A1 Buggy win each for Maifield & Evans

Ryan Maifield and Dustin Evans took one buggy win each in the opening round of A-Mains at the JConcepts Clash in Mississippi but it was in the races they started from second on the grid after both drivers made mistakes while leading the way from their TQ starting positions.  First up was 4WD Buggy in which Maifield started from the pole but clipping a pipe after 5 laps it popped a ball cup allowing Evans’ TLR to the front from where he would cruise to victory. With the marshal quickly fixing Maifield’s B44.2, he would rejoin in 6th position from where he worked his way back up the field snatching 3rd two corners from finish when Cody Hollis put his TLR in the pipe. Hollis had been involved in the battle of the race as he and young talent Damion Borkowicz fought over 2nd.  A mistake by Borkowicz at the triple on the penultimate lap allowed Hollis up to second but the 13-year-old pulled off a great pass at the very same spot next time round to claim 2nd ahead of Maifield and Hollis.

In the 2WD Main it was Top Qualifier Evans who would get too close to the piping around the Flowood RC Indoor Park track.  Looking in control of proceedings on Lap 6 his TLR22 2.0 would get turned into the pipe allowing Maifield to the front.  The 2011 National Champion mounted a serious challenge to retake the lead for about two laps but then got out of shape giving Maifield just the edge he needed to go on a take the win.  Behind the two World Championship title contenders it was Associated’s Max Flurer who started 6th on the grid who completed the podium.

Stiffening up his mid motored 2WD for the first of the finals, Maifield said the C4.2 was the best its been all week.  Not planning any changes for Leg 2, he said while he got a little lucky with Evans’ mistake on a track that is proving a little more difficult to pass on than original anticipated he said there are some good spots where you can ‘push the issue & get by’.  In 4WD he said he just glanced the pipe which popped a ball cup and it was as ‘easy at that’.  Luckily the marshal fixed it and he was able to rejoin.  Happy how his Reedy powered B44.2 is working he said for Leg 2 he will just fit a new set of ball cups along with a fresh set of JConcepts Blue Barcodes.

Evans said his 2WD was awesome with himself and Maifield very evenly matched, as highlighted by their fastest laps times which where just 36/1000th apart, but he just got a little to close to the pipe and that was it.  Coming back at Maifield for a time he said he started to overdrive which with the mid motor car loose you a lot of time.  Looking ahead to Leg 2 he said he knows he has the car to get the job done and he just needs to ‘not make that one mistake’.  In 4WD Evans said he was able to run with Maifield but without the his mistake he would probably not have found a way passed.  The Colorado driver said the track is very deceiving with the high speeds making it ‘hard to pass’.

Elsewhere Hollis converted his Mod Truck TQ starting position into untroubled win over Borkowicz with Maifield managing a similar feat in 2WD Short Course over Evans.  TLR’s JR Mitch also converted his TQ honours into winning performances taking A1 of both 1:8 e-Buggy and 4WD Short Course.

2WD Buggy A-1 Result
1.(2) Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 14/5:00.833
2.(1) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:02.615
3.(6) Max Flurer – Team Associated – 14/5:15.928
4.(3) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:18.730
5.(10)Damion Borkowicz – Team Associated – 14/5:22.084
6.(11)Justin Cranford – Team Durango – 14/5:24.312
7.(4) Cody Hollis – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:00.269
8.(8) Leon McIntosh – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:04.595
9.(12)Paul Sinclair – X-Factory – 13/5:08.488
10.(5)Ryan Eckert – Kyosho – 13/5:08.541
11.(9)Paul Wynn – Team Associated – 13/5:09.745
12.(7) Jason Ruona – Team Associated – DNS

4WD Buggy A-1 Result
1.(2) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:12.581
2.(5) Damion Borkowicz – Team Associated – 14/5:02.475
3.(1) Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 14/5:05.359
4.(3) Cody Hollis – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:07.293
5.(6) Brett Kingsbury – Team Associated – 14/5:10.446
6.(7) Ryan Eckert – Kyosho – 14/5:19.386
7.(11)Alfredo Arrieta – Xray – 13/5:11.193
8.(9) Jimmy Vanderhaar – Team Associated – 13/5:12.261
9.(8) Zack Genova – Xray – 12/4:31.153
10.(12)Barry Goodwin – Team Associated – 9/3:25.963
11.(4)Jason Ruona – Team Associated – 4/1:38.990
12.(10)Blaine Cavin – Team Associated – 3/1:18.839

View our event image gallery here.