Larsen tops opening 2WD Buggy qualifier in Omaha

Team Losi Racing’s Taylor Larsen TQ’d the opening round of 2WD Buggy qualifying at the JConcepts Indoor National Series Finals in Omaha, setting the fastest and only 14-lap run around the HobbyTown USA Hobby Plex track in front of  team-mate JR Mitch. Once again it was not a good round for the series main contenders with Dustin Evans only able for fourth, Steven Hartson seventh and Ryan Maifield not even making the Top 10.

‘Great’ was how Larsen summed up his run, the 15-year-old ‘really happy’ with the performance of his TLR22 which he said coped really well with the track which has started to get very bumpy.  Having added weight to the car for the final round of practice last night, he said this helped the car absorb the bumps but he said the key things was avoiding mistakes.  Having watched many drivers ‘wreck’ he said his focus for the run was to just put in a clean rather than super fast 5-minutes and that approach would pay dividends.  Running a mixture of tyres with Gold compound JConcepts Barcodes on the front and Black on the rear he will continue with that for Q2 adding that the Golds give him very consistent steering.

Backing up his 4WD Buggy run, in which he also took second, JR Mitch said his TLR22 was ‘really neutral’ in its set-up but this allowed him to put it in the same spot of the track lap after lap.  Admitting it is not the fastest car out there he said he was able to steer it to a clean run and he is happy to take the end result. Planning to ‘stick to (that) programme’, for Q2 he will try running a set of Green compound JConcepts Barcodes on the rear of his buggy that have a lower pin height.

Driving a mid motored C4.2,  Kyle Skidmore would complete the Top 3 for the opening qualifier. From Oklahoma City, he said he ‘got lucky’ but only his fifth time to run the car he said he was pleased with his own performance.  A clean round with just a few bobbles over the 5-minutes, he plans to make a few small set-up changes to a little more rear side bit.  Running Proline M4 ION tyres all round he said he said they worked well and he will run them again for his next run.

Posting the fourth fastest time, over 5-seconds off team-mate Larsen, Evans said he had work to do on getting his TLR somewhere nearer to what he would like.  The winner of the ‘Fall’ round of the series, he said he doesn’t know what to do to get the car to work on a track surface that is leaving a number of the top drivers scratching their heads.  Evans said getting the combination of tyre compound and then pin height is a real challenge adding that maybe a rear motor configuration might be better.

Completing the Top 6, behind Store Manager & the man who built the track for the event Alex Sturgeon, was up & coming Arizona talent Spencer Rivkin.  The protege of Ryan Maifield was happy with his run having come back from what was a less than perfect number of laps halfway through the run.  Making a couple of mistakes, the 15-year-old said he had to settle himself down and get back into his rhythm.  Running Black compound V1 Barcodes all round on his C4.2, he said he plans to leave everything as is for Q2.

Maifield describing his run as ‘hurting’ emphasizing how hurting it was by starting the comment with the use of some french.  The Arizona ace said the ‘Driver was bad and the car was bad’ adding he needs to find a better tyre combination for Q2.  His team manager Brent Theilke didn’t fair out much better also finishing outside the Top 10 after a run that contained ‘way too many crashes’.

Setting the seventh fastest time Hartson said his run was too inconsistent leading to a few crashes.  Happy that his Reedy powered C4.2 is good he will try running tyres with less thread for Q2.

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Gibson takes first JConcepts 4WD Buggy qualifier

17-year-old Team Associated driver Nick Gibson was a surprise pace setter in the opening round of 4WD Buggy qualifying at the JConcepts Indoor National Series in Omaha, Nebraska, setting the pace from TLR’s JR Mitch with young talent Aydrin Horne completing the Top 3.  For the series main contenders it was a bad start to the day as World Champion Steven Harston broke, Ryan Maifield suffered a drive train failure and Dustin Evans had the ‘worst first lap of (his) life’ that cost him 9-seconds.

Driving the older Associated B44.1,  Gibson said going into the qualifier he was very nervous as he lined up alongside some of the best drivers in the world but once the 5-minute run started he was able to overcome that.  Having a few bobbles on the left side of the track in particular on the down hill section after the main straight he said his car was ‘really good’.  Planning to run the car as is for Q2, he said his main focus will be to ‘fix’ his driving and try get another strong run and lock himself into tomorrow’s A-Main.

Mitch, was pleased with his points haul for second but said his TLR22-4 was a little pushy over the run.  Using JConcepts Green compound Barcodes all round for the second of the three scheduled qualifiers, which he will again use in Q2, he will remove his front sway bar to try improve the car’s steering.

Only 11-years old, Horne was very happy to open his event with a run to the 3rd fastest time.  Running an Associated chassis, he said he was very happy with the feel of his set-up.  Describing the track as ‘really fun’, he sad he had a few bobbles but nothing that required marshaling and for his next qualifier he will run the car as is.

Driving a Kyosho, 19-year-old Mitchel Gardner set the fourth fastest time despite ending the run with a stripped diff.   Summing up the run as ‘not too bad’ other than one pretty big mistake, apart from fitting new gears to his diff, he will leave everything as is and just work on tidying up his driving.

Team Associated’s Chad Due completed the Top 5 ahead of Dustin Evans.  A former Open Class Champion at the Reedy International Off Road Race of Champions, Due said his B44.2 was ‘pretty good’ adding that he needs to work on his front tyres’ pin size. Running JConcepts Green Barcodes, he said it took a while for them to come in leading to a few small mistakes.

Evans said his TLR22-4 was ‘good’ but it was impossible to recover the 9-seconds lost on his opening lap. Crashing again later in the run he said the car is there but he just needs to cut out the mistakes.  In 2WD Short Course, which is one of the key classes this weekend along with 2WD and 4WD Buggy, the Colorado driver was second fastest behind Maifield but he said the Orion powered 22SCT was not very good.  Feeling very loose to drive, he said he’s not sure whether its because of his choice of tyres or down to the set-up he is running.

Maifield said his Reedy powered RC10 SCT starts off a little pushy but other than that felt ‘alright’. In 4WD Buggy, he said his B44.2 was ‘super good’ adding he was ‘impressed how good it was’.  With the drive train fixed he is confident for Q2.  Team-mate Harston, who posted the 3rd fastest time, reported his truck as being ‘OK’ but a couple of mistakes cost him time.  Describing his 4WD Buggy as a little pushy, before a slower driver pulled out in front of him resulting in his Reedy powered B44.2 breaking, for Q2 he hopes to cure the understeer by sanding down his Gold compound Barcodes tyres more.

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‘From Race Control’ – Day 2, Qualifying

After yesterday’s open practice day for the JConcepts Indoor National Series Finals, things get official today at the HobbyTown USA Hobby Plex track in Omaha, Nebraska. With a total of 33 heats for qualifying, drivers will complete three rounds today with the best two counting towards determining the grids for tomorrow Mains.  The fifth & final round of the 2013 series, the race has attracted a total of 287 entries running in 8 different classes with the most hotly contested classes after the blue ribbon 2WD Open Buggy, which makes up 8 heats,  set to be 4WD Buggy and 2WD Short Course.

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JConcepts Indoor Nats arrives in Nebraska for ’13 Finals

The JConcepts Indoor National Series has arrived at the fifth & final stop on its 2013 calendar with HobbyTown USA Hobby Plex in Omaha, Nebraska, playing host to the ‘Finals’ of the popular electric offroad championship.  Attracting a competitive entry, including newly crowned World Champion Steven Hartson, day 1 of the 3-day event is an opportunity for drivers to work on set-up with open practice being split between open wheel cars and Short Course.  With most of the top drivers focusing their attentions on running their 2WD buggies, it is tyre choice and preparation that is keeping them busy so far.

Winning his first World title with a thrilling victory at the 4WD Buggy World Championships in Chico at the end of September, Associated driver Hartson is pleased with how his mid motored B4.2 is running so far.  Describing the track as ‘overall pretty simple’, he said the height of the rostrum gives a ‘weird’ drivers view and takes a bit of getting used to.  Switching between JConcepts Barcodes in Gold and Green compounds the 21-year-old said the Gold compound for now feels a little faster but a driver known for attention to detail & knowledge in tyre prep he still has a few things he wants to try in relation to pin sizes.  Also racing 4WD Buggy and 2WD Short Course, he said he will run these in the evening practice runs in preparation for tomorrow’s qualifiers.

Team-mate Ryan Maifield has also focused his efforts on what he called the ‘prestigious class’. Running his mid motored B4.2, which features a number of new parts from JConcepts he said he was very happy with a set of Black compound Barcodes he ran fresh out of the bag.  Describing the track as ‘not difficult’ he sad it still had its ‘own challenges’ but overall it was a fun layout to drive.  Like Hartson, Maifield will also run 4WD Buggy and 2WD short Course, winning both classes at the previous round of the JConcepts Indoor National Series in Boston, and will switch his attention to these cars this evening.

Responsible for both drivers, Team Associated team manager Brent Thielke is racing 2WD Buggy and Mod Truck.  His first time to visit the Hobby Plex facility he said the track is fun to drive adding that the surface is a little rougher than what he used to for an indoor track.  Having brought a ‘bunch of used tyres’, he is using them to gauge how different pin heights effect his mid motor B4.2.

Winner of 2WD Buggy at the Fall Indoor Nationals in October, Team Losi Racing’s Dustin Evans said his day so far has all been about trying to figure out tyres.  He said everything he has used so far works but its getting how much they need to be broken in and sanded that he is looking to perfect.  Although he raced here at the 2009 ROAR 1/10 Offroad Nationals, this is his first time to race on the track since they enclosed it with walls and a roof.  Describing the track as having ‘not a whole lot to it’ he added there are a few sections which to get right are a bit tricky.

One of the few top drivers to have raced here previously this year when he took part in the Novak Race,  Cody Hollis said the track is a lot different now, the snow outside probably having something to do with that.  The Team Losi Racing driver said so far he has done very little to his TLR22 saying it is all about getting the right tyres first. In addition to 2WD Buggy, Hollis will also race Mod Truck and 2WD Short Course this weekend.

Making his debut at Hobby Plex TLR’s JR Mitch summed up the facility as a ‘cool place’ and the Florida driver meant that both subjectively and literally.  Joking that he had gone from ’82 to 22 degrees’ he was here for racing and he was looking forward to it.  Having ran both his 2WD and 4WD Buggies he said he was like everyone else playing the tyre game and tyrying to ‘follow the leader’.

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Track Focus – HobbyTown USA Hobby Plex

Track Name – HobbyTown USA Hobby Plex
Country – USA
Location – Omaha, Nebraska
Direction – Clockwise
Surface – Dirt
Previous key events hosted – 2009 ROAR 1/10 Offroad Nationals, 2011 ROAR 1/8 Electric Offroad Nationals

The JConcepts Indoor National Series is in Omaha, Nebraska this weekend with the impressive HobbyTown USA Hobby Plex facility hosting the Finals of the popular five event tour of America.  Situated about 45-minutes from Lincoln where the HobbyTown franchise all began, the Hobby Plex facility will soon celebrate 10 years of business having opened its doors here in 2004.  Housing an impressive hobby store, an indoor carpet track and a now indoor offroad track it occupies a total space of 32,000 sq feet.

Originally the offroad track was outdoor but when rain affected proceedings while hosting the 2009 ROAR 1:10 Offroad National Championships, owner Ken Kailen decided he didn’t want this to happen again and so decided to enclose the offroad track.  After 2-years of going through planning it was completed just in time for its second ROAR Offroad Nationals when it hosted the 1:8 Electric classes in 2011.  Luckily for drivers this weekend he made that decision as outside there is a covering of snow on the ground.  The Onroad carpet track, which is in the same area in which all drivers pit, hosted the 2008 ROAR Carpet Nationals and will again host the event in February so they are no strangers to hosting key events.

As a race venue Hobby Plex caters for around 200 racers each week on its offroad track with dedicated nights of racing for Dirt Oval and Short Course with Saturdays set aside for the regular 1:10 classes.  Such is the size of the track they also  run 1:8 Nitro with the latest round of their Winter Championship attracting over 90 drivers.

Store Manager Alex Sturgeon, who is also responsible for the maintenance of the offroad track and who it is great to see is racing himself this weekend, has built and presented a very nice track for the JConcepts Indoor National Series finals.   The layout of the large track, which is producing circa 22-sec lap times in 2WD Buggy, looks relatively easy but with a lot of elevation up towards the rather tall drivers stand it is proving a little more challenging.  A nice touch is the blue painted infield which really helps define the track layout.

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