Florida Nitro Championship Rd8 – Report
The last race, round number 8, of the Florida Nitro Championship – FORGASS – was held in Arcadia, Florida at the Nuggets Raceway track. The racers had great weather all weekend with lots of sun. All the champions had been determined in Race 7 so this race gave everyone a chance to test, try to go fast and enjoy RC racing at it’s best. Greg Esser, owner of Nuggets, hosted a get together Saturday night at his house that featured Jim Rice’s famous BBQ ribs and a roaring bonfire.
Desoto Jr had had an edge in qualifying of the 8th class but the main was going to be interesting with various fuel and tire strategies in play. Desoto started to pull away slowly with Giorgio and Alonso not too far behind. Rice made an early pit stop and fell back a little. Giorgio pitted first for fuel at 3:45 while Desoto and Alonso waited until 4:15 and 4:30 respectively. At the 13 minute mark Desoto had a 10 second lead but came in to change outside tires, and he would do a 2nd @ the 26 minute mark. When it looked like Giorgio could claw back, he suddenly suffered a flameout. He would have a couple more dropping him back further. Alonso would go the whole main without a tire change and would be rewarded with a solid 2nd. Becattini would drive a smart race as he changed only the outside tires and worked his way through the field to 3rd and round out the podium.
Touring was a great race. Morganti and Cabal would battle, sometimes inches apart, for the entire race. After trading the lead back and forth the entire race it cam down to the last couple of laps and Cabal got stuck at a board trying to go under Morganti’s already very tight line and finished a few seconds back. Jason Bell rounded out the top 3.
GT featured a full field of GTs that were ready for action. GT cars are known for their durability and they didn’t disappoint. Even though there was lots of fender to fender action all 10 cars finished the main. The only class that can claim that achievement. Up front, Collins kept things close for the first half of the race with efficient driving and longer pit stops. About halfway Collins suffered one of a couple of flame outs during the refueling and Desoto Jr was able to cruise to victory. Collins fell back into a 4 car battle for 2nd and 3rd. Collins would manage to move back to second with Wong in 3rd, Desiderio in 4th and Hazbun rounding out the top 5.
Source: Serpent [serpent.com]
