Story by Darth Vader. Pics by Darth Vader, Zac Wheatcroft, and Jack Ingberg
A-Main hobbies recently decided to convert their Outback Raceway indoor Carpet On-Road facility into a state of the art off-road facility. The first major race was the Outback Raceway Off-Road Shootout March 27-28. R/C Evil Empire was on hand for the proceedings.
Before we get into what happened during the racing….let me tell you about the facility. A-Main Hobbies is one of the major On-Line R/C hobby retailers. They have a warehouse and brick and mortar hobby shop in Chico, California (around 1 1/2 hours north of Sacramento). I was pleasantly surprised to find one of the best facilities ever! The facility is located in a warehouse district of Chico. The track and A-Main warehouse is located in under one building with a partition. During racing, the track has a full staff ready to supply your part orders from the A-Main warehouse next door. It’s pretty amazing.
Here’s a shot of the track from the corner:
The track features a super rock hard clay dirt. It’s so hard….it’s almost like concrete. Yet….when you drive on it with the correct tires, you have a TON of traction. You literally can drive out of the normal race line and not get loose. Most of the racers used Losi Pink compound tires. These along with a few other brands provided excellent traction.
The end of the straight-a-way was the most challenging portion. There was a tough triple jump. Normally this wouldn’t be such a issue. The main difficulty was that you are jumping toward the driver’s stand on the right corner. It was a tough corner to judge and definitely a section that would make you a better driver. You had to give the throttle and wheel “english” when hitting this jump off the main straight. Here’s a shot of pure doom to many a driver….
The straight was pretty long. I would guess 125-150 feet! When you combine super traction and a long straight…it equals the ability to put some serious ponies down. Even a 6.5 Turn motor seemed semi-slow in a 4wd car.
The driver’s stand was seriously one of the best ever. It had a wheelchair space and ramp as well…..a nice touch. Also…more r/c banners than I have seen at one facility in the last 20+ years of r/c racing.
There were a set of 3 small timing doubles in front of the driver’s stand. This was proceeded by a “step up” section. This was a tough section to get right with the extra traction. It was pretty technical.
The layout featured a short triple and a washboard 180 section as well. 
The race attracted a nice turnout of 68 entries. Instead of having many classes, all were open motor. There were Novice, Open Truck, Open Short Course, Open 2wd Buggy, and Open 4wd Buggy. This provided a A and B main for most classes. 4 rounds of qualifying were ran on Saturday. An additional 2 rounds were ran on Sunday with single 8 minute mains. Each main allowed 8 entries with 2 bump ups.
The prize for TQ? A nice plaque with the full Outback Off-Road Electric Shootout graphics,etc.
TQ’s in both 2wd and Truck were set by Nathan Lavery of “TQ” Racing….how fitting….Here’s a pic of Nate’s TQ rides…
Other TQ’s included Aaron Biner (4wd Open), Daniel Lopez (Novice), & Jason Sams (Short Course Truck)
Nate ran the most consistent of anyone. He was the only 2wd buggy to pull a 17 lap time….Here’s Lavery’s car in action.
The mains were pretty much a runaway victory for the most part. To make things interesting, 8 minute mains were ran.
Nathan Lavery ran away in the Truck Open A Main. The final standings were as follows:
The short course A Main was won by Jason Sams of R/C Car Action magazine.
Short Course Podium (left to right) Steinel (2nd) , Sams (1st), and Bennett (3rd)
The Novice class was taken by Gene Wilson! Final standings as shown below:
Novice Podium
4wd Mod was taken by yours truly….Lord Vader…aka Team Kyosho’s Aaron Biner. The Darkside ruled again on this day for the Neon Yellow, grey, white, and black.
2wd Podum (left to right) Bennett - 2nd, Biner - 1st, and Burdick - 3rd
The 2wd Open class provided the best race of the weekend. A fierce battle ensued between TQ’s Nathan Lavery and Kyosho’s “Evil Lord Vader” Aaron Biner. Biner would follow Lavery around for the first few laps before taking the lead. For a solid 6 minute or more, Lavery chased Biner around the technical layout. The end featured a dicey lap traffic pass attempt by both Biner and Lavery. In the end, it was Biner squeezing out a victory for Team Kyosho. Final 2wd Open Biggy standings:
Biner in action over the timing jumps
2wd Buggy Top 3 - (Left to right) Lavery - 2nd & TQ , Biner - 1st, Sams - 3rd
All in all….it was a great inaugural event. The facility has the backing to be a world class facility. The next big race planned for Outback Raceway is the J Concepts Bash. Dates to be announced for Summer 2010. It should be a great event!
In the pits….here are some other notable attendees…
My favorite grumpy old man racer….Ron Bickel
Russ Bright, Marshall Keener, and JT of A-Main were all racing…..
Darren Stumpf was quick all weekend. He had no complaints either….it was perfect!
R/C Evil Empire had a great time at the event. The A-Main’s were filmed by Zac Wheatcroft. The video’s should be posted soon. Also, be on the lookout for RCEE’s exclusive interview with A-Main Hobbies CEO Kendall Bennett.
A full photo-bucket album of event pics can be found here
