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 Nitro Fest 2008  Every year the excellent crew at the Farm 2 battens down the hatches for one of the largest 1/8th scale off-road races east of the Mississippi, the Nitro Fest. July 18th-20th marked the dates for the 2008 edition of this event which was given an even higher precedent as it was being touted as the Pre-Worlds Warm-up race #2. All of the big guns were in attendance to not only take home the Nitro Fest win, but also build confidence and show off their skills leading into the 1/8th Off-road Worlds which will be held at the Farm 2 in September.
The racing format at this year's "Fest" was unique in that it saw the running of two completely separate 1/8th scale races run at the same time. For the sake of simplicity I'm going to describe the two races as two separate classes being run at the same event. |
Nitro Fest Racing Action
The first race was the 1/8th scale Buggy Nitro Fest class which featured the standard 5 min qualifiers and 45 minute long main. The top 12 drivers in qualifying went straight into the main while the last 3 would bump up from the B-Main event. HB's wonder kid Ty Tessman was on a mission all weekend long and easily qualified straight into the A-main event with his HB D8 buggy. At the end of the 45 minute main event Ty managed to take a top 10 spot, finishing 8th, beating many of his heroes in the process. Ty's incredible performance had people talking from coast to coast, and definitely turned heads at the event. Little did anyone realize that Ty was just getting started with his weekend heroics as everyone began to shift gears and focus on the Ifmar Pre-Worlds warm up portion of the event that would be held later in the day. |
World's Warm up Racing Action
The second portion of this year's "Fest" was the Ifmar 1/8th scale buggy Warm Up Race which would be run in the same format as the Worlds which will be held at the Farm 2 later in the year. This class featured 10 minute qualifiers and required all drivers to race their way into the main event through the "ladder system." This meant that even those drivers that qualified in the top 10 would be split into semi-finals, with the top six from each semi transferring into the 1 hour long A-main event. Qualifying saw HB drivers Ty Tessman and Travis Amezcua go straight into the semi-finals both of whom managed to finish in the top 6 and transfer into the A-main event.
It was once again Ty Tessman's star that shone bright in the main event as he rocketed towards the front of the pack. Throughout the hour long main event Ty battled with Taylor James and Jared Tebo for the race lead, and pressured Tebo for the second position towards the end of the main. An unfortunate flame-out coming into pit lane on his final stop put Tebo just out of reach but still kept him in the third position giving him and HB their first podium finish at a major US 1/8th scale race!
We here at HB can't thank Ty and the team enough for their excellent performances this weekend. A huge congratulation goes out to Ty for his excellent runs and we look forward to carrying this momentum into the World Championships in September.
The D8 has proven that it is a major force to be reckoned with in the 1/8th scale scene, and with our talented team of drivers behind the wheel, expect to see it back on the podium and in the winners circle in the months to come.
HB Team in Attendance:
- Travis Amezcua
- Jesse Robbers
- Ty Tessman
- Surikarn Chaidajsuriya
- Atsushi Hara
- Josh Alton
- Miura-san
Special Thanks to Neobuggy.net for the excellent pictures of the event.
Find the rest of the event pictures and coverage here |
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