Only two weeks after the season kicked off, it was time for Round 2 at Redding RC & Hobby. With the new round came a new handful of racers joining the series for the first time that would shake up the points standings by the end of the day.
The newly expanded Novice class kicked off the day with a 6 truck field racing in a double elimination, randomly seeded bracket allowing all of the drivers a minimum of two races and a chance to race on the track. In the end, Mikey and his “Hulk” truck would prevail as the first winner of the day taking home $25 courtesy of Insano Industries.
After dominating Round 1 in Prairie City, Torey Heath was fast once again taking both the 2nd and 3rd qualifying positions, but it was Chris Prestwood who would set the fastest time and take the number 1 seed. The first round of racing saw a wild race between Taylor Underhill’s “Freedom” truck and Mikey in “Hulk” with Mikey crossing the finish line first, however he went the wrong way around the turn resulting in a penalty. Torey Heath would beat his fiance Tiffany in round 1, however for the second straight week was forced to eliminate his other truck from the bracket. Prestwood took out Underhill for a 1 vs. 2 seed final. Both trucks were running fast all day, but the key would be how they handled the turns and Prestwood was able to handle them smooth all day while Heath got caught up on the final turn costing him the race.
The 2.6 class would prove to be unpredictable and exciting as the track dried out and getting traction and power to the wheels became a delicate balance. Chris Prestwood set a fast pace early with a sub 13 second run that would hold for a while until Todd Henderson with his new blue “Kamikaze” truck would break the 12 second barrier with a 11.97 that would stand until the second to last qualifying pass by Jeremy Bunting in “Hooligan” barely edging out the top spot with a 11.91.
Round 1 would see Byron Clinton’s “Intimidator” advance over Jim Prestwood’s “Blood Thirsty” and Heath’s “Joker” made easy work of the “Snappy” truck that was plagued by battery issues all day. The rest of the field had byes into round 2. Round 2 kicked off with Bunting getting some revenge from the previous round eliminating Clinton. Jordan Driskill came into the day with an orange and green Axial SMT10 truck that didn’t have a name on it, so at the registration desk, he asked his son to name the truck, and he decided on “Kurt”. While not what you would traditionally expect out of a monster truck name, “Kurt” was not one to be messed with! Driskill would make easy work of Bunting’s “Bad Company” after he got hung up on the turning obstacle and follow that up by eliminating Bunting’s number 1 seeded Hooligan in the semi-finals. On the other side of the bracket, Henderson took out heavy hitters Heath and Chris Prestwood setting up a classic final round race that saw “Kurt” take the win with both trucks sailing at least five feet above the finish line.
After the exciting racing rounds, the shovels were busted out and some ramps were added to the track and it was time for freestyle which would result in some serious carnage! The track would prove to be a challenge for many of the 2.2 class competitors who ended up rolling over early in their runs. Taylor Underhill went big and ended up damaging the front end tearing the front knuckle off, but kept going to everyone’s delight and would hold onto the lead until the last truck. Chris Prestwood capped off his dominating day with a freestyle clinic full of big air, fast pace, and almost filling the entire clock which would result in him taking the overall championship and earning 2 bonus points for the Round 2 sweep.
The carnage continued into the 2.6 class starting things off with Jim Prestwood’s beautiful “Blood Thirsty” truck ending up in a pile of broken body panels and a wheel torn off. Early rolls and breakage would come to bite last week’s freestyle leaders as both Jeremy Bunting and Torey Heath would suffer early breakage in their runs leaving the door open for Todd Henderson to capitalize on an already solid showing. Henderson took full advantage and put on a run full of huge air, multiple backflips and saves, and doing all of it with the front sway bar caught on the servo for a majority of the run. His 28 point score would be too much for Jordan Driskill’s “Kurt” to overtake and Henderson would take the overall win for the day as well as the points lead after Round 2.
Despite coming in the runner up position, Jordan Driskill will get a custom designed button-up crew shirt courtesy of Insano Industries. Torey Heath came in second as well and has donated his prize to be raffled off at the Championship event where every truck entry will receive a raffle ticket. A big thanks to Jacob Smallwood for sponsoring this great event! Also, thank you to Redding RC & Hobby and Torey Heath for letting us have a full time track on their property and having it ready to go for race day!
Round 3 returns to Redding RC & Hobby on June 8th, but this time it will be under the lights at night! We encourage anyone coming out to put some lights on their trucks (not required) and have some fun!