An Aliso regional TCS race never seems complete without a hurdle here or there from Mother Nature. We were graced this year with a gloomy Saturday start to racing that kept the track temperatures low and the local Southern California crew bundled up. Our out-of-towners arrived to find the weather quite pleasant, if not out of character (for California), in comparison to the conditions back at home. Sunday was graced with the warmth of the sun but temperatures were effectively kept low by a strong breeze that increased throughout the day.

There was eager anticipation to see how the new rules change for a combination of Lipo and brushless would result at the famous Aliso track. There were many notable achievements, new lessons learned, and some upsets after the triple round qualifiers and A-mains. Some highlights from the weekend: local teenage racer Timmy Valles held off a tough field for a win in GT1 and also was the top qualifier. Tony Tam, with an evolved team paint scheme from his original "Finding Nemo" in 2006, pulled off a double whammy in both GT-2 and GT-3 for first place AND top qualifier. Jeff Smith managed a hard to believe B-main placement in GT-3 with a TT-01 still running the kit supplied friction shocks. Sean Wu asserted his utter dominance of the F103GT class for the second straight time. Daisuke Hashimoto cleaned up shop with the only GB-03 (4wd) entry in off-road Tamtech Gear. Although Orlando Sherman didn't win Mini class, he did set the top qualifier with his "Tamiya bus", which in the process probably will cause a new trend of box-like body appearances in Mini class for the remainder of the season. James Ruwe pulled off an impressive podium finish in 3rd place in Spec Novice at the young age of 9 years old!

After the laughing subsided and the prizes handed out, all in all it was another great regional at possibly the last TCS race ever at the Tamiya R&D track in Aliso. But whatever the future may hold, we shall all have wonderful past memories to cherish.