March 13, 2014

New in the Pits – AKA

Thurs-AKATires

AKA have their new Deja Vu rear buggy and SC tire pattern here in Scottsdale. Based on a familiar discontinued tire pattern they are suited for blue groove indoor and outdoor tracks and will be available in clay, soft and super soft compounds. Up front to work with the Deja Vu tires in the same conditions there is the new Pinstripe 2wd and 4wd front tires. The buggy tires will be available on the companies Evo wheel.

Thurs-GridironIISC

Also for Short Course there is the new Gridiron II which is a good all round tire which the drivers here are using on the front of their 2wd SC trucks to take away steering while for 4wd trucks they would work when used front and rear on hard packed dusty tracks.  All tires should be available next month.

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March 13, 2014

New in the Pits – Pro-Line

Thurs-PLTransistor-3

Title sponsors of this year’s Cactus Classic Pro-Line are showing off a number of new items here including their updated rear Suburb VTR tire. As the name suggest the new Suburb has now been modified to fit their VTR wheel, a small change Pro-Line also took the opportunity to increase the size of the tires pins which are now more durable. Up front there is the all new Transistor VTR tire, which fits in their range between the Ion and Scrub and again feature a bigger pin for better wear. On the inside and outside edge of the tire there is a rib running the entire circumference which helps reduce the aggressiveness of the tire. The Transistor is available as a 4wd and 2wd front tire.

Thurs-PLPhantomWing-2

Other new items from Pro-Line include their all new high downforce Trifecta rear wing which is also high strength thanks to the included ribbing along the back edge of the wing. In terms of bodies they also have their Phantom shell for the B5M, following up on the release of the Phantom for the B5 earlier. All products on display are available from next month.

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March 13, 2014

Track Focus – SRS Raceway

thu_track

Track Name – SRS Raceway
Country – USA
Location – Scottsdale, Arizona
Direction – Anti-Clockwise
Surface – Sugared Dirt

America’s longest running race and one of the most prestigious events on the international 1:10 Offroad racing calendar, this is the 28th running of the Pro-Line Cactus Classic.  Originally set to move indoor this year to host HobbyTown USA/SRS’s new Scottsdale RC Speedway facility, delays in the completion of the new building mean the event is again at the popular outdoor track, albeit regrettably most likely the last time the event will run at this location.

Speaking to Store Manager and track builder Ricky Gaynor the track was prepared for the race last week with rain a few days prior to that making the build a little more tricky than usual.  The moisture caused the dirt to want to clump together with Ricky saying it has created a ‘weird’ final surface.  Running two club races on the track, which was watered between runs, in preparation for Cactus Classic the track has undergone two sugar coatings.  A first coating of 300lbs of sugar was followed by a second 500lbs coating with Ricky planning no further treatment of the surface.  Last year the track as sugared nightly over the event.  Asking Ricky about the future of the track he said the reason for the moving of both the hobby store and the track is that the land owner has plans to build Condos on the site.

Reigning 2WD Buggy champion Jared Tebo said this year’s track, while not having as good a flow as last year, should be good to race on with the up hill section on the right side being the main separator as well as being a good passing spot.  Describing the racing line as tight he said the track is a little bumpy and even more grippy than last year.  Chasing a fourth consecutive 4WD buggy title, Ryan Maifield, for whom this is his home event, said the layout is fun with drivers availing of open practice the past two days, the Associated drivers added that the ‘surface is really consistent’.

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March 13, 2014

‘From Race Control’ – Day 1, Controlled Practice

racrctrl1

As expected its a sunny morning in Scottsdale, Arizona, for Day 1 of our coverage of the Pro-Line Cactus Classic.  Technically the third day of the event for many drivers, the track having been available for open practice for the past two days, today’s scheduled sees the first formal action with Controlled Practice. Drivers will get 2 rounds of 5-minute practice per class, 12 classes making up the 44 heat entry, with the fastest 3-consecutive laps of each driver determining a reseed for qualifying which runs tomorrow & Friday.

February 10, 2014

Denney & Mitch win at JConcepts Indoor Nats

Mod Podium

Team Associated’s Tanner Denney and Team Losi Racing’s JR Mitch claimed the big wins at the opening round of the JConcepts Indoor National Series in St.Louis.  Winning the third A-Main of 2WD Buggy, having won A2, Top Qualifier Denney claimed an important win for Associated’s all new B5 on its debut race weekend while Mitch also backed up his A2 win in 4WD Buggy to claim the overall win with his TLR22-4.  Joining them on the podium Steven Hartson & TLR’s JP Richards finished 2nd & 3rd respectively in 2WD while Denney claimed second in 4WD with Xray’s Josh Wheeler completing the overall Top 3 on the fifth running of the Winter Indoor Nationals at the SmacTrac.

Denney

With everything still to play for in A3, Denney, Hartson and Richards were in contention for the overall 2WD win, Denney almost threw away his chances before the final encounter even started.  In the warm-up, with his view blocked by marshals going to their posts, he would crash very heavily into one of the i-beams on the perimeter of the track.  Continuing the lap it was discovered he had broken a front arm.  Calling it an ‘novice move’ and believing from the sound of the impact that he had actually completely broken the car, he said the ‘organisers were nice enough’ to give him time to replace the arm allowing him to take up his pole position for the race start. Leading away the 11 car field the 18-year-old Arizona driver would lead the race from start to finish. Only having to push hard for a time in response to team-mate Hartson moving into second, he said he was happy to take the overall win on such a significant weekend for his team albeit it with a plain white bodyshell.

JR Mitch

Going into the final leg of the 4WD A-Main it was also a three way battle for the win with Mitch, Denney and TLR’s Cody Hollis thanks to a second A2 in contention.  Unfortunately for Top Qualifier Hartson, two difficult legs meant the World Champion had no chance of the win.  Having had a disastrous opening lap in A2, he led away the field and looked to have things under control to at least salvage one win but landing his B44.2 into the corner piping in the centre of the track, this would allow Mitch to the front where the Florida driver would stay to the end with Hartson second and A1 winner Denney third.  His first time to race at SmacTrac, Mitch was very happy to take the overall win.  As he had hoped for after his A2 win the track was again watered ahead of the round.  Describing his buggy as ‘really good’ in stickier track conditions, he said the race went to plan with his focus being to just stay ahead of Denney, the Associated driver admitted himself afterwards that he ‘totally blew out’ in the encounter.

Hartson

In the truck classes Hartson took the top honours in Mod Truck with his T4.2, while Mitch took home a second winners trophy taking the spoils in 4WD Short Course with his SCTE.  In 2WD Short Course Luke Richards took his Kyosho to the win.

2WD Buggy A-Main Leg 3 Results
1.(1) Tanner Denney – Team Associated – 22/5:08.841
2.(4) Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 22/5:11.311
3.(2) JP Richards – Team Losi Racing – 21/5:04.388
4.(5) Brent Thielke – Team Associated – 21/5:06.655
5.(6) Cody Hollis – Team Losi Racing – 21/5:07.398
6.(7) Trevor Nault – Team Associated – 20/5:09.205
7.(3) Taylor Larsen – Team Losi Racing – 21/5:09.519
8.(10)Luke Richards – Kyosho – 21/5:12.367
9.(9) Matt Gosch – Team Associated – 20/5:13.719
10.(8)JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 19/5:02.498
11.(11)Daimon Borkowicz – Team Associated – 19/5:08.193

2WD Buggy Overall Result
1. Tanner Denney – Team Associated – 200 pts
2. Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 199
3. JP Richards – Team Losi Racing – 197
4. Brent Thielke – Team Associated – 194
5. Taylor Larsen – Team Losi Racing – 194
6. Cody Hollis – Team Losi Racing – 193
7. Trevor Nault – Team Associated – 188
8. Luke Richards – Kyosho – 187
9. Matt Gosch – Team Associated – 186
10.JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 185
11.Daimon Borkowicz – Team Associated – 182

4WD Buggy A-Main Leg 3 Results
1.(3) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 22/5:09.097
2.(1) Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 20/5:04.928
3.(2) Tanner Denney – Team Associated – 21/5:02.659
4.(4) Josh Wheeler – Team Xray – 22/5:11.162
5.(6) Cody Hollis – Team Losi Racing – 22/5:10.543
6.(5) Mitchel Gardner – Kyosho – 21/5:03.924
7.(8) JP Richards – Team Losi Racing – 21/5:13.746
8.(7) Nick Gibson – Team Associated – 21/5:06.086
9.(11)Taylor Larsen – Team Losi Racing – 21/5:07.216
10.(9)Brent Thielke – Team Associated – 21/5:14.261
11.(12)Matt Gosch – Team Associated – 19/5:07.993

4WD Buggy Overall Result
1. JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 200 pts
2. Tanner Denney – Team Associated – 198
3. Josh Wheeler – Team Xray – 196
4. Cody Hollis – Team Losi Racing – 195
5. Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 195
6. Nick Gibson – Team Associated – 192
7. Mitchel Gardner – Kyosho – 191
8. JP Richards – Team Losi Racing – 187
9. Taylor Larsen – Team Losi Racing – 187
10.Brent Thielke – Team Associated – 186
11.Matt Gosch – Team Associated – 182

View our event image gallery here.