Double Australian nationals win for McBride includes eighth straight Buggy title

0 March 30, 2018, 11:04 a.m.

By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Race report from Team Associated:
www.teamassociated.com

McBride takes Australian National Champs with his B3.1 and T3.1

Event Name: Australian National Championships
Event Location: Maitland Rc Track in Maitland, Australia
Event Date(s): March 24, 2018 to March 25, 2018

This weekend I ran at the 2018 Australian National Championships held in Maitland, Australia. Unfortunately, due to some terrible weather conditions and a huge amount of rain, our race had to be delayed by two days. With the shortened race, Saturday held four Buggy qualifiers and only two Truggy qualifiers so the event could get pushed through. Thankfully, Saturday morning the sun began to come out and we were underway.

On Saturday I had an excellent day of qualifying with my Team Associated RC8B3.1 and RC8T3.1. I managed to dominate every qualifier in Buggy and in Truggy to take the overall TQ for both classes and sit on top of the grid for the Semi-finals. The track started off quite loose, but as the sun came out and baked the track, the blue groove that we expected appeared.

Sunday came and I was feeling super confident coming into the semi-finals. First was the Truggy semi-final, which was reduced to 20 minutes from 30 to make sure the event would get done by a decent time. I had a fantastic run without any mistakes and got the quickest time from first on the grid in the Truggy A-Main Final.

In Buggy, I had a small mistake during the beginning of the 30-minute semi-final but came back to take the lead again and put my RC8B3.1 on pole for the long, one-hour final ahead.

In the Truck 45-minute final, I had an absolutely flawless run with my RC8T3.1 without any marshalling required throughout the race and went on to win by two laps over the field to take the 2018 Australian Championship with my Team Associated RC8T3.1!

After winning the Truck Championship I was feeling excited and confident going into the Buggy final to attempt to take my eighth consecutive Australian Championship. About 15 minutes into the Buggy final I had two crashes that dropped me back to second, and a battle with another driver began. I knew how good my car was and put my head down to take the lead back and went on to finish the race by almost one lap over second and took my eighth straight Australian Championship!

Overall, this was an amazing feeling for me and a successful weekend for me, my father, and all of my sponsors. My entire package was superb all weekend long and I couldn't be happier with the result.

Products used:
#80937 RC8T3.1 Nitro Team Kit
#80935 RC8B3.1 Nitro Team Kit
#27107 Reedy RT2207A Digital HV Hi-Torque Aluminum Competition Servo
#27313 Reedy LiPo Pro TX/RX 2400mAh 7.4V Flat
#1751 FT Compact Starter Box
#1747 Fuel Bottle Pro, 500cc

Photos courtesy of Kyle McBride. Thanks to Kyle McBride for this report.

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