(Yes, it’s Tuesday, this is 24 hours late. Such is life!).

On the weekend we saw National Champ Alex Bernadzik in what can only be described as imperious form. It seemed that he was in a league of his own, dominating qualifying and finals in both EP and Nitro Buggy to win two Queensland Championships.

He’s not the first, nor will he be the last to have the kind of untouchable weekend that makes everybody stop. Darrin Campbell did it once, winning three national championships in a weekend. Kyle McBride, of course, has had plenty of those weekends.

What was interesting was thinking about Alex’s last 9 months. He fought and won a close battle at the Asian Buggy Champs at Pine Hills last July, then went to Perth and claimed his first national championship, ending McBride’s 11-year reign.

That kind of experience must have an impact on a person’s confidence. Chatting with Steve Perry (I’m pretty sure it was Steve…there were many conversations on the weekend!) we talked about almost being able to ‘see’ the confidence Bernadzik was driving with. Confidence in the car, in tyre choice yes – but also in himself. He believes, he knows he can do the job. On the rare occasion that we spotted a mistake, there was no panic or fuss, just straight back on the job with immaculate driving and ridiculous lap times.

That’s confidence. And that kind of confidence is going to take a lot of stopping. The Nationals are a month away, and the Philippine Masters a month after that. It’s easy to imagine big results at both those events with that kind of confidence and momentum on his side.

He’s not the only one that experiences confidence of course…even if we’re not all at that level. I had a good run at a recent club event, driving better than I have in ages, and with a car doing what I wanted. The feeling of confidence even from just one good club day was palpable.

I guess the challenge is to not let confidence and feeling good, interfere with your process of preparation, planning and driving.

My brother, Matt, is a golf coach. He teaches a lot about process and preparation. How important those things are on the golf course. How important a simple, repeatable pre-shot routine is every time you step up to the golf ball. I think maybe it’s the same with RC cars.

On the weekend I arrived feeling confident I could fight for an A final spot, and then ran into a litany of problems that took me half of Saturday to resolve. By Q3 the car was working well, but my preparation and process before that heat were so off that I drove a terrible race. Confidence was no match for the frustration that was still bubbling away inside.

For Q4 I managed to consciously reset and go again and – no surprise – it was a much better run. I resolved to keep things simple on Sunday, do the basics right, focus on having fun rather than with any expectations of results, and see what happened. The result? Three really fun races, close, fast and clean. I loved all of it.

Confidence, expectations, preparation, process. They’re the things I’m musing about this Monday (ok, I get it, Tuesday!).

How about you? What’s your take-away from a weekend at the race track?