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Silver State Winternationals - Las Vegas, NV, December 2 - 5

Yet another Silver State Winternationals in Las Vegas has come & gone, and once again Team Rice has dominated the competition. I feel like I write this every year, but it is always true! Out of 13 heats that we were in, we won 7! Anything over 50% is a pretty impressive number. And in the mains, we completely ran away with 4 out of the 7 we were in, and got 2nd in the other three. So to recap in more detail....

In the Jr. Honda main, the front row consisted of Matthew Roberts in his brand new XR Evolution on the pole, and Grand National champion Famous Rhodes on the outside. The two of them ran away with the race, until they started battling amongst themselves. Famous got the better of the exchange, while Matthew dropped back to 3rd. Famous pulled out to almost a 3/4 lap lead, when the first of what felt like a hundred cautions came out. Famous was able to keep the lead on every restart and bring home TR's first win of the day. Matthew also held his own during the mess of cautions, coming away in 5th.

Blake Bower, driving the red, white, and blue Sr. Honda car (aka what is becoming infamously known as "The Albatross") started on the outside pole also, but was a little too over aggressive in the early going and was put to the back. But he kept his composure and was able to make his way back up to the front, and once he was there, it was over. Blake ran away with the race over the last ten laps or so and finished half a lap ahead of everyone.

Jr. Stock was our next race out, and we made a last minute gamble on the setup, and it worked really well! Mostly, anyway. Famous started on the outside pole (again), but quickly jumped out to about a 6-8 car length lead. Well, in part of our last second adjustment, we also made a left rear tire choice that was the incorrect one. The tire we put on burned off during the long green flag run, allowing the second place car to catch up. But we were able to get some breaks with some yellows and even a red, and we were leading with 5 laps to go. Famous got jumped on the restart and hung out to dry a bit, and even though we were faster for those last few laps, we couldn't quite get close enough to make a pass, so we took 2nd. It was a great race though, and both kids did an awesome job racing hard and clean, which is what we all can be proud of.

In Lt. B, Tommy McCarthy started on the pole, and led about half the race until he was overtaken by this year's Grand National Champion in the B class. Tommy stayed with him, and when a caution came out with approximately 6 to go, we thought we had it in the bag, as Tommy is the master of upper class restarts (see video from Lt. AA Western Grands). Unfortunately, the car was a too tight for him to turn it down underneath the other driver, and had to settle for 2nd for the second consecutive year.

With this knowledge in hand, D.J. went over to the Lt. AA car and freed it up immensely. This would turn out to be the wrong move. After starting on the outside front row, Tommy slid back into 3rd, having trouble keeping the car underneath him. As luck would have it, a caution came out and we were able to bring him in to make some adjustments. The car was better, and while battling in the race he was put into the wall. While the Team Rice crew worked fervently to get him back out, this ended our day.

In the Jr. Animal race (which actually was in between the B and AA races), Matthew Roberts again started on the pole, and Famous Rhodes started in the 5 hole. Matthew jumped out to an early lead and led for about 16 of the 30 laps, until Famous was able to run him down after having been sent to the back on an early call. The mist regrettable part was that after Famous had passed Matt, Matt got sucked into the wall, ending his day. His inexperience got him a bit, as he tried to stay on the gas a little too long instead of tucking back in or trying to backpass. But as someone who has only been racing for less than a year, he did amazing, and the whole team couldn't have been prouder of him. After that, no one could touch Famous as he ran away with the rest of it to win his second Winternationals Championship of the day.

In our final race, Lt. World Formula, Tommy McCarthy started in the 4 spot, was called for charging on the 2nd lap. Now, before I get any farther, I have to say that overall this was one of the roughest races that I have seen in quite some time. There were kids driving over each other on the yellows, and flips on the backstraight coming up to the green. So a little bumping was par for the course in this one. Anyway, Tommy stayed patient, and picked off the cars in front of him one (and sometimes two) at a time, until he had made his way back up to 2nd. Then, on a restart with about 18 to go, Tommy had the leader set up to pass perfectly, and was about halfway through executing the turndown for the pass when the car directly behind him smacked into him hard, driving Tommy into the leader, spinning him out and knocking off his chain. To all of our surprise, the judges made the right call, sending the 3rd place car to the back. And because the leader had to come into the pits, that put us into the lead. Tommy drove away with the rest of that race, perfectly executing on a couple of restarts, and coming home with his first ever Winternationals Championship.

It seemed as if everyone had an awesome time all around, and we can't wait to do it again next year! A special thank you goes to Karl Hoffses & Berney Kullos for coming out and helping all week long, we couldn't have done it without you guys!

Heats:

Jr. Honda: 1st: Famous Rhodes

1st: Matthew Roberts

2nd: Peyton Sias

Sr. Honda: 1st: Blake Bower

Jr. Stock: 1st: Famous Rhodes

Lt. 160: 4th: Blake Bower

Lt. B: 1st: Tommy McCarthy

Jr. Animal: 1st: Matthew Roberts

3rd: Famous Rhodes

Lt. AA: 2nd: Tommy McCarthy

Lt. World Formula: 2nd: Tommy McCarthy

Mains:

Jr. Honda: 1st - Famous Rhodes

Sr. Honda: 1st: Blake Bower

Jr. Stock: 2nd - Famous Rhodes

Hvy. 160: 2nd: Harley Rose

Lt. B: 2nd - Tommy McCarthy

Jr. Animal: 1st: Famous Rhodes

DNF: Matthew Roberts

Lt. AA: 3rd - Tommy McCarthy

Lt. World Formula: 1st: Tommy McCarthy

Hvy. World Formula: 5th: Harley Rose

(More pics to come soon!)