Bot On! (The Victors)

Yesterday was the Gulf Coast Robot Sports competition at the Hobby marketplace down in Bradenton, Florida. And as you know, I took my three entries (Pacman, DDT, and P150) there. How did they do? Lets hit the break down.

DDT: 3 wins, 1 loss. The champ!
DDT was amazingly well behaved compared to previous outings. I kept the throttle about midway for most fights, and it kept the damage high, yet the recoil low. I might have to keep that tactic for later on. But I had only four fights because I had a first round bye and then an opponent who did not show up. So all in all, i fought against two other competitors: Piranha and Sporkinok.

V. Piranha: Piranha sported a mean vertical Ti blade directly powered by a 2212 sized brushless motor. I knew this would not be pretty, since Mike is a good driver and his bots are pretty tough. I knew wheel shots could kill me, so I decided to not allow him the chance. I lined up out blades every time and went for the "safe" impact since my blade was larger, thicker, and faster than his. He climbed DDT's front cover a few times, and flipped from some sparky hits, but soon his brushless motor had come apart and his blade bent, he decided to tap out giving me the win.

V. Sporkinok: The spork returns, but even more ridiculous than before! Now he is a 22.2v thwacker with a foot long boom of Al rod. He was fast, and almost uncontrollable, but as we fought, it didn't seem to matter... my blade was too low! It would go right under neath him, and the only thing i could hurt was the spork or the wheels. But he was so wide that it was tough, and i thought i might lose this to a judges decision. But after chasing him down, he ended up on my snout high centered, and I was able to put him out through the pit. But this was only the first of three encounters. After he beat Little Scoop in the Semi-finals, we met in the finals match 1. This time, he held a wedge attachment to try and keep me at bay. It worked in an odd way. It was enough hinderance to give a really good catch when we collided and we both flew around, with me hitting the pit. Finals match #2 started out poorly for Spork. A gyro and a change, and he was down one wheel. He tapped out giving DDT the victory.

P150: 2 wins, 1 loss. The champ!
In this I am not counting the forfeit by Nano Nightmare because I believe a fight could have occurred. No idea why he gave in though... But regardless, P150 was my second victor this competition. We ran double round robin fights in this because we only had three fairyweights.

v. Doodle Bug: I fought Doodle Bug, a Ti plated pusher, first. I spun up and he collided with me with sparks flying about. I was having control problems the whole time; the robot would go into FBS mode all too often, not like it usually does. So I suppose I got lucky, and one impact blew one of his tires out. He tapped giving DDT the win.

v. Micro Nightmare: Basically the miniature version of the miniature version of the large heavyweight, Nightmare. It sported a very similar weapon system to my own, but a slower drivetrain. I suppose I could have eaten his wheels easily, but with my control problems, he hit mine first, dropping the blade to the floor after he ripped it away. Sure I could still drive, but I was set in constant forward with the blade on the ground. At the same time, his weapon fell off, so all I had to do was stay alive! I got some light pokes at him, but an unlucky steer sent me into the pit. Time for the second string.

v Doodle Bug 2: Fighting with only one wheel was interesting. I replaced that sagging side with two nuts stacked on top of each other to give the proper blade clearance. So driving for me, was basically doing the crab walk, or using inertia to do a spin attack if he came close. There were some sparks, and some close calls when he managed to get behind me, but one lucky shot punted both robots away from the wall, where he went out of the arena, and I stayed in.

Nano Nightmare was unable to fight for the second bout so he awarded me the victory. It was a shame, I was actually looking forward to this bout.

The two victorious robots allowed me to pick up two prizes awarded at the event, totalling to $90 in gift certificates to the Robot Marketplace. Thanks to Jim, Seth, and the whole gang! I had a blast!

But now onto the big oaf...