event photos

The first ever Tekin Short Track Nationals is over and was considered a huge success by all who attended. The "Short Track Nats" is all about short track oval racing the Team Losi Sliders.  This left-turning, mini mayhem race was set up to run 4 different classes on a 24x50’ carpet oval. The brain child event of Bob Stormer and Tekin owner, Jim Campbell was held the weekend of March 8-9 In Billings Montana. The event was held the same weekend as the ROAR Region 11 Carpet Championships. One round of the Regionals was run, and one round of the short track nationals was run. And because there were 2 complete timing systems, racers could practice on both tracks at the same time. One of the rules written for the event was that oval guys could only be on Spektrum to avoid any radio conflicts on the 2 tracks. And racers largely from Colorado, Montana and North Dakota made up the show.

The event was promoted on the internet at rctech.net and on18th.com. First time that we are aware of that there were 2 separate and complete carpet tracks setup in the same room with their own timing systems. Also, the Billings Shrine auditorium is so big, that we were able to have 2 complete tracks setup, side by side at the same time (regionals roadcourse and nationals oval track), each with it’s own timing and scoring systems. Race announcer, Doug Papka (the voice of the 2007 TCS finals) from Seattle Indoor Raceway, was on hand to announce the races, and did a top notch job keeping the events on time, and letting racers and spectators know what was going on, on the track.

4 classes of racing with the Losi Sliders and 4 new national titles up for grabs with them. Bob Stormer wrote the rules for the 4 classes. 2 sprint classes, one stock and one more modified, and full bodied late model cars, one class largely stock and one more modified. All the classes had their own quirks and nuances and it made for great variation and racing. The only allowed tires were the foam losi mini tires, and the traction and wear were perfect. Stock sprint, and stock Late Model was largely the stock Losi Slider, as delivered with allowance for a slipper upgrade, shocks, springs and brushed speedo. Modified Sprint and Late Model were also allowed to run a ball diff, aftermarket chassis, aluminum suspension bits, and Tekin mini-rage brushless systems. The lap times were very good and the class separations were very good as well.

To get things rolling fast, single elimination “Rock-Paper-Scissors” tournament was thrown at the drivers meeting for everybody in the building. It eventually came down to the last two men standing. Rich Green and Kevin Phillips. First throw was a tie, both men threw scissors. Second throw, Kevin threw paper with Rich throwing scissors for the win. What did Rich win? A brand new Ready to run Losi Slider courtesy of Stormer Hobbies and Team Losi.

Back to the racing. All the heat races were done using a rolling IFMAR start. The race announcer would announce the order, and would let the drivers circle the track at a slow pace until they bunched up nice and clean and he’d start the race. For the mains, it was a rolling start when you heard the horn, you HIT IT. The big class of the weekend was stock sprint, followed by mod sprints, mod late model and stock late model. All qualifying was done for 5 minutes.

Stock Sprint:
In stock sprint Mark Wernimont from Fort Collins, Co. came out fast early on and was setting the pace and turning fast laps and was one of the first guys into the 3 second lap range, along with Eric Grosse of Minot, ND. Marks travelling and racer buddy Rich Lewerke wasn’t even initially entered in the race, he watched the first round of racing, couldn’t stand not to be having that much fun, promptly bought himself a rock stock slider and entered the event, along with Mike Tompkins from Pingree, ND. What’s cool about that is that both drivers were instantly right in the middle of the battle and capable of winning the show. In fact, Mark thought Rich had such a good working car, he swapped classes to mod, to give a Rich a better shot in the stock main, as Rich had a pretty smooth setup, right off the bat. After 5 rounds, only 3 drivers were able to crack the 70 lap barrier and that was Rich Lewerke, Justin Poulson and TQ Eric Grosse, with a 73/5:07 run.

Stock Sprint mains: It was an 8 car show, and 2 of the top 4 were drivers that picked up cars at the event, Rich and Mike. TQ, Eric Grosse on the poll. When the horn sounded it was practically chaos. 8 cars all turning laps in the high 3 to low 4 second range. It was pretty cool to be honest, and the crowd and spectators agreed. For the first 20 laps, Mike and Eric swapped the lead 6 times until Eric got the TQ curse with some traffic and dropped back to 4th. Mike Butts was the first guy out of the race, he got spun on the main straight and another car instantly collected him at full speed and ripped the nose off the car, ending Mikes main event on the 12th lap. Mike did, however, win the “Crunch and Munch” award for the most carnage in an main event. Chuck Carmin turned the second fastest lap of the main a 3.896, he was out on lap 36 with mechanical failures.. Scott Smith got a rough start and actually worked himself up through the field and pulled out a 2nd place overall. Rick Keiser also had a decent run and took himself from 8th qualifier up to 4th. In the end, Mike Tompkins, having bought his car at the event, took over the lead on lap 20 and held it right to the end, never blinking one time in 8 minutes, he had a best lap of 3.859.

Mod Sprint:
Nice fast class. Most of these cars with the Tekin Mini-rage system could wheelie if the slippers were perhaps a bit tight. Kind of fun to have that kind of horsepower on tap, and it made for great racing. Tyler Lynn from Pingree North Dakota was the early on fast guy with laps in the 3.3-3.5 range, along with Bob Stormer of Glasgow Montana. Everybody gathered when the mod racing came to the line to see what would happen. Early Qualifying was dominated by Tyler and Bob and when the smoke cleared, Tyler Lynn was TQ by .675 seconds. With an 83/5:02.009 to Bob’s 83/5:02.684. In the mains, Tyler sat on the pole and when the horn sounded pushed wide and gave Bob a shot down low. Stormer lead for 3 laps, got tangled up and lost a tie-rod and dropped to 5th. This left the door open for Evan Billingsely, Darren Kobelt and Mark Wernimont. Mark had car trouble about half way through and dropped out on lap 41 with a broken arm. Darren and Evan battled for 3rd and 4th. Evan able to turn a faster lap with a 3.797 to Darrens 3.966 but in the end Darrens car was a bit smoother and he went on take 3rd with Evan in 4th. Bob fought back up to second but couldn’t catch Tyler who checked out for the win with a 77/5:02

Late Model:
Fun class to be sure. Lot easier to drive and a lot less flipping and crashing than the open wheel cars. Only had 4 entries so stock and mod were run together. Bob Stormer came out with some serious Tekin power and set the TQ at 85/5:01.901, with Evan Billingsley in 2nd. In stock Late model Josh Watts of Billings Montana TQ’d over Kevin Winsor of Billings with a 68/5:00.995. Late model racing is a lot more controlled and considerably less eventful than the open wheel sprint car racing.

The racers got themselves a custom embroidered jacket for participating in this first ever event. Not just the winners, every single racer got a custom embroidered jacket with the logos of the event and sponsors Tekin, Stormer Hobbies, and Team Losi. Not too shabby for a $25 entry fee. and to top it all off, all the entry fees were donated by Stormer Hobbies to the Magic City RC club, way to go Stormer!

We’d like to thank, The Magic City RC racers for all their help in making sure the regionals and Nationals was a huge success. Also thanks to the folks at Team Losi, and Stormer Hobbies for everything they did for the racers and to see that the event was a success. Hope to see you there next year!