Team Associated/Reedy's Michael Schoettler Wins NIS Round #1

Wednesday, Dec 17, 2014 at 12:00am UTC

December 13-14 kicked off the first round of the Northwest Indoor Series in Tacoma, WA at Tacoma R/C Raceway. This is a race series that wasn’t suppose to exist; but with a last-minute decision by Scott Brown and a little help from the community, the most competitive off-road racing series in the Pacific Northwest is back. This unique event caters to all the passionate off-road racers and unites the community for a weekend of friendship, competition, and fun.

The series starts out with round 1 at TRCR with a track layout so awesome that it was praised by everyone at the event. The words, "best track ever at TRCR" and "this layout is soooo dialed," was buzzing around in the pits and I couldn’t agree more with the compliments. The flow was great and the mix of jumps and elevations changes made for fun, challenging laps. One notable feature was undoubtedly the raised elevated chicane that went into a serious triple that flowed into a left hander. Once in a while you get to race on what I’d consider as the pinnacle of off-road track designs, and at this event we were treated with such a layout. Awesome job by the TRCR crew for putting together one of the best layouts I’ve had a privilege to race on!

This four-race mini series is a testament to those who like to travel and compete. There are no drops and a racer must attend all four rounds to be considered for the overall. However, it is is encouraged for racers to just race what fits their budget/schedule and to just have a great time with friends. The format is three qualifiers with best two of three using qual-points to setup for triple A-mains for ALL classes.

In the 2WD Modified class, it was the "Michael Schoettler Show" as he dominated qualifying by winning all three rounds with fastest 5-minute times as well as the fastest lap, and was untouchable by the competition all weekend long. On another level, Schoettler’s home track advantage proved to be too much for his competitors as he ended up taking top honors in qualifying and finished 1st in both A1 and A2, sealing up his 2WD Mod victory.

Young Harley Yoshii from Team Associated/Reedy qualified 4th on the grid but with strong finishes in the triple A-mains with a 3rd, 4th, and 4th netted him 3rd overall for the class. Yoshii also proved he was the fastest in 4WD Modified, taking his Reedy-powered B44.3 Factory Team to the pole position, but ended up a close second after some problems with lap traffic.


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