Albano Wins Outback Shootout

During the weekend of February 28th to March 2nd, A-Main Hobbies hosted the 5th Annual Outback Shootout at their indoor facility, Outback Raceway in Chico, California. With 281 entries, the event provided multiple challenges in every heat as the best racers from the west coast gave it their all. Reedy factory drivers Eric Albano and Brian Strange were in attendance and competing in both the 2wd and 4wd Modified Buggy classes.

Each driver would run four rounds of qualifying with the two best rounds used to determine his grid position. In 4wd Modified Buggy, Albano locked up the pole position with the fastest time in three out of the four qualifying rounds. Strange would join Albano at the front of the field in the second grid position.

In 2wd Modified Buggy, both Albano and Strange had a shot at the pole position entering the final round of qualifying. Albano outdueled Strange to take the round win and once again the teammates would start 1-2.

Main events were 8-minutes in length with two bump-ups which gave everyone a chance to improve their positions and ultimately complete the 10-car A-main grid. Unfortunately for Albano, his 4wd Modified Buggy main event came to a premature end thanks to a mechanical breakdown. Strange would inherit the lead but a mistake would later relegate him to the second position where he remained for the rest of the race.

In the 2wd Modified Buggy main, Albano and Strange faced off for the first two minutes until Strange had an incident with a backmarker. Albano built a comfortable lead that he would never relinquish. Strange eventually worked his way through the field to finish in a respectable fourth place.

Thanks to A-Main Hobbies for hosting another great event and for creating a challenging layout that provided exciting racing in all classes.