This week at High Octane R/C was the third round of a twelve week point series called Friday Night Fever.

The weather outside was unseasonably warm and the action on the ultra fast indoor clay off road track was just as warm for a Friday night in February. Racers from all over NY filled the pits with their high tech 1/10 the scale 2 wheel drive trucks and the very popular and exciting 4×4 wheel drive class.

High Octane R/C opened their new facility in late 2011 hoping to be the exclusive indoor dirt track in central NY.  It is working, brothers Pete, and Nate Reyes run the track, and on site hobby shop in Syracuse N.Y. They have had a lot of help through out their business venture, from the Levy brothers bringing in the clay and creating a very nice race surface as well as a host of other racers giving a  helping hand for their racing program three days a week. The race program is getting better every week as the wrinkles are getting ironed out making it a good show to participate in.

Cruz Zachary Leads Matt Levy, and Dave Compton during the pro 4x4 A-Main

Round three proved to be another good night of racing with 58 entries filling the pits. Six classes make up the program of racing from the newest r/c Racers to the Willey veteran’s that have been at it since the eighties. As the night gets started each of drivers scrambles to get the correct setup in their machine. Each trying to figure out what tire will work on the ultra fast Clay surface. The pits have an aroma of (Simple Green) which is used to clean and soften the tires. After the first two rounds of racing Dan Levy finds himself tied with his brother Matt atop the 17.5 two wheel drive class with Clay Wheaton and Dave Stisser close behind in third and fourth. In the 17.5 Sportsman two-wheel drive class Rob Mathews  clings to a six point lead over Giuseppe Barbieri going into the nights race. 13.5 Pro is a close battle as well with Jeff Hotaling holding a eight point lead over Sam Leary and Bill Suave who are tied for second. Anthony Scott holds the lead in 13.5 sportsman. In the all exciting 4×4 Open Pro Class Matt Levy keeps his 12 point lead over Nate Reyes and brother Dan Levy. Ross Leone and Nick Derose are battling for the top spot in 4×4 Open Sportsman.

Kevin Crandall wrestles his SC10 around the tight turns during a heat race.

Pete started taking sign ups early this week to try and help get the drivers out of there at a decent time. The first heat in 4×4 Open Pro was a great battle for the top spot between Matt Levy and Cruz Zachary. As the horn sounded the trucks raced into turn one jockeying for racing room. Matt Levy appeared first out of the gaggle of trucks with Stisser, D. Levy and the rest of the field close behind. By lap two Zachary had passed everybody between himself and M.Levy. Chris Spencer was doing a fantastic job behind the mike calling the exciting race for Pete from his perch high above the track. Levy could hear that Zachary was into second, and Stisser now into third. As the clock wound down Matt found himself in the TQ spot and Stisser crossing the line for second. Cruz had a wire come off his battery on the final lap putting him into a hole for the second round.

Cruz finished second to Levy in round two with 22 laps putting him second behind Levy in the main.

Matt Levy trying to get around Fellow AFU-2 driver Chris Spencer in the 13.5 Pro Class

17.5 Two-wheel drive pro Cortland’s Dave Stisser Racked up 21 laps in round two putting him in the field for the nights A-main. Stisser went on on beat out Brian Bush, and (Jimbo) Jim Sherman   in the night A-main.

Rob Mathews took the top spot in the 17.5 Sportsman A-MAIN. 13.5 Sportsman A-MAIN saw Caleb Hall edge out Justin Harden for the win with 28 laps.

Next up was the 4×4 Open Pro A-Main with special announcer Chris Spencer calling the very tight battle for the points. Matt Levy And Cruz Zachary lead the field into the first turn setting up what looked like another epic battle between the veteran and the rookie. Cruz was on Matt’s back bumper for the first few laps looking for a place to put his nose under Levy. As the two pulled away, Stisser and Bush were waging a war of their own for the their own for the third spot. Zachary looked under Matt right before the table top , but pulled back out setting Matt up for a move coming onto the back stretch. As Cruz hugged the pipe on the bottom Levy squeezed Zachary to the pipe giving himself a little breathing room going into the sweeper. Cruz got hung up on the pipe and fell back to fourth as Bush And Stisser flew by. Zachary once again worked his way back up to the second spot a ahead of Stisser. The two battled back and fourth until the came together coming down to the drivers stand. By this point Matt had started to lap the other trucks in the field. At the final horn Levy had taken the top spot with Brian Bush and Stisser second and third. Nate Reyes finished a strong fourth, and Dan Levy rounding out the top five.

Stisser leads the field through turn one in the 4x4 Open Pro class

Jeff Hotaling held off a charging Matt Levy to take the honers in 13.5 Pro with Chris Spencer and Dan Levy a close third and fourth.

Check out all the action images at http://wwwsilentshots.smugmug.com