Emery Park R/C Club

2011 NITRO KNOCKOUT - WAS A SUCCESS!

Emery Park R/C Club thanks everyone who made the 2011 Nitro Knockout a success in Wichita, KS.

For this first Knockout event there were nearly 60 entries with racers from as far away as Lubbock, TX who made the journey to Wichita to test their skills against some of the best racing talent in the Midwest.

 First, the Club extends a great big thank you to it's sponsors: 

The Racing Action!

Rain was a factor for Friday's practice and Sunday's main events, but after a short delay, both days went extremely well. By early afternoon on Friday the track had some heavy traffic from drivers trying to get down the timing and flow of the track.

EPRC installed a fresh layout for this event with many additional features and rhythm sections to challenge the skill of the drivers. One of the biggest challenges was the back tabletop and double. Most everyone started out downsiding the tabletop and then taking the double, however by late afternoon several drivers were going for big air clearing the table top and making it to the first double. It was risky, but when you made a smooth landing it was worth up to a half second advantage.

Another new feature was the smoothness of the track for this event. EPRC used a "harley rake" to prepare the track surface and install the new layout. The harley rake made the surface the smoothest the track has ever been. In between the singles, doubles and tabletops racers were able to carry tons of corner speed throughout every lap, which made for some very tight nose to tail racing all weekend.

The qualifying format was 4 rounds of IFMAR style qualifying. The best 2 rounds were taken using qual points to determine qualifying order. Saturday mother nature cooperated giving racers some great conditions all day long. In between rounds the track was lightly watered to keep the track from breaking up and give consistent traction throught the day.

Early Saturday most racers were using a softer compound tire like a JConcepts blue, but later as it got hotter and the track dried up some, a harder compound seemed to be more popular such as a JConcepts yellow.

Comments about the track and layout were positive. One racer drove 8 hours all the way from Lubbock, TX. Despite a very long drive to get here, Nick "go-dirt" Goedert said he had a great time and enjoyed the Nitro Knockout. Others like John Taylor and Shawn Rocha came in from Kansas City and also said they would be back to Wichita. Kyosho driver Cody Hollis and his Dad Fred Hollis from Enid, Oklahoma made their 2nd appearance at EPRC. Cody said he and his traveling buddy Trevor Nault had a great time.

Sunday EPRC was threatened with a rain out on main event day. A sizable thunderstorm soaked the track into a muddy mess and many racers were wondering if Mother Nature had Knocked out the Nitro Knockout!

However, once the rain ended early Sunday morning, the Club quickly swung into action. After draining the puddles off of the track, members spread about 20 bags of pine shavings to soak up the water. Within an hour it looked very promising and the mains were set to begin at 1:30pm. Once the races started the track was super dialed!

Below are the results with pictures of all A-main drivers and entire race videos for the A and B mains of Expert Buggy.

Electric Buggy is one of the fastest growing classes at Emery Park R/C. This main event was exciting to watch with many lead changes and battles for some of the lower finishing spots. Ultimately John Taylor from Kansas City took the win! 

Sportsman Buggy pitted Stateline Showdown champion Mike Clevenger against several newcomers to EPRC, but ultimately Shawn Rocha from Kansas City edged out TQ Kevin West and Mike Clevenger for the win. 

Electric Truggies are not very common at most tracks, but at Emery Park R/C there are several Electric Truggy die hards. At the Knockout TQ Matt Stearman lead most of this race, but late in the main a pinion gear shredded and he limped around the track the last few laps making a cringing sound! That allowed long time Truggy rival and pit buddy Cameron Spruill to take the win! 

In Sportsman Truggy Mike Musial dominated most of the weekend, however in the main event Augusta, Kansas racer Dwayne Davis found some courage in his throttle finger and went for BIG air on the tabletop and gave Mike a run for his money. Look for Mike to be tearing up the Expert class very soon! 

Expert Truggy is serious business at Emery Park R/C. Chris "Cool" Puller, Keith West and Jason "JMac" McAllister are well known for traveling to races all over the Midwest. At the Nitro Knockout, Chris and JMac kept it close, but Chris delivered a "knockout" blow and took the win. Special thanks to 5th place finisher Nick "go-dirt" Goedert for making the drive from Lubbock! 

Expert Buggy was the biggest class of the weekend with the most competition that went deep into a B-Main. Early in the race Jason Howell (Hutchinson, KS) and Trevor Nault (Enid, Oklahoma) got out with a significant lead. Then Ken Peterson (Wichita, KS) caught up and lead a charge during the middle of this 30 minute main event, but it was the smooth and consistent driving by Jason Howell that wore down the competition and took the Expert Buggy main event!

Here is the link to the entire 30 minute video of the Expert A-Main event!

http://www.youtube.com/user/raceroz#p/a/u/0/p25UtvdHMhI

And here is bonus coverage! The entire 20 minute video of the B-Main Expert class!

http://www.youtube.com/user/raceroz#p/a/u/1/Wa1B2Gq1RvA

Thanks to everyone for coming to the 2011 Nitro Knockout and making it a great success! We will see you all next year back in Wichita! Click on the link below for full results of all main events.