Team Futaba Racing - 2005

Team Info: 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008

Futaba Team Driver wins final round of the ROAR Florida State Series and overall Points Championship!

Race report by Gene Hickerson:

The final round, round 8, of the ROAR Florida State Series was held last weekend in Daytona Beach. It rained all week, so no one was able to practice on the new layout. The track crew did an excellent job getting the track back in shape Saturday morning. The qualifying was only delayed 2 hours so that everyone could get one run on the new track. The track was tight and technical. The lanes were only 3-8 feet wide, so traffic was going to be an issue.

In round 1, I was on a TQ run, but through the 3 foot wide S section, another crashed right in front of me, causing a traffic jam and pile up. After loosing about 12 seconds, I was back on my way. My fastest lap was 37.7 seconds, almost a second faster then any other lap of the day. The average lap time by most of the racers was about 42 seconds. JR Mitch had a clean run in the last heat of the round and took TQ for the round, followed by Ryan Eckert, Anton Watson, and me.

In round 2, the track started to dry in sections and was loose & dusty on part of the track, and wet & muddy at others. The track was also much more bumpy due to foot prints on the soft sponge like clay. I was only able to improve my time by 1 second, with the 2nd fastest time of the round. Mitch had the fastest time again by a few seconds over me.

The main events were run under the lights as the temperature dropped. The moisture from the humidity and fog made the track wet again, providing awesome traction for the A-main. At the start of the 30 minute A-main, Mitch took the hole shot, followed be me and my Xray Xb8 in 2nd after the 1st turn pile up. One crash by me several minutes later allowed Mitch a 9 second lead. About half way through the main, I started to put down consistent fast laps and closed slowly on Mitch. After I cut the lead to 1.5 seconds, Mitch started to have excessive noise from his rear diff. Soon after, it let go and dropped Mitch out of the race. That gave me a 29 second lead over 2nd place Bobby Phillips. I then went into cruise control and built up a 39 second lead. I then decided to make a splash and go for fuel with 1 minute left, and brought home the win, the only driver to do 43 laps. Phillips held on to 2nd, followed by Eckert in 3rd.

1/8th scale A-main     
1. Gene Hickerson    XRAY XB8
2. Bobby Phillips    Mugen   
3. Ryan Eckert       Mugen   
4. Gary Mazur        Mugen   
5. Jim Myers         XRAY XB8
6. Jim Larrimore     XRAY XB8
7. Dave Bengston     Mugen   
8. Anton Watson      Mugen   
9. JR Mitch          TTR     
10. Jeff Keeton      Mugen   

Hurricane Motorsports All-Star Shootout at IRP in Dekalb, IL

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Race report by Dave Mettetal:

This is a Regional Midwestern on-road carpet series. The race featured about 100 entries with the largest class being Pro-Stock Cup (5 heats). After several weeks of setting up the new Team Associated Factory Team TC4, I was real comfortable with the car. I ran the new Ready Real-time 3700 Batteries with my LRP Quantum 2 speed control and Futaba 3PK radio. For the body I choose the Pro-Line Stratus 2.0. I ran the most competitive Pro-Stock Cup class which used handout tires and motors.

Qualifying started out very competitive. I had very fast lap times early on, ending up with a 7th overall run. My second round was slightly better and consistent. But, after 2 rounds I was sitting "B"Q. The third round of qualifying was very intense because qual-points are not used. This basically creates a do or die situation for a shot at the "A" main. Drivers for this class (Pro-Stock Cup) came from WI, MI, IA, OH, and IN. This third round was by far one of the most intense rounds I had run all year. A perfect run is the only thing at this point that would solidify a slot in the A main. After 4 minutes of perfect lines, I was on a TQ run. With about 2 laps to go, I grazed a tube, flexing my chassis just enough to cause the spur gear to develop a week spot. This did not stop me but did slow me down. I finished with a 22 lap 5:02 run. When all the rounds completed, this was enough to set me 6th in the "A" main.

After all the announcements, etc. we started the A. This main started like many others, a pile up in the first corner. 5 of us made it though. I was in 5th. After about 3 turns I passed 2 people to get up into 3rd. After 2 more laps my car just seemed to settle in perfectly for my driving style (on power). I worked by the second place driver, then followed the leader for another 2 laps. By about lap 5, I decided to make my move. I found a small opening on a short 180 and took the lead. 3 turns later I stretched the lead. Lap after Lap I ran the same lines with no mistakes. At this point I think the pressure got to 2nd and 3rd because they made a few mistakes to give me about a 6 second lead. At that point I could smell victory. So, I put it on cruise control and held on for the WIN!

 
Pro Stock Cup - A Main  Race# 12
Driver          Car#  Pos  Laps  Race Time   Fast Lap       Qual	
Mettetal, Dave   6    WIN   22    5:01.883    13.182   6 - 22/5:02.008	
Rediehs, Josh    4     2    22    5:03.015    13.116   3 - 23/5:13.244	
Passehl, Lee     5     3    22    5:06.027    13.313   2 - 23/5:11.894	
Kasper, Jason    1     4    22    5:07.060    13.208   TQ - 23/5:11.430	
Reinink, Shane   3     5    22    5:08.414    13.255   4 - 23/5:14.489	
Bottoms, Kevin   2     6    12    3:44.657    13.336   5 - 22/5:00.457	
Cramer, Scott    8     7     8    2:09.782    13.271   7 - 22/5:02.121	
Matteucci, Ron   7     8     6    1:26.247    13.466   8 - 22/5:02.838	

Futaba Team Driver Named R/C Pro National Champion!

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Futaba Team Driver Taylor James competed in the RC Pro Series South Division and finished in first place in the following classes 1/8th Expert Buggy and 1/10th Expert Gas Truck. Racing was done at the KZ Speedway track.

The win at the finals made him the R/C Pro National Champion in both the gas truck class and the 1/8th class for the year.

Taylor also competed in the Ofna Race in Charlotte and won the A-Main in 1/10 Expert Truck Class.

Congratulations Taylor!

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Team Futaba's Devin Beidel took 1st place trophy for the Novice Nitro EDM and 4th place trophy for the Novice Nitro Sprinter at the Newville R/C Speedway & Hobbies Racing Series.

Team Futaba Member takes RC Pro Series divisional title

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Futaba team driver, Scott Cramer clinched the RC Pro Series divisional title (North) in the Standard Monster Truck class just five points shy of a perfect score. After racing at four completely different tracks throughout the Midwest, Cramer will go into the RC Pro Series Finals with the national points lead.

Cramer used the new Futaba 9351 servos in all his vehicles along with the new Synthesized version of the Futaba 3PK with absolutely no problems!

Cramer also stunned the industry by running an OS Racing Engines 18TZ with incredible success in the Unlimited Monster Truck class. In a class that is dominated by .21, .26 and .28's, I guess you can say that is one killer small block. Recently at the Summer Sizzler, Cramer took the TQ and win with his 18TZ in the UMT class.

Futaba Team Member takes NAMBA Nationals by storm in 3.5 Stock Tunnel!

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Team Futaba's Mark Frederick's overcome the unbelievable water conditions to take the very first NAMBA National Championship for the Top Speed 2! Also, Team Futaba's Jerry Dunlap, designer of the Top Speed 2, came in 2nd.

Mark and Jerry both also using Futaba radio gear, O.S. .21 XM outboard engine and O'DONNELL Fuel!

David Jun wins the 3rd Annual KO PROPO Grand Prix!

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Pictures from the Texas Biggie 2005

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Rick Vessell

Ron Atomic

Ron Atomic

Scotty Gray

Vincent Jackson

Russ Williamson Wins IMPBA District 4 Race

Team Futaba's Russ Williamson won the B-Mod Tunnel Hull class at IMPBA District 4 race in St. Louis held by the St. Louis Thunderboaters.

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Tebo Takes the Silver State Nitro Challenge!

Futaba driver, Jared Tebo won the 1/10th scale nitro truck and the 1/8th scale nitro buggy classes at the 2005 Silver State Nitro Challenge. Tebo, coming off wins at The Dirt Nitro Challenge and the Cactus Classic, qualified in the 2nd position in the 1/10th scale nitro truck class. After struggling in the 1/8th scale qualifying heats, Tebo won the 'B-main' race which allowed him to bump up into the 'A-main.'

Futaba teammate, Mark Pavidis, was the TQ in the 1/8th scale class. Pavidis finished in 8th place in 1/8th scale and also placed 12th in the 1/10th scale nitro truck class.

Billy Easton finished in 4th place in the 1/10th scale nitro truck class and 15th in the 1/8th scale nitro buggy class; Gene Hickerson finished 9th in the 1/8th scale nitro buggy class; Greg Degani finished in the 13th spot in the 1/8th scale nitro buggy class.

Futaba Team driver Jared Tebo wins The Dirt Nitro Challenge!

Jared Tebo, a new Futaba Team driver, won the 1/10th scale 2wd Nitro Stadium Truck and the 1/8th scale 4wd Nitro Buggy classes at the The Dirt Nitro Challenge, in Hemet, CA. Tebo was the Top Qualifier in the 1/10th scale Truck class and qualified in the fifth position for the 1/8th scale buggy.

Futaba teammate Mark Pavidis finished the 1/8th scale Nitro Buggy class in third place. Pavidis qualified in the second position in the Buggy class.

Jared Tebo

Mark Pavidis

Tebo 1/8th Scale

Tebo 1/10th Scale

Pavidis 1/8th Scale

Frank Killman has won the last 4 ROAR 1/5 scale U.S. Touring Car Nationals racing with Futaba.

In his latest win he ran with the 3PK, HRS receiver and 4-S9350 servos.

2004 ROAR 1/5 scale STC National Champions

2004 ROAR 1/5 scale G.T. National Champions

Team Info: 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008