Adam Drake wins JBRL Nitro Round #8

This past weekend was the final round of the eight race JBRL Nitro Series held at Hot Rod Hobbies in Saugus, CA. In the Expert buggy class qualifying would be extremely close on the small high bite track. Team Losi Racing driver Adam Drake would take round 1 TQ in the early morning but would see that TQ slip away in round 2 as the track got much faster and a few problems would see The Drake starting in the runner up position for the 25min A-main.

The start of the A-main was quite exciting as some of the pit guys were not ready for the start but the ton went anyways and all you saw were a bunch of cars getting thrown onto the straightaway. Fairly clean start for the circumstances and the top three on the grid had a great battle for the first half of the race. Adam Drake would take the lead at the halfway mark with his great fuel mileage (one stop in 25min) and never look back taking the win by just over 12sec. Teammates Cody smith and Jacob Haas had a great battle almost the entire race with Cody just betting our Jocob for 5th overall.

Photo Source: (RugSpin Graphix) Source: www.losi.com

Renaud Savoya wins Perrifeu GP

Back to the homeland! First week end of November is every year the week end of Pierrefeu GP. Unfortunately this year the weather forecast was pretty rough and most of the international drivers didn’t make the trip to Southern France. Friday went great as we ran 3 rounds in dry conditions. I started with the setup I used in Surabay for C-netic challenge except for the shocks where I went softer due to the temperature. On Saturday, the forecast was rude for the afternoon so we started really early in the morning to clear at least one round. I knew I had to race clean and don’t crash as it could be the only round. It was the case as I TQed the round and by so, the overall.

It rained all night and also in the morning on Sunday. The organisers made a fanstastic job to pull away the puddles and dry the track with saw dust, as no one was expecting to race with such showers we had all night! I cruised all the 20minutes in my semi, to get number one on the grid for the main in front of Jerome Aigoin.

The first lap saw a 2 way battle between Jerome Aigoin and I as we switched positions twice. I finally took the leadership after a few corners and kept it until the 30 minutes tone!

Great week end and atmosphere, it feels good to be back home! Another great TQ and win in the bag, the way to go for confidence before the Worlds in a few weeks!

Source: XRAY and Automodelisme

David Joor Three-Petes the RC Pro Nat Title

This year the RC Pro National Finals started on Halloween in Houston at Mike’s Hobbyshop. The series consists of four events in the southern division, and with RCP being born and raised in the south it is by far the largest division to compete in. Electric was the largest in the group, with a turnout of usually 40+ at each divisional race. I won the finals in 2009 (but not the National because I started too late in the year for max points), the 2010 National, and 2011 National, so I really wanted to go for the “three-peat.” However, I knew this year would be tough with so many people getting into electric and getting faster. It also turns out that the Mike’s Hobbyshop track has always been my nemesis and this year would be different, but maybe not …

Going into the Finals I had prepared by testing several times during the year on a good base setup. The one day of practice went well and Lutz and I were swapping fast laps back and forth throughout the day. For the final practice run he went before me and ran a 29.1 and I ran a 29.0 right after. Ryan is always 0.75 – 1 a second per lap faster than me so this was a good feeling going into qualifying (in A2 I did a 28.2; but Lutz did a 27.8 in A3, still better than one second!) Electric was the largest class and there was no resorting until round four, which was going to make it tough.

This event, my car was ready and I was confident; but slower cars would be the demise of my progress. In Electric I had two wrecks that weren’t in some way caused by passing another car. Lutz found his pace and was able to do consistently faster laps than me, but had electrical problems in almost every qualifier. I ended up barely squeezing in overall TQ over Jake Dellinger (a fellow Team Associated driver) by TQ’ing two rounds, both with 15-lap runs. This was good because I needed the two points for TQ — Jake had gone into the finals with only three points fewer than me.

When the mains came around, Brian had a bobble early on, shortly followed by Jake, which gave me a good five seconds of breathing room. However, Lutz had an amazing start by getting into fourth in the first couple of laps and was on a mission to hunt down the leader given his bad luck in qualifying. At eight minutes in, Lutz had caught and passed me and I made a diligent charge to reel him back in, which I did; but going over the triple I tapped his car in the air, which caused my car to spin out on the landing. With only two laps left and lap traffic, we finished 1.5 seconds apart.

In A2 I had a very solid start and had a nice five-second gap once again on Dellinger by five minutes in, but twice I had to single single over the important off-camber double due to three lapped cars battling for position, which cost me four seconds. Jake was only three feet behind me while I had a lapped car just one foot in front of me, and for a full lap the lap car wasn’t battling anyone for position, the race announcer kept asking him to move over for us three times, and everyone in pit lane and around the track informing him to pull over but he never did until 33 seconds later — after he got out of control and I had no where to go but into his car. This allowed Jake and Lutz to get by; unfortunately, I couldn’t find my way back after finishing third.

For A3 I calculated that I needed to lead seven laps so that no one would take most laps led from me. This would give me two more additional points to win the National title in case I didn’t beat Dellinger in this main. So I did just that: led the first seven laps and on lap eight my speedo wire finally frayed apart from the pounding it took on the hard triple landing and I had to DNF. However, I finished with one point more than Dellinger to take the National title once again!

Jconcepts Indoor National Report (Final)

Steven Hartson, Paul Wynn, Matt Olson and Aaron Smith take 6 classes at JConcepts Indoor National Series Final.

Round 5 of the JConcepts Indoor National Series was held in Ocala, Florida, this past weekend. The series has been very popular at the other stops throughout the tour, but this was the first time the series travelled south to the home state of JConcepts. NewRed Hobbies in Ocala, Florida, was the host, with a strong local program and a nice all around facility with a stocked hobby shop, food services permanently on site, covered outdoor pitting to soak up the Florida weather and a nice sized indoor track.

For this event, a fresh layout was installed and as practice got under way, racers worked to see what was going to be the best combination to get them to the front. There was no shortage of traction, as the surface of the fun, flowing layout was getting to a level that hasn’t been seen by the local drivers on hand. For the racers who travel, it was just business as usual, knowing what to do to the set up and tire preparation. With the drivers getting the circuit dialed in, lap times were starting to drop and it was only going to get faster as things heated up for the TQ in each class.

Saturday was three rounds of qualifying as race director Matt Mosieur kicked off the first rounds following the drivers meeting. With the flawless program running through the rounds, it was all up to the drivers to put their best foot forward and get a clean, fast time to use for their Qual-Points total. A resort after round 2 set the heats where the drivers were grouped together closer to their speed, so round 3 and Sunday’s round 4 were set to be clean and fast. Triple A main format, with 2 bump-ups from the lower main would fill the 10 car field. With the mains set, it was time to determine the Champion of each class, in the final JConcepts Indoor National event.

First up was Pro2 Mod. With local Zack Genova on the pole, he led for the first 3 minutes until pulling out, with Losi/JConcepts driver JR Mitch taking control of the front of the field. Mitch was closely followed by the AE/JConcepts train of Paul Wynn, Daimon Borkowicz, Max Flurer, and John Piant. At the end of the 5 minute main, that would be the order.

A2 would see Zack take the win, with heavy late race pressure from the young Daimon Borkowicz, followed by Wynn, Flurer, and Mitch working his way up from a very rough first lap.

A3 would determine the final order, with no clear cut advantage. At the tone, from the pole, Zack had pressure from Paul Wynn, with Max Flurer on Wynn’s bumper, and Daimon close behind waiting on a mistake. With about a minute to go, a roll over in the sweeper from the leader dropped Genova to third, and the race was on between AE/JC Paul Wynn, and Max Flurer. Paul would hang on for the win. With the points calculated, the overall order would be JConcepts Paul Wynn on the top step, Genova 2nd, and Daimon Borkowicz on the podium in 3rd.

Pro 2 Mod:  1)  Paul Wynn  2)  Zack Genova (TQ)  3)  Daimon Borkowicz

Pro2 Stock was owned by the California duo of MIP, Matt Olson taking the first two A mains to wrap up the overall, and MIP’s creator Eustace Moore taking 2nd on the tie breaker over Florida’s Jonathan Paulk after some very close stock racing.

Pro 2 Stock:  1)  Matt Olson  2)  Eustace Moore  3)  Jonathan Paulk 

Next up was 2WD Mod. A1 would have TQ Steven Hartson with a wire to wire win. However the big mover was JR Mitch with a charge to the front from his 6th on the grid, to finish 2nd followed by a freight train. All of the top 6 were running Barcodes in Gold compound front, and rear.

A2 was an awesome battle, as the top three from the grid got away clean, as they chased down the leader Hartson so it would have to go to A3 to be decided. Hartson, with a mistake allowed Thielke into the lead, and Ruona right there on the bumper of Hartson. A pass put Hartson back in front, as he was chased, but with time running out, a last lap attempt by Thielke caused the two to tangle. Ruona went by but clipped the pipe going around the marshal, as Hartson and Thielke sprinted to the line side by side. Steven Hartson with the win and the class Championship, would be watching A3 from the side.

The exciting racing did not make it to A3, as Brent Thielke lead wire to wire, followed by a strong drive by Paul Wynn, with Ryan Eckert finishing 3rd. With the score tallied, it was Hartson on top, with Brent Thielke 2nd, and Paul Wynn 3rd. Jason Ruona 4th, to sweep with JConcepts.

2wd Mod Buggy:   1)  Steven Hartson  2)  Brent Thielke  3)  Paul Wynn  4)  Jason Ruona

2WD stock buggy went to three main events to decide the Champion, but local Aaron Smith taking the last two mains, clinched the title. Cody Wiles used his home track atmosphere to finish 2nd and the Billy Bruce kept the kids honest, taking the last step on the podium.

2wd Stock Buggy:  1)  Aaron Smith  2)  Cody Wiles  3)  Billy Bruce

Truck Mod had TQ Brent Thielke, with his JConcepts equipped T4.1 leading A1 but a mistake would drop him back as local Zach Genova took the lead. Brent worked his way into 2nd and stayed there as the race finished out. with Caleb O’Hara in 3rd. A2 was all Brent Thielke with a wire to wire win, followed by Daimon Borkowicz for a JConcepts one – two, and Genova 3rd. With the title undecided, A3 would be intense, at the tone, Thielke bobbled early, allowing Genova in the lead and it was over. For the overall, it was Genova, Brent Thielke 2nd, and Daimon Borkowicz in 3rd.

Truck Mod:  1)  Zack Genova  2)  Brent Thielke  3)  Daimon Borkowicz

4WD Mod Buggy had Steven Hartson with the TQ and in A1, Hartson showed why. With a clean track, he led the entire time, with a comfortable margin, laying down some incredible lap times in the process. Jason Ruona worked his way into second place and tried to put pressure on Hartson, bringing Max Flurer with him. At the finish, it was Hartson, Ruona, Flurer, and JConcepts equipment with the top six cars.

A2 was more of the Hartson show, as he stayed out front with his Bar Codes in Gold compound. Ruona moved around Flurer for 2nd and held on to cross the line.

A3 had Max Flurer in the lead, being hounded by Felix Law. Law would move into the lead, only to suffer mechanical issues, handing the lead back to Flurer. Ruona had worked his way up from a rough first lap and went into the lead on a mistake by Flurer. Lapped traffic would play into Flurer’s race, as he got the lead back and finished off with a win, followed by Ruona, and Genova. For the overall, it was Steven Hartson with his second Championship, Jason Ruona with 2nd, and Max Flurer rounding out the podium in 3rd. JConcepts swept the top five positions.

4wd Mod Buggy:  1)  Steven Hartson  2)  Jason Ruona  3)  Max Flurer

Stock Truck had Jonathan Paulk with the TQ, and winning A1 and A2 for the win. Super consistent Kory Ferguson with three 2nds, taking the number 2 spot. Gary Choosewood rounded out the podium with an A3 win.

Stock Truck:  1)  Jonathan Paulk  2)  Kory Ferguson  3)  Gary Choosewood

Pro 4 had MIP’s Matt Olson on the pole. In A1, Matt had a rough lap and he fell back to mid pack, allowing a battle between Felix Law and Max Flurer. Steven Hartson would battle Law with Flurer in command, but in the end it was Flurer, Law and Hartson for A1.

A2 Olson was out front, followed by Hartson, being hounded by Law. The two would tangle, moving Flurer into 2nd and dropping Hartson to 4th. Flurer tried to chase down Olson, but Olson would have none of that, taking the win, followed by Flurer and Law.

A3 would decide the final race of the day. From the start, Olson had the lead, but a mistake would put Hartson on point. Hartson with a bobble would drop him to 3rd, with Olson in front and Flurer in 2nd. A mistake by Flurer would allow Hartson into 2nd and for the last five laps would do some incredible lap times to try to run down Olson crossing the finish line only 8 tenths behind. For the overall, it would be Olson with two wins and the Championship, Max Flurer in 2nd, and Felix Law in 3rd, with JConcepts taking the top six spots.

Pro 4 Mod:  1)  Matt Olson  2)  Max Flurer  3)  Felix Law

Awards were given out to the drivers in the top five positions. A special appearance by Sierra, along with help from Taryn, drivers had one more reason to smile at the end of a long weekend of racing. NewRed Hobbies provided a perfect end to the Indoor National Series for 2012. Close battles and a lot of fun in central Florida. What more could you ask for?

Note: See you next year as the series starts again near St. Louis at Smac Trac Raceway February 9-10, 2013!

Source: www.jconcepts.net