Maifield wraps it all up at Hobby Plex in A2

Ryan Maifield wrapped everything up early at the Finals of the JConcepts Indoor National Series taking place at the Hobby Plex track in Omaha, Nebraska, this afternoon as he backed up his clean sweep in A1 to claim the overall win in 2WD & 4WD Buggy and 2WD Short Course.  Coming into the event already confirmed as the champion of both buggy classes the win in Short Course added that title to his 2013 haul while the 4WD Buggy win completes the perfect season with five wins from the five events that make up the popular series.

Of the second round of A-Mains, it was 2WD Short Course that would prove the most difficult challenge for Maifield.  Top Qualifier for the race, the Team Associated star lead for 3 laps but on lap 4 at the end of the sweeper he caught the piping.  Loosing his rythm this allowed the No.2 starting TLR of Dustin Evans to close alongside and at the next corner Maifield again hit the piping, rolling over his SC10.  Setting the fastest lap of the race Maifield closed the gap back to Evans but it looked like the Colorado driver had enough in hand to force the battle for the overall win to go to the 3rd Main.  However in an almost carbon copy of Maifield’s early incident that cost him the lead, Evans caught the pipe on the penultimate lap allowing Maifield to slip through for the win.  Evans would hold on to finish 2nd with MIP team driver Matt Olson completing the Top 3 for the leg.

In 2WD Buggy once again Top Qualifier Taylor Larsen did well to lead away the strong field. The Team Losi Racing driver repeated his A1 performance by seeing off a patient Maifield for the opening 4-laps.   Once in front Maifield’s fourth 2WD Buggy win of the season in the JConcepts backed series was never much in doubt.  Setting the fastest lap of the race over team-mate Steven Hartson, who would only finish 5th, the Arizona driver would take the leg by almost half a lap over his protege Spencer Rivkin. The 15-year-old Associated supported driver had a great fight with Larsen, who would take his rear motored TLR22 to third, setting the two teenagers up to battle for the overall runners up spot in A3.

In 4WD Buggy, starting from the TQ position Maifield lead from start to finish to take the win over World Champion Hartson.  Hartson was a non-finisher in A1 while Evan was a non-starter due to a stripped spur gear.  Evans found a way passed his Associated rival on lap three but with three laps to go Hartson retook second spot.  A3 is set to be a battle between the factory backed duo to see which order they will line up behind Maifield on the podium this evening.

2WD Buggy A2 Result
1.(3) Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 14/5:10.276
2.(5) Spencer Rivkin – Team Associated – 14/5:20.391
3.(1) Taylor Larsen – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:21.798
4.(6) Kyle Skidmore – Team Associated – 13/5:00.790
5.(2) Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 13/5:01.539
6.(10)Allen Horne – Team Associated – 13/5:04.262
7.(7) Cody Hollis – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:05.187
8.(4) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:05.771
9.(9) Alex Sturgeon – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:10.978
10.(8)Chad Due – Team Associated –  3/1:20.580

4WD Buggy A2 Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 15/5:17.478
2.(3) Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 14/5:03.767
3.(5) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:04.119
4.(10)Mitchel Gardner – Kyosho  – 14/5:10.981
5.(6) Matt Gosch – Team Associated – 14/5:15.915
6.(2) Nick Gibson – Team Associated – 14/5:20.297
7.(7) Aydin Horne – Team Associated – 13/5:01.244
8.(4) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:06.689
9.(9) Carter Flotron – Caster – 13/5:15.354
10.(8)Chad Due – Team Associated – 12/4:33.607

2WD Short Course A2 Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 14/5:20.509
2.(2) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:00.156
3.(3) Matthew Olson – MIP – 13/5:09.556
4.(5) Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 13/5:11.359
5.(8) Cody Hollis – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:19.383
6.(7) Mack Vanderbeek – Team Associated – 13/5:22.357
7.(4) Alec Walters – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:23.897
8.(6) Taylor Larsen – Team Losi Racing – 12/4:46.637
9.(9) David Fast – Team Associated – 12/5:08.033
10.(10)Mike Maldonado – Team Durango – 12/5:08.467

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Video – 2wd, 2wd SC & 4wd A-main Leg 1

Clean sweep for Maifield in A1 at JConcepts Finals

Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield completed a clean sweep in the opening round of Mains at the JConcepts Indoor National Series Finals, winning A1 in all three classes he is contesting at the Omaha, Nebraska event.  First up for the Arizona ace was 4WD Buggy in which the Top Qualifier took the win over TLR’s JR Mitch, but only after his team-mate made a mistake on lap 8 rolling at the end of the straight and braking a front arm.   There was little time to think about the win as up immediately after was the one class for which the overall title is still to be decided 2WD Short Course.  Again starting from the pole, Maifield lead this entertaining encounter from start to finish seeing off very close attention from title rivals Harston and TLR’s Dustin Evans. Evans, who didn’t start the 4WD Main after stripping a spur gear in the warm-up, would finish second with Hartson claiming third from 5th on the gird.

In the blue ribbon class of 1:10 electric offroad, 2WD Buggy, Maifield took a somewhat lucky win.  Starting third behind Hartson and Top Qualifier Taylor Larsen, the 15-year-old year old doing a good job to hold the world class drivers at bay for 4 laps, Maifield benefited from a mistake by Hartson on the penultimate lap.  Looking on target for the win having taken the lead on lap 6, he caught the pipe coming onto the straight allowing Maifield who posted the fastest lap of the race to take the win by a 1.8 second margin.  Starting from 5th on the grid Maifield’s protege & A1 Stock winner Spencer Rivkin completed the Top 3 after a great battle with fellow 15-year-old Larsen, the TLR driver finishing 4th ahead of Evans.

2WD Buggy A1 Result
1.(3) Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 14/5:12.468
2.(2) Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 14/5:14.262
3.(5) Spencer Rivkin – Team Associated – 14/5:21.881
4.(1) Taylor Larsen – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:00.229
5.(4) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:03.669
6.(10)Allen Horne – Team Associated – 13/5:07.314
7.(7) Cody Hollis – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:07.813
8.(8) Chad Due – Team Associated –  13/5:09.647
9.(9) Alex Sturgeon – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:15.941
10.(6)Kyle Skidmore – Team Associated – 13/5:17.937

4WD Buggy A1 Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 15/5:20.346
2.(4) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:03.408
3.(2) Nick Gibson – Team Associated – 14/5:07.611
4.(6) Matt Gosch – Team Associated – 14/5:11.469
5.(8) Chad Due – Team Associated – 14/5:18.297
6.(10)Mitchel Gardner – Kyosho  – 14/5:21.853
7.(7) Aydin Horne – Team Associated – 13/5:11.276
8.(3) Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 8/2:49.578
9.(9) Carter Flotron – Caster – 1/22.305
10.(5)Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – DNS

2WD Short Course A1 Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 13/5:06.223
2.(2) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:08.148
3.(5) Steven Hartson – Team Associated – 13/5:14.901
4.(8) Cody Hollis – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:20.502
5.(4) Alec Walters – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:20.599
6.(7) Mack Vanderbeek – Team Associated – 13/5:21.322
7.(3) Matthew Olson – MIP – 13/5:22.683
8.(6) Taylor Larsen – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:22.936
9.(9) David Fast – Team Associated – 12/5:11.466
10.(10)Mike Maldonado – Team Durango – 12/5:12.031

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Larsen TQ’s 2WD Buggy in Omaha

TLR driver Taylor Larsen has secured the overall TQ honours for the blue ribboned 2WD Buggy class at the JConcepts Indoor National Series Finals taking place in Omaha, Nebraska.  Getting the day off to a dream start by topping the opening round of qualifying for the event’s biggest class, with 71 entries, the 15-year-old will start the triple A-Mains ahead of factory Associated duo of Steven Hartson and Ryan Maifield.

Posting his worst of the three qualifiers in Q3, with the fifth fastest time, Larsen benefited from a coming together between Maifield and TLR’s JR Mitch which would cost Maifield a TQ run for the round to go with his Q2 topping time.  Having TQ’d round 1 and backed it up with second behind Maifield in Q2, Larsen said his final heat could have been better but his nerves got the better of him.  Running his Orion powered TLR22 in rear motor configuration while his rivals are running mid motored cars, he said it was ‘so cool to out qualify the best drivers in the world’. Looking forward to Sunday’s finals, he said the plan is to try & shake the nerves and just focus on doing his own race and try ‘not to wreck’, an approach that paid off for him in Q1 & 2.

With Maifield’s potential TQ run coming to an end on lap 12 of 14 when he had a 26 second lap, it was Hartson who would take the TQ ahead Maifield’s young protege Spencer Rivkin.  The 15-year-old will start the A-Main from 5th on the grid just behind TLR’s Dustin Evans who completed the Top 3 in the final qualifier ahead of Maifield.

2WD Buggy A-Main Grid
1. Taylor Larsen
2. Steven Hartson
3. Ryan Maifield
4. Dustin Evans,
5. Spencer Rivkin
6. Kyle Skidmore
7. Cody Hollis
8. Chad Due
9. Alex Sturgeon
10.Allen Horne

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