July 14, 2014

Perfect TLR debut for Maifield

Ryan Maifield

Ryan Maifield completed the perfect debut with Team Losi Racing as he took all three of his new TLR cars to victory at the JConcepts Indoor Summer Nationals at Outback Raceway in Chico, California.  Having dominated the same event last year with Team Associated, the Arizona ace’s much anticipated first outing with his new team again produced an all concequering performance.  Top Qualifier for each of his A-Mains, in the series’ two big classes, 2wD & 4WD buggy, he would wrap things up early repeating his A1 performances in A2 to claim overall victory.  Also debuting TLR’s new 22 SCT 2.0 at the A-Main Hobbies owned track he made it a hat trick as he took the win of that class’ single A-Main.

Maifield

In 4WD, Maifield’s A2 win came ahead of former team-mate Daimon Borkowicz with the No.2 starting HB of Drew Moller again having to settle for third.  2WD Buggy was a repeat of A1, with Spencer Rivkin again keeping his mentor on his toes while Tyler Vik came through to complete the Top 3.  Describing his TLR22-4 as ‘unreal’ in A2, Maifield would put on a stunning display of his abilities rising up to the challenge of race announcer Kevin Jelich as he tried to break into the 13-second lap times.  Getting down to a 14.0072, he said the buggy was ‘super fast’ and although he was pushing hard it never got upset on the track.   Pleased with his success, he said the weekend was not just about the performance but also gaining experience in the pits with his new equipment.  With TLR sending Senior Product Developer Frank Root to support their new driver and new electrics sponsor Team Orion sending Joe Pillars, he said the weekend was a huge success in both them sharing their knowledge and helping him to get a better understanding of the equipment.  Overall he said it was a fun few days in Chico adding things actually went better than he expected for a first time out.

Borkowicz

Somewhat stepping up to the mark this weekend and being the main challenger from the Associated team in 4WD, Borkowicz  said in A2 his B44.2 was again ‘super dialled’. Together with Moller, he said he was able to pull away from the rest of the pack to have a good battle with the A-Main Hobbies backed driver.  Getting by when the Californian driver made a mistake, a subsequent mistake would give the JConcepts protege enough breeding space to cruise to second for the leg.  In a position to finish overall runner-up, the 14-year-old Florida driver is, with Maifield sitting out A3, relishing the chance to battle with Moller again this time for the Leg win.

Moller

Moller said he drove too easy in A2 and then ‘gave up second to Daimon’ with his mistake.  Having shown himself and the HB413 to be a good pairing turning in some impressive speed despite only having the car 3-weeks,  he said for the final encounter he was ‘just going to go for the win’.

Rivkin

In 2WD Rivkin was upbeat about having again been able to stick with Maifield. Again setting the fastest lap of the race, the 15-year-old said it was the best he could do as he couldn’t have pushed any harder without crashing.  Set to lead away A3 now that Maifield has already taken the win, the up & coming Team Associated talent said his aim for the race is just to keep Borkowicz and Vik behind him so as to secure second on the podium.

Tyler Vik

Getting third in A2 and putting himself in contention for a podium finish, Vik said the result was down to the fact he ‘didn’t crash and that was about it’ adding the run was nothing special.  Changing from a new scrubbed set of AKA tyres he ran in A1 to the set he ran in qualifying he said this really improved his Associated B4.2 Centro.  Declaring he ‘can’t keep up with Spencer’, he said his plan for A3 was to try and get a second which would secure him a podium.

4WD Buggy A-Main Leg 2 Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Team Losi Racing – 22/5:06.762
2.(4) Damion Borkowicz – Team Associated – 21/5:00.240
3.(2) Drew Moller – A-Main Hobbies (HB) – 21/5:02.062
4.(8) Derek Stephansen – Team Xray – 21/5:02.663
5.(5) Brian Strange – Team Associated – 21/5:04.035
6.(3) Tyler Vik – Team Xray – 21/5:05.731
7.(6) Eric Albano – Team Associated – 21/5:10.141
8.(9) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 20/5:03.626
9.(11)Mark Pavidis – Team Losi Racing – 20/5:03.722
10.(7)Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 15/3:40.777
11.(10)Chris Jarosz – Team Associated – 9/2:10.323

2WD Buggy A-Main Leg 2 Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Team Losi Racing – 21/5:04.850
2.(2) Spencer Rivkin – Team Associated – 21/5:09.107
3.(4) Tyler Vik – Team Xray (AE) – 21/5:14.004
4.(6) Drew Moller – A-Main Hobbies (AE) – 20/5:02.006
5.(8) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 20/5:03.869
6.(5) Chris Jarosz – Team Associated – 20/5:06.278
7.(3) Mark Pavidis – Team Losi Racing – 20/5:07.695
8.(11)Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 20/5:10.263
9.(10)Brian Strange – Team Associated – 20/5:11.130
10.(9)Frank Root – Team Losi Racing – 20/5:13.029
11.(7)Damion Borkowicz – Team Associated – 19/5:07.181

View the event image gallery here.


July 13, 2014

Maifield takes A1 clean sweep

Maifield

Ryan Maifield took a clean sweep of the opening buggy A-Mains at the JConcepts Summer Indoor Nationals at Outback Raceway, Chico, this morning winning 4WD with ease from Brian Strange but having to work a little hard for the 2WD win which he took from his protege Spencer Rivkin.  Top Qualifier for both finals, in 4WD the new Team Losi Racing signing was able to pull clear as up to five cars battled over second with Strange’s Associated coming out on top of that battle from early lead challenger Drew Moller and Eric Albano.  Run directly after 4WD, A1 of 2WD saw a mistake on lap 1 from Maifield allowing Rivkin to go to the front until he made a mistake at the same section of track a lap later.  Dropping to third after further mistakes Rivkin would benefit from a mistake by team-mate Damion Borkowicz on the last lap which dropped the number seven starter back to 3rd.

Maifield

Just one more race away from completing the perfect debut with his new team, Maifield was pleased with both his own and his buggies performance in A1.  In 4WD, he said Moller applied some early pressure but having reverted his TLR22-4 back to the set-up he used in Q2, his fastest qualifier, he always felt in control as the buggy was really predictable and fast as highlighted by his fastest lap of the race.  In 2WD, having given his Orion powered TLR22 a full rear end rebuild after qualifying, he said the car was also very predicable and ‘neutral’ to drive.  Commenting on his only blotch of the opening A-Mains, he put it down to the fact that his tyres, which are almost slick, just had warmed up enough for the highly polished track surface and possibly he caught some dust with the break in traction causing his ‘little hiccup’.  Asked about the challenge from Spencer he said he knew from racing him a lot back home in Arizona that ‘he can run the laps’ and he would have to ‘play blocker at the start’.

Maifield Spencer

‘Pretty gnarly’ was how Rivkin described the start of the race.  The 15-year-old said after his mistake he was able to put together some ‘really hot laps’ and started catching back up to Maifield.  Delighted with the performance of his B5M, setting the fastest lap of the race, unfortunately a second mistake ended his charge and he dropped back behind Borkowicz admitting he got lucky when his fellow teenager made a last lap mistake which let him by for second.

Borkowicz

Borkowicz said he got a ‘great start’ and by lap 2 he was in third.  Describing his car as sketchy he said his Reedy powered B5M had too much steering and it was over correcting a moment that caused by this that let Rivkin through on the last lap. Not planning to change his car for A2, the 14-year-old said he will adapt his driving and try not to worry about wrecking and just go for it.

Drivers Stand

Having started 3rd, Mark Pavidis would finish 4th describing himself as ‘happy overall’.  In the warm-up feeling his TLR22 had too much steering he turned his dual down but he went too far and for the race he was left needing more steering.  He also added that the nature of the tight track was even with good steering going to make it always very difficult to pass.

Strange

‘Amazing’ was how Strange described his 4WD race.  Joking that he should buy a lottery ticket today he said luck was definiately on his side.  Enjoying a good race with fellow Associated driver Eric Albano for second he said he hoped he could have a similar race in A2 but said he not sure he was going to be so fortunate with his luck again.  Having run a similar pace to Maifield, his best lap being a 14.470 compare to Maifeld’s 14.413, he said while his B44.2 has the speed starting from 5th is also going to make it hard to make any serious challenge.

DrewMo

Asked about his race, Moller said it was ‘good other than that one early bobble’ which ended his challenge on Maifield.  Casing the table after the triple his D413 flipped over and needed to be marshalled losing him almost 5-seconds and dropping him back to 6th.  Coning back to third, the 18-year-old said the speed his there and for the next one he needs to try and cut out the mistake.

4WD Buggy A-Main Leg 1 Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Team Losi Racing – 22/5:13.117
2.(5) Brian Strange – Team Associated – 21/5:02.757
3.(2) Drew Moller – A-Main Hobbies (HB) – 21/5:05.258
4.(6) Eric Albano – Team Associated – 21/5:06.696
5.(4) Damion Borkowicz – Team Associated – 21/5:09.273
6.(3) Tyler Vik – Team Xray – 21/5:09.300
7.(11)Mark Pavidis – Team Losi Racing – 21/5:11.385
8.(10)Chris Jarosz – Team Associated – 21/5:13.664
9.(9)JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 21/5:14.439
10.(8)Derek Stephansen – Team Xray – 20/5:01.808
11.(7)Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 19/5:00.876

2WD Buggy A-Main Leg 1 Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Team Losi Racing – 21/5:07.011
2.(2) Spencer Rivkin – Team Associated – 21/5:12.976
3.(7) Damion Borkowicz – Team Associated – 21/5:14.508
4.(3) Mark Pavidis – Team Losi Racing – 20/5:01.430
5.(11)Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 20/5:03.176
6.(10)Brian Strange – Team Associated – 20/5:03.874
7.(4) Tyler Vik – Team Xray (AE) – 20/5:16.222
8.(5) Chris Jarosz – Team Associated – 19/5:00.063
9.(8) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 19/5:01.004
10.(6)Drew Moller – A-Main Hobbies (AE) – 19/5:01.962
11.(9)Frank Root – Team Losi Racing – 19/5:04.951

View the event image gallery here.


July 13, 2014

Chassis Focus – Drew Moller

Sun-DrewMoHB-2

Chassis – HB D413
Motor – LRP X20 6.5T
ESC – LRP Flow
Battery – Protek RC 4700 shorty
Tyres – Pro-Line Electron MC
Radio/Servos – KO Propo
Body – Pro-Line Type-R
Remarks – Having only received the HB D413 3-weeks ago Drew Mo has put in some testing near his home before coming to Chico for the JConcepts Summer Indoor nationals. Starting with Ty Tessmann’s Reedy race setup he says it is working very well and hasn’t changed much all weekend with the focus on tires and tire prep, finally deciding on Pro-Line Electron tire in MC compound.

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