Foust sets new Sand Drag Record and Freestyle Joe lives up to his name at Ronnie Setser’s S.S. Raceway

New and old friends were treated to a great day of racing at Ronnie Setser’s S.S. Hobbies and Raceway in Tampa, Florida. The day started off with Concourse. Team Magic Racing took first and second place with their Team Magic I and II trucks. Team Magic’s new Showtime truck claimed the top spot.

Side-by-Side Racing was a challenging modified Chicago style race course. The Small Block class had none other than the Polk County Mad Man himself Tommy Feichtel in the finals against Frank Poruba. Feichtel would put his R/C Monster Motorsports truck in the number one spot with a time of 15.84 seconds to Poruba’s 20.69 seconds. In the Big Block class Tommy Feichtel was again in the finals. Feichtel had his eXtreme Hobby Zone truck up against Paul Montecalvo driving Just4Fun. Not only did Feichtel win Big Block but also set a track record run of 14.91 seconds. In the Buggy/Truggy class Austin Koepke’s Ofna buggy driven by Tommy Feichtel claimed the number one spot with a time of 16.10 seconds over newcomer Richard Gonzalez’s with a time of 17.14 seconds.

Sand Drags was again nothing less than an adrenalin rush for drivers and spectators. Gene Foust proved to the crowd once again that he is the “King of Sand”. Not only did Gene win the Finals for Big Block Sand Drags, Gene also set a “New” overall R/C Monster Motorsports Big Block Sand Drag record with a time of 1.136 seconds. Gene’s R&D; is certainly paying off! In the Small Block Sand Drag finals Tommy Feichtel’s RCMM Machine was paired off against Tyler Koepke’s Bankrupt. Feichtel’s quick reaction time would win the race with times of: ET/ 1.354 seconds RT/ .430 of a second to Koepke’s: ET/ 1.337 seconds RT/ .581 of a second. In the Buggy/Truggy Sand Drag finals, Paul Montecalvo driving his Jammin truck took first place with a time of 1.445 seconds over Gary Strainer’s Ground Pounder which had technical problems and was unable to finish.

Fred Reep, President of R/C Monster Motorsports created a class in Sand Drags for competitor’s who were not equipped with the appropriate sand paddle tires for their trucks. Joseph Nappi driving his Plum Crazy Dodge Charger took first place with a time of 1.362 seconds over retuning racer Dustin Lester’s Silver Rain Savage. Dustin Lester attended our very first R/C Monster Motorsports racing event at Hobbies 24 Seven back in 2003. Welcome Back Dustin!

In the Small Block Truck Pulls, Rip Koepke showed everyone who’s the boss with a Full Pull @ 15 lbs. Big Block Truck Pull finals once again had the Feichtel husband and wife team squared off against each other. Tommy escaped from doing the dishes this time by driving Money Pit past Country Girls mark of 24’ 3” @ 40 lbs to Money Pit’s 27’9” @ 40 lbs.

Before the final event of the day Ronnie Setser held the Ronnie Setser’s Race Day Raffle. This month Ronnie raffled off an Axial .28 1s pull start nitro engine. Joseph Nappi held the winning ticket and went home with this great prize! It also happened to be Joseph’s birthday. Congratulations Joseph!

To end the day of racing R/C Monster Motorsports held a “Last Truck Standing” Freestyle event. Joseph Nappi lived up to his name “Freestyle Joe” by pushing his Savage to the limits. The win wasn’t easy. Tyler Koepke put on a great performance only to be knocked out of the event with front end damage to his truck. Joseph did a great job of hitting all of the obsticles and jumping his Savage several times over Ronnie Setser’s diamond plated mega ramp clearing two 55 gallon barrels. Each time a truck cleared the barrels, they were moved approximately five feet further out from the ramp. Joseph still holds on to his undefeated Freestyle title at Ronnie Setser’s. Great Job Freestyle Joe!

Thanks to all of competitor’s who came out and had a great day of racing with R/C Monster Motorsports and Ronnie Setser’s S.S. Hobbies and Raceway. See you next week at the Monster Spectacular II, Saturday October 13,2007 at the Lakeland Center!

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