RCEE RACE COVERAGE: TOURING CAR KINGS

Some of the best electric touring car drivers in Northern California gathered at Marin R/C on October 3-4 for the Touring Car Kings! R/C Evil Empire was on hand for the event.

Running the race was jack of all trades…Jesse Stark..

Jesse wound up skipping racing in order to run the races. Hats off to his efforts.

Format

The format of the race was slightly different that most races. Three touring car class was divided up into Touring stock (17.5), Touring Super Stock (13.5), and Touring Modified. Each racer was given one opportunity to race in a “time trials” run on Saturday. This consisted of 8 individually ran laps. The goal? To get the fastest single lap. The winner took home a free paint job gift certificate from 707 paint.net! Each time trial competitor competed against each driver in their own class. After time trials were done, 3 rounds of qualifying were run. The heats and starting order were determined by the time trials. All starts were “heads up” style. On Sunday, 3 more qualifiers were run. That’s right….6 total qualifiers! The best single qualifier would determine the TQ. Each class ran single A Main finals. The winners would not take home trophies….but actual cash. That’s right hard cold cash. The cash was provided by a combination of the race entries and a few overly generous sponsors:

Turn 11 Networks, Fire & Ice Industries, SpeedWorld/Sorex USA, 707Paint.net, RCEvilEmpire.com,Premier Clothing Store ,Jakes Peformance Hobbies, & Associated Electronics

Time Trials

The 17.5 time trial was won by Larry Chui with a 13.5 second lap time. The 13.5 and Mod time trials were won by Eric “Mini Mod” Albano. Eric posted a 12.5 lap in modified and a 12.7 lap in stock. These very fast times indeed.

Qualifying

The 17.5 class was closely contested. After 6 full rounds, Donnie Castle held the TQ. The 13.5 class was a cakewalk for Eric Albano. His time TQ’d easily by nearly a full lap. Modified was highly contested. Lex Tyler took the TQ on round 6 with a strong 25 lap run. The 17.5 and Mod mains would be highly anticipated.

Donnie Castle - 17.5 TQ

Lex Tyler was happy to TQ Mod

Mains:

The 17.5 main was a wire to wire win by Donnie Castle. The win was by over 4 seconds. The newbie has shown alot of promise in the last couple months. This was one of his most dominant performances to date. Running in 2nd was Wilson Cheng. Shop manager Christian Matsuo held down the final podium spot with a 3rd place finish.

17.5 Top 3 - Matsuo (3rd) / Castle (TQ + 1st) / Cheng (2nd)

The 13.5 main appeared to be a easy win for TQ Eric “Mini Mod” Albano. However, drama was in store. On the start, Albano would get a truly dreadful start. This followed by a series of “pinball like” shots from the other competitors. Jeff Hastings would jump out to the lead followed by Jaime Manzanilla and others. Eventually, Eric Albano would work his way through the field. Mistakes by Hastings and others provided Albano with a opportunity to take the lead through the half way mark. Eventually, Albano would take the lead and never look back. Eric would win by a full lap over 2nd place Jamie Manzanilla! Running in a respectable third was Joey Saenz.

13.5 A-Main grid

13.5 TQ & Win TOP car of Eric Albano

13.5 Top 3 - Saenz (3rd) / Albano (TQ + 1st) / Manzanilla (2nd)

The Touring Modified mai would begin with a fierce battle from Lex Tyler, Eric Albano, and Kevin Jelich. Eventually, these three would space out a little more. Slowly, Tyler gaped 2nd place by a a little less than two seconds. Eventually, Eric Albano would take over 2nd place. Jelich suffered a mechanical error that knocked him completely out. This would allow Aaron Biner to take over third. The race ended with a Tyler, Albano, Biner 1-2-3.