[Jason Sams]

The 2008 Manufacturers Cup is finally here. This year race promoter, Matt Afana, expects over 3,000 spectators to pack the grandstands. The A-main racing action will take place under the lights on Saturday night. It should be a magical race, and you should have been here! Several mainstream manufactures have jumped on board to support the race. We would like to thank Coors, Rock Star Energy, All Sport, and SandCastle Construction for stepping it up and supporting our sport.

Here are a few photos from last year.

[Jason Sams]

[Jason Sams]

The grand prize for Pro Buggy, a 2008 Honda CRF 450F from All Sport.

Traction is insane on the asphalt-like surface. Team Associated's Ryan "Mansfield" Maifield saves his buggy from nearly rolling over

As you can see from this shot of the drivers stand the Man Cup has dozens of sponsors including mainstream players.

One of my favorite shots from practice, and it's of my good buddy Ryan McCrery's buggy.

The back tabletop is huge! The cars and trucks fly about six-feet above the deck and launch almost 50-feet. The spectators will definitely dig this jump!

Jammin's Gary Guest pours some sugar in a hole to patch a section that got chewed up during practice. Over 800 pounds of sugar was used to lock in the track's surface. The track offers just as much traction as asphalt.

BMod's Chris Burling is in attendance and his company has donated some prizes for raffle (which is free).

Kyosho team manager Ryan Lutz has made the trip to Coeur D' Alene, Idaho, for the second year in a row. He should be fast, as he likes traction.

Get used to seeing this paint scheme! Xray's Josh Wheeler has reached a new level, and I think he now has "elite" speed.

[Jason Sams]

All of the Factory Team Associated drivers are wheeling the new RC8T. It looks awesome on the track!

Ryan Cavalieri's RC8T in action. His truck looks good too!
Here are some detail shots of the rig.

[Jason Sams]

Ryan Maifield just TQed the first round of Truggy. He was seven seconds faster than the second qualifier. Lights out, if the rest of the pro drivers don't figure out how to go much faster!

[Jason Sams]

The Drake put it down in the first round of Pro Buggy qualifying! He was two seconds faster than the second qualifier. Of note, The Drake stayed late the day of practice and figured things out his last session on the track.

[Jason Sams]

AKA has two new products at the Man Cup. Their tire inserts are nothing like any other inserts currently offered for the 1/8-scale market. The foams are made from a similar rubber used to make foam on-road tires. AKA's young gun Ty Tessman had one of the fastest qualifying runs in pro buggy with AKA's new foams and tires.

AKA now offers a premium tire glue as well.

[Jason Sams]

Pro-Line's Scott Hughes had this to say about the Man Cup track.

"This track has the most traction of any track I've ever driven on. It's the smoothest and most consistent surface too. I can run the same exact lines and lap times whether it's 7:00am in the morning or 7:00pm in the evening."

[TimRoberts]

Don't forget about the MT boys competing at the 'Cup' this year too!

[Jason Sams]

Team Associated's Ryan Maifield and his RC8T will start at the front of the grid on Saturday night when the pro truggy drivers race in front of thousands of spectators. Maifield was ballistic again edging out his previous qual time by two seconds. Kyosho's Ryan Lutz was also super-fast and only lost the round two TQ by .06 (hundredths) of a second. Lutz bobbled in the very last turn of his last lap otherwise he would have TQed round two.

[Jason Sams]

Thanks to Traxxas and several local competitors who wanted to compete with their monster trucks, the Manufacturers Cup is not only for truggies and buggies.

The winner of the monster truck class will take home a brand new pit bike.

Traxxas driver Steve Salyden says, "I gotta take that pit bike home. My 13-year old boy has been wanting one."

[Jason Sams]

The Manufacturers Cup is taking RC racing to the next level! Mainstream sponsors like Coors have sponsored the beer gardens. Rock Star has donated tons of energy drinks, and All Sport gave the promoters a smokin' deal on the prizes (CRF 450F dirtbike- Pro Buggy, Honda 300 Quad- Pro Truggy, and a pit bike- Monster Truck). The race organizers at Performance RC Hobbies have printed programs that they'll give to all of the spectators.

Here are a few shots of the program. It's dialed! There will be an autograph session before the start of the mains.









The Manufacturers Cup is truly a race put on by the Manufacturers! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

[Jason Sams]

Hot Bodies/AKA's Ty Tessman TQed round two of Pro Buggy. Tessman has been on fire and was ridiculously fast a few weeks back at the Pre-Worlds.

[Jason Sams]

Local Coeur D' Alene radio station K102 did a live spot with Losi's Adam Drake and race organizer Gary Guest. After hearing the info about tomorrow night's race several cars pulled over and asked for tickets. So far over 4,000 tickets have been given away.

[Jason Sams]

This is one of the hotties hired for tomorrow's festivities. She is also the 30-second girl. You'll see what I mean when I post pictures tomorrow.





Jammin's Taylor James stabs the brakes in order to perfectly downside the tabletop.




The huge tabletop is about 50-feet across the top. I thought this sequence was pretty cool.

[Jason Sams]

Ty Tessman put in a flawless run the final round of qualifying to secure the overall top qualifying position. Tessman ran AKA City Blocks up front and Ibeams in the rear. I thought that set-up usually produces a ton of steering and would be too much for the insane traction at the Man Cup.

I'll post the results of all of the classes in a little bit.

[Jason Sams]

The top 15 drivers in the Pro Buggy class ran a 15-lap race for $100 greenbacks. This race was a mock run for the drivers and pit men to get accustomed to the format for tomorrow night's show.

Maifield and Tessman broke away from the pack early in the cash race. Tessman made a few mistakes, which let Maifield by. Tessman kept Maifield honest for a few laps, but Maifield eventually created some distance and cruised in for the cash.

[Jason Sams]

[Jason Sams]

Here are some more pictures from the Manufactures Cup.

[Jason Sams]

Here are a few more

[Jason Sams]

Here are the winners from the Manufacturers Cup.

[Jason Sams]

Here are some photos to show you how packed it was at the Manufacturers Cup.

[Jason Sams]

I'll be uploading more photos throughout the day. You must log on to view the most recent photos.

[Jason Sams]

Tom Waggoner and Wade Lamarr each earned factory deals with Team Losi and Kyosho for winning Sportsman Truggy and Sportsman Buggy.

[Jason Sams]

Mike Truhe and Ryan Maifield have been dominant!...and they continued their winning ways in front of thousands. I would say they're favorites for the upcoming worlds. Check out the the October issue of RC Car Action for a Worlds Preview.