This year's East Coast Championship was held in Leominster, Massachusetts, at the famous RC Excitement indoor race track owned by Todd Anderson. It features a top of the line racing facility which accommodates everyone from pro drivers to new-to-hobby racers. With an indoor air conditioned carpet and off road track and plenty of pit space, track time was definitely comfortable.

The hosts of this year's event were the guys from Team Scream Racing Products who conducted a very smooth and effortless race. Among all the entrants from the surrounding areas and Canada there were quite a few sponsored and factory drivers. Some companies that sent drivers for this year’s race included Xray, Team Scream, Psycho Cells, Mamba and, of course, AtomicMods.com.

Friday morning was rough because I hardly slept due to my eagerness to practice. I knew that my setup was going to need some changes because this was my first time to ever run on carpet. The track layout was fast with a few technical spots in the infield and had just enough room for high speed passing. The traction was great if you stayed on the line but if you got a little outside the line the track seemed to be a little dusty. I had to make sure that I made changes to my car one step at a time because there was a very thin line between traction rolling and not having enough grip. Cleaning or truing the tire after every run was needed for the car to stay consistent and the car seemed to handle better with a low ride height and thin tires to keep the car from having too much roll. After spending most of the day fine tuning I was confident that I was close enough in setup to be able to run some fast times. Thanks to all the local guys who knew the track that gave me tuning tips to get my car dialed for Saturday’s qualifying.

Qualifying day started off a little wet with the rain starting early morning but that didn't stop the fierce competition among all the sponsored and local drivers. The schedule for the weekend was the on road heats first, then moving on to off-road. Qualifying started on time around 12:30 with pro modified, pro brushless, stock rally, Open scalpel, Open truck and open recoil. Since I wasn't sure of how fast the rounds would be, I chose only two classes. Luckily everything went as planned for rapid round heats and I had just enough time to have my pro modified and pro brushless cars ready. My pro modified car was dialed and easy to drive so I put down some good times to put me on the map.

Unfortunately I couldn't say the same for my brushless car. It seemed to have a mind of its own when I applied full throttle. On pace for the pro mod class was Ryan Dalnogare running a M18 prototype chassis from Exotek that had a very cool design and was hard to stay behind. His good driving skills and fast car led him to a TQ pace followed by Mike Gee and myself. After figuring out that my servo was causing the glitching in my brushless car I was able to make the final qualifier. I was on a TQ pace until the last lap where I got tangled with another racer which allowed Mike Gee (TQ) and a few others to outrun my time. Some of the other TQs included Aaron Wilson (Stock Rally), J.P (Recoil), Denmark (Scalpel) and Zack Barry (4WD Open Truck). The Off-Road Qualifying was dominated by the talented Aaron Wilson who TQed and won three classes.

The mains started on time and you could literally cut the tension with a knife. You could tell that everyone was super focused and ready to get it on! First up were the B main guys who were fun to watch because you could tell they were trying so hard to bump up to the A mains. After a tough weekend of problems, it finally paid off for Maxime Beauvais who had a clean run and became "King of the B Main". John Ceci won Pro-Brushless B main and Aaron Wilson once again claimed Stock Rally A-Main. Zack Barry from Xray totally dominated the Open 4WD truck and Pro Brushless classes which lapped the rest of the field by two laps. Open Scalpel A-Mains were super fun to watch because it was such a close race between winner John Cravotta from Team Scream and Wesley Dennis from Castle Creations who went neck and neck until the very end and finished only three seconds apart. The Pro Brushless Micro started out great with my car running smooth and I was finally happy with the consistency of running the shorter 140mm chassis. Sure enough, good things usually don't last. My rear shock was knocked off, which took me out of the race. That opened up the door for Zack Barry, Mike Gee and John Cravotta to finish the race with an exciting run.

The main event of the weekend was the Pro Modified Main which became a battery war between Team Scream and Psycho cells. Both battery matching companies had about an equal amount of TQs and wins so it came down to the fastest drivers of the weekend to win the bragging rights. Ryan Dalnogare, Mike Gee and I were the top three qualifiers and put on a show until Ryan had some drive train trouble early in the main which put him in the back of the pack. I switched places with Mike a few times to make even the spectators nervous. I was on Mike’s tail until the final lap where I snagged a wall and finished second. That’s what I call racing!

Special thanks to Team Scream for the great batteries, fast motor and to all the participating drivers and track owner for a great weekend and tons of fun. I can’t wait until next year to attend ECC4.

Written by Robert "Frank" Rocha
Edited by John Shanklin