Polk County Racers Gobbled up Turkey and Wins at Turkey Belly Buster Bash

Saturday’s competition was hotter than the peanut oil our Belly Buster Turkey was cooked in at Ronnie Setser’s S.S. Raceway in Tampa, Florida. R/C Monster Motorsports racers and their families lit the home town fires to celebrate Thanksgiving R/C Monster truck style! Good ol’ hometown cookin’ and fierce competition was on the menu and R/C Monster Motorsports was serving it up!

Our First Course was the Show N’ Shine competition. Gene Foust was back with his Team Magic 1 truck topped with his second in a series of twelve Showtime bodies. The Showtime “Elvis” body was Ronnie Setser’s pick for first place. Eddie Inman’s Bubba truck would take the second place spot and Tommy Feichtel’s Southern Flames would take third.

Second Course was a heaping serving of Side-by-Side racing. Fred Reep, President of R/C Monster Motorsports, Inc. served up a unique twist for the drivers a modified Chicago Style race course. Instead of the traditional format of starting in the center of the oval race course facing in opposite directions, racing to the outside oval, then finishing over Parma Chevy Caprice Crushed cars. Drivers started on opposite sides of the outside oval, when the light turned green on our first of two RaceAmerica timing systems, the drivers turned right for one lap over crushed car ramps then finished in the center of the course, facing each other crossing in the air at the finish over Ten-Eighty Ramps!

Small Block Side-by-Side racing featured Tommy “The Polk County Mad Man” Feichtel who gobbled up the first place win for Polk County. Feichtel driving his R/C Monster Motorsports Machine faced Gary Strainer driving Monster Bug in the finals. Feichtel took the win with a time of 14.81 seconds to Strainer’s 16.26 seconds.

In Big Block Side-by-Side racing Tommy Feichtel once again took the win in the finals driving his eXtreme Hobby Zone truck against Craig Lowe driving No Name. Feichtel’s time was 14.39 seconds to Lowe’s time of 14.84 seconds. Feichtel also set track record in the semi finals with a blistering run of 13.91 seconds.

Buggy / Truggy racing featured the Koepke family. Tyler Koepke took the first place win driving Wolf Pack 2 in the finals against Gary Strainer driving Ground Pounder. Koepke took the win with a time of 15.40 seconds to Strainer’s time of 22.27 seconds.

Our third course was the Turkey Belly Buster lunch. The Belly Buster turkey was provided and prepared by Rip Koepke and family. Special thanks to the Koepke family and all of our other racing families who brought delicious dishes and desserts for everyone to enjoy!

Ok, time to get back to racing. Our fourth course was Sand Drags. Tommy Feichtel once again took first place with his R/C Monster Motorsports Machine in the Small Block class. Feichtel top qualified with a fast time of 1.180 seconds. Feichtel’s winning run was 1.373 seconds to Tyler Koepke’s Bankrupt time of 1.393 seconds.

Big Block Sand Drags showcased Craig Lowe. Craig was the dominating force in Big Block Sand Drags. Lowe put both of his trucks in the finals. Lowe’s No Name truck took the first place spot with a time of 1.278 seconds over his Big Blue truck’s time of 1.457 seconds. Craig also top qualified his Big Blue truck with a time of 1.282 seconds.

Gary Strainer driving Ground Pounder took first place in Buggy / Truggy Sand Drags over Austin Koepke driving Wolf Pack 3. Strainer took the win with a time of 1.833 seconds to Koepke’s DNF due to mechanical problems.

Two Wheel Drive Sand Drags paired Austin Koepke against Craig Lowe. Austin took the first place win with a blistering time of 1.169 seconds. Craig would take the second place spot with a time of 1.635 seconds.

The days fifth course featured Truck Pulls. Eddie Inman’s Bubba T-Maxx took first place in the Small Block class with a pull of 25’ 2” @ 25’lbs. Rip Koepke’s Puller Truck Pulled 20’ and Gary Strainer’s Monster Bug took the third place spot with a pull of 15’5”.

Tommy Feichtel’s Money Pit would take the first place in the Big Block Truck Pull class with a pull of 22’7” @35 lbs. Craig Lowe’s Big Blue took second place with a pull of 21’10”. Yvonne Feichtel’s Country Girl took third place with a pull of 20’6”.

Our sixth course featured the return of Tug of War. Eddie Inman quickly dominated the Small Block class defeating Gary Strainer’s Monster Bug and Drew Walker’s T-Maxx. In the Big Block class finals Craig Lowe was paired with Tommy Feichtel. In their first attempt at the finals, both trucks buried their tires to the hubs on the clay surface without moving an inch. The final match up was then relocated to the pavement for added traction. Both trucks were chained together, the slack pulled tight, the engines rev, and at the word of “Go!” Tommy Feichtel’s Money Pit drug Lowe’s Big Blue down the street for the first place trophy.

Barely able to move the driver’s feasted on the seventh and final course Freestyle. Gary Strainer’s Monster Bug and Craig Lowe’s No Name would face off in the Last Truck Standing main event. The loud fast pace music and big air jumps pumped up the excitement level for spectators and drivers alike. When the dust finally settled Craig Lowe’s No Name would be declared the winner surviving the extreme course.

Thanks again to Ronnie Setser’s customs, our sponsors, the Koepke family, and all of our racing families who contributed to make the Turkey Belly Buster Bash a huge success. See you December 1st, 2007 at eXtreme Hobby Zone!

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