September 22, 2012

Maifield TQ’s second 2WD Buggy qualifier

Defending JConcepts Clash Champion Ryan Maifield has TQ’d the second round of qualifying for 2WD Buggy becoming the first and so far only driver to record 14-laps around the Flowood Indoor RC Park in Mississippi. The Associated driver made best use of the high traction track conditions to set the pace ahead of the morning’s Q1 top qualifier Dustin Evans, the TLR driver missing the 14-laps by just under 3/10th of a second.

Switching from the blue V2 Bar Code JConcept tyres he ran in the morning to V1 for the afternoon qualifier, Maifield described his run as ‘pretty descent’.  Managing to run a fastest lap time that was a full 1-second faster than the best lap of Q1 set by Evans, Maifield plans to leave his Reedy powered B4.1 as is for the morning’s Q3 but will try a wider foam insert in the front tyres to try make the front a little stiffer.

Evans said he thought about running a harder front spring on his TLR22 in anticipation of the track having more grip but didn’t and this cost him the chance of a second TQ run.  With the track having ‘a lot more grip’ his buggy was very hard to drive especially as his tyres, the same set as he ran in Q1, warmed up.  Losi team-mate JR Mitch took third for the round and after messing up his opening lap declared himself happy with his recovery.

Jason Ruona took his Associated B4.1 to a strong 5th fastest time just ahead of Brent Thielke.  The JConcepts boss said the higher traction in Q2 suited both the buggy and the driver better than the morning and despite one small mistake he was happy with his performance.  Like his team drivers Ruona ran blue Bar Codes which he said suited the conditions perfectly but with the track set to be watered overnight and the penultimate 2WD Buggy Qualifier up early in the morning he thinks a softer compound will be better for that round.

Running JConcepts Rips on the front of his B4.1, Thielke said while it made his buggy very easy to drive he will switch to Bar Codes all round for Q3.  The AE team-manager said while it will be more aggressive to drive it will give him more corner speed and if he wants to be in with a chance of a podium finish he is going to need that extra pace.  Behind Thielke was Tanner Denney but the 17-year-old had the pace to post a Top 3 time only to hit problems with traffic that resulted in two 27-second laps.

In 4WD Buggy it was Ruona, who hasn’t raced 4WD since last year’s Clash event, that took the TQ ahead of David Gibson after Denney again had traffic problems this time on his final lap while running a TQ time.  Setting the fastest lap of Q2 with a 21.630 lap, the incident resulted in a 31.3 second last lap for Denney dropping him to third for the round.

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September 21, 2012

TQ run for Evans in first 1:8 Buggy Qualifier

At the sixth running of the JConcepts Clash Dustin Evans is enjoying a great debut at the famous US event as he repeated his morning’s 2WD Buggy performance by topping the time sheets with a 14/5:08.314 in the opening round of 1:8 Nitro Buggy qualifying. Posting the fastest lap of the round, Evans took Q1 by 3-seconds again ahead of defending champion Ryan Maifield but were it not for traffic problems on the last lap it would have been a much closer run between to two factory drivers.

Evans said his buggy felt really good as it had done in practice yesterday only today he was able to position himself on the left side of the drivers stand giving him a better view of the right side of the track which he said he was having trouble with yesterday. Running JConcepts blue compound Hybrids on his Orion powered 8ight he said the buggy felt great and for Q2 he plans to stick with what he has adding that if he can run another good qualifier this evening he will use Q3 to try the new Stacker tyres with a view to preparing for Sunday’s half hour main.

Maifield, who set the pace in yesterday’s practice, felt his LRP powered RC8.2 was on for a TQ run but on his final run down the straight contact with traffic caused him to crash and post a 24.645 final lap compared with his fastest lap for the race which was a 21.421.  Running the same tyres as Evans, he felt the compound may not have been the best choice for him and he plans to change for Q2.  In terms of his set-up the Arizona ace said he wasn’t yet sure if he was going to make any changes.

Despite having a front tyre come unglued on his 8ight towards the end of his heat following heavy contact with a track marker, JR Mitch posted the third fastest time.  Having ‘missed the memo to run blue compound’ he ran JConcepts Green Hybrids which he said started to go off by the end of the run.  Planning to switch to blue compound for Q2, which he said he will glue them better than his green set, he will also try to find a better tune on his Orion engine as he looks to get a little better mileage.  Leaving his set-up untouched he said he hoped in Q2 ‘the old guy could give the others a run for their money’.

Behind Mitch, Cole Ogden set the fourth fastest time with his Murnan Novarossi powered TLR 8ight just missing out on a 14 lap run.  The 18-year-old from Georgia, who is making his first Clash appearance, said he was very happy to start the event off with a Top 4 run adding that he loves the track layout.  Running Sweep tyres, he plans on leaving everything as is and instead work on improving his driving having had a few moments in Q1.

In the biggest class at the 2012 JConcepts Clash, 1:8 Electric Buggy, Brent Thielke took his Associated RC8.2e to the fastest time ahead of Justin Cranford and Jake Dellinger.  In the Short Course classes Ryan Maifield TQ’d 2WD from Dustin Evans while local Associated driver Max Flurer got the job done in 4WD.

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September 21, 2012

Evans tops opening 2WD Buggy qualifier

Dustin Evans got his first JConcepts Clash appearance off to the perfect start as he TQ’d the opening round of 2WD Buggy qualifying this morning at the Flowood Indoor RC Park in Mississippi.  The Team Losi Racing driver took his Orion powered TLR22 around the large indoor clay track in a time of 13/5:13.153 to top defending champion Ryan Maifield by over three second with TLR team-mate JR Mitch claiming third for the round.

Evans said he ‘didn’t drive super hard’ in his first qualifier but was forced to push a little harder than planned when Mitch started to close in on him early in the 5-minute run. Using JConcepts Blue V1 Bar Codes all round on his buggy, the 2011 US National Champion said the track didn’t feel as good as yesterday’s practice, something he put down to the cooler morning temperatures.  Expecting the track to be better for Q2, he said he will not make any changes to either his set-up or choice of tyres.

Associated’s Maifield who was running JConcepts blue compound V2 Bar Codes on his Reedy powered B4.1, which features production versions of AE new big bore shock, said his buggy felt a little loose.  Not entirely sure if it was down to the track he plans to add a washer to the rear camber link as well as switching to V1 Bar Codes which he said will treat with motor spray.

‘Pretty happy’ was how Mitch summed up his run to the third fastest time.  Selecting JConcepts green compound 3Ds tyres for the rear of his TLR22 and blue Barcodes for the front in anticipation of the morning track conditions he said they worked well.  Admitting to making a few little mistakes but ‘nothing major’ last year’s runner up said his buggy was good and just 4/10th of Maifield he said its very close in terms of pace.  Planning to go to Bar Codes all round for Q2 he will leave the set-up as is and instead try to run a cleaner round.

Associated team manager Brent Thielke took his Associated B4.1 to the fourth fastest feeling his tyre prep could have been a little better.  Easy to drive he too will using motor spray on his tyres for Q2.  Asked about the new big bores shocks that all the AE team drivers are running here at the Clash, Theilke said they are the final production versions of the shock which they have been developing for the past 2 years.  Starting to ship to their distributors and set to be available in shops in the coming weeks he said they are easily the nicest and easiest shocks he has ever worked with in all his years of racing.  Running them in all his 1:10 cars this weekend, Thielke used them to good effect in 2WD Truck as he TQ’d the opening round ahead of team-driver Tanner Denney who in turn used them to TQ 4WD Buggy ahead of Max Flurer.

Setting the fifth fastest time in 2WD Buggy was new Kyosho signing Zack Genova. Running his Novak powered RB6, the 15-year-old said it felt really good although he lost a little time with traffic which he felt cost him a place.  Running Proline Square Fuzzy M4 on the rear and Ribbed on the front he plans to stick with the same combo and set-up for Q2 and just focus on his driving.  Behind Genova, whose father Larry is a leading body painter with Maifield among the drivers running his creations, it was event organiser & JConcepts boss Jason Ruona who completed the Top 6 for what is building up to be the main battle at 6th running of the Clash.

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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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