Team driver Gene Hickerson reports from the FORCE Series Finals that took place at Space Coast RC Raceway in Florida:

The FORCE Series Finals were held at the indoor track of Space Coast R/C Raceway in Cocoa last weekend. The FORCE Series is an eight round series held at different tracks around the state of Florida. The championship is determined on your best six main event finishes. The 2012-2013 season averaged 150 entries per round with round one having well over 200. I raced my Intech BR-6 and BR-6E buggies at the finals in the 1:8 nitro and electric buggy classes respectively.

1:8 E-Buggy
I was not in the Series Championship hunt for e-buggy because the BR-6E was just released half way through the series. I had only raced the last three rounds but finished with a third, TQ and win, and another third. The more I drive the Intect e-buggy, the more I like it and the better it drives. So I was very optimistic for another win coming into the finals. I was not able to practice with it Saturday, so round one of qualifying would be my practice. I drove OK but had a bad crash and qualified seventh for the round. The second round was much faster as the track continued to groove up. I had a much cleaner run which put me fourth on the grid for the A-main event.
The main event was run Saturday night. I got a great start and ended up in second place on lap one. But then a mistake dropped me back to fifth. The indoor track is very tight for 12 1:8 scale buggies, so it is a challenge to pass on this track. My buggy was working perfect though so I started my charge to the front. The A-main was ten minutes long and the racing was incredibly close. Without any contact, I was able to slowly work my way up to second by the nine minute mark. Once into second place, I slowed down a little to protect the position as the leader was still seven seconds ahead with less then a minute to go. But just then, the leader broke and I was able to pass him for the win on the very last lap.

Result – 1:8 E-Buggy A-Main
1. Gene Hickerson – Intech
2. AJ Marasco – Associated
3. Justin Fales – Mugen

1:8 Pro Buggy
In nitro buggy I was only able to practice two tanks Saturday morning. I was testing a new shock set-up and it was working very good. In round one, I did OK and was about fifth for the round. In round two, the track was way faster but I had some bad luck with traffic and only qualified ninth overall. After a few more tweaks to my new set-up, the BR-6 was perfect in the A-main event. I went from ninth to third in the first nine minutes of the 45 minute main. I was able to turn in on everyone and out accelerate them as I passed one by one. First and second were right in front of me as I came into the pits for my first stop. Unfortunately my engine went a little rich during the main and as I left pit lane the engine flamed out. Since we were running 23-second lap times, I was a lap down before I rejoined the race. At the 18 minute mark, my engine stalled again leaving pit lane, so I decided to call it a day. But my Intech buggy handled better then it ever has in the main event, so even though the result was not good, I was very happy with the buggy’s performance and knowledge I learned on the set-up.
I was the defending champion in the Pro Buggy class, but this year was plagued with bad luck failures all year long. This round was a throw out for me with a DNF. I finished fourth overall in the points so it was still a good year for my first time racing the new Intech BR-6 buggy. Serpent’s Billy Easton took home the Series win this year.

Source: VP Pro