Month: July 2014

TGN driver Neil Pestka makes news!

Neil

Neil Pestka has been a busy racer as of late.

Neil Pestka is a TGN sponsored drive and as of late he has made some news. Check out what RCNews had to say by clicking HERE.

Neil attended the popular PowerJam race where he took first place in the Last Man Standing event. Even won himself a Spectrum Radio! See Race Report below….

Then off to the Canadian 1/5 Scale Nations where he took 6th place after mechanical issues that forced him to run a spare engine.

Follow along his last several weeks by checking out his Facebook posts HERE

Race Report from Neil Pestka

2014 Power Jam Midwest 1/5 scale Nationals held in Monon, Indiana

This past weekend I attendended the 2014 Power Jam Midwest 1/5 scale Nationals held in Monon,Indiana. This was a 4 day event for 1/5 scale off road , oval and figure 8 race. Classes for theoffroad would be 2wd buggy, 4wd buggy, 2wd sct and 4wd sct. The oval was 2 wd oval cars. The figure 8 would be the same classes as the offroad. Thursday would be practice and the last man standing race. Friday would be practice and at 1 the first qualifier would kick off. Saturday would be 2 qualifiers and the mains on Sunday. I signed up for the 4wd offroad and figure 8 race. The 4wd offroad was my dedicated class.

 Thursday upon arrival the track was very wet due to all the rain from the day before. Once the track dried out practice would open up and the driver stand was full. The last man standing race would start at 7pm. I figured that it was extra practice time and would be a good time so I entered the race. The race got under way and slowly but surely cars started to roll over and get stuck. No cars would be removed from the track so trucks and cars became obstacles on the track as well as all the jumps on the track. Before I knew it there would just be my truck and one other vehicle on the track. We ran for quite a long time before the other vehicle would wreck and let me win the last man Standing race.

 Friday qualifying would begin and I would get a decent qualifier putting me 5th qualifier with a solid 17 lap run in the offroad class. The figure 8 race didn’t go as well as I had a power wire come unplugged after only 19 laps.

 Saturday 2 qualifiers were run and would  shave 9 seconds off of my previous run in off road. I went faster and others did as well putting me 8th qualifier over all. I was able secure a spot for the A main in the 4wd off road sct class. The figure 8 I didn’t run as I wanted to work on my truck to get ready for the offroad mains the next day.

 Sunday would start off with a drivers meeting and giveaways.The mains would start and I was in race 9 for the 4wd sct A main. My strategy was to drive consistent and be patient especially with a 20 minute main. I would have a great run putting my truck into a 3rd place podium finish. For the figure 8 race I ended up qualifying in the D main with only a short run on Friday. I would be in race 10 and I would come in second and bumped up to the c main. The C main was  race 11 with a full field and starting in the back I knew I need a good run. I would win the C main and bump to the B main. At this point I could get my truck to drift in the corner like the cars do in the speedway. I also knew I needed to charge my receiver pack before the B main which was race 13. The B main started and slowly but surely I was making my way through the pack I would win the B and bump to the A main. The final race of the event. I would start out at the back of the pack. A couple of trucks would get in a wreck at the start I was able to move up a few spots. After awhile I found my self  running in 4th with the 3rd place in my sights. I finaly had an opening getting into the third spot. 1 lap in running 3rd  coming up to traffic I got caught up in it and popped a camber link ending my charge. I would finish 10th in the A main for the figure 8 race.

  The event was fun and everyone had a great time. A few things that really stood out to me as I am new to racing 1/5 scale is the helpfulness between racers. The biggest thing was I didn’t once hear anyone screaming from the drivers stand or any thing of that sort what I did hear was a lot of laughing and praise coming off the drivers stand.