USAC Battle at the Brickyard Nationals, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, July 6 - 10

    The last time TEAM RICE went out to the Brickyard, we came away with one championship, which was pretty awesome.  This time, we may have outdid ourselves, as we walked away with THREE CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!  Blake Bower dominated the Jr. Honda race, leading the whole way through starting on the pole after winning his heat race from the back (USAC uses a passing points system to determine lineups and lines up cars straight-up, no inversions).  The race was littered with yellows, and Blake did a great job time after time to keep the lead, and once the green was out for more than a lap or two, no one could touch him.  Our 2nd win of the day came in Jr. Stock, when Blake again pulled it out, doing a great job and his TEAM RICE XR7 car was really moving around that track, pulling away from the Eastern Grands Champion as well.  Then, in the very next race, we struck again as Tommy McCarthy just absolutely dominated the Sr. Stock race, coming all the way around to almost lap 3rd place.  About our only negative on the weekend was Tommy's Lt. AA, which was suuuuuper fast in the heat race, but the flywheel magnet came out as he was pulling away with about 9 laps to go.  Then, in the B-main, we were running well in a transfer position when the chain broke.  I guess it just wasn't his weekend for the AA car, but man that XR Evolution was really running, even at one point blowing by and pulling away from the Lt. AA Eastern Grands Champ.  Overall we had a really awesome time at the World's Most Famous Racetrack, and I for one can't wait to go back next year!

Eastern Grand Nationals, Indianapolis, IN, June 27 - July 4

Pacific Coast Indoor, Vallejo, CA, Feb. 13 - 14

Over the past few years, TEAM RICE has completely dominated the Pacific Coast Indoor Championships in Vallejo, CA.  This year was no different.  We started out very strong by having some great practices, and that translated into some strong heat race showings winning a majority of the races in both the first and second rounds of heats. We ended up winning 5 out of the 9 main events. Batting .555 isn’t too shabby!

 One carryover from last year was Tommy McCarty, who at last year’s race won the triple threat, winning the main events in Sr. Stock, Lt. Mod, and Lt. 160.  This year we decided to defend in Stock and Mod, and also let Tommy run his first Lt. AA race ever, and boy did he do awesome.  Racing against kids that had much more experience in the class than him, Tommy literally LAPPED THE FIELD in one of the 15 lap heat races.  That was good stuff.  He continued his winning ways the entire weekend, winning every race he entered, all the heats (6), all the trophy dashes (3), and all the mains except for his very last one, Sr. Stock (they ran a mixed up race order).  We set the car up to be a little free, and maybe did a little too much, as he ran second for a majority of the race.  Then, once the green had been out for a bit, Tommy started tracking down the leader, and with about 3 laps to go started to set him up.  He almost had him on a couple of separate occasions, but an ill-timed decision to dive in a tad late spun both he and the leader out.  But as they say, 11 out 12 wins ain’t bad, especially when 4 of them came in his very first time in Lt. AA!!

Another carryover was Reid Shaw, who absolutely outshined everyone else in both the Sr. Honda and Hvy. 160 races.  His cars were SO hooked up and fast, that it really almost wasn’t fair.  Blake Bower also had himself a pretty awesome weekend too, winning both heats and the trophy dash in Jr. Stock, and was running away with the main when a bad decision with a lapper sent him to the back.  He still came back and ran 2^nd, but he just didn’t have enough time to run down the leader.  In Lt. 160, he had some early wrecks that the TEAM RICE crew had to re-build, but battled back to a strong 2^nd place finish, literally finishing inches away from the win.

It was a really fun time this year in Vallejo, with the weather cooperating and all the kids doing a fantastic job.  The American club did a great job hosting the event, and we can’t wait to come back again next year!

Trophy Dash Winners:

Jr. Stock:  Blake Bower

Sr. Stock:  Tommy McCarthy

Lt. Modified:  Tommy McCarthy

Lt. AA:  Tommy McCarthy

Main Events:

Jr. Novice: 1st Place - Anthony Bruno

Jr. Honda: 4th Place - Blake Bower

Sr. Honda: 1st Place - Reid Shaw

Jr. Stock: 6th Place - Famous Rhodes

Sr. Stock: 5th Place - Tommy McCarthy (dnf)

Lt. Modified:  1st Place - Tommy McCarthy

Lt. 160:  2nd Place - Blake Bower

Hvy. 160:  1st Place - Reid Shaw

Lt. AA:  1st place - Tommy McCarthy

Silver State Winternationals, Primm, NV, Dec. 2 - 6

Heat Races:

Jr. Novice: Famous Rhodes - 1st Place

Hvy. Honda: Reid Shaw - 2nd Place

Sr. Stock: Tommy McCarthy - 4th Place

Lt. Modified: Tommy McCarthy - 1st Place

Lt. 160: Tommy McCarthy -  6th Place

Hvy. 160 (1): Ben Kullos - 1st Place

Hvy. 160 (2): Reid Shaw - 1st Place

Hvy. AA: Ben Kullos - 1st Place

World Formula: Ben Kullos: - 1st Place

Main Events:

Jr. Novice: Famous Rhodes - 1st Place

Hvy. Honda: Reid Shaw - 2nd Place

Sr. Stock: Tommy McCarthy - 2nd Place

Lt. Modified: Tommy McCarthy - 7th Place

(Led the ENTIRE race except for the last 2)

Lt. 160: Tommy McCarthy -  3rd Place

Hvy. 160: Ben Kullos - 2nd Place

Reid Shaw - 9th Place

Hvy. AA: Ben Kullos - 2nd Place

World Formula: Ben Kullos: - 1st Place

 Western Grand Nationals, Langley, BC, Canada, June 27 - July 4

So at the 2009 Western Grands in Canada, TEAM RICE had a heck of a showing.  We WON two of the most prestigious classes there are, Lt. B and Lt. AA!  But more on that in a bit.  We had quite a few cars travel across the border and the Canadian people were very gracious hosts.  We had a good qualifying run (check the TR Network for exact details on that) and then the lower mains began.  Travis Affonso had some super fast cars but a few wrong decisions kept him from making the mains outright in either of them, although he did go to the A-main in Jr. Stock as an alternate, but unfortunately he didn't get to race.  Blake Bower, however, did get to race in the Jr. Stock A-main, and drove his tail off and came away with a solid 4th place finish.  Reid Shaw made the main in both of his cars (Hvy. Honda & Hvy. 160)and finished a veeeeerrry strong second in Heavy Honda, and a quite respectable fourth in Heavy 160.  Ben Kullos came up as well but only drove Hvy. AA, but some just obscure bad luck came his way and he finished 7th in the Hvy. AA A-Main.  Joe Ryan Osborne fought a really loose condition with his Lt. Mod car but still came out with a 3rd place finish.  But the race of the weekend came when Joe Ryan won the Lt. B A-Main.  He trailed for most of the race, and with 2 laps to go a caution came out, and he was in 3rd place.  When racing resumed, the second place car tried to pass the leader going into turn 3 coming up to the white flag.  Both those cars pushed off the corner and Joe Ryan turned his XR Evolution on a dime and passed them both for the lead!  He then proceeded to lead the only lap that mattered and drive away for the win!  We were all so excited I can't even describe it!  Then, in the next race, Joe Ryan took off and drove away from the Lt. AA pack to win his 2nd Grands championship of the day!!  All in all TEAM RICE and RICE CARS had a heck of week and we are really looking forward to the results from the Eastern Grands too!  See you then!

Orange Show & Phoenix Club Races, May 2 & 3

Orange Show:

So we ran Jr. Honda and Jr. Stock with Travis Affonso and Hvy. 160 and Hvy. AA with Ben Kullos. The Honda was OK, but the other 3 were quick right from the get-go. In qualifying, it was a little overcast to start, but we were going for the records. We missed the gear in the stocker, and missed the record by 3 hundredths. I was so pissed. In 160, the record was a 5.23, and then someone broke it to a 5.21, then we went out and broke it to a 5.20 (although they later told me we left a 5.15 on the track). So we got the record there, but it could have been better. In AA, the Lt. record was a 4.66, and in Hvy. AA we went out and turned a 4.67! Smokin fast. That thing was hooked up and running, baby.


We ran the heat races and won them all (changed gears in the stocker btw and ended up a tenth under the record in the heat), and then packed up the trailer and left for AZ.

Phoenix:

After staying up till almost 2 changing everything over from a high-bank bowl track to a flatter short track, we got to the track and ended up changing stuff again. The track was WAY dusty in the AM and we had fast time in Jr. Honda by half a second but werent close to the record. Stock, the same thing. In 160 we didnt really practice it at all and ended up getting 3rd quick, about 4 hundredths off fast time, and 2 tenths off the record. The AA though... WHEW! The old Hvy. AA record was a 5.98, and we turned a 5.77! Their light records had recently been reset from the weights going up, so the Lt. AA record got broke too, to a 5.84. So we outqualified the Lt. with our Heavy by 7 hundredths. That thing was movin, guys. After that we just kind of messed around, Travis got 2nd in the heat and main in Honda, and Ben got 3rd in the heat and main in 160. We didnt race the AA or the stocker.    Also, Mikey Donoho was awesome as well and (I think) had the fastest car on the racetrack.  He almost had the thing won himself but a last lap hiccup while passing for the lead led to a dnf.  Taylor Sisemore, though, did a great job on a heads up move and ended up winning the Jr. Novice main event! Great job both of you!


It was a really fun (but exhausting) weekend overall, and we ended up getting Both AA records and the Hvy 160 record at Orange Show. See you next time!!
 

Baylands Club Races, San Jose, CA, April 18 & 19

Pacific Coast Indoor, Vallejo, CA, Feb. 21 - 22

So as usual, it was rainy and cold at the Pacific Coast Indoor championship race in Vallejo, CA, but that didn't put a damper on anyone's spirits.  As usual, TEAM RICE had the cars to beat right from the beginning.  We were super fast in every car, and were very excited to see all the great races.  For the second time in the past 3 years, a TEAM RICE driver has done what nobody else has ever done, and that's go THREE for THREE in their main event races.  Tommy McCarthy did just that, winning the Sr. Stock, Lt. Mod, and Lt. 160 main event races.  Also, Ben Kullos kept his streak of consecutive Indoor championships alive at 5. (Sr. Honda-2005, Lt. 160-2006, Lt. B-2007, Lt. AA-2008-9).  All of the kids did really fantastic, and we are really excited to get the season started.  Congratulations to all the TR drivers that were there, and we will see everyone at the track this year! 

Heat Race Winners:

Sr. Honda: Reid Shaw

Hvy. Honda: Ashley Fagundes (Both heats)

Lt. 160: Tommy McCarthy (Heat #1)

               Reid Shaw (Heat #2)

Hvy. 160: Ben Kullos

Lt. B: Ben Kullos (Both heats)

Lt. AA: Ben Kullos

Trophy Dash Winners:

Sr. Honda: Reid Shaw

Hvy. Honda: Ashley Fagundes

Jr. Stock: Blake Bower

Lt. Modified: Tommy McCarthy

Hvy. 160: Ben Kullos

Main Events:

Jr. Novice - Kyle Mentch - 1st Place!

Jr. Honda - Travis Affonso - 6th Place

Blake Bower - 10th Place

Sr. Honda - Reid Shaw - 2nd Place

Hvy Honda - Raymond Silva - 2nd Place

Ashley Fagundes - 3rd Place

Jr. Stock - Travis Affonso - 2nd Place

Blake Bower - 3rd Place

Sr. Stock - Tommy McCarthy - 1st Place!

^This car went 5.66! In STOCK!

Lt. Modified: Tommy McCarthy - 1st Place!

Lt. 160: Tommy McCarthy - 1st Place!

Reid Shaw - 4th Place

Hvy. 160: Ben Kullos - 2nd Place

Lt. B: Ben Kullos - DNF*

*That one has an asterisk because he was leading the Lt. B Main event by a straightaway and with 2 laps to go the crank broke and he skidded to a stop.  We had that race stone cold won, but unfortunately the crank felt it had to give out 2 laps too soon.

Lt. AA: Ben Kullos - 1st Place!