Schoettler tops 1st JConcepts qualifier

Having topped timed practice yesterday at the JConcepts Spring Indoor Nationals in Washington State, local ace Michael Schoettler backed it up with a TQ run in the opening round of 2WD Buggy qualifying at Tacoma RC Raceway.  The Associated driver dominated the round running a time almost 5-seconds quicker than fellow local Luke Smith.  Winner of the opening race of the series in St.Louis Tanner Denney was the best of the visitors the Associated team driver opening qualifying with 3rd for the round.

Pleased with his TQ run which proved very popular with onlookers, Schoettler said the run was the best his B5M has been all week.  Raising the rear inside ball set and switching to a softer front spring, to get the buggy to stay more on its nose rather than collapse on the rear, the 18-year-old said the two changes worked perfectly and he was very happy with the run.  Posting the fastest lap of the round with a 14.905, he will leave the car as is for Q2.  Running JConcepts Dirt Web tyres fitted with the company’s new closed cell foam insert he will also continue with the same set of tyres.

Switching from AKA Typo to their new Deja Vu tyres, Smith said his B5M was ‘a lot better than practice’.  With this in mind, for Q2 the 20-year-old plans to run a fresh set of Deja Vu tyres so to have a second set broken in for the rest of the event.  In terms of his chassis set-up he said with the car working well he will leave everything as is for now.

‘Better than yesterday but wouldn’t say magical’ was how Denney summed up his opening qualifier.  The 18-year-old says he is still lacking steering despite some changes made after last nights timed practice to make the rear end more loose. Not sure exactly what he will change he said he will focus now on making a change to the front end of his Reedy powered B5M.

Setting the fourth fastest time was JC Johnson.  Driving his TLR22, the local racer said his aim for the round was ‘just not to wreck’ and overall it was ‘a good safe run’.  Happy with his AKA Typo equipped buggy he plans to run it as is for Q2 and just drive a little harder.

The second fastest of the visitors, Steven Hartson took his LRP powered Associated to the 5th fastest time after he ‘crashed a few times’.  The 4WD World Champion said he was a little off the pace, lacking consistency.  Able to do ‘a couple of fast laps but not every lap’ he felt he overdrove a little and for Q2 his plans is to ‘slow it down a little’.  In terms of his B5M he said he is happy with how its working and he has no plans to change anything for the moment.

Driving a Kyosho RB6, Ryan Matesa described his opening qualifier to the sixth fastest time as ‘bad’.  The 18-year-old felt he drove too conservatively adding that he was also a little put off by his position on the drivers stand.  Happy that his car is good he said for his next run he will try to get a better spot on the stand and push harder.

Posting the 7th fastest time Xray’s Tyler Vik also felt he drove too conservatively.  Running in the lowest heat after missing the seeding run feeling a good nights sleep, after getting up a 4am to catch his flight to Seattle, would be better than any set-up changes, he said he had nothing to gauge himself against in the five car heat.  For Q2 his plan is to push harder after which a reseed of the heats should see him better positioned for Q3 & 4.

Team Losi Racing’s JR Mitch completed the Top 8.  Making a shock set-up change ahead of the heat which he just got done in time, Mitch said he didn’t get time to work on his TLR22’s slipper and it was too loose for the qualifier.  Having to drive wide lines to make the bigger jumps he lost time but the shock changes made the car a lot better with it not rolling as much and having much more side grip from the JConcepts’ Dirt Web tyres.  For Q2 he said with a proper slipper setting he should be able to make a big improvement over Q1.

2WD Mod Buggy Qualifying Round 1
1. Michael Schoettler – Associated – 20/5:04.634
2. Luke Smith – Associated – 20/5:09.510
3. Tanner Denney – Associated – 20/5:11.057
4. JC Johnson – TLR – 20/5:12.247
5. Steven Hartson – Associated – 20/5:13.948
6. Ryan Matesa – Kyosho – 19/5:00.028
7. Tyler Vik – Xray – 19/5:00.462
8. JR Mitch – TLR – 19/5:01.249
9. Mike Brown – Schumacher – 19/5:04.798
10.Chris Gould – X-Factory – 19/5:05.943

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‘From Race Control’ – Day 2, Qualifying

Qualifying makes up the schedule for today’s action at the JConcepts Spring Indoor Nationals at Tacoma R/C Raceway with 34 heats to get through per round.  With 2 of 4 rounds to count for the final grid order, three of those will be run today with the fourth & final round set to run tomorrow morning. With the heats seeded on a driver’s 5-lap average in a single round of timed practice last night a second reseed will be done after Round 2 of qualifying.

Schoettler and Hartson top practice in Tacoma

While there was no surprise at World Champion Steven Hartson topping 4WD Buggy practice at the JConcepts Spring Indoor Nationals at Tacoma R/C Raceway, local driver Michael Schoettler caused a bit of a surprise with an impressive timed practice run that makes him top seed for tomorrow’s 2WD Buggy qualifying.  Overall it was a good finish to today’s practice for local racers as they put their track knowledge to good effect to fill four of the Top 6 times based on each drivers 5-lap average time.

Driving an Associated B5M, Schoettler said his buggy ran well throughout the day and overall he was pleased with his performance among the high quality field.  With the surface offering plenty of traction, for tomorrow’s qualifying the 18-year-old plans on make a few adjustments to his set-up as he looks the make the car less edgy.  Running JConcepts Dirt Webs, a tyre he said would be his regular choice for his home track, today he also ran JConcepts new Dirt Tech closed cell insert adding they ‘worked really well’,

Hartson said his 2WD run was good but added he didn’t have the speed of Schoettler.  With plenty of grip and steering from his B5M, the Californian driver plans to leave the JConcets Dirt Web equipped Associated the same for Q1 and just focus on making a clean run.  Despite topping 4WD seeding times from Associated team manager Brent Thielke, he described his B44.2 as only ‘OK’.  Feeling it can be made to work better he is planning on switching to geardiffs for Q1 along with making a change to the oil in his front shocks.

Setting the third fastest time with his B5M, Luke Smith said he has still work to do with the focus being on his tyre prep.  Another local driver, the 20-year-old said his car could do with more rear traction which in turn would help make it more predictable around the track. Running AKA Typos tires all round he said he will continue to use these feeling they will improve with the more running they get. ‘Really decent’ was how Thielke summed up how his B5M performed as he ran the fourth fastest time. Enjoying the track layout and its ‘clean lines’, he said in the run he experienced his first traction roll of the day and so for qualifying he will make a small camber adjustment.  Posting the second fastest time in 4WD Buggy, the Associated team manager said his B44.2 was ‘not nearly as good as his 2WD’.  ‘Not as comfortable to drive’ he plans to think overnight about what changes he needs to make, adding less rear droop is one such idea he is most likely to try.

Behind Thielke we had the first non Associated 2WD with Kyosho driver Ryan Matesa posting the 5th fastest time.  Running an Orion powered RB6,  the local 18-year-old said it felt good and the plan is to run it as is for Q1 and instead ‘just drive it better’.

Another local racer looking to better his driving for qualifying is John Valentia.  Describing his run to the sixth fastest time as ‘alright’, he said just needs the driver to improve for tomorrow.  Running a JConcepts Dirt Webs equipped B5M in the timed practice he will fit another pair of the same tyre combo for Q1 using his targeted safe run to bring the tyres to the same level as the set he currently has so he has a back-up set available should anything go wrong.

Winner of the season opener in Missouri, Tanner Denney didn’t have a strong showing when it counted most and he ended up only 7th fastest.  Suffering a lack of steering on his B5M due to the huge rear end grip the buggy has he plans to make a set-up change to try free up the rear end a little.  Tanner had a similar run with his 4WD ending up 6th fastest.  Describing his B44.2 as ‘hard to drive’ he is considering running no tyre additive for first qualifier.

Third fastest in 4WD Buggy, JR Mitch was pleased with his run.  Happy with the feeling of his TLR22-4, he said the laps are ‘not blisteringly fast’ but they are consisent. Set to leave his chassis set-up unchanged for Q1 the Winter Indoor Nationals winner said he hopes to find some improvement in pace from his driving.

Behind Mitch in the 4WD Buggy reseed it was fellow TLR driver JC Johnson.  Another local racer, he said he was not representing that fact very well so far with 4th. With his TLR22-4 difficult to drive and lacking consistency he also feels he lost time changing between AKA and JConcepts tyres and for Q1 he will start of the day back on AKA.

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