In June of 2012, a young lady named Ashley Garcia died in an auto accident. She was the 22-year old daughter of Sean Garcia, better known as Egyptsean Productions, a well-known videographer in the Southern California area. Sean attends quite a few RC events heavily equipped with video cameras to record all the racing action. His arsenal includes hand-held and vehicle-mounted GoPros, quad- and helicopters and a myriad of static video cameras he mounts around the track. Ashley was very involved in the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and had occasionally asked Sean to bring his RC cars down to help with fundraisers. After the accident, Sean decided he would hold a fundraiser race in Ashley’s name and The Ashley Cup Race was formed.
THE PLACE
The race was held at Irvine Lake, a relatively new location for 1/5-scale cars. It is located in Silverado, California, and was built right next to the actual Irvine Lake. When I say that this is a majestic location, I’m not kidding! There is a short, half mile drive on a dirt road back into the heart of the lake area. The view is spectacular, the air is crystal clear and the racing…well, it’s hard to keep your eyes on the track when there’s this amazing view. The track is wide and well maintained. It’s a perfect venue for a race like this.
THE ENTRIES
The event pulled in 96 1/5-scale entries, but that wasn’t the only event going on that day. A small G6 scaler event was also happening in a ravine not far from the track and that brought another 30 or more guys to the party. Racers from Sacramento to San Diego came to race, and we even had a couple of guys from New York join us for the event.
THE RACE
The track opened at roughly 8am and the air was filled shortly after with the sound of angry 1/5-scale cars. Racing classes included an Expert and Sportsman class in 2WD Buggy, 2WD Truck and 4WD Truck. There was even a Powder Puff race so the women could hash it out on the track without all of the boys getting in the way!
The event drew quite a few more people than expected, so track time (and the 8 p.m. closing time) became an issue toward the middle of the day. That caused the powers that be to have a short meeting and decide to go straight to the mains after the first round of qualifying.
The mains went off without a hitch and Dante from SoCal-RC.com did a fantastic job of keeping things rolling along. There were some great battles, including a fantastic one in the 25-minute 4WD main!
Winners were crowned with some cool custom pit mats and a major raffle had everyone walking away with some awesome loot. Sean and The Ashley Cup Race were able to donate over $7,000 to St. Jude’s Hospital, all in Ashley’s name.
Rumor has it this is going to be an annual event, and RC Driver will be there to catch all the action!
WINNERS
2WD SPORTSMAN BUGGY
1st – Dan Silagy
2nd – Phat Dad
3rd – Scott Bridges
2WD EXPERT BUGGY
1st – Robbie Cerrato
2nd – Derrel Wilson
3rd – Mark Barden
2WD SPORTSMAN TRUCK
1st – Mike Reyes
2nd – Berry Bates
3rd – Boomster
2WD EXPERT TRUCK
1st – Big Dog
2nd – MetsMan
3rd – Kyle Christy
4WD SPORTSMAN TRUCK
1st – Eddy Turney
2nd – Steve Loucks
3rd – Tyler Culver
4WD EXPERT TRUCK
1st – Matt Olsen
2nd – Ryan Dunford
3rd – Chris Higa
POWDER PUFF
1st – The Girl
2nd – Kyle Christy
3rd – Marcus (KCRP)
THE SPONSORS
This was a great event for a worthy cause and it had an amazing amount of support. We’d like to thank the sponsors that participated in this event: HPI, RadioPost, Axial, Horizon, GoPro, DE Racing, Killer RC, OBR, K.C.R.P. DDM, Silverback RC, Team PhatDad, Cow RC, Turtle Racing and Team Tuck Nasty Racing. Others include Vertigo Performance, Bartalone Racing, Craftworks RC, Baja Addicts, Woodster Lidz, SoCal-RC.com, Monster Energy Drink, Coca Cola, HPI Baja Forum, RC Insider and Hitec. Additional thanks to those that donated, but weren’t sponsors including: Kelly Lyne Fotos, Castle Creations, The Hair Shop, Escondido Dental, RocknHair.com, Old Spaghetti Factory, Target, FG Supply, North County Yamaha, Escondido Cycle Center, Raymond Rios, Starbucks, Tammy Filandro, Drain Medix RX and Encinitas Training Center. And finally, those that donated checks were: Aaron Bidochka, Don Daley, Susan McMenamy, Kara Laxson, Mike Trioli, Sandy Christy, Robert Gruner and KB Homes. Thanks to everyone for the amazing support!
