This year was a difficult year for me, as I had to balance my racing with school. As a senior in high school, this was a crucial year for college applications. My racing schedule had to be changed, as I was unable to race at the US Nationals or the EP Buggy Worlds due to school.
The year started out with the launching of the Pro5 chassis. I was very fortunate to be part of the product development team for HPI Racing and for this particular project. I took TQ and Victory at a big Hong Kong invitational charity race, which was held at the shopping mall on carpet. The win not only was a good start for the year but also help propel the sales of the Pro5 in China and Hong Kong.
My EP racing results this year was just ok to me, even though I had several podium finishes at high level races, I wanted to do better at Reedy where I finished 11th. The Reedy race was definitely a highlight for me this year as I was able to win two rounds at an incredibly high-level, and high-pressure race. I want to thank all my Electric sponsors for all their support and also ESC companies who sent me samples to test throughout the year. As most of you may know, I did not have an ESC sponsor this year but will sign with a NEW sponsor very soon.
We continue to develop and improve the Pro5 as a team. The week in Shanghai at the end of the year allowed us as a team to discuss areas that we need to improve on. I am sure we will see a performance improvement next year.
As for Nitro, my year was a year of struggle as I was not competitive all year due to lack of a complete and perfect race package. Although I had several podium finishes including a win at the Brazil Worlds Warm Up race, the problem I faced was quite obvious to those who were at all those races. So for 2016 and beyond, I hope to drastically improve my race package and look forward to a NEW start in 2016!
The biggest disappointment of the year has got to be only finishing 12th in the World for 1/8 nitro GP on road in Brazil. I had such high hopes and early pace was very encouraging. But when my fastest engines expired, so did my chances to compete for the top. However, I gave it my all including for the first time in my racing career taking three engines apart to build one single engine to finish my race. Despite the mistakes my pit team made which cost me a possible chance to advance to the finals, I want to thank my team for all their hard work, especially Ai, my trusted mechanic and friend.
I won’t give up chasing my dream to one day become a World Champion, but I know it will not be easy and that I need to have the right race package and a little luck to achieve it, but I will continue to try and never give up!
I hope 2016 will be a better year for me as there will be two World Championships to race at. I want to thank all my sponsors, family and friends for your support this past year and look forward to working with new sponsors in the coming year.
Finally, I want to thank my Dad and Mom (And Sister) for their support and as I go off the college next year in the US, I hope to continue my racing worldwide.
