Traxxas Revo 3.3 Wins RC Pro Series National Title

Traxxas Revo 3.3 Wins RC Pro Series National Title

Each year, the RC Pro International Finals wraps up the racing season at an exciting venue on a large, national-caliber track. This year, all of the qualifying drivers from their respective regions and countries gathered at the Diamond W events arena to compete for the overall international title in their respective classes. This year’s finals pulled in nearly 250 entries and treated the racers to brutal track conditions on a large 250ft+ layout. I attended the Finals with the goal of earning Traxxas a sixth RC Pro national title, while helping my fellow Traxxas racers out with their setup and tuning so they could put in their best performance too.

Monster trucks ran in the Pro Mod Truck class, with nitro and electric trucks running together. R/C Pro also held Slash exhibition races on a shortened version of the full track layout. This provided lots of close racing action between the drivers and was a ton a fun. Practice and qualifying took place during the week for racers to set final tweak to their rigs before the big show on Saturday. The Pro Mod class ran four 10-min qualifiers plus a 45-min main while the Slash class consisted of 3 5-min qualifiers plus a 7-min main. All of the Slash races were held throughout the program on Saturday. Let’s check out the action.

Pro Mod Truck

Qualifying

Qualifying kicked off on a surprisingly smooth layout for the first round. The track was blowing out pretty badly during practice in the days prior. However, I knew this wouldn’t last for long. I wanted to take advantage of the good track conditions by putting up a solid fast run. Fortunately, it worked out as I TQ’d the first round with the only 11-lap run. The track was much bumpier for the next round and finding smooth lines became very important. I managed another consistent round and turned in another TQ run.

The third round started to get change things up a bit as David Johnson’s brushless-powered E-Revo set the fastest time, giving him the TQ for the round. David was fast in all of the rounds and was starting to put together consistent laps. If David were to TQ one more round, the tie-breaker would come down to the third best round of each driver. Technical difficulties knocked me out of the race in the third round, so I knew I would have to put in a solid finish in the fourth round to have a chance at the overall TQ.

By the fourth round, the track was absolutely insane. Navigating around the huge potholes and picking the right lines on each jump became incredibly difficult. The punishing conditions managed to pull a rod end off of a pushrod, which took my truck out of contention. But my Revo was not the only Traxxas truck in the fight. David Johnson and Mike Battaile were battling on the clock with just seconds between them for most of the race. Mike eventually secured the win and TQ with his Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition. This actually locked me in with the overall TQ. I came into the finals behind several drivers in points, but the extra points acquired from the TQ put me right there with everyone going into the main. It was going to be a great race in the Main as half of the field actually had a shot at the title.

Pro Mod Qualifying Results
  1. Steve Slayden Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
  2. Mike Battaile Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
  3. David Johnson E-Revo Brushless Edition
  4. Christian Blake E-Revo Brushless Edition
  5. Paul Gaertner E-LST
  6. Ricky Johnston E-Revo Brushless Edition
  7. Gunnar Rieck Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
  8. Jerry Graff
  9. Ron Anderson Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
  10. Tim Roberts Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
  11. Jeff Felty E-Revo Brushless Edition
  12. Bob Sydow Revo 3.3
  13. Ron Wall E-Revo Brushless Edition
  14. Matt Sistrunk Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition

  1. Steve Slayden Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
  2. Gunnar Rieck Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
  3. Ron Anderson Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
  4. Bob Sydow Revo 3.3
  5. Ron Wall E-Revo Brushless Edition
  6. Paul Gaertner E-LST
  7. Mike Battaile Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
  8. Christian Blake E-Revo Brushless Edition
  9. David Johnson E-Revo Brushless Edition
  10. Ricky Johnston E-Revo Brushless Edition
  11. Jeff Felty E-Revo Brushless Edition
  12. Jerry Graff
  13. Tim Roberts Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
  14. Matt Sistrunk Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition

Slash MainRC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | Traxxas Revo 3.3 Wins RC Pro Series National TitleQualifying for the Slash event was basically for getting the track down and getting a final setup for the Main. Qualifying position didn’t matter as the field was lined up side-by-side for an MX-style start. The 7-minute Main started off with the entire field roosting the off the line, banging fenders all the way. After the first few corners, David Johnson, Tim Roberts, Mike Battaile and I led the way. Mike, Tim and I eventually broke away and began battling for first. After the halfway mark, Mike Battaile started to develop a solid lead while Tim and James Christopher battled for second place and I fell back to fourth. Mike Battaile held on for the win with Tim Roberts finishing second and James finishing third.

RC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | Traxxas Revo 3.3 Wins RC Pro Series National Title
Slash A-Main Results

  1. Mike Battaile
  2. Tim Roberts
  3. James Christopher
  4. Steve Slayden
  5. Jason Fiock
  6. Spencer Wall
  7. Chris Haldeman
  8. Kelly Lillard
  9. David Johnson
  10. Unknown
  11. Sean Smith
  12. Ron Wall

Thanks to RC Pro for hosting another great season of series racing. The track was very challenging and the race program ran flawlessly. They worked their tails off and it was a great event. Thanks again to the entire RC Pro crew and to Diamond W to putting on an awesome show. Most importantly, I want to thank all who have not only supported, but also participated in the Pro Mod class this season. I’ve met a lot of great people in this hobby of ours and look forward to meeting many, many more. See ya!

—Steve Slayden

Pro Mod Truck A-MainRC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | Traxxas Revo 3.3 Wins RC Pro Series National Title

The track was in horrible shape as the trucks gridded for the Main. Only a few of the jumps were possible and there were huge potholes and ruts in every corner. The race was scheduled for 45 minutes, so making the truck last was key. The race started pretty smoothly with Mike Battaile and I leading the way. Paul Gaertner and Tim Roberts (3-time RC Pro Champion) quickly made their way up to the front just behind me as Battaile fell back a few spots. I knew Tim was going to be a handful so started to step it up a little bit. Tim and I were eventually battling for the lead. The jump faces were horrible but a few of the jumps simply had to be cleared in order to keep pace. Tim caught a rut on the off-camber turn and flipped his truck over. I snuck past him on the inside to take the lead back, and trouble found Tim again as his engine flamed out from the tumble. This gave me some breathing room, but it wasn’t nearly over yet. The fast pack was still right behind me and I knew that a couple of the electric trucks would only have to pit one time, while I would have to make four stops. About halfway through the race, my truck started torque-steering very badly to the left under acceleration and also under braking. This was making it very difficult to drive fast and many areas of the track. I was afraid of getting caught and having to push the truck harder than what it was capable of handling. Meanwhile, David Johnson had Gunnar Rieck had made their way into third and fourth place respectively. David was gaining on me quickly as my average lap time suffered by nearly two seconds a lap. David and I swapped the lead over the next 10 minutes or so, until he had to come into the pits for a battery swap. He managed to hang onto second place, but dropped back over 20 seconds behind me as I kept making consistent laps. With only 15 minutes left in the race, I had one more pit to go. David passed me just as I was exiting pit lane. I caught him and we battled back and forth until I was able to stretch a two-corner lead on him, but the effort was unnecessary as David lost power, ending his race prematurely. This allowed Gunnar and Ron Anderson to slip into second and third place respectively, and that’s how we finished. I managed to hold onto a two-lap lead at the end with Gunnar locking in second place while Ron would secure third. Bob Sydow and Ron Wall rounded out the top five with fourth and fifth.

RC Car Action - RC Cars & Trucks | Traxxas Revo 3.3 Wins RC Pro Series National Title
Pro Mod Truck A-Main Results

Never miss an issue of RC Car Action!

Subscribe today with a Digital Edition subscription or Print + Digital combo!

 

Updated: July 20, 2015 — 3:40 PM
Air Age Media ©