 2001 ROAR On-Road Nationals |
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The 2001 ROAR On-Road Nationals were held at
Speedworld Raceway in Roseville, California. The race was hosted and ran
by Billy and Tracy Bowerman. The race was held on the last weekend in
July. Fortunately the weather behaved itself and it only got in the
90's. All the factory drivers were in attendance and it looked to be a
good fight for the titles. The track was just a little too tight for my liking. It also caused the officials to only put seven racers in a heat. This made for 35 heats of qualifying. The days were just too long. Racers had about four hours in between heats. Even with getting out of the track at 8pm each night, racers kept their spirits up. I could only imagine what Billy and tracy were going through. Doug King, Larry Bates, Scott Tomasello, Charles Ferrari, Joe Nyguen and Dino Tapia traveld to Roseville to race and represent Ripon Speedway. Things didn't work out for everyone. 1/12th scale for Doug and myself were tough. My car was awesome but I couldn't drive cleanly to make run time. Doug was just starting to get the hang of his new car by the end of the weekend. Doug, Charlie, and Larry were all in the "E" Main of stock sedan. Joe and Dino ended up a few more mains down. I made the and won the "B" Main in stock sedan. Not too shabby for a bunch of hacks! The race ran pretty smoothly. (Rant Mode On)The race also had it's share of idiots as well. I just don't understand when racers get together there always has to be jerks present. Some moron found the time to smear dog shit on the doors of the portable restrooms. I don't know who did it, but I can guarantee he is sponsored! If racers don't start protecting the tracks they race at soon, there might not be many left. Bill and Tracy poured out their hearts and opened their property to us. It only takes one prick to make all of us look stupid. Also, not picking up one's own trash after each day has gotten out of control. It happens every year at the Reedy. People are just too lazy to pick up after themselves. So it turns out to be the job of the host track to play garbage man for about two hours every evening. The last thing that was pretty weird was the Losi XXX-S sedan being legal for the stock class. It wasn't readily available 14 days prior to the event. There were no parts available either. The car looks awesome and will sell like crazy. However, we have rules to protect the stock class. So when a factory gets it's car legal and sends FACTORY drivers to compete in stock, that is a little extreme. (Rant-Mode off) Congratulations to Paul Lemieux for winning the Modified National Title. He definitely deserved it. Also, congratulations to Josh Cyrul for dominating 1/12th Modified. Congratulations to Billy and Tracy for surviving the whole ordeal. Without dedicated individuals to put on these types of races, we wouldn't have them.  |
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