Hartson doubles up to top Q1 of 4WD

Having kicked off qualifying at the JConcepts Winter Indoor Nationals in St.Louis with a TQ in the opening round of 2WD qualifying, Steven Hartson doubled up by topping Q1 of 4WD Buggy.  Driving his Reedy powered B44.2, the World Champion set the pace at the small SmacTrac by a comfortable 3-seconds over TLR’s JR Mitch who was in turn 1.3 seconds faster than Xray’s Josh Wheeler.

Setting the fastest lap with a 13.356, Hartson said he had a few bobbles at the start which set him back a bit but after he found his rhythm it was a clean run and he was able to claw back the time.  Describing his buggy as ‘fast’ he plans to leave it as is for Q2.

Driving his TLR22-4 Mitch said the buggy was ‘probably right there’ to be able to stay with Hartson but ‘a few mistakes’ cost him time.  Running JConcepts Barcodes on the front and Dirt Webs on the rear, the Florida driver said the tyres were getting better every run not just due to wear but also due to the continuous saucing, the sauce becoming more effective with each run.

Debuting a new race trailer he has just had built for the 2014 season, allowing him to pit outside away from the high smelling tyre additive being used by some drivers, Wheeler said compared to yesterday the track was really loose.  Only racing 4WD Buggy, he said at the start of the qualifier he tried sliding his XB4 around to try and heat up his AKA Slingshots but all it did was result in him over driving the 5-minutes.   Hoping the track gets better for Q2, the organisers now blowing off the track after each class,  he said he will not change anything in terms of tyres & set-up for the moment.

Backing up his strong opening performance in 2WD, Daimon Borkowicz again set the 4th fastest time with his Associated B44.2 being the only other driver to run 22 laps.  Behind the 15-year-old was Will Cushing with TLR Taylor Larsen completing the Top 6.

For Tanner Denney and his Associated team manager Brent Thielke they will be hoping Q1 turns out to be their dropped round.  Starting the top heat ahead of Wheeler & Denney, Thielke hit the roof supporting pole in the centre of the track.  Landing back out on the racing line, he was first hit by Wheeler who in turn was hit by Denney.  While Wheeler survived the double impact, Denney popped a ball cup ending his opening qualifier.  BT managed to finish the run but ended up only 31st.

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Hartson TQ’s opening 2WD qualifier

Steven Hartson has TQ’d the opening round of 2WD Buggy at the JConcepts Winter Indoor Nationals, the Team Associated driver taking his new B5 to the fastest time in the first of the three qualifiers at SmacTrac ahead of TLR’s Cody Hollis.  Having set the pace in yesterday’s timed practice, Tanner Denney looked on target to continue where he left off setting the TQ pace until he came across traffic that would hamper his run leaving him drop back to finished a slightly frustrated 3rd.

Hartson was happy to kick off qualifying at the St. Louis event with a TQ run but like all the top drivers found conditions a little more tricky today compared with practice.  Describing the track as loose and dusty, the Californian driver said after a slightly slow start having being balked twice by his out of shape team-manager Brent Thielke, the rest of the 5-minute run was clean.  Running the same set of JConcepts Rips fronts and Barcode rears on his Reedy powered buggy, the 4WD World Champion said the pin of the rear tyre was too low for today’s noticeably different conditions and for Q2 he will sand a new set of Barcodes.  In terms of chassis set-up he said he will leave his B5 as is confident the taller pins will give him the extra rear grip he looking for.

Describing the track as ‘slick’, Hollis put his run down the fact he ‘didn’t wreck’.  Running in the B heat, the Oklahoma driver fitted a swing rack steering to his mid motored TLR22 for Q1 which ‘smoothened out the steering’ as well as giving him more turn in.  Asked if he planned to adjust the car for Q2 due to the loose track conditions he said overall he’s happy with how the car is working and the plan is to ‘try get another good one’ in the books.

Denney said after his traffic issues he ‘blew’ it.  Describing his Reedy powered B5 as ‘awesome’, the Arizona driver said the first half of the race was great. Claiming one bobble as his own doing, the 18-year-old said he tried to be patient in traffic but ‘kept getting screwed’.  Adding to his troubles with traffic he said the track changed with the groove being just the width of the car meaning if you had to get out of it you were in trouble in the dust.  For Q2 Denney said the only thing he plans to do is just charge his car adding he hopes he has better luck with the traffic second time round.

Driving an Associated B4 Centro, JConcepts backed Daimon Borkowicz set the fourth fastest time.  Running in the C heat having struggled with set-up in practice, the 13-year-old said heeding set-up advice from Denney had given him a much better car today.  Targeting a Top 5 finish, he said he was pretty happy with his time adding that the change to a stiffer shock set-up really helped.

A ‘Good start’ was how JR Mitch summed up his 5th fastest time for the opening round.  The Team Losi Racing driver said he kept his run consistent although he said by the end of the run the dusty track conditions made his mid motored TLR22 start to get loose by the end of the 5-minutes.  Set to leave everything as is for Q2, he said he just plans to drive a little harder.

Completing the Top 6 was local driver Chris Baumgartner. Also sixth fastest in timed practice he said his prediction that today’s slightly warmer conditions would bring increased traction was ‘completely wrong’.  Driving a B4 Centro, he said he had a lack of rear traction but keeping the run clean he was able to get a decent result.  After chatting with Denney, he said for Q2 he will try a few set-up changes the factory Associated driver suggested.

Setting the 9th fastest time behind Luke Richards and Michael Twilling, Thielke said his B5 was well balanced and smooth to drive but crashes on the first two laps cost him any chance of a good run.  Loosing a further 4-seconds when he tangled with a slower car later in the run, he said as this is the first race weekend for Associated’s new 2WD buggy platform he will make a few adjustments for Q2 adding its important to see how changes affect the car even though in Q1 he was really happy with the car’s performance.

TLR young gun Taylor Larsen, who was 3rd fastest in timed practice, did not have a good start to qualifying, his rear motored TLR22 completing the Top 10.

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‘From Race Control’ – Day 2, Qualifying

Day 2 of the opening round of the 2014 JConcepts Indoor Nationals Series, the Winter Indoor Nationals, will see 3 rounds of qualifying at the SmacTrac in St.Louis.  With each driver counting their best 2 qualifiers, the large entry has resulted in 37 heats meaning it will be a late finish to proceedings.

Denney tops timed practice at Indoor Nats

Team Associated’s Tanner Denney will be the top seed for qualifying at the JConcepts Winter Indoor Nationals in St. Louis after he used his new B5 to post the fastest 5 laps after the single round of timed practice.  The 18-year-old set an average lap of 14.364 to just pip team-mate Steven Hartson by 3/1000th of a second with Team Losi Racing’s Taylor Larsen third fastest around the SmacTrac track.

Having felt he was lacking a little on power steering on his B5 in the final free practice, Denney added a washer to change his ackermann and said the change gave the buggy ‘all round smoother steering’. Starting the day with a brand new straight out of the bag set of JConcepts Dirt Webs, the majority of drivers here subjecting their tyres to a sanding before use, he said they feel really good and other than freshening up his shocks he will go into Q1 with the car as is.  Asked what he has found to be the biggest different between the B4 and the B5, this being the cars debut race weekend, he said ‘it jumps better’ and that the ‘B4 chassis slap’ is gone.  He added that the B5 also drives more like the mid motored Centro conversion B4.

Having JConcepts Barcodes all round on his B5 in free practice for the timed run Hartson switched to green compound Rips on the front.  Gaining more steering from the change, the 4WD World Champion said he also slowed down his driving a little for the 3-minute run which seemed to work and led to him avoiding the track piping he was having problems with earlier in the day.  For tomorrow he plans to run everything as is saying he ‘think(s) all is good for qualifying’.

Just 6/100th off the pace of the two Associated drivers, 15-year-old Larsen was very happy with his day.  Running a rear motored TLR22, he said its been ‘really good’ and he hasn’t had to change anything in terms of set-up and the plan for the first qualifier is to just continue as is. Running JConcepts Dirt Webs, which he scrubbed in back home in preparation for this event, he said for the level of traction the tyre wear is very low and he will continue with the same set of tyres for tomorrow.

Setting the fourth fastest time Michael Twilling was the fastest mid motor car.  Running an Associated B4 Centro he said it was ‘very good’ adding he is ‘really happy’ with how its been running.  Making an early change to the anti squat to try and ‘lock down’ the rear end out of the corners he said the rest of the day was about breaking in tyres.  Scrubbing in a set of JConcepts Dirt Webs at his home track before the race, the Oklahoma driver said he was delighted he did.  Planning to leave the car as is for tomorrow he said he is ‘pretty pumped about it’.

‘Pretty descent’ was how Brent Thielke summed up his day in 2WD, the Associated team manager taking his B5 to the 5th fastest time. ‘Learning about the new car every time’ he gets it out on the track, he adjusted the link height together with moving the battery position to the rear which he said made it feel ‘more comfortable’ on the track.  Working closely with Denney both looking for a similar feeling from the car, for Q1 he will be following the change the No.1 seed made to his steering ackermann.

Completing the Top 6 was local racer Chris Baumgartner.  Another driving a Centro B4 he said he is ‘very happy’ with how it is working.  Having had to think about whether he made any changes to the set-up over the day, none being made, he said for tomorrow he might adjust his ride height.  Benefiting from local track knowledge he said tomorrow is due to be around 30 degrees warmer than today which temperature change ‘effect(ing) the traction a lot’.

In 4WD Buggy it was Hartson who set the pace ahead of Xray’s Josh Wheeler with Denney completing the Top 3. Hartson also topped Mod Truck.

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