Maifield does Buggy double at JConcepts Clash

Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield has done the double in electric buggy at the 7th running of the JConcepts Clash, the Arizona driver successfully defending his 2WD title and adding the 4WD title after winning each of the deciding third A-Mains over Team Losi Racing’s Dustin Evans.  Having also successful defended his 2WD Short Course title after A2, the first buggy title to go to Maifield was 4WD as he took his Reedy powered B44.2 to an easy win after Evans rolled on two occasions coming on to the straight, his XXX-4 struggling in the high traction conditions at the Flowood RC Indoor Park track.  The closing race of a packed race program and the blue ribbon class of the event, A3 of 2WD Buggy saw a blistering opening lap from Maifield with him getting his C4.2 passed Top Qualifier Evans’ also mid motored TLR 22 2.0.  While Evans fought back, a mistake on lap 3 would ultimately end his chances allowing Maifield to post the only 15-lap run of the finals.

Happy to take the wins, Maifield said while his 2WD was better than in Leg 2 without Evans’ mistake he said it would have been a tough race adding that had they run head to head he wouldn’t be so sure he would have been able to successfully defend his title.  Running a stiff shock set-up and moving them to a more laid down position, he also changed the rear inserts in his JConcepts Barcodes on which he applied extra additive, he said the changes did help a little to improve the corner speed he lacked in A2.  Although he has been ‘pretty comfortable’ with the change in driving style from the start of the switch over from rear to mid motor, Maifield said the weekend gave reassurance to the preparations they have been making for the up coming World Championships.

‘A frustrating day’ was how Evans summed up his second place buggy finishes.  Also runner-up in 2WD last year, he said that he struggled through the top left section which after the nitro finals had broken up since A2.  With his buggy strongest on the left side of the track he said he tried to make back up the time on Maifield there but eventually pushed it too hard.  ‘Of course I want to win’ but taking positives from the event he said he got a lot of valuable mileage with the mid motor this will be very beneficial to his World Championships hopes.

Having his best run of the three finals in A3 to claim third which secured him the final spot on the podium, TLR’s JR Mitch was pleased with his end result joking that he was the first of the ‘non-cheater’ cars. Running his TLR22 2.0 in rear motor configuration he said the last run he figured out his tyres running a set of one run JConcepts Barcodes which made the car much more comfortable to drive. Having ran new tyres in A1 & A2 he said his buggy felt like it was floating around on the tyre’s pins.  Although he missed out on the win in the biggest class of the year’s Clash, e-Buggy, finishing 2nd overall having started as Top Qualifier, Mitch did take one overall win taking the 4WD Short Course title.

Completing the podium in 4WD Buggy was up & coming talent Damion Borkowicz, the 13-year-old clearly delighted with the result.  The protege of JConcepts founder Jason Ruona, the Associated driver said he was pretty OK with finishing behind Maifield, who he ran impressively with in A2 before crashing out, and Evans.  The extremely mature Florida racer said the result, his best ‘Clash’ finish, is a good boost going into his next race which will see he him make his World Championship debut.

In the two main 1:8 buggy classes the nitro 30-minute Main was won by Team Associated driver Jake Dellinger after young TLR driver & Top Qualifier Tyler Jones retired as the race reached the 20-minute mark.  Second place went to Dylan Gerard with Ty Rogers completing the podium.  In e-Buggy Justin Cranford took the win over JR Mitch, who like in A2 had a terrible opening few laps, with Jake Dellinger completing the overall Top 3.

2WD Buggy Overall Result
1. Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 200 pts
2. Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 199
3. JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 195
4. Max Flurer – Team Associated – 193
5. Cody Hollis – Team Losi Racing – 193
6. Damion Borkowicz – Team Associated – 192
7. Ryan Eckert – Kyosho – 190
8. Justin Cranford – Team Durango – 190
9. Leon McIntosh – Team Losi Racing – 186
10.Paul Sinclair – X-Factory – 186
11.Paul Wynn – Team Associated – 184
12.Jason Ruona – Team Associated – 178

2WD Buggy A-3 Result
1.(2) Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 15/5:23.183
2.(1) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:06.701
3.(3) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:12.340
4.(4) Cody Hollis – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:20.661
5.(10)Damion Borkowicz – Team Associated – 14/5:21.536
6.(6) Max Flurer – Team Associated – 14/5:24.259
7.(12)Paul Sinclair – X-Factory – 13/5:08.491
8.(8) Leon McIntosh – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:09.583
9.(5) Ryan Eckert – Kyosho – 13/5:09.993
10.(11)Justin Cranford – Team Durango – 12/5:03.762
11.(9)Paul Wynn – Team Associated – 9/3:44.566
12.(7)Jason Ruona – Team Associated – DNS

4WD Buggy Overall Result
1. Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 200 pts
2. Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 199
3. Damion Borkowicz – Team Associated – 196
4. Cody Hollis – Team Losi Racing – 195
5. Ryan Eckert – Kyosho – 193
6. Alfredo Arrieta – Xray – 193
7. Brett Kingsbury – Team Associated – 192
8. Zack Genova – Xray – 192
9. Barry Goodwin – Team Associated – 188
10.Jimmy Vanderhaar – Team Associated – 188
11.Jason Ruona – Team Associated – 180
12.Blaine Cavin – Team Associated – 178

4WD Buggy A-3 Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 15/5:11.644
2.(2) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 15/5:20.746
3.(3) Cody Hollis – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:00.229
4.(5) Damion Borkowicz – Team Associated – 14/5:02.029
5.(7) Ryan Eckert – Kyosho – 14/5:13.377
6.(11)Alfredo Arrieta – Xray – 14/5:17.333
7.(12)Barry Goodwin – Team Associated – 14/5:23.971
8.(8) Zack Genova – Xray – 13/5:01.276
9.(6) Brett Kingsbury – Team Associated – 13/5:02.708
10.(9)Jimmy Vanderhaar – Team Associated – 12/5:06.376
11.(4)Jason Ruona – Team Associated – DNS
12.(10)Blaine Cavin – Team Associated – DNS

View the complete event results here (PDF).

View our event image gallery here.