Maifield happy with early form at JConcepts Nats

Making his debut for Team Losi Racing this weekend at the JConcepts Summer Indoor Nationals in Chico, California, Ryan Maifield appears to be adapting quickly to his new equipment declaring himself happy with his early form at Outback Raceway. Having sent a shockwave through offroad racing circles with his mid season departure from long time sponsor Team Associated, the Arizona ace has travelled to the third race in the popular five race JConcepts Series well supported with TLR Senior Product Developer Frank Root and Joe Pillars of new electrics sponsor Team Orion both on hand to assist their new star signing.

‘Everything good’ was Maifield’s response to how he felt early practice had gone at the A-Main Hobbies owned track. While no official timing is available yet, today’s action set to end with a round of seeding practice for tomorrow’s qualifying, he said all three of his new rides are running well. Having travelled to Florida last week to test with team-mate Dustin Evans and JConcepts Jason Ruona and Paul Wynn, he said the preparation time has helped him a lot in settling in with his new equipment. Describing Evans as being very knowledgable, he was pleased at how well they worked together adding he made a lot of gains from the test thanks to his new team-mate’s input. In terms of how his buggies are working in Chico, he said despite the fact he ‘(hasn’t) really messed with it’ his 4WD was ‘really good’ while on his 2WD he has only had to do just a little bit of fine tuning. Also running TLR’s new 2WD Short Course truck he said that too was going well although for the remainder of practice he would run a less aggressive front tyre on it. Running JConcepts’ Gold Dirt Webs all round on all his cars he will switch to Barcodes on the front of the 22SCT 2.0. Asked how he found the difference between the Associated and TLR cars he said both had their strong & weak points but knowing both cars was a big help as they could focus on improving the TLR cars weakness.

Acknowledging the level of support his new sponsors have provided for his debut weekend, saying it was great to also have Joe Pillars on hand to ‘help get the power tuned in’, Frank Root was equally complimentary of the level of feedback his team’s new driver was providing. Very hands on in the development of TLR’s offroad cars with suspension geometry one of his key work areas, Root said Maifield was very technical and in his feedback he gave very specific details which together with him watching the car on track meant they could make really good progress with getting the cars sorted for the track conditions.

With it taking a bit of getting used to Maifield wearing a TLR t-shirt, over in the Associated pits World Champion Steven Hartson was in surprisingly confident mood about his practice form. Describing his cars as getting ‘better and better’ he said that while their is no timing they ‘seem like they are on pace’. Running JConcepts Gold Dirt Webs on his B5M and on his B44.2 in combination with a Barcode front he said both cars feel good and for the remainder of practice his focus will be on breaking in tyres for qualifying. Asked about the track he was complimentary of Kevin Jelich’s work, Jelich having been the designer of the track on which he won his 4WD World title. Describing the track as flowing well with good grip he said for the tight space it is a very raceable layout adding it has ‘nothing stupid to cause drivers to crash every lap’.

Making his fourth visit to the track having only missed the first running of the JConcepts race at Outback Raceway, Associated Team Manager Brent Thielke said things were ‘going ok’. Having got here late yesterday, the track having been open all day for testing, he said he felt behind but with a good baseline set-up for their buggies it was just a matter of learning the track layout. Having made ‘some improvements’ to his own cars over the morning working on weight distribution and his spring package, he said unlike the majority of other JConcept tyre users he was running a Barcode on the front of his 2WD preferring the feel it gives as he can focus on his line rather than having to correct the steering all the time. In terms of his team drivers he was ‘happy with the pace of our guys’.

Two of those guys are up & coming talents Spencer Rivkin and Daimon Borkowicz. A protege of Maifield, Rivkin said most of his work this morning has been on his shock package and tyre prep for qualifying. Liking the track layout of which he said the touring car section is the most difficult part due to the on power steering it requires, the 15-year-old is trying to get his tyres to the optimum level of wear and then know when to save them for tomorrow’s three rounds of qualifying. On his B5M he is running Gold Dirt Webs front and rear while on his B44.2 he has opted for Barcodes on the front.

Racing at Outback Raceway for the first time AKA’s Mark Pavidis said he is having to rely on TLR’s team drivers for guidance adding he is ‘now just a tyre guy and no longer a set-up guy’. Running a set-up he got from Dustin Evans on his mid motor TLR22, the former World Champion said both 2WD and 4WD buggies are ‘running good’ and this has allowed him to focus on ‘trying a bunch of tyres. He said the hardest thing was getting the right sweet spot with the tyre wear adding ‘they cant be new and they can’t be too worn’.

JConcepts Indoor National Series regular JR Mitch described his runs so far as being a ‘little trashy’ but continued he is ‘getting through it’. Winner of 4WD Buggy at the season opening Winter Indoor Nationals in St. Louis and runner up to Steven Hartson at the Spring Indoor Nationals, the Florida driver is in for an extra busy weekend this time round running in four classes. His 2WD Short Course participation is a late one with Frank Roots building him a new 22SCT 2.0 at the track. Due to the number of cars he is running he has not yet had the chance to put his 4WD Short Course on the track. With the event running a handout additive (Mo-Grip), Mitch said the controlled sauce was a little different to what he normally uses and he was still trying to figure out how best to use it.

Top Qualifier in 4WD Buggy at the last round of the JConcepts Series, finishing the race 3rd overall, Team Xray’s Tyler Vik said while he has no times to on his XB4 ‘feels really good’. Describing the track as feeling similar to the Tacoma track he said his car was good there so he is pretty positive about the weekend. Running AKA Pin Strips on the front and Deja Vu rears he said he has been working a lot on getting tyres scrubbed in for the qualifying and the finals admitting he felt behind in this area at Tacoma. In 2WD Buggy the San Francisco driver is running an Associated B4.2 Centro.

As is to be expects considering the location of the race, A-Main Hobbies has a strong team line-up at the event. One of their drivers is Drew Moller. Despite this being his first time to the track, the 18-year-old was pleased with his early practice. Running a HB in 4WD and Associated in 2WD, he described his 4WD as ‘awesome’ saying it was good from the first time he put it down on the track. Running Pro-Line Electrons all round on both cars he has had to play around with the shock set on his B5M but feels its ‘now pretty good’.

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