Evans recovers to win A2 of 2WD Buggy

TLR’s Dustin Evans recovered from a mistake that left arch rival Ryan Maifield take the lead of the 2nd A-Main of 2WD Buggy at the JConcepts Clash to convert his TQ starting position into a win forcing the title to be decided in the 3rd & final Main of the Mississippi event.  Having lost the lead in A1 due to a mistake that handed Maifield the win, the second encounter looked like things might be repeated as Evans’ TLR22 got a landing wrong allowing the Associated C4.2 of Maifield into the lead.  This time however Evans was better able to regain his composure hauling in Maifield before getting back passed the Arizona ace with three laps to go to claim the win.  In a race of attrition, Maifield took the 2nd 4WD Buggy A-Main meaning it too will be decided in the final leg.

‘A really fun race’ was how Evans described the 2WD encounter. Leading away from pole position with Maifield in his shadows, the race really sparked into life when Evans missed his landing on the triple, opening the door for defending ‘Clash’ champion Maifield to move to the front.  Having over driven following his crash in Leg 1 leaving him unable to challenge to take the lead back, Evans said this time round he was able to regain his composure.  While dropping back a little over the following laps he said he got his head down allowing him to get right back up to Maifield, setting the fastest lap in the process.  Knowing his mid motored buggy was particularly good at the top left hand section of the track that is were he made his move getting successfully down the inside to retake the lead.

Also describing it as a ‘good race’, Maifield said Evans made a good move and once he was down the inside he ‘let it happen’.  Feeling both his buggies were ‘missing a little speed’ for the second round of A-Mains, for the deciding 5-minute encounter he will try a different foam insert in his JConcepts Barcode tyres in the hope he can find some extra corner speed.  In 4WD, Evans pulled a surprise pass on Maifield on the second lap with his XXX-4 but on the next lap made a mistake allowing both Maifield and young charger Damion Borkowicz through to the front. Such was Borkowicz’s pace, the 13-year-old was actually pulling in Maifield but unfortunately on lap 6 it would all come to a crashing end when the Florida driver clipped the pipping through the fast top right hand section pulling a front corner off his Associated B44.2.  This allowed Evans up to second but he too would pull a corner of his TLR on lap 12 of 15.  In the hunt for 3rd position TLR team-mate Cody Hollis was another to hit trouble.  With two laps to go he popped a ball cup on his XXX-4 allowing the Xray of Jack Genova to cruise to second and fellow teenager & XB4 driver Alfredo Arrieta through to complete the Top 3.

In 2WD Short course Maifield ensured that he will go home with at least one JConcepts Clash winning trophy as he successful defended his title by winning his second A-Main over Evans.  The 4WD Short Course title was also decide in A2 as TLR’s JR Mitch took another win over John Bernard Jr’s Teckno truck. Mitch wasn’t able to repeat his A1 e-Buggy win after making a terrible start which allowed Justin Cranford to win by just .709 of a second.  Also going to the third leg is the Mod Truck title after Leon McIntosh got the better of Top Qualifier & A1 winner Cody Hollis who had to recover from an early incident.

2WD Buggy A-2 Result
1.(1) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:00.392
2.(2) Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 14/5:01.590
3.(5) Ryan Eckert – Kyosho – 14/5:15.697
4.(3) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:19.612
5.(4) Cody Hollis – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:20.485
6.(11)Justin Cranford – Team Durango – 13/5:12.166
7.(9) Paul Wynn – Team Associated – 13/5:14.028
8.(8) Leon McIntosh – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:15.319
9.(12)Paul Sinclair – X-Factory – 13/5:16.148
10.(6)Max Flurer – Team Associated – 5/2:14.751
11.(10)Damion Borkowicz – Team Associated – 3/1:27.469
12.(7)Jason Ruona – Team Associated – DNS

4WD Buggy A-2 Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 15/5:09.354
2.(8) Zack Genova – Xray – 14/5:07.472
3.(11)Alfredo Arrieta – Xray – 14/5:13.981
4.(7) Ryan Eckert – Kyosho – 14/5:17.284
5.(6) Brett Kingsbury – Team Associated – 14/5:18.317
6.(9) Jimmy Vanderhaar – Team Associated – 14/5:18.474
7.(12)Barry Goodwin – Team Associated – 14/5:20.750
8.(3) Cody Hollis – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:22.405
9.(2) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 12/4:14.720
10.(5)Damion Borkowicz – Team Associated – 5/1:43.291
11.(4)Jason Ruona – Team Associated – DNS
12.(10)Blaine Cavin – Team Associated – DNS

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