Gulf Coast Raceway
Houston, Tx. USA
R/C Pro Series On-Road National Championship
I couldn’t ask for a much better start to the 2012 race season than what we had this past weekend at the R/C Pro Series Nationals in Houston. My Novarossi powered Serpent 966TE was superb right from the first day of practice, and that continued right through qualifying to taking the TQ spot, and on to the 1/8 Open one hour final where I was fortunate enough to lead every lap of the race and take the win! During the early stages of the final we battled with Ralph Burch, but he ultimately had problems which allowed Terry Brown to finish 2nd and Brad Tofflemire to finish 3rd.
The real story behind this race was that it was a race of change for me. My good friend and mechanic of 12 years, Rich Browne, decided over the winter that it was time for him to retire from R/C. It was a very tough thing to hear, but all I can say is “thank you” to him for all the incredible support he has given me over the years. I know that I have been very lucky to have it. It also left me with a dilemma of what I should do regarding my own racing. Should I retire as well? Should I try to find a new mechanic? Should I try to go it on my own?……… well, after some thought I knew one thing I was sure of was that I wasn’t ready to retire, I wanted to race! I didn’t have to think about to much else as some incredibly good news quickly came my way. Otto Rosa, a longtime r/c racer and good friend from here in Northern California called to talk about helping me out. It wasn’t long before Otto had the car apart and was learning everything he could about my Novarossi powered Serpent 966…………….
Fast forward through this past weekend and, wow, not only did we have a great time, but Otto did a fantastic job with the car! I can’t say thank you enough to him for all his efforts and hopefully it’s a sign of good things to come. We got a real good setup on the car (which will be posted soon on Serpent.com) and were able to test and run 3 different Novarossi engines and clutch settings, all of which ran great. We continued to get the car better and better each time we ran and that continued all the way to the last lap of Sunday’s final.
I am looking forward to the K.O. Gran Prix in L.A. next month that we will attend with my Serpent/Novarossi teammate Paolo Morganti. Thank you to all of my sponsors and their awesome products that make it possible for me compete….. Serpent, Serpent America, Novarossi, Spektrum, Tornado Fuel, Xceed Tires, Protoform, Empire Racing, Avid Bearings, A-main Hobbies, Desoto Racing
See you at the track soon!