Buckingham Field 2019

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17MxR-k9GKKDvapjVdmcUlQUoLwRYKYky?usp=sharing

Electrathon of Tampa Bay held their first race in Lee County Florida on November 9, 2019 at Buckingham Field. The course was approximately 1.1 miles per lap.

On Friday, November 8, 2019 Jen (Lee Co Parks and Recreation), Tyler (I Will Mentorship Foundation) and three of their students along with Rusty, Jim and Charlie set up the course. We want to thank each of them for all of their hard work getting the course set up and ready to go for the races.

We want to thank everyone that the Parks and Recreation Department contacted for the use of the cones, bike rails, generators, and restrooms.

Saturday morning came and it was an overcast day with strong winds. As the final preparations were made for the event, teams checked in and got their cars ready to race.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office Explorer Post (Deputy Orihuela) and six of the explorers were there to assist with parking and retrieving cars that broke down on the track. We thank them for their dedication and service to their community.

All week long the weather forecast showed a 10% chance for rain. Well it happened, the course was directly in the 10% area and it quickly turned into a 100% chance for rain. As the rain started around 9am, everyone sheltered in their vehicles and waited for it to clear up, checking in with each other during the breaks in the rain. Finally it cleared enough to plan for the first race to start at 1145am.

As the green flag dropped for the first race the drivers used caution to go around the track until they learned where the areas were that still had rain puddles. Archer Racing pulled off after three laps as the spray from his tires covered his canopy causing him to not feel safe enough to continue. Tiger Racing came out on the track after the green flag had dropped as he did not want to take the chance of water getting into his electrical system causing him to be out the rest of the day. USF car 48 completed only 5 laps when they had an issue that prevented them from getting back into the races.

At the end of the first race:
High Schools – Mulberry car 38 came in 1st with 20 laps and I Will Mentorship Foundation car 239 came in 2nd with 16 laps.
Open Class – Titan Racing car 242 came in 1st with 13 laps, barley beating Tiger Racing car 4 with 12 laps while Archer Racing car 321 completed 3 laps due to safety concerns.
Advanced Class – Pro EV car 39 came in 1st with 31 laps, USF car 132 had 8 laps and USF car 48 had 5 laps.

During the break, between races, Laura Heron with Homerun Concessions sold great food, BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, hot dogs, sausages, chips, candies, and drinks. Thank you for being there and providing us with food and refreshments.

In the second race I Will Mentorship Foundation car 239 had their motor gear come off causing them to be out of the race after 1 lap. Pro EV set some great time records for this course with a 99.298 lap.

At the end of the second race
High Schools – Mulberry car 38 came in 1st with 17 laps and I Will Mentorship Foundation car 239 came in 2nd with 1 lap.
Open Class – Archer Racing car 321 came in 1st with 30 laps, Tiger Racing car 4 had 24 laps and Titans car 242 had 17 laps.
Advanced Class – Pro EV car 39 came in 1st with 34 laps and USF car 132 came in 2nd with 30 laps.

After the teams collected all of the materials from the track set up, loaded the loaned items onto a trailer for Jen with Parks and Recreation we held our awards ceremony.

Over the summer, Electrathon of Tampa Bay advertised and filed with the State of Florida Corporations for a fictitious name (aka DBA doing business as) Electrathon of Florida and were approved. This will be our last season as Electrathon of Tampa Bay as we will be promoting Electrathon Racing throughout Florida as Electrathon of Florida.

We had Ken Fiallos, Founder of Electrathon of Tampa Bay hand out the awards as this was our first trophies with our new corporate name, Electrathon of Florida.

High Schools – Mulberry car 38 1st Place overall with 37 laps (37+ miles), I Will Mentorship Foundation car 239 2nd Place overall with 17 laps (17+ miles)
Open Class – Tiger Racing car 4 1st Place overall with 36 laps (36+ miles), Archer Racing 2nd Place with 33 laps (33+ miles) and Titan Racing 3rd Place with 30 laps (30+ miles)
Advanced Class – Pro EV car 39 1st Place overall with 63 laps (63+ miles), USF car 132 2nd Place overall with 37 laps (37+ miles) and USF car 48 3rd Place with 5 laps (5+ miles).

Our next race will be held at Brandon High School on December 14, 2019.

Charlie