Maifield sets early pace at JConcepts Clash
Defending JConcepts Clash Champion Ryan Maifield set the pace on the opening day of the sixth running of the annual event with the Team Associated driver fastest in all three of the classes he is contesting and hoping to retain his 2011 titles. Putting most of his efforts today into his 1:8 Nitro Buggy, it was this class in which the Arizona driver looked to have the greatest advantage over his rivals at the Flowood RC Indoor Park in Mississippi.
Running 1-hour open practice sessions alternating between the 1:8 and 1:10 classes, no official timing was published for today’s action but there was no doubting Maifield was fastest with his rivals all agreeing he has set the benchmark for tomorrow’s qualifying. Trying a variety of hand modified parts on his LRP engined RC8.2, Maifield said as its a World Championship year he is going to use every opportunity to test different ideas adding that today was a productive day not just for the Clash title defense but also for the upcoming Worlds. Together with Associated team manager Brent Thielke and Jason Ruona of his tyre sponsor and creator of the Clash event, Maifield will fly out from Mississippi on Monday morning to Argentina to contest the Worlds Warm-up Race.
Running Associated’s new big bore shocks for the first time on his 2WD Buggy and 2WD Short Course truck today, Maifield described the change as dramatic. Surprised at how big a difference the new shock made he said they gave the feeling of a soft set-up but in the corners could be driven like the car had a hard set-up allowing for a big improvement in corner speed. Commenting on the track, the layout of which was designed by JConcepts Head of R&D Paul Wynn, Maifield said the track works well for both 1:8 and 1:10 and the traction has got better and better over the day and he is confident all three of his cars are dialed in for tomorrow’s opening round of qualifying.
Closest on pace to Maifield in 1:8 Nitro Buggy was team-mate Tanner Denney. Running four classes at the event, the 17-year-old set the pace in 4WD buggy and 2WD Truck and declared himself happy with his day. In 2WD Truck his closest challenger on lap times was team boss Brent Thielke while in 4WD Buggy his tyre sponsor Jason Ruona looks for now as being the his main rival for Q1.
In the TLR camp Dustin Evans declared himself happy with his 8ight and TLR22 but said his 22T still needs more work. Team-mate JR Mitch echoed those comments saying his buggies both felt fine but he still had to find a set-up for his truck. Having finished runner-up in all three classes last year to his then team-mate Maifield, Mitch said he was tired of finishing second and is determined to claim at least one win on a track which he added he is really enjoying.
A very relaxed opening day’s action at the Flowood Indoor RC Park, tomorrow we will get down to the serious business of qualifying with two of the scheduled four rounds of qualifying making up the timetable for the 6th running of the JConcepts Clash which is being supported by Reedy, LRP, Associated, A-Main Hobbies, P1 Brand, Airtronics, Durango, O’Donnell and Futuba. Supported by JConcepts, Red RC will bring full coverage of the weekend’s proceedings starting with a full round up of all the action from the opening qualifier.
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