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Kamikaze Open Invitational at Crystal Park R/C Raceway (19/05/2009)

By:
Reporter-2



This past weekend May 16, & 17, 2009 was the 1st Kamikaze Open Invitational sponsored by my father’s hobby store, Kamikaze Toys and Hobbies, at Crystal Park R/C Raceway, with drivers across the nation from California to Florida. Our own DJ Apolaro and Sean Lue came to visit my home track. We had beautiful weather and we reached the 120 persons entry limit.


Saturday’s 1/8th qualifying saw Mike Swauger up front after round one and me in 3rd position. After round 2, I was able to take TQ in front of Mike Swauger by 1 second. In the 3rd round, we saw that it would be another battle to take the top spot, but unfortunately my engine went blew the 2nd lap after flaming out at the end of the warm up. Swauger was now again TQ, Ron Calangi had moved into 2nd and I stayed in the 3rd spot. In 1/10th Sedan, I ran into a lot of lap traffic in 1st and 2nd round. In the 3rd round I played it safe to keep myself in the main event and I landed in the 7th position on the grid. Fellow Serpent racer DJ Apolaro was able to qualify 10th in both classes.
Sunday’s main events saw many of our local Team Kamikaze/Team Serpent drivers playing the bump up game with Jonathan Prather doing a wonderful job in the C-main to bump up into the B-main. As he continued onto the B-main, he was in contention every lap to make the event, but unfortunately his motor flamed out before the last pit stop. Jonathan did a wonderful job. But on the other hand we had Sean Lue bumping into the 1/8th A-main event, congratulations!


In the 1/10th sedan main event, the car felt really good, but the long main event setup, my car started traction rolling, I waited for my car to come in, but it was too late, so I just drove to finish and I ended up in the 7th position with DJ finishing 5th.
For the 1/8th A-main, my plan was to just maintain my position in the 3rd spot, but fortunately I was able to breakaway from the crash at the start to stay in 2nd. Mike Swauger had his exhaust spring wear through his header so he was unable to continue the event. This put me in the lead, holding the position up until the very last part of the race when I tangled with lap traffic causing me to fall back one position and finish 2nd.


It was a great weekend for Team Kamikaze, and Team Serpent. I would like to thank my father for putting on this event, Crystal Park R/C Raceway for having us, all the people who support my father’s store and came out to this event. Thanks to all the Team Kamikaze guys for the wonderful entertainment in the pits, Robert Morris for helping me with my electronics problems. And all of my sponsors:

Kamikaze Toys and Hobbies
Serpent America
KO Propo America
Maxy’s Fuel
Xceed R/C