September 23, 2012

Maifield retains 2WD titles at ‘Clash’

Ryan Maifield has retained both his 2WD titles at the JConcepts Clash, the Associated driver backing up his A1 wins with victory in the second of the Buggy and Short Course Truck Mains.  While Short Course was another easy encounter for the classes’ Top Qualifier, in buggy the Arizona driver looked like he was going to have to settle for second behind TLR’s Dustin Evans until the 2011 US Champion clipped the piping just as he came around to complete lap 11 of 16.  Losing almost 4-seconds as he got beached on the pipe this allowed Maifield back to the front where he would stay to take the win by 2 seconds to wrap up the title early.

With two 30-minute nitro races having run on the track since the first 2WD Buggy Main, Maifield said track conditions for the second of the 6-minute races were totally different to the morning and running the same set-up as A1 on his B4.1 it was a handful to drive.  Getting chased down by Evans the end of lap three saw a mistake from Maifield allowing Evans to the front. However 7 laps later while looking to have the race under control Evans hit trouble at the very same spot handing the race back to his rival.

Having struggled with his set-up in A1, Evans changed his front shock set-up for A2 which he said due to the track conditions didn’t make it any easier but it did give him a slightly better buggy than Maifield. Commenting on his costly mistake on lap 10 he said off power his steering was ultra sensitive as he had so much front end grip but summed it up as a ‘silly driver error’.

While Maifield checked out in 2WD Short Course the big battle of the race was between Evans and his team-mate JR Mitch.  With Evans having the quicker of the two factory TLR trucks in A1 before retiring, it was Mitch who was running sway bars who had the better handling truck this time round.  Mistakes by Evans in the closing laps handed the advantage to Mitch who again took second behind Maifield. The third and final leg is now a battle for the runners-up spot between the TLR pairing for which Evans is going to copy Mitch’s set-up and fit sway bars.

The second round of Mains at Flowood Indoor R/C Park also saw the 2WD Mod Truck title decided after Brent Thielke pulled of the pass of the event on Tanner Denney. Having taken the lead from Top Qualifier and A1 winner Thielke on lap 11, 17-year-old Denney looked like he was going to force the title to go to the third main but his team boss pulled a spectacular surprise pass at the last corner denying last year’s runner-up the A2 win by 43/100th of a second.  Once again Kyosho’s Zack Genova completed the Top 3 for the leg.

Also wrapping up a title early at the 6th Annual JConcepts Clash, which is being held outside Florida for the first time, was Matthew Olson. The MIP driver backed up his 4WD Short Course A1 win with another victory over Max Flurer the second time of asking.

One class that will go the distance in terms of determining who takes home the overall winners trophy is 4WD Buggy. Having got beaten by Jason Ruona in A1, Top Qualifier Tanner Denney got the job done second time of asking while Ruona broke and retired 2 laps from home.

2WD Buggy
A2-Main Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 16/6:04.328
2.(2) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 16/6:06.667
3.(7) Max Flurer – Associated – 16/6:12.435
4.(4) Brent Thielke – Associated – 16/6:13.384
5.(3) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 16/6:20.264
6.(6) Jason Ruona – Associated – 16/6:20.423
7.(5) Zack Genova – Kyosho – 15/6:00.727
8.(9) Daimon Borkowicz – Associated – 15/6:03.184
9.(10) Steve Bortolotti – Tamiya – 15/6:07.874
10.(12)Jeffery Fleckenstein – Associated – 14/6:21.911
11.(8) Tanner Denney – Associated – 3/1:15.979
12.(11)Paul Wynn – Associated – DNS

2WD Short Course
A2-Main Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 16/6:16.157
2.(3) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 16/6:23.800
3.(2) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 15/6:02.151
4.(6) Paul Wynn – Associated – 15/6:12.373
5.(4) Daimon Borkowicz – Associated – 15/6:12.868
6.(5) Max Flurer – Associated – 15/6:22.590
7.(7) Justin Cranford – Associated – 14/6:03.521
8.(10)Brian Abbott – Associated – 14/6:10.745
9.(8) Chris Viesins – Team Losi Racing – 14/6:13.108
10.(12)Brent Lebo – Associated – 13/6:20.830
11.(11)Jerold Brock III – Associated – 12/6:05.200
12.(9)Tylor Weaver – Team Losi Racing – 7/3:22.668

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September 23, 2012

Maifield cruises to 2WD victory in opening A-Mains

Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield made light work of the opening A-Main of the JConcepts Clash in both 2WD Buggy and 2WD Short Course with the Top Qualifier cruising to two very comfortable victories moving a step closer to retaining his titles in both classes. In 2WD Buggy the expected battle between Maifield and Team Losi Racing’s Dustin Evans never materialized after the Colorado driver struggled with the handling of his TLR22 which resulted in a mistake on the opening lap. In the end it was Evans team-mate JR Mitch who took second in both finals.

Maifield said both his Reedy powered B4.1 and SC10 felt good and with no real pressure he was able to drive two solid races something he hopes he can repeat in the second of the triple A-Mains which would wrap up the titles early for the Arizona ace.

Having tied for the TQ honours with Maifield in qualifying taking 2 of the 4 rounds, Evans was frustrated with how his opening A-Main went. With his buggy hard to drive just four corners into the opening lap the back end stepped out sending him into the pipe and he got swallowed up by the pack leaving him sixth at the start of lap 2. Working his way back up to second by lap 7 he again fell foul of his Orion powered TLR22’s nervous handling dropping back to fourth. At the end of the 6-minute Main Evans would cross the line in 3rd some 18 seconds behind Maifield and 4-seconds behind Mitch. For A2 Evans says he will run a completely different front shock set-up which he hopes will tame the rear end of his buggy. In 2WD Short Course he retired from second after suffering an idler gear failure on his 22SCT.

Mitch said his TLR22 felt good in the race but an early mistake meant he lost contact with Maifield. Planning to leave his set-up the same for A2 he said if he can eliminate the mistakes he should be able to make things a little more difficult for Maifield. In Short Course Mitch had one big moment at the triple getting his landing completely wrong as he tried to ensure the pack behind him wouldn’t collect him at the next corner but overall his truck is not as fast as Evans and so starting from third he will just try to keep the rest of the pack behind him and allow Evans to take the fight to Maifield. Behind Mitch, Associated driver Max Flurer completed the Top 3 at the end of the 6-minutes.

In the first of the 4WD Mains event creator Jason Ruona took the Buggy win ahead of Top Qualifier Tanner Denney with David Gibson.  Before the race had even started Team Kyosho’s Jack Genova, who was to line up fourth on the grid, was out when a mistake in the warm-up broke a rear arm on his Lazer Zx5.  Ruona said a mistake by Tanner made things a little easy for him and he was able to drive a controlled race.  Getting Brent Thielke to update the software on his LRP speedo to version 3.0 which he said made his B44.1 nicer to drive, particularly under braking.  In Pro 4 Short Course Top Qualifier Matthew Olson, driving an MIP, took the win over the Associated of Max Flurer.

2WD Buggy
A1-Main Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 16/6:07.637
2.(3) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 16/6:21.416
3.(2) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 16/6:25.468
4.(6) Jason Ruona – Associated – 15/6:00.391
5.(8) Tanner Denney – Associated – 15/6:02.271
6.(5) Zack Genova – Kyosho – 15/6:04.395
7.(4) Brent Thielke – Associated – 15/6:05.697
8.(7) Max Flurer – Associated – 15/6:06.400
9.(9) Daimon Borkowicz – Associated – 15/6:10.850
10.(10)Steve Bortolotti – Tamiya – 15/6:14.580
11.(11)Paul Wynn – Associated – 15/6:17.520
12.(12)Jeffery Fleckenstein – Associated – 14/6:20.251

2WD Short Course
A1-Main Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 16/6:19.996
2.(3) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 15/6:08.638
3.(5) Max Flurer – Associated – 15/6:11.118
4.(4) Daimon Borkowicz – Associated – 15/6:23.000
5.(2) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:38.420
6.(6) Paul Wynn – Associated – 14/6:04.340
7.(8) Chris Viesins – Team Losi Racing – 14/6:05.450
8.(7) Justin Cranford – Associated – 14/6:05.808
9.(10)Brian Abbott – Associated – 13/6:03.814
10.(12)Brent Lebo – Associated – 13/6:12.880
11.(9)Tylor Weaver – Team Losi Racing – 13/6:24.487
12.(11)Jerold Brock III – Associated – 12/6:03.956

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September 23, 2012

Evans takes 1:8 Buggy TQ at JConcepts Clash

Making his JConcepts Clash debut TLR’s Dustin Evans is the Top Qualifier in 1:8 Nitro Buggy after taking his 8ight to a third TQ run in the fourth & final round of qualifying at the Flowood Indoor R/C Park in Mississippi.  Better known as one of Losi’s leading electric racers Evans pipped defending Champion Ryan Maifield in Q4 by 9/10ths of a second with the fastest 5-minute run of the event.

Having lost out on TQ honours to Maifield on a tie break in the other big ‘clash’ of this event, 2WD Buggy, Evans was very happy to secure the No.1 grid spot for tomorrow’s 30-minute Main.  Planning to run one less full stop than Maifield, knowing his rival will have to run three stops, Evans said based on his fuel calculations after his final qualifier and with no time to test a better engine tune it would be really close on making the 10-minutes and the risk was too high to go for two stops. Switching from JConcepts Hybrids to Stackers for today’s qualifiers in preparation for the final, Evans ran the same set of blue compound tyres in both qualifiers with the level of grip they produced getting better with every lap.  Finding the track surface abrasive, the Colorado drivers said by the end of the run the tyres could have too much grip which could result in a very edgy buggy in the final few laps of what he expects to be a very close race with Maifield.

Missing out on a hat trick of TQ honours having also secured pole in 2WD Short Course, Maifield is confident that he will have better pace in the final having discovered that his LRP powered RC8.2 had too much suspension up-travel.  With this being a World Championship year Maifield said the team’s focus has been on improving the buggy on outdoor tracks and he was trying to get that same set-up to work indoors, a surface that in the past it has worked really well on. Confident he knows what set-up he needs for tomorrow he said he thinks everything should be ‘OK’ to get the job of defending his title done.

Starting third on the grid will be 18-year-old Cole Odgen at the controls of his Murnan Novarossi powered TLR 8ight.  His first time competing at the Clash the Georgia driver said he is looking forward to a good race and is confident that he can come away with a podium finish.  Behind Odgen, JR Mitch will line-up fourth on the grid with his Orion powered version of the 8ight. The offroad veteran said the key to tomorrow’s race is going to be down to getting his tyre choice right, a decision he will make after he has seen what those starting ahead opt to run with.  Having suffered a flame out trying to extend the fuel mileage in Q3, Mitch said he thinks the motor is still a little tight and so will go for the cautious option of three stops.

A JConcepts Clash regular having only missed the 2008 event, Jason Smith is confident that his Novarossi powered TLR 8ight can run 10-minutes between fuelling a fact he hopes to be able to capitalise on.  Having shown some good lap times but made too many mistakes in his qualifier, factory Associated driver Tanner Denney starts sixth but the 17-year-old feels he can redeem himself in the final having come from down the grid last year to finish on the podium.

In 1:8 Electric Buggy Max Flurer topped Q4 ahead of Brent Thielke but with TQ runs in both of yesterday’s heats it is the latter who is Top Qualifier.  Fastest in Q3, 19-year-old Jake Dellinger who also made the 1:8 Nitro Buggy final will start third for the 6-minute triple Mains.

Elsewhere in electric 4WD classes Tanner Denney and Matthew Olson are Top Qualifiers for Buggy and Short Course respectively after both driver TQ’d 3 of their 4 heats.

1:8 Nitro Buggy
A-Main Grid
1. Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 0 pts
2. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 2
3. Cole Odgen – Team Losi Racing – 6
4. JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 6
5. Jason Smith – Team Losi Racing – 8
6. Tanner Denney – Associated – 9
7. William McIver – Team C – 11
8. Jake Dellinger – Assocaited – 14
9. Tim Smith – Associated – 14
10.Kevin Hawkinson – Team Losi Racing – 14

View the overall results at the end of qualifying here.

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