Kosciuszek takes final 4WD Buggy qualifier

13-year-old Alex Kosciuszek has TQ’d the final round of qualifying at the JConcepts ‘Fall Indoor Nationals’, the young up & coming talent setting a run of 20/5:05.038 to top the time sheets ahead of Jason Ruona and last year’s Top Qualifier Mike Gay.  Fastest in Q1 & Q2, it was a bad round for Steven Hartson however in 4WD Short Course the factory Associated driver managed to pull off his first TQ ahead of Matt Olson who took both of yesterday’s qualifiers.

Kosciuszek was very happy with his third qualifier saying he is getting more and more confident with his Associated B44.1 every run. Leaving his set-up the same as he used in yesterday evening’s Q2 to set the fourth fastest time, he said he will continue to run the buggy as is, adding that he ‘feels good’ going into the final of what is going to be the biggest race of his early & promising racing career.

‘Best the car has been by a mile’ was how Ruona summed up his Q3 run.  The JConcepts boss and organiser of the National Indoor Series, of which this is the penultimate round, was on a TQ run until two mistakes dropped him behind Kosciuszek.  Reducing the power of his LRP speedo further for Q3, he said his B44.1 felt good and he is going to run it exactly as it is for this evening’s 8-minute Main including running the exact same set of blue Bar Codes which have already done three runs on the RC Excitement track.

After struggling with his B44.1 in Q2, Mike Gay ran a ‘whole different car’ in the final qualifier allowing him to set the third fastest time.  Switching to a closed cell front insert, running a shorter wheel base and changing from ‘flipped’ steering to the regular configuration he said he had much better control of the buggy through the corners.  Runner-up last year in the final behind Associated team manager Brent Thielke, Gay said following the changes he is now feeling a lot more confident about this year’s final than he was last night.

Third fastest in Q2 Andrew Castellini could only able to post the 7th fastest time this morning but the 18-year-old will be one to watch in the final as he had very good pace highlighted by his 14.677 lap which was the fastest lap for the round.  Describing his Associated as ‘awesome’ he said just two mistakes cost him a decent 5-minute time.

Elsewhere in the top heat of 4WD Buggy both Hartson and Gunnar Rieck had problems with traffic, the pair at one stage getting tangled together.  Hartson, who will start the main from pole, said having run green compound tyres on his 4WD Short Course truck making it the best its been all weekend, he opted to go for the same choice on his B44.1 but it did not have the same positive effect, instead making the buggy loose. For the Main he will revert to blue Bar Codes.

Having dominated the opening two qualifiers in 4WD Short Course, lapping the entire field in Q2, Matt Olson struggled with today’s colder conditions and was no match for Hartson.  Running blue JConcepts Pressure Points, the Clash Champion said overall his MIP truck was to stiff and it didn’t settle making it hard to drive.  Planning to switch to softer green compound tyres and a softer suspension set-up he said it looks like he now has a fight on his hands with Hartson for the final.  On the pair’s previous Indoor National Series encounter at Round 3 held at the A-main Hobbies’ track in California it was the factory Associated driver that came out on top.

4WD Mod Buggy A-Main Grid
1. Steven Hartson – Associated
2. Alex Kosciuszek – Associated
3. Mike Gay – Associated
4. Gunnar Rieck – Associated
5. Andrew Castellini – Associated
6. Christian Toic – Associated
7. Jason Ruona – Associated
8. Kyle Rhodes – Associated
9. Justin Lopes – Associated
10.Mike Aliberti – X-Factory

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‘Fall Indoor Nationals’ Q2 Update

The second round of qualifying for the ‘Fall Indoor Nationals’ at RC Excitement was a repeat of Q1 in terms of the pace setters with Steve Hartson once again topping 4WD Buggy while Dustin Evans repeated his opening 2WD Buggy performance with another convincing TQ run that secures them both pole position for their respective A-Mains.

Team Associated’s Hartson, who has already sewn up overall 4WD Buggy honours in the five round JConcepts National Indoor Series, took Q2 with a time of 20/5:05.602 with the similar B44.1 of Gunnar Rieck second fastest just 2-seconds adrift of the Californian.  A slightly slower time than his morning run, Hartson said the track was less consistent second time round with a number of ruts developing something that is to be expected due to the massive record entry the event has attracted.  The winner of 4WD Buggy at the three preceding rounds in the series said he is not planning to change anything on his buggy for tomorrow morning’s third & final qualifier but with the weather expected to be considerably colder tomorrow he will wait and see if this has any effect on the track conditions.

Rebuilding his diffs for Q2, 14-year-old Gunner said this helped improve the buggy but the main reason for his strong performance second time round was that he put in a clean 5-minutes of driving.  Unfortunately having posted the 3rd fastest time in the first 2WD Buggy qualifier the Pennsylvania driver wasn’t able to replicate his 4WD buggy performance making a number of mistake which eventually lead him to pop a rear ball cup.  Starting the heat with a strong pace he said his B4.1 was really good but the driver ‘lost my head’.

Having crashed three times in Q1, Andrew Castellini produced a clean second run to set the third fastest time in 4WD Buggy.  Switching from green to blue compound JConcepts Bar Codes on the rear of his Associated he said it was a big improvement and he was very pleased, with his time was just 2.6 seconds off Harston’s pace.  Asked if he planned to make any changes for the morning’s final qualifier he said he may revert back to a green rear which he said from testing has proved better when there is moisture in the track.  Having had a terrible first 2WD Buggy qualifier due to being in a bad heat which leaves him in the 3rd highest of the heats, Castellini did a good job in Q2 to set the fourth fastest time.  Also changing to a blue rear tyre on his B4.1 along with a stiffer front spring he said this made the buggy more stable and he was able to run a strong heat.

The star of the first 2WD Buggy qualifier, Alex Kosciuszek has now also found his impressive form in 4WD Buggy as he set the fourth fastest time.  Changing to a stiffer rear spring on his B44.1, the 13-year-old said despite the rougher track conditions in Q2 he felt a lot more comfortable with the buggy and this allowed him to improve his driving a lot.  In 2WD he repeated his Q1 performance with another Top 3 time just behind Evans and Harston. Elsewhere in 4WD Buggy Mike Gay was unable to repeat his P2 run in Q1 after he changed from green rear Bar Codes to Blue which he said made his buggy ‘super aggressive’.  JConcepts boss Jason Ruona, who was third fastest in the opening qualifier, couldn’t repeat the run as he lost almost 4-seconds when on his opening lap he caught a rut and rolled over his B44.1.

Once again dominating the 2WD class, Team Losi Racing’s Evans set a new faster time in 2WD Buggy and looks set to easily defend his title along with those we won last year in Stadium truck and Short Course.  Missing a 20 lap run by just .377 of a second, Evans said he opted to stick with running used tyres on his TLR22 but with the TQ wrapped up he will try a brand new set in Q3 to see how they work with a view to helping him decide his tyre choice for the single A-main here at the Massachusetts event.  A massive 10-seconds off Evans’ pace Hartson said his run to the second fastest 2WD buggy time in Q2 was full of mistakes as he struggled a little with the looser more rutted conditions.

In 4WD Short Course Matt Olson put in a blistering run lapping the entire field with his MIP converted Losi.  His main rival Hartson switched to the same tyres as the Clash Champion but said the JConcepts Pressure Points did not suit his Associated like they do the MIP and such is Olson’s advantage, tomorrow’s race is going to be a battle for second for which he plans to revert back to Bar Codes on his SC10 4X4.

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Evans dominates Fall Indoor Nats 2WD qualifying

Team Losi Racing’s Dustin Evans has dominated the first round of 2WD qualifying at the ‘Fall Indoor Nationals’, the Colorado driver setting the pace in Buggy, Short Course and Stadium truck all classes of which he is defending champion.  In 2WD Buggy, the biggest class among the record entry at the R/C Excitement hosted event, Evans’ closest rival was 4WD Q1 pace setter Steven Hartson whose Associated was 3.8 seconds off the 19/5:01.640 set by the 2011 US National Champion.

Evans described his opening buggy run as ‘conservative’ but added his Orion powered TLR22 felt good however on running his Short Course and Truck qualifiers he believes he can improve it for Q2. Running a scrubbed set of JConcepts blue Bar Codes on the buggy he said running newer tyres on both his trucks he felt it gave him better rotation in the corners on what is a tight track. Evans said he will keep an eye on the track and see how it fares over the 42 heats that make up each round of qualifying but he is debating running new tyres for the second of the third buggy heats.

Hartson said his B4.1 was good and it had the pace for a TQ run until he had difficulty with lapped traffic.  Planning to leave everything as is, he said the reseeding of the heats after Q1 should allow him to put in a clear second run and take the fight to Evans. Behind the full factory supported drivers of Evans and Hartson, were two young up and coming stars of the future – Alex Kosciuszek and Gunnar Rieck.  Just 13-years old, Kosciuszek said he was himself ‘surprised’ by his pace but said his Associated felt really good and he hopes with another clean run in Q2 he can secure himself a spot in the A-Main.  Backing up his strong run in 4WD Buggy 14-year-old Rieck also set the fourth fastest time in 2WD Buggy.  Behind the two youngsters Mike Gay completed the Top 5.

Managing the only 20 lap run in stadium truck ahead of Gunner and Rob Betts, Evans said his 22T felt good but the biggest improvement today was to his Short Course truck. Phoning team-mate Mike Truhe & TLR team-manager Kevin Gahan, who are racing at the Reedy Truck Race in California this weekend, when he got back to his hotel he said they came up with a set-up to try for today which he said transformed the 22SCT.  He took the truck to a convincing 19 lap TQ run over Kosciuszek and Nicholas Sass.

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Practice Update

With no official timing, today’s open practice for the JConcepts Fall Indoor Nationals at RC Excitment was a very relaxed affair with drivers getting plenty of time on a track which they all reported as been super consistent throughout the day meaning little set-up changes, the focus instead being on tyre compounds. Steven Harston, who is chasing a fourth straight ‘Indoor National Series’ win this weekend in 4WD Buggy, said he was pleased with all three of his factory Associated cars.  Describing the track conditions as a little loose he said they have been consistent all day and having switched to blue compound Bar Codes for his evening runs he feels he is in good shape for tomorrow’s qualifying.

Team Losi Racing’s Dustin Evans said he focused most of his attentions on his 2WD buggy running his 2WD Stadium truck and Short Course truck just once each with both feeling really easy to drive.  Having had to change very little on the set-up of his Orion powered TLR22, last year’s 2WD Buggy victor said everything felt good for tomorrow and he used much of his track time scrubbing in tyres for qualifying.  Running JConcepts blue V1 Bar codes on the rear and blue Bar codes on the front, he said for now the tyres gave him a good feeling with the buggy but with the temperatures in the Fitchburg area set to drop considerably on Sunday he said he is not sure how that will effect the track and his tyre choice for the mains.

Local track expert Mike Wilder, who joined Evans on the podium at the Massachusetts event last year, focused most of his attentions today on his Viper powered Associated B4.1.  Having only this week received Associated’s new big bore shocks, the 25-year-old said he was really happy with how they work and after fitting a new rear diff near the end of the day he said he is confident he has the pace to again make the podium.  Commenting on 4WD Buggy he said it was pushing a little but with his front diff a little rough he plans to fit a new one for the morning which he is confident will give him the little steering he is currently lacking.

Top Qualifier in 4WD Buggy last year, Mike Gay said he focused on his tyre combo and has decided on JConcepts Bar Codes blue fronts and green rears.  The Associated driver said this gives him good forward bite and helps pull the buggy through the corners.  Describing his 4WD as ‘very good’ he said his 2WD is ‘nice and consistent’.  Gay said his biggest concern was how the track was going to react to Sunday’s forecasted weather change but he hoped it wouldn’t change things too drastically as he was looking forward to some good close racing.

Chasing his first podium finish in his own series this season, JConcepts boss Jason Ruona said things were going ‘so far so good’.  Changing from green to blue compound Bar Codes on both his 2WD and 4WD Associated chassis, he said it improved the overall feeling more so on his B4.1 allowing him to post his best run of the day.  Describing the track as ‘super tight’ the highly regarding r/c product designer said his plan for qualifying was to ‘stay smooth’ as the track punishes mistakes heavily.

Managing a best lap of 15.2 with his MIP 4WD Short Course truck, Matt Olson said it was a productive day.  Focusing on tyre choice he said he tried both Bar Codes and Pressure Points finding the latter to be slightly better.  Also playing around with compound choice he used the cooler conditions of the evening runs to see if he could get an idea of what to except for Sunday but he said the temperature change was not significant enough and the track was stayed ‘very consistent’ all day.

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