Double delight for Tebo at Speed RC

Jared Tebo completed the buggy double at Speed RC in North Carolina as the track played host to the JConcepts Indoor National Series Finals for the first time. Winning 4WD with relative ease, sewing up the overall win in A2 earlier in the day, in 2WD it was to go down to the wire. With Rivkin taking an easy win in A1, in A2 things really hotted up with the pair clashing a number of times and it was Daimon Borkowicz came away with the win ahead of Tebo and Brent Thielke with Rivkin fourth. This set the stage for a three way showdown and while all three led the decider it was Tebo who was at the front at the finish-line to take the win. Finishing third behind Alex Kosciuszek in A3, Rivkin was less than impressed by the Kyosho ace’s driving. With Rivkin ending up second overall it was Thielke who completed the podium as Borkowicz struggled towards the end of the leg going from leading to finishing with a P6.

‘A good way to finish off the year’, was how Tebo summed up claiming his third victory of the weekend having also won 2WD Mod Truck. Describing his RB6.6 as being ‘on rails’ he added ‘I was really happy to get that one’. Taking the blame for the A1 incident that left him with a P3, saying ‘I made a mistake and got into Alex by accident’. On A2 he was critical of Rivkin’s tactics. ‘I was all over Spencer but he was blocking like crazy and then decided to brake check me but I got second’. Describing the early part of A3 as ‘frustrating’ due to Rivkin ’blocking on the straightaway’, he said this allowed Borkowicz to catch and pass him with the two team-mates clashing with one another. Pursuing the new leader Borkowicz for 5-laps, he would get passed as the Associated driver started to get loose and fall back, for a win that completed a successful weekend at his sponsor’s track.

A less than pleased Rivkin sarcastically summed up his battle with Tebo by saying, ‘It was fantastic, it was an incredible drive by Jared’. Changing to a different set of tyres for the closing race, the World Champion conceded, ‘My car wasn’t that good. I changed my tyres and went backwards’.

‘Anytime your on the podium you got to be happy especially after qualifying fifth with those quick guys ahead of you’, was Thielke’s reaction to finishing third overall having also taken the 40+ 2WD Mod Buggy win. With a second in A1 and third in A2, the Associated team-manager described A3 was ‘a busy race but fun’. Planning to ‘just try keep in touch at the start as there was chaos in the previous two’, a mistake at the end of the straight four laps in would drop him two places. Ending up behind Max Flurer he said while he had a faster car it was ‘so hard to pass’. Eventually he would but contact with Shane Borden allowed Flurer back through leaving him to finish 5th.

Missing out on the podium, Borkowicz said his car started out good but making a last minute tyre switch the set he ran had no additive and as the race went on he ‘ran out of grip’. This led to ‘too many mistakes as the car got loose’ but the Florida driver was pleased that he had ran competitive all weekend. Behind Borkowicz, Alex Kosciuszek completed the overall Top 5.

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Tebo takes 4WD win at JConcepts Finals

Jared Tebo claimed the 4WD Buggy win at the JConcepts Indoor National Series, the Kyosho driver completing a perfect weekend when, like in qualifying he wrapped things up early, by securing the overall victory with another win in A2. Having dominated the opening A-Main, it looked like he was going to repeat the performance in the second of the three encounters but riding the curbing he rolled his ZX6.6 allowing Spencer Rivkin to the front. Rivkin however would make a carbon copy of Tebo’s mistake and with his Associated on its roof letting Tebo resume the lead where he would stay to the finish for the win. Going on to take A3, Rivkin would get second in North Carolina which was enough to secure him the overall JConcepts INS title. Daimon Borkowicz would complete the race podium on the series’ first visit to Speed RC.

‘I’m really happy to win 4WD. We are going to be competitive next year with this car’, was Tebo reaction to sewing up the overall win. With race hosts Speed RC one of his sponsors and him pitting for the weekend next to its 1:1 racing driver owner Scott Speed, he added, ‘it’s also nice to win here for them’. Running back over A2, the former World Champion said, ‘the car was really good and I pulled out at the beginning but then I had a driver error and hit the curbing’. With Rivkin going by and Alex Kosciuszek getting a pass on him as he got back into his rhythm, Tebo said, ‘I was feeling quite a bit faster than Spencer and was trying to force a pass but then he hit the same curb I did’. Setting the fastest lap of the race as he closed down on Rivkin, it almost 2/10th of a second better than his rivals best, he would cross the finish line with 1.6 seconds advantage. Summing up the weekend and the performance of his Orion powered ZX6.6, he said, ‘my car was perfect and I’m already looking forward to 2017’.

Summing up the 4WD outcome, Rivkin said, ‘my car was good but I couldn’t make it go to A3’. Having got a break in A2 and led after Tebo rolled early on he said, ‘I hit the same part of track as Jared but he did it at the start and did it at the end so I had no chance to comeback’. Associated/Reedy/JConcepts team-mate Borkowicz declared himself ‘pretty happy’ to get on the podium. Challenging Rivkin for win in A3, setting the fastest lap as he closed down on the leader, he said, ‘It was going really good but I made a mistake on the last lap and that cost me the chance of winning but I’m happy to be on the podium which also gets me a Top 3 in the overall series’. While he came into the weekend with high hopes as one of the series’ overall title contenders, Alex Kosciuszek while showing flashes of speed, failed to make the podium ending up fourth ahead of TLR’s Max Flurer and the Associated of Mike Cline.

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