The rumor was that this is going to be a hot one, man was that an understatement!  I don't mind the hot weather at times but the temperatures were reaching nearly 110F.  But never mind the weather, this was the first round of the Lost Coast RC Series held by the Humboldt RC Crew led by Aaron Morales. 

The facility hosting the event was Hobby Masters in Redding California, owned by Craig Brandol and helping out is a team of many other great people who have put a lot of hard work in the hot weather to get this race going .  The track is a very good size, somewhere around 140ft wide and about 90ft tall, the drivers stand and pit lane areas are top notch and I'm sure it will only get better.
"The tire wear was great, and the track held together really well"

Sportsman Truggy A-Main
1. Steve Bates
2. Craig Brandol
3. Kent Schell
4. Mike Bollinger
5. Kenny May
Note: From the get go it looked like Craig had this race rapped up, in the bag, finished... But after about 8 laps a wheel nut looks as if it let go and a tire was now missing from the vehicle.  With Kenny not to far off, about 10 seconds down, this allowed Kenny to take over the top spot for awhile until something went wrong and ended his race.  Craig was able to get back into the race and finish second despite a few problems throughout the 25 minute main, but Steve proved that running a clean race and staying out of trouble as best as he could granted him the victory for today.

Sportsman Buggy A-Main
1. Kent Schell
2. Kenny May
3. Dave D.
4. Darrell Matsuda
5. Ross Brandt
Note: As soon as that bell sounded, Ross was immediately out in front taking some good lines and accelerating out of corners really well, and despite the fact that his car was not registering laps with the timing system, it was apparent that Ross was really hooked up.  In the first few laps there were battles and tangled cars behind the leader, until Ross got daring (or made a mistake) and bobbled, allowing a bunch of cars to catchup to him and then it was a battle to keep all 4 tires on the ground while keeping forward momentum.  After the dust cleared, Kent cruised home to a 2 lap victory over second place, thus ending his day with a podium finish in both the sportsman buggy and truggy classes.

Expert Truggy A-Main
1. Jason Melfa
2. Mark Schroeder
3. Jesse
4. Kelly Hammer
5. Tim Bollmann
Note: I would have to say that Bob Summers gets both the "holeshot award" and the "biggest break in the quickest amount of time award" today. Bob Sommers qualified somewhere around 6th or 7th position, as the race started he was immediately in second place and a couple of short turns down from Jason.  About 3 laps in, Bob came over the front large gap jump and tagged the inside wall or pipe ending his short day.  Jason ended up leading the race most of the time, but Mark put in a good finishing run to wind up in second place.

Expert Buggy A-Main
1. Jason Melfa
2. Mark Schroeder
3. Kelly Hammer
4. Aaron Morales
5. Tim Bollmann
Note: Mark A., starting on the pole, took the lead immediately and was sitting about 5 seconds in front of Jason at about the 10 lap mark.  As apparently history does repeat itself, the clutch mechanism in Mark's car let go pushing into the fuel tank ending his day, and missing that top spot on the podium.  Jason basically took over the race from there and never looked back to win the first round of the expert buggy and truggy class, making it a dominant performance for the day.  Congrats to Mark Schroeder for finding a spot on the podium for two second places in the expert classes.

It was unfortunate for those that did not show, because maybe of the heat, or a rumor floating around that there wasn't going to be a race.  But to those 30 or so drivers that did show, thank you.  I had a great time despite the long day, and hopefully the Humboldt Crew will have all the glitches figured out and have smooth running programs from here on out.  Big thanks to the Hobby Masters Crew, you have built a great facility, and the best of luck to ya.  I will be back, probably in the Winter though, if you have a winter...?

More Individual videos will be posted through the week and next, but here is a teaser.  Some photos have been posted in the photo gallery under Hobby Masters...