Zachary Competes In His First RC Nationals

Homer High School Senior Cruz Zachary competed in his first Nationals RC Race at R/C Madness in Enfield, CT. Cruz traveled east with his father, brother, and grandfather to try his hand in his first national race of his young career.

Friday August 3rd the crew from Homer arrived at R/C Madness in Enfield, Connecticut, for a full day of practice on two different tracks. Zachary pre entered by mail a few weeks prior to the event, giving him more time to find the correct setup on both of his racecars for the big event. Cruz participated in both the Short Course Buggy class as well as the biggest class of the weekend, the 4×4 short course open truck class. After arriving Zachary climbed up on the drivers stand for his first laps on the track with his 4×4 truck. He found the fast way around the multiple turns and jumps pretty quick, liking the track lay out right away. Cruz then grabbed his SC Buggy and headed over to the smaller track to see how close his setup was on that car. Right away he was hooked up on that track as well, making him feel good about the weekends events.

His grandfather Ron is the truck’s owner, and mechanic. Cruz can always count on having a well-prepared truck every time he hits the track. Zachary takes care of the setups on his buggy himself. This helps Cruz learn how the buggy works and also help him know what different changes do to his vehicle when he makes them.

Saturday morning at 7:30 the first rounds of qualifying started. Each class ran three rounds of heat races setting them up for the mains on Sunday. Zachary’s first round race in 4×4 was going great until the last lap when the truck just shut off leaving him a little upset, knowing that he only had two more chances to make the A- Main for Sunday. The pressure was short lived after Cruz crossed the finish first in his opening round of SC Buggy on the small track, putting him second over all after round one.

Round two Zachary went out and won his 4×4 heat race, making people take notice of this kid from Homer. The track was drying out with the temps in the high 90’s and full sunshine. A lot of the drivers were looking for the right tire for the conditions, but Cruz and Ron had picked the right tire on Friday. Cruz finished second with his buggy in round two, his time locking him into the A-Main on Sunday. This would be Cruz’s first A-Main start in a national event.

Now all of his energy was focused on making the A-Main in the 4×4 truck class. The pace for the main was 9 laps; Cruz had run a fast 8 lap in his previous races, putting him solid in the B-Main. With the sun setting Zachary headed up the drivers stand to run his last race of the day. The pressure was on him and all the drivers to run a clean race. Each driver was on their own clock, so making a clean run would help get them that much needed 9 laps. The horn sounded, and the racers headed into turn one for their five-minute battle. Cruz started out mid pack taking his time moving to the front. His truck was fast, passing the trucks in front of him at will. Zachary made his way to the lead giving him a shot at the 9-lap mark. He drove smart making few mistakes giving him a 9-lap 5:33 finish. He was very happy with that run. The truck was good and so was Zachary, doing everything he could do to put it in the A-main. Now he needed to wait and see if the 9-lap race and time was fast enough. At the end of the heats Cruz ended up sitting fourth in the B-Main. The Top Qualifier in the B ran a 9 lap 5:31 beating Cruz by just a hair.

Sunday morning Zachary ran his third heat race in buggy finishing second, ultimately earning him third on the grid for the afternoon’s main event. The mains were set; Cruz was in race no. 21, and 30. In the 4×4 class he was sitting 14th out of 119 entices, which is great for his first attempt at a big race. As the day went on the weather started to turn, as a big storm was on its way from the west. Cruz lined up his buggy for the A-Main. The mains were 6 minutes long. The horn sounded and Zachary ran down into turn one in the third position. By the time he came out of turn two he was back in the eighth spot. A bunch of cars piled up in the corner trying to win it in the first lap. After a few laps the field got spread out, and Cruz made his way back up to the leaders. Second place bobbled, and Zachary went by taking over the second spot. Cruz then set his sites on the leader. Most of the top guys were factory drivers, getting support from the manufacturers. Cruz was turning heads with his great driving and car control. A few minutes later, Zachary’s buggy flipped over on a jump, allowing the third place buggy to get by him. Cruz then raced with him until he got caught on a pipe giving up the third spot as well. He then charged back to the rear bumper of third place buggy, but ran out of time giving him a great fourth place finish.

Soon after that race the sky’s opened up and flooded both tracks. The event promoter had to call the races at that point. So the classes that couldn’t finish were awarded by how they qualified. Cruz ended up 14 over all in 4×4. He wishes that he could have raced his B-Main, hoping to bump up into the A. Either way he drove great and had a great showing in his first national event. Next up for Cruz is the Intergalactic Short Course Championships in Rome, NY August 25-26.