Race Report by Gene Hickerson

Round 2 of the RC Pro FL Series was held at Mills Pond in Fort Lauderdale. There were over 100 entries with South Florida's best on hand to tackle the very technical layout. It rained Friday night right after I practiced one time which also caused a late start on Saturday with no practice again. I was in the first 1/8 pro buggy heat and it started to rain again right before my race which made for some fun mud bogging. My Agama Racing A8 was dialed for the first 3 minutes with VP-Pro Medium Flexx Condors but then started to bog down the last half of the race due to the extra 5 pounds of mud on my car. It stopped raining right after my heat and the track started to dry out and grooved up quickly. My time only held for 7th for the round. In round 2, the track was now blue grooved and super fast. I went with  Ultra Flexx Turbo Trax on my A8 and was on pace to qualify 2nd overall but I traction rolled with 1 minute to go and my engine stalled while I waited for a turn marshall. That put me 4th in the B-main but I looked at it as more track time on the difficult track with my new buggy.

For the 20 minute B-main, I went with Low Flexx Turbo Trax and I quickly moved to the lead. I went on to stretch out a huge lead almost lapping the field until my throttle servo case cracked leaving me with no brakes. I held on to the lead to bump to the 30 minute A-main. After replacing the servo top case and putting on a fresh set of Medium Flexx Turbo Trax, I was ready for the A-main under the lights. Serpent's newest driver, Jared Scott, took the early lead from AE's JP Tirronen and checked out. I worked my way from 11th to 4th by the half way mark but them made a big mistake and dropped to 6th, 1 lap down from Jared. I then started to lay down some very good laps as I got a better feel for my Agama A8. Jared soon dropped out with electronic problems putting me back on the lead lap. I moved up to 4th and then up to 2nd by the final pit stop. I was 12 seconds back from the leader with 4 minutes to go. I continued to keep a fast pace as my tires were still in perfect condition. By the 2 minute mark, I was on the leader's bumper. I followed him for 2 laps waiting for a mistake and as the 1 minute to go tone sounded, I squeezed full throttle and laid down all the power from my Go Engine and passed for the lead on the outside down the front stretch. At the end of the straight there was contact but I came out with the lead and held on for the final 2 laps to take another win for Agama Racing and VP-Pro USA. I could not be happier with the performance and durability of the new Agama A8 buggy and look forward to the next big race.

I want to thank the Mills Pond Crew for a great track and my sponsors Agama Racing, VP-Pro USA, Maxy's Fuel, Go Engines, Castle Creations, and Machine's R/C Hobbies for all their support this year.

www.AgamaUSA.com