbrow and Lex Tyler would break away from the crowd. Tyler made a few mistakes that lead to a Kimbrow walk away victory.
As part of their sponsorship efforts, Top Racing gave away a free car kit to a lucky racer. George Ho’s racing efforts weren’t lucky on this day….but he was able to win the Top Photon kit. Congrats!
Thanks to Billy Bowerman and Top Racing for putting on such a nice event!
