September 24, 2012

Maifield completes ‘Clash’ title defence hat trick

Ryan Maifield pulled off a hat trick of wins at the 6th Annual JConcepts Clash with the factory Team Associated driver successfully defending all three of his 2011 titles at this year’s event which took place in Mississippi.  Having wrapped up 2WD Buggy & Short Course earlier in the day at the Flowood Indoor R/C Park, Maifield completed the perfect event when he dominated the 30-minute 1:8 Nitro Buggy finals as his main rivals hit problems.  In the end Maifield took the win by four laps from the Losi of Jason Smith with Top Qualifier Dustin Evans recovering from two engine flame-outs to complete the podium.

Pleased with his weekend in Mississippi, from where he will tomorrow travel straight to Argentina for the 1:8 Buggy World Championship warm-up race, Maifield said he had expected a tougher race. Having worked on his RC8.2’s set-up throughout the four days of the event he said it was ‘dialed’ in the final, a fact that was endorsed by his 20.594 fastest lap of the race.

Running one less stop than Maifield, Smith was delighted with second spot as he held off factory TLR driver Evans by 4 seconds.  Competing in his fifth JConcepts Clash, the North Carolina driver benefited from being able to get 10-minutes between stops from the Novarossi engine in the back of his 8ight.  Suffering from brake fade for much of the run he said knowing he had the buffer of one less stop than his rivals he was able to work around the problem.

Running up on a pipe on lap 2 which allowed Maifield to the front, Evans said he had the better car at the start of the race but it counted for little once he had his first flame out 13 laps in.  Cutting twice on the landing after the triple, Evans said increasing the idle cured the problem but having run without problems before the final he had no idea why it suddenly changed.  With his Orion engine running fine following the adjustment he said as the race went on his 8ight got harder to drive as his tyres wore down and developed more and more grip.  TLR/Orion team-mate JR Mitch, who started fourth on the grid, was the first driver to hit trouble in the race when he too suffered a flame out at the triple just 3 laps into the race.  Suffering two further flame outs he called it a day just half way through the race.

Starting from 6th on the 12 car grid, Tanner Denney looked like he might take a podium. Running the 3rd fastest lap of the race, joining Maifield and Evans as the only drivers to run under 21 seconds, the 17-year-old was battling with Smith over second spot when his Reedy engine stopped on lap 41.  Losing a lap as his RC8.2 was brought back to the pitlane and fired back up he rejoined in 7th from where he recovered to finish fifth behind Tim Smith.

With the 1:8 Nitro Buggy final out of the way the schedule moved on to the 3rd round of mains for the electric classes.  With Maifield having wrapped up the two higher profile classes of the event, 2WD Buggy and 2WD Short Course, A3 was all about deciding who was going to be runner-up.  First up was 2WD Buggy which with Maifield sitting the race out had Evans at the front of the grid but the race was to produce no less than four different leaders with Evans, Ruona, Denney and Flurer all getting to run out front it was the former who took it to secure second overall ahead of Flurer.  Evans also went on to win A3 of 2WD Short Course with his 22SCT but despite retiring his example it was Mitch who finished overall runner-up on a tie break.

Elsewhere in 1:8 Electric Buggy Max Flurer won the third A-Main to take the overall win from Jake Dellinger. Top Qualifier and AE team boss Brent Thielke had to settle for third overall on a tie break with A1 winner Dellinger.  In 4WD Buggy event creator and JConcepts founder Jason Ruona took the spoils ahead of A2 winner Denney as he repeated his A1 win in A3 while Max Flurer completed the overall Top 3.

So another JConcepts Clash is in the bag. Having had to contend with rain for the past number of years the 6th running of the event ran swiftly and without interruption. The first time to hold the race indoors the Flowood Indoor R/C Park proved very popular with racers.  JConcepts, who supported RedRC’s coverage of the event, would like to thank everyone who made the trip to Flowood possible, track owner Bubba Barham for the use of the great facility along with Reedy, LRP, Associated, A-Main Hobbies, P1 Brand, Airtronics, Durango, O’Donnell and Futaba for supporting the event.

1:8 Nitro Buggy
Overall Result
1.(2) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 83/30:00.688
2.(5) Jason Smith – Team Losi Racing – 79/30:12.782
3.(1) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 79/30:16.705
4.(9) Tim Smith – Associated – 77/30:15.811
5.(6) Tanner Denney – Associated – 76/30:04.935
6.(8) Jake Dellinger – Assocaited – 75/30:03.691
7.(10)Kevin Hawkinson – Team Losi Racing – 73/30:13.783
8.(12)Shane Ogden – Team Losi Racing – 73/30:21.118
9.(11)Blake Boggs – Associated – 73/30:22.291
10.(3)Cole Odgen – Team Losi Racing – 68/30:06.761
11.(7)William McIver – Team C – 60/24:47.393
12.(4)JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 29/14:30.954

2WD Buggy
A3-Main Result
1.(2) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 16/6:16.401
2.(7) Max Flurer – Associated – 16/6:16.569
3.(6) Jason Ruona – Associated – 16/6:18.556
4.(3) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 16/6:22.730
5.(8) Tanner Denney – Associated – 16/6:23.296
6.(5) Zack Genova – Kyosho – 15/6:00.012
7.(9) Daimon Borkowicz – Associated – 15/6:02.253
8.(10)Steve Bortolotti – Tamiya – 15/6:04.811
9.(4) Brent Thielke – Associated – 15/6:07.975
10.(11)Paul Wynn – Associated – 15/6:12.646
11.(12)Jeffery Fleckenstein – Associated – 14/6:11.172
12.(1) Ryan Maifield – Associated – DNS

Overall Result
1. Ryan Maifield – 200 pts
2. Dustin Evans – 199
3. Max Flurer – 197
4. JR Mitch – 196
5. Jason Ruona – 195
6. Tanner Denney – 192
7. Brent Thielke – 191
8. Zack Genova – 190
9. Daimon Borkowicz – 187
10.Steve Bortolotti – 185
11.Paul Wynn – 181
12.Jeffery Fleckenstein – 181

2WD Short Course
A3-Main Result
1.(2) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 15/6:00.484
2.(4) Daimon Borkowicz – Associated – 15/608.614
3.(5) Max Flurer – Associated – 15/6:14.648
4.(6) Paul Wynn – Associated – 15/6:22.534
5.(7) Justin Cranford – Associated – 14/6:01.718
6.(8) Chris Viesins – Team Losi Racing – 14/6:15.220
7.(10)Brian Abbott – Associated – 14/6:17.305
8.(3) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 14/6:23.239
9.(12)Brent Lebo – Associated – 13/6:11.780
10.(11)Jerold Brock III – Associated – 12/6:04.218
11.(9)Tylor Weaver – Team Losi Racing – 12/6:07.363
12.(1)Ryan Maifield – Associated – DNS

Overall Result
1. Ryan Maifield – 200 pts
2. JR Mitch – 198
3. Dustin Evans – 198
4. Max Flurer – 196
5. Daimon Borkowicz – 196
6. Paul Wynn – 194
7. Justin Cranford – 190
8. Chris Viesins – 189
9. Brian Abbott – 187
10.Brent Lebo – 183
11.Jerold Brock III – 181
12.Tylor Weaver – 180

View the complete results here.

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September 23, 2012

Maifield retains 2WD titles at ‘Clash’

Ryan Maifield has retained both his 2WD titles at the JConcepts Clash, the Associated driver backing up his A1 wins with victory in the second of the Buggy and Short Course Truck Mains.  While Short Course was another easy encounter for the classes’ Top Qualifier, in buggy the Arizona driver looked like he was going to have to settle for second behind TLR’s Dustin Evans until the 2011 US Champion clipped the piping just as he came around to complete lap 11 of 16.  Losing almost 4-seconds as he got beached on the pipe this allowed Maifield back to the front where he would stay to take the win by 2 seconds to wrap up the title early.

With two 30-minute nitro races having run on the track since the first 2WD Buggy Main, Maifield said track conditions for the second of the 6-minute races were totally different to the morning and running the same set-up as A1 on his B4.1 it was a handful to drive.  Getting chased down by Evans the end of lap three saw a mistake from Maifield allowing Evans to the front. However 7 laps later while looking to have the race under control Evans hit trouble at the very same spot handing the race back to his rival.

Having struggled with his set-up in A1, Evans changed his front shock set-up for A2 which he said due to the track conditions didn’t make it any easier but it did give him a slightly better buggy than Maifield. Commenting on his costly mistake on lap 10 he said off power his steering was ultra sensitive as he had so much front end grip but summed it up as a ‘silly driver error’.

While Maifield checked out in 2WD Short Course the big battle of the race was between Evans and his team-mate JR Mitch.  With Evans having the quicker of the two factory TLR trucks in A1 before retiring, it was Mitch who was running sway bars who had the better handling truck this time round.  Mistakes by Evans in the closing laps handed the advantage to Mitch who again took second behind Maifield. The third and final leg is now a battle for the runners-up spot between the TLR pairing for which Evans is going to copy Mitch’s set-up and fit sway bars.

The second round of Mains at Flowood Indoor R/C Park also saw the 2WD Mod Truck title decided after Brent Thielke pulled of the pass of the event on Tanner Denney. Having taken the lead from Top Qualifier and A1 winner Thielke on lap 11, 17-year-old Denney looked like he was going to force the title to go to the third main but his team boss pulled a spectacular surprise pass at the last corner denying last year’s runner-up the A2 win by 43/100th of a second.  Once again Kyosho’s Zack Genova completed the Top 3 for the leg.

Also wrapping up a title early at the 6th Annual JConcepts Clash, which is being held outside Florida for the first time, was Matthew Olson. The MIP driver backed up his 4WD Short Course A1 win with another victory over Max Flurer the second time of asking.

One class that will go the distance in terms of determining who takes home the overall winners trophy is 4WD Buggy. Having got beaten by Jason Ruona in A1, Top Qualifier Tanner Denney got the job done second time of asking while Ruona broke and retired 2 laps from home.

2WD Buggy
A2-Main Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 16/6:04.328
2.(2) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 16/6:06.667
3.(7) Max Flurer – Associated – 16/6:12.435
4.(4) Brent Thielke – Associated – 16/6:13.384
5.(3) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 16/6:20.264
6.(6) Jason Ruona – Associated – 16/6:20.423
7.(5) Zack Genova – Kyosho – 15/6:00.727
8.(9) Daimon Borkowicz – Associated – 15/6:03.184
9.(10) Steve Bortolotti – Tamiya – 15/6:07.874
10.(12)Jeffery Fleckenstein – Associated – 14/6:21.911
11.(8) Tanner Denney – Associated – 3/1:15.979
12.(11)Paul Wynn – Associated – DNS

2WD Short Course
A2-Main Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 16/6:16.157
2.(3) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 16/6:23.800
3.(2) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 15/6:02.151
4.(6) Paul Wynn – Associated – 15/6:12.373
5.(4) Daimon Borkowicz – Associated – 15/6:12.868
6.(5) Max Flurer – Associated – 15/6:22.590
7.(7) Justin Cranford – Associated – 14/6:03.521
8.(10)Brian Abbott – Associated – 14/6:10.745
9.(8) Chris Viesins – Team Losi Racing – 14/6:13.108
10.(12)Brent Lebo – Associated – 13/6:20.830
11.(11)Jerold Brock III – Associated – 12/6:05.200
12.(9)Tylor Weaver – Team Losi Racing – 7/3:22.668

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September 23, 2012

Maifield cruises to 2WD victory in opening A-Mains

Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield made light work of the opening A-Main of the JConcepts Clash in both 2WD Buggy and 2WD Short Course with the Top Qualifier cruising to two very comfortable victories moving a step closer to retaining his titles in both classes. In 2WD Buggy the expected battle between Maifield and Team Losi Racing’s Dustin Evans never materialized after the Colorado driver struggled with the handling of his TLR22 which resulted in a mistake on the opening lap. In the end it was Evans team-mate JR Mitch who took second in both finals.

Maifield said both his Reedy powered B4.1 and SC10 felt good and with no real pressure he was able to drive two solid races something he hopes he can repeat in the second of the triple A-Mains which would wrap up the titles early for the Arizona ace.

Having tied for the TQ honours with Maifield in qualifying taking 2 of the 4 rounds, Evans was frustrated with how his opening A-Main went. With his buggy hard to drive just four corners into the opening lap the back end stepped out sending him into the pipe and he got swallowed up by the pack leaving him sixth at the start of lap 2. Working his way back up to second by lap 7 he again fell foul of his Orion powered TLR22’s nervous handling dropping back to fourth. At the end of the 6-minute Main Evans would cross the line in 3rd some 18 seconds behind Maifield and 4-seconds behind Mitch. For A2 Evans says he will run a completely different front shock set-up which he hopes will tame the rear end of his buggy. In 2WD Short Course he retired from second after suffering an idler gear failure on his 22SCT.

Mitch said his TLR22 felt good in the race but an early mistake meant he lost contact with Maifield. Planning to leave his set-up the same for A2 he said if he can eliminate the mistakes he should be able to make things a little more difficult for Maifield. In Short Course Mitch had one big moment at the triple getting his landing completely wrong as he tried to ensure the pack behind him wouldn’t collect him at the next corner but overall his truck is not as fast as Evans and so starting from third he will just try to keep the rest of the pack behind him and allow Evans to take the fight to Maifield. Behind Mitch, Associated driver Max Flurer completed the Top 3 at the end of the 6-minutes.

In the first of the 4WD Mains event creator Jason Ruona took the Buggy win ahead of Top Qualifier Tanner Denney with David Gibson.  Before the race had even started Team Kyosho’s Jack Genova, who was to line up fourth on the grid, was out when a mistake in the warm-up broke a rear arm on his Lazer Zx5.  Ruona said a mistake by Tanner made things a little easy for him and he was able to drive a controlled race.  Getting Brent Thielke to update the software on his LRP speedo to version 3.0 which he said made his B44.1 nicer to drive, particularly under braking.  In Pro 4 Short Course Top Qualifier Matthew Olson, driving an MIP, took the win over the Associated of Max Flurer.

2WD Buggy
A1-Main Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 16/6:07.637
2.(3) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 16/6:21.416
3.(2) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 16/6:25.468
4.(6) Jason Ruona – Associated – 15/6:00.391
5.(8) Tanner Denney – Associated – 15/6:02.271
6.(5) Zack Genova – Kyosho – 15/6:04.395
7.(4) Brent Thielke – Associated – 15/6:05.697
8.(7) Max Flurer – Associated – 15/6:06.400
9.(9) Daimon Borkowicz – Associated – 15/6:10.850
10.(10)Steve Bortolotti – Tamiya – 15/6:14.580
11.(11)Paul Wynn – Associated – 15/6:17.520
12.(12)Jeffery Fleckenstein – Associated – 14/6:20.251

2WD Short Course
A1-Main Result
1.(1) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 16/6:19.996
2.(3) JR Mitch – Team Losi Racing – 15/6:08.638
3.(5) Max Flurer – Associated – 15/6:11.118
4.(4) Daimon Borkowicz – Associated – 15/6:23.000
5.(2) Dustin Evans – Team Losi Racing – 14/5:38.420
6.(6) Paul Wynn – Associated – 14/6:04.340
7.(8) Chris Viesins – Team Losi Racing – 14/6:05.450
8.(7) Justin Cranford – Associated – 14/6:05.808
9.(10)Brian Abbott – Associated – 13/6:03.814
10.(12)Brent Lebo – Associated – 13/6:12.880
11.(9)Tylor Weaver – Team Losi Racing – 13/6:24.487
12.(11)Jerold Brock III – Associated – 12/6:03.956

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