2013 Ko Propo Grand Prix Nitro Racing

/10th Expert Sedan

Team XRAY’s Billy Bowerman sent us this report from the 2013 KO PROPO Nitro On-Road Grrand Prix last weekend hosted at the G.L.A.R.C.R.C. in Los Angeles, CA the site for this years 1/8th& 1/10th ROAR Nitro On-Road Nationals. The 1/10th A main final in Sedan was a great race between Mike Swauger and D.J. Apolaro. Ralph Burch was your TQ but had some problems with his engine going rich in the main so Ralph kept going backwards and finally had to pull the car off. The race between Mike and D.J. were close from the start to the end, separating the two by only 4 to 8 seconds the entire race. Swauger started in front and never looked back. until Mike got tied up with lap traffic with 8-10 minutes to go in the race this allowing D.J. Apolaro to make his move and get by for the win. Mike tried to come back but just not enough time left and finished 4th. It came down to the Billy Bowerman who received the come back kid award, Billy qualified 37th dead last with only 6 laps on his sedan touring car all weekend. Billy’s sedan went out of control in the first qual run on Saturday due to a battery wire broke of and destroyed the front of the car, chassis and body. It was one of the full wood in the back straightaway wall crashes. Billy decided to put it away and concentrate on 1/8th open, but after getting the car back together on Sunday Billy decided to run the mains for fun and went and bumped up and won the D, C, B and finish 2nd in the A main Final expert open, awesome run and great job by one of the best pit person in r/c, his wife Tracy…!

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1/8th Sportsman Open

In the 1/8th Sportsman Open it was another great race for Robert Morris from KO PROPO qualifying in the 4th spot. Your TQ Trevor Geter started on the pole but after lap 4 it was Robert Morris taking the lead, Robert lead the race from lap 4 until 5 minutes left in the race. Robert went to make a pass on a back marker, when passing the driver didn’t want to move, causing Robert’s car to break. This dropped him to the 2nd spot and Trevor took over the lead and went on to win the Sportsman A main Final with Don Miyamoto finishing 3rd..

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1/8th Open Expert

In 1/8th Open Expert Mike Swauger was your TQ and started the A main in front. Mike lead the entire race form the pole and then with about 4 minutes left, Mike had to come in for one last fuel stop, it was a little slower than normal and when Mike came out of the pits it set him behind Paolo Morgannti coming in 2nd and Paolo took the lead. It was the first time the entire race Mike gave up the lead. Paolo was making a run to the front, it was the best his car looked all weekend DJ Apolaro was in second for 3/4 of the race until DJ hit a corner and set him in the 3rd spot behind Paolo at that time. Paolo was in the lead and Mike was in second, with only a few minutes left in the race Paolo and Mike were within 10 feet coming into the sweeper to the straightaway and Mike was in second and got a really good run and on the straightaway Poalo and Mike touched sending Paolo to the light post and after that the lights turned off and Mike went on for the win. It was a great race for the entire A main drivers.

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I would like to thank Brian Thomas, Barry Baker and the Crew from Greater L.A. for all their hard work and great show with some really close and great racing… We had a great time and hope to see you all at the Nationals. Congratulations to all the racers and especially to all the A main drivers, this race had most of the bests racers in the USA come to this event and was tough race to make the A mains, any of the top 20 drivers in each class was able to make the show it just all came down to 1 or 2 good runs.

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