Halloween Classic double for Larry Fairtrace

TOP Racing team driver Larry Fairtrace sent us this report from the 2011 Halloween Classic which took place last weekend at the Gate in Brunswick, Ohio. “We arrived late to the Halloween Classic. Friday all day was practice, but we had to work on Friday so we drove all through the night to arrive at the track Saturday morning at 7am. This gave us 3.5 hours of practice, racing was set to start at 11am. I practiced a few times with my Photon and made some changes based on the amount of traction. I arrived with the setup I ran at the IIC but it was pushy with too much all around traction. I migrated back closer to my standard carpet setup by the end of practice. I put my Rebel on the track one time in practice and it was very good right out of the gate. I was pretty satisfied with it and knew new tires would make it that much better so I shelved it until racing started and concentrated on my Photon.

The first 2 round of Touring car I was still getting the car and motor package dialed in and learning the fast way around the track. I was sitting I think 4th after the 2nd round, with fast laps just too many mistakes. We talked about shock oil and I made the final change back to the standard carpet setup and that was what brought the car to life. In the 3rd round I finished .3 behind the TQ only because I got caught up with another car on the 2nd to last lap. In the 4th round I was able to get the TQ spot by about a second with a pretty clean run.

In 12th scale 13.5 the first round I drove with a lot of taps and one bigger mistake and finished 2 seconds behind Herbert but was very confident in my car I just needed a little track time which I got in that race. In the 2nd round I was able to get the TQ spot from Keven even after an incident out of my control in the middle of the track with a couple laps to go. 3rd round I bettered my own TQ time by 4 seconds and put in what I thought was maybe good enough to solidify the TQ for the event. The 4th round was uneventful because everyone tapped out and my car was ill handling due to a bad bearing in my diff that probably should of been replaced prior to the race. No one bettered my time in the 4th round and I was TQ for the event in both of the classes that I was running. The car was flawless for me again just like at the IIC, I just had to drive it well.

The mains went pretty well also. In the Touring car main I was able to stay a safe distance from the 2nd place car for most of the race. I tapped the flapper on the 2nd to last lap and it made for a somewhat exciting finish but I lead from wire to wire for the win in a field of almost 60 cars.

The 12th scale 13.5 main was less eventful from an action standpoint. I got out to a safe lead over the 2nd qualifying car while the rest of the field battled behind us. At about 3 minutes in he tapped out and got caught up in the battle for 3rd and I was able to drive safely to the win. Finishing 5 seconds ahead of the battle for 2nd.”

17.5 Touring A main
1. Larry Fairtrace – T.O.P Photon
2. Mike Haynes – Xray T3 2011
3. Dave Johnson – Associated TC6
4. Brad Johnson – Corally HMX
5. Chris Goetz – Sakura XI
6. Bill Sydor – Corally HMX
7. Danny Jenkins – Xray T3 2011
8. Karl Hoffmeister – Associated TC6
9. Alston Kelso – Xray T3 2011
10.Jim Piersol – Xray T3 2011

12th scale 13.5 Open A Main
1. Larry Fairtrace – T.O.P. Rebel 12
2. Paul Ciccarello – On Point
3. Mike Blackstock – Associated R5.1
4. Keven Herbert – Associated R5.1
5. Joe Trandell – Associated R5.1
6. Terry Rott – CRC Gen Xi
7. Andrew Knapp – CRC Gen Xi
8. Tom Firsching – CRC Gen Xi
9. Mike Gee – Associated R5.1
10.Steve Dunn – On Point

Source: TOP [top-racing.jp]