September 21, 2012

Maifield sets early pace at JConcepts Clash

Defending JConcepts Clash Champion Ryan Maifield set the pace on the opening day of the sixth running of the annual event with the Team Associated driver fastest in all three of the classes he is contesting and hoping to retain his 2011 titles.  Putting most of his efforts today into his 1:8 Nitro Buggy, it was this class in which the Arizona driver looked to have the greatest advantage over his rivals at the Flowood RC Indoor Park in Mississippi.

Running 1-hour open practice sessions alternating between the 1:8 and 1:10 classes, no official timing was published for today’s action but there was no doubting Maifield was fastest with his rivals all agreeing he has set the benchmark for tomorrow’s qualifying.  Trying a variety of hand modified parts on his LRP engined RC8.2, Maifield said as its a World Championship year he is going to use every opportunity to test different ideas adding that today was a productive day not just for the Clash title defense but also for the upcoming Worlds.  Together with Associated team manager Brent Thielke and Jason Ruona of his tyre sponsor and creator of the Clash event, Maifield will fly out from Mississippi on Monday morning to Argentina to contest the Worlds Warm-up Race.

Running Associated’s new big bore shocks for the first time on his 2WD Buggy and 2WD Short Course truck today, Maifield described the change as dramatic.  Surprised at how big a difference the new shock made he said they gave the feeling of a soft set-up but in the corners could be driven like the car had a hard set-up allowing for a big improvement in corner speed.  Commenting on the track, the layout of which was designed by JConcepts Head of R&D Paul Wynn, Maifield said the track works well for both 1:8 and 1:10 and the traction has got better and better over the day and he is confident all three of his cars are dialed in for tomorrow’s opening round of qualifying.

Closest on pace to Maifield in 1:8 Nitro Buggy was team-mate Tanner Denney.  Running four classes at the event, the 17-year-old set the pace in 4WD buggy and 2WD Truck and declared himself happy with his day.  In 2WD Truck his closest challenger on lap times was team boss Brent Thielke while in 4WD Buggy his tyre sponsor Jason Ruona looks for now as being the his main rival for Q1.

In the TLR camp Dustin Evans declared himself happy with his 8ight and TLR22 but said his 22T still needs more work.  Team-mate JR Mitch echoed those comments saying his buggies both felt fine but he still had to find a set-up for his truck.  Having finished runner-up in all three classes last year to his then team-mate Maifield, Mitch said he was tired of finishing second and is determined to claim at least one win on a track which he added he is really enjoying.

A very relaxed opening day’s action at the Flowood Indoor RC Park, tomorrow we will get down to the serious business of qualifying with two of the scheduled four rounds of qualifying making up the timetable for the 6th running of the JConcepts Clash which is being supported by Reedy, LRP, Associated, A-Main Hobbies, P1 Brand, Airtronics, Durango, O’Donnell and Futuba.  Supported by JConcepts, Red RC will bring full coverage of the weekend’s proceedings starting with a full round up of all the action from the opening qualifier.

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September 20, 2012

Maifield & Evans preparing to ‘Clash’ in Mississippi

The main honours at the sixth running of the annual JConcepts Clash is set to be a ‘clash’ between Associated’s Ryan Maifield and Team Losi Racing’s Dustin Evans with the duo running head to head in 1:8 Nitro Buggy, 2WD Electric Buggy and 2WD Short Course at the unique and famous US off road event which caters for both 1:8 nitro and 1:10 electric classes. With all five previous Clash events having been held in Florida and outdoors, for 2012 the event has undergone two key changes. The first of these was moving it away from the East Coast where JConcepts is based over to the state of Mississippi with the second and more significant change being to run indoors at the Flowood Indoor RC Park where they have created an impressive large track for the unique event.  Commenting on the track following a number of practice runs this morning with his nitro powered RC8.2, defending champion Maifield said only that it is not ‘freezing cold’ it is very similar to the World famous Neo Race in the United Kingdom.

Traditionally held in the month of December, event organiser Jason Ruona was forced to bring this year’s date forward due to the 1:8 Offroad World Championships which takes places in Argentina the first week of December.  Having selected the new Clash date prior to the announcement of the Worlds Warm-up race the JConcepts founder said while this has reduced the international entry they have attracted a record number of pre-registrations for this year’s race. Describing the Clash as a ‘relaxed & fun event’ Ruona said having to contend with rain every year with the exception of the inaugural event they made it their aim to take that one ‘damping’ element out of the equation and after the first first rounds of practice runs today he is very pleased with the move, the tracks ventilation system handling the nitro fumes exceptionally well.  Ruona, who TQ’d 2WD Buggy last year, will again race himself competing in both 2WD & 4WD Buggy.

In terms of team line-ups Associated are the best represented with Maifield who is joined by young charger Tanner Denney and team boss Brent Thielke.  With last year’s 4WD Buggy Champion Joern Neumann unable to attend this year, Denney will be one of the favorites for the title having finished runner up to the German last year.  One of the busier drivers this weekend competing in four classes, the 17-year-old will also be a top contender for 2WD Truck honours which last year went to offroad legend Brian Kinwald.  Running big bore shocks on his T4.1 Denney was very happy with its performance in this morning’s practice runs.

2011 2WD Buggy National Champion and Reedy Race Winner Evans, who will not travel to Argentina for the Worlds Warm-up, is making his first appearance at the Clash. Having had some reservations about running both 1:8 Nitro and 1:10 Electric on the same day said the change between the two is proving no problem and he is really looking forward to a good event, with things getting underway in earnest tomorrow morning with the first round of four rounds of qualifying for each of the 14 classes that make up the program.  Joining Evans on the event is the team’s 2012 signing JR Mitch who having been runner up in three classes last year will be looking to go one better this time round.

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July 28, 2012

Groskamp is World Champion

Winning a World title is a special moment but to win your first World Championship at the very place where 20-years earlier your interest in a sport began is the stuff dreams are made of but this evening in the Netherlands just down the road from where he grew up Jilles Groskamp took a very emotional win at the 7th Electric Touring Car World Championships from Top Qualifier Atsushi Hara with Ronald Volker completing the podium at the MACH.

Five drivers had a chance of the title going into the third leg setting the stage for an epic battle but it turned out to be a much more subdued affair as Hara lead from start to finish shadowed by Groskamp.  Taking the biggest gamble of his racing career in Leg 1 to pip Hara for the win, Groskamp said he drove a calculated last race as he could hear from the computer timing that the predicted time was 2 seconds slower and this would give him the overall win on tie break.  With all his family and hundreds of cheering locals the win was a very emotional one for Groskamp who burst into tears on the rostrum as he was congratulated by his Tamiya team-mate and outgoing World Champion Marc Rheinard.

Afterwards Groskamp said he knew he had the fastest car on used tyres but the pressure was still there to get the job done.  Describing himself as ‘not the youngest guy anymore’ he said he knew this was probably his last real chance at winning the sport’s top prize but despite this he was really calm during the race and he described the finals minute of the race as probably the most ‘perfect’ laps he had ever driven.  With the Tamiya Racing Factory squad since 2008, Groskamp’s win gives the Japanese company their fifth Touring Car World title.

Left regretting he didn’t also throw his Hobby Wing powered HB across the finish line in Leg 1, Hara said his chance of a second Touring Car World title was lost in the first race.  Surprised at how good his TCXX ran in the final A-Main, following a change back to his qualifying set-up, he said he did all he could but as he predicted before the race Groskamp always had the upper hand and just needed to sit behind him.  Having been BQ at the last World Championship Hara said it was good to come back at take TQ honours.  Contesting three World Championships this year he said to start his season with second is not bad and for the 1:10 Nitro Touring and 1:8 Offroad World Championships later in the year he is aiming to be standing one step higher on the podium.

Finishing third overall Team Yokomo’s Ronald Volker was very disappointed with the result saying they had the pace for the win but too many things went wrong.  Having TQ’d the opening two rounds of qualifying, he said the controversy that hit Q5 & 6 cost him the pole position for the finals while in the races themselves contact with Hara in Leg 1 and Rheinard in Leg 3 robbed him the chance of his first World title.  The Euro Touring Series Champion, said everything had come together in the lead up to the race with both the car and his electrics working perfectly and it was very frustrating to have things outside of his control influence the race.

A World Championship that was full of controversy mostly surrounding what are clearly crazy tyre rules, in the end a worthy champion was crowned.  Red RC would to thank to our sponsors LRP, Speed Passion and JG Racing for making the past week of coverage from both the 1:12 and Touring Car World Championship possible. A special thanks also to time keepers Hugo Keller and Martijn van der Heijden for their assistance while in the Netherlands.

Overall Result
1. Jilles Groskamp (NL) – Tamiya/Orion – 19 pts
2. Atsushi Hara (JP) – HB/Reedy – 19
3. Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 17
4. Naoto Matsukura (JP) – Yokomo/Nosram – 17
5. Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya/Thunder Power – 16
6. Loïc Jasmin (FR) – Yokomo/LRP – 12
7. Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho/Orion – 10
8. Andy Moore (GB) – HB/Hobbywing – 10
9. Chris Grainger (GB) – Schumacher/GM – 9
10.Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya/Speedpassion – 9

Leg 3 A-Main Result
1.(1) Atsushi Hara (JP) – HB/Reedy – 18/5:02.657
2.(3) Jilles Groskamp (NL) – Tamiya/Orion – 18/5:02.915
3.(6) Naoto Matsukura (JP) – Yokomo/Nosram – 18/5:05.531
4.(8) Loïc Jasmin (FR) – Yokomo/LRP – 18/5:08.802
5.(9) Andy Moore (GB) – HB/Hobbywing – 18/5:09.711
6.(2) Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 18/5:11.443
7.(4) Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya/Speedpassion – 18/5:12.216
8.(10)Chris Grainger (GB) – Schumacher/GM – 18/5:14.170
9.(5) Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya/Thunder Power – 18/5:15.730
10.(7)Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho/Orion – 18/5:16.355

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July 28, 2012

Error brings Rheinard’s quest to an end

Marc Rheinard’s quest for a third consecutive World title is over after the German, who sat out the opening A-Main to save tyres, rolled his Tamiya on the first run through the chicane dropping him to the tail of the field from where he could only recover to finish 6th.  With Rheinard, the clear favourite to take the win for the Leg due to having fresh tyres, out of contention it was Ronald Volker who took the win ahead of Yokomo team-mate Naoto Matsukura with Viktor Wilck again finishing 3rd.

With his car ending up on its roof on the exit of the chicane Rheinard, whose 4-year reign will come to an end shortly after 5pm local time, said the roll was his ‘own fault’ as he steered too early in the middle of the chicane, the curb sending the car up on two wheels.  Rheinard, who has held the World title three times, said while the race was over for him there was still plenty to play for in the final leg as his Tamiya Racing Factory team still had ‘two horses’ in the race. Those being Leg 1 winner Jilles Groskamp and Wilck.

After the disappointment of Leg 1, when contact with Hara ended his chances of a win,  Volker drove a very patient second A-Main.  Having more pace than Top Qualifier Hara, the ETS Champion said this bunched up the pack but he knew he needed to make a clean pass on the Team HB driver.  Aware that Rheinard’s challenge was over he said he was conscious of his own team-mate Matsukura, who also started the race with fresh tyres, and as the 1:12 World Champion joined the lead battle he knew had to get out front.  Once out front he said he knew if he could hold off Matsukura for a few laps then the 18-year-old’s tyre advantage would drop off and on equal tyres he knew he could keep him at bay which is what he did til the end to win by half a second with Wilck a distant third almost 4 seconds adrift.

Hara said he ran too soft a set-up for the race and after a coming together with the recovering Rheinard he was pleased to to take fourth for the Leg.  Planning to go back to a set-up he ran yesterday in qualifying for the final Leg the former Touring Car and 1:8 Offroad World Champion is expecting a ‘really big fight’ with five drivers still in with a chance of being crowned the Electric Touring Car World Champion, he being the only previous holder of the title.

The clear favourite of the large crowd of onlookers who have turned out at the MACH, Groskamp saw his challenge for a top result grabbed from him in the exact same spot as team-mate Wilck lost his challenge for the win in Leg 1.  Through the Omega sweeper the Dutch driver ran a tight line over the curb only to also get pulled into the grass on lap 8 resulting in his TRF417 needing to be marshaled. Pulling up on the next lap the former European Champion is confident about his chances in the final Leg as he has shown throughout the event his car is very good on used tyres.

Leg 2 A-Main Result
1.(2) Ronald Völker (DE) – Yokomo/LRP – 18/5:01.535
2.(6) Naoto Matsukura (JP) – Yokomo/Nosram – 18/5:02.110
3.(5) Viktor Wilck (SE) – Tamiya/Thunder Power – 18/5:05.392
4.(1) Atsushi Hara (JP) – HB/Reedy – 18/5:07.988
5.(10)Chris Grainger (GB) – Schumacher/GM – 18/5:10.005
6.(4) Marc Rheinard (DE) – Tamiya/Speedpassion – 18/5:10.923
7.(7) Christopher Krapp (DE) – Kyosho/Orion – 18/5:13.597
8.(8) Loïc Jasmin (FR) – Yokomo/LRP – 18/5:13.872
9.(9) Andy Moore (GB) – HB/Hobbywing – 14/3:57.640
10.(3)Jilles Groskamp (NL) – Tamiya/Orion – 9/2:31.004

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