Tweedie takes all at NCT championship
BONNERS FERRY — Bonners Ferry resident Gage Tweedie has won the Northwest Championship Tour for 4x4 short course truck event.
The Northwest Championship Tour is the longest running 15th anniversary in 2018 regional series in the United States, hosting events in Oregon, Washington and Idaho for 1:10 and 1:8 both electric and nitro powered off-road vehicles. The tour features a total of six races, with participants required to race five of the six to qualify for the championship. Races take place over three days with competitors running three races a day.
When Tweedie was 8 years old he entered and won his first novice tournament at the Hank Perry Memorial. Now 10 years later, he again competed at the same tournament and finished second.
At the Walla Walla, three-day tournament, Tweedie wowed all in attendance after lapping the tough competition. He cruised into first place collecting a trophy, top qualifier point and points for the rest of the tournament.
Tweedie was then off to Libby, Mont., for the Hot August showdown. He had an advantage with this being his home track. He won the short track course event, just beating his rival Rett Long, who was the 2020 NCT Champ. Long won the top qualifier. Tweedie also won the electric-buggy race.
The third leg of the tour took Tweedie to Post Falls which turned into his biggest challenge. He started out well, staying in second place behind Daniel Price, another fierce competitor. Tweedie had a remote malfunction when the control got too hot and melted a wire in the speed control. After $600 in repairs, he was able to continue competing.
In another race at the Post Falls tournament, disaster struck again when Tweedie was in second place with one and a half laps to go. One of the wheels flew right off. Tweedie’s remote control truck sputtered across the finish just .07 seconds ahead of the fifth-place truck. He needed to finish no lower than fourth in order to maintain second-place standing.
The fourth leg of the championship tour was held in Yakima, Wash., where Tweedie maneuvered tightly around the corners to claim first place, edging Price by .08 seconds.
Tweedie took the top place positions and ran the fastest run winning top qualifier.
In the fifth leg of the race in Pasco, Wash., Tweedie finished third — his lowest finish in racing. Once the points were tallied for the entirety of the tour, Tweedie finished with 402 points to beat out Rett Long, who finished with 401 votes, by one point. Finishing third was Daniel Price who ended the tour with 397 points.
Tweedie first got into remote control car racing when he was 8 as a way for he and his father, Rob Tweedie, to bond. After taking an extending break, he got back into RC racing in the past three years.
Rob jokingly said that he did not advise parents to let their kids get involved with RC racing due to the expense.
NCT racing will be back in April 2022.
