VP-Pro USA's Ryan Lopez wins 1/8 Pro Buggy at the S.I.C.

Race report by VP-Pro USA driver Ryan Lopez:

The Alabama Southern Indoor Classic race which is known as the SIC was held on October 1-3 of 2009. I arrived on Thursday to get my practice in for the competition.  I already knew that the Ultra Flexx Tubro Trax tires were going to be the ticket since it was indoor hard packed with a groove in the middle. The track layout was extremely fun with big air jumps! During the course of the event, the track was very brutal for some, with many people breaking a lot of stuff.  I went to practice my truggy towards the end of the day because I wanted to make sure my buggy was set for qualifying first. The truggy was super dialed with the Medium Flexx Tubro Trax.

For the first round of qualifying my buggy was super stuck to the track, but due to the abrasive landing on the track I ended up breaking my steering servo during half way through the qualifier. The truggy round was going good through the first 5 minutes but towards the end I ended up wrecking to much due to being nervous which put me 6th for the first round.

For the second round of qualifying I mounted up a fresh set of Ultra Flexx Turbo Traxx and I ended up TQ'ing for round 2 and was the only one to turn 19 laps in Pro buggy for the whole weekend. For truggy it was also good, finishing 2nd behind Barry Pettit by 2 seconds which put me 2nd overall for round 2.

For the third round of buggy qualifying I wasn't able to even start my qualifer due to steering servo breaking in warm up. My truggy was super dialed throught the whole weekend. I ended up coming in the top 5 for round 3 which placed me 2nd for the A-main event.

Even though I had the fastest time of the week, I ended up making the C-main for buggy due to the problems in 2 rounds of qualifying. I bumped up for the C-main all the way to the A-main with Medium Flexx Tubro Trax. When it came to the A-main I mounted a Fresh set of Ultra Flexx Tubro Trax. I started 14th position. When the horn blew, I happen to pass about 8 people which put me in 6th or 7th place in the third turn. For the first 4 minutes of the race I was catching Brandom Melton and Barry Pettit. I passed Brandon through the whoop section due to him wrecking. Therefore I took first place at the 5 minute mark. From then on I kept the lead and took home the victory for all my sponsors.  I wasn't able to start the truggy A-main due to missing 4 screws in the center of the top mount. I missed 4 minutes of the race, and then I tried to drive as fast as possible to atleast get some laps back. I ended up getting 2 and half laps back from the top 3 people which I ended up 4th in Pro Truggy. I want to say thanks to VP-Pro USA for helping me out with tires having amazing traction and wear!