Ryan Lutz Race Report

0 April 15, 2011, 10:53 a.m.

Ryan Lutz has put together a quite enjoyable race recap from this year's Silver State Nitro Challenge, in which he finished an impressive 3rd place in Pro Buggy!

"YEEEE HAWWWWW!!!! Let’s just skip right past what happened in Truggy (broken arm) and Short Course (still not sure what) and focus on what transpired in Pro Buggy.

I had to start as BQ and try my chances at bumping into the A-main. My Durango DNX408 has felt amazing all weekend as I have mentioned and the B-main was no exception. It was hotter today and thus I did feel as my suspension was a bit soft. But all in all it felt great. I had a so-so first 15min of the race. Running between 1st – 3rd. Catching up and falling back. Then with 5 minutes to go I found my groove and took the lead and pulled away. Took a nice commanding victory and I knew my buggy was ready for the A-main!

With it being a bit hotter I decided to go up 50cts in shock oil all the way around. On the bench this felt pretty stiff but on the track for the A-main my car was the best it had been all week long! I felt I had the car to take the win. At the start taking off from the 12th spot on the grid I passed a couple guys on the inside of the first jump. Then on the top front left corner got tagged in the rear which made me have to single single single the tripple jump on the left side. I fell to last but everyone crashed again in the whoops section and I got by a handful. Another group crashed on the downstairs and I passed a couple more. I was around 6th place coming by the first lap. I then got into my groove and began driving my amazing machine and was at one with it! I picked off a few more people and moved up to 3rd place before the first pitstop. Some of you with a Durango may know that unfortunately at the moment it is hard to use a fuel gun on it. Well my pitguy (brother-in-law) did the best he could but some spilled on the pipe and flamed me out. He got me right back started up and I only lost a few more seconds.

I retained 3rd place and just put it in cruise control for a while. During my second stop the same thing happened though I was just barely able to keep it from dying. After that Eric made a good executive decision and went back to the bottle for the remaining fuel stops. This took about an extra 2 – 3 seconds than the leaders but it was safe and I didn’t have any more issues. I drove as good as I could and even with the minor things setting me back I was able to stay within about 15 seconds of the leaders the entire race. I finished 3rd place on the Podium! All in all it was a great race for me. I know the car was capable of winning and I know when we get the tank to accept a fuel gun better and we continue to get a bit more time on the car that I’m going to be getting those podium finishes all the time!

I want to give a huge thanks to my brother-in-law Eric for sacrificing himself for me this weekend. He made the Sportsman B-main and elected not to run it so he could help me as I was the race after him. He drove great in his own right this weekend and I thank him so much for his help. Also just can’t say enough about the guys at Durango. This is such a great company to race for and this car just gets better and better! They are Serious about racing and I’m serious about winning! And those results are coming!" - The Lutzinator

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