Maifield 2WD Buggy Top Qualifier in St.Louis

Ryan Maifield will start both buggy finals at the JConcepts Winter Indoor Nationals from pole position after the Associated star TQ’d the final round of 2WD Buggy Qualifying at SmacTrac in St. Louis, Missouri, this morning adding to the 4WD TQ he wrapped last night in the penultimate qualifier.  Mounting a serious challenge for the overall TQ until he hit traffic, literally, Tebo took second for the round which is the position he will start the single 10-minute Main.  Cody Turner completed the Top 3 for the fourth & final qualifier securing the 21-year-old 3rd on the grid ahead of defending Champion Steven Hartson who struggled with the wrong tyre choice in his last heat setting only the 15th fastest time.

Maifield’s first time to contest a round of the JConcepts Indoor National Series the Arizona driver was happy to take the overall TQ on a track which all the top drivers have admitted is going to be very hard to pass on.  Having resisted using additive for the majority of the event, Maifield used it in his last qualifier but said afterwards that he doesn’t think he will use it again in the finals as it feels like it needs to wear off before you can run fast laps and for the final he wants his buggy to be good from the start. Talking about the Main, Maifield said passing would be a ‘big task’ and the important thing for him starting out front is to just hold steady and not make an mistakes.

Tebo, who was on target for a TQ run in Q4 until the start of his penultimate lap saw him get caught up in a tangle between two slower cars, shared Maifield’s thoughts on this evening’s final saying passing was ‘not possible’.  Planning to leave his RB6 as is for the encounter he said his approach to the race had to be to pressure his big rival into making a mistake.

In Mod Truck, Tebo completed a clean sweep of qualifying taking Q4 ahead of Maifield but it is defending class champion Brent Thielke who will start second with Maifield lining up third.   2WD Short Course saw Turner TQ the final qualifier with his Kyosho Ultima SCR ahead of Steven Hartson, the result giving Turner the pole position on tie break with Losi driver JP Richards.

2WD Buggy Qualifying – Round 4
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 17/5:06.113
2. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 17/5:06.642
3. Cody Turner – Kyosho – 17/5:10.055
4. Brent Thielke – Associated – 17/5:11.480
5. JP Richards – TLR – 17/5:11.910
6. Josh Wheeler – Kyosho – 17/5:14.975
7. Mitchel Gardner – Associated – 17/5:15.002
8. Al Horne – Associated – 17/5:15.271
9. Daimon Borkowicz – Associated – 17/5:15.781
10.Michael Paige – Associated – 17/5:15.865

2WD Buggy A-Main Grid
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 0 pts
2. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 2
3. Cody Turner – Kyosho – 5
4. Steven Hartson – Associated – 5
5. JP Richards – TLR – 10
6. Brent Thielke – Associated – 10
7. Mitchel Gardner – Associated – 11
8. Cody Hollis – TLR – 12
9. Matt Gosch – Associated – 14
10.Al Horne – Associated – 18

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Maifield Top Qualifier in 4WD Buggy

Making his debut at a JConcepts Indoor National Series race Ryan Maifield has secured the overall Top Qualifying honours for 4WD Buggy at the Winter Indoor Nationals in St.Louis, Missouri.  The factory Associated driver wrapped up pole position for tomorrow’s 10-minute single main early as he completed a perfect run of qualifiers topping his third consecutive heat in Q3 ahead of Kyosho’s Jared Tebo and defending Champion Steven Hartson.  Having set the third fastest time in the previous round Xray’s Josh Wheeler wasn’t able to repeat the performance saying his XB4 felt like it was driving on ice after he tried a different technique of saucing his AKA tyres.

4WD Buggy Qualifying – Round 3
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 18/5:07.079
2. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 18/5:08.634
3. Steven Hartson – Associated – 18/5:11.853
4. Mitchel Gardner – Associated – 18/5:13.227
5. Al Horne – Associated – 18/5:14.151
6. Michael Paige – Associated – 18/5:16.046
7. Zach Philips – Kyosho – 18/5:16.283
8. Dustin Richards – Associated – 18/5:17.264
9. Luke Richards – Associated – 17/5:00.673
10.Colton Kiefer – Durango – 17/5:00.699

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Maifield bounces back in Q3 of 2WD Buggy

Having been forced to pull out of the second round of 2WD Buggy Qualifying at the JConcepts Winter Indoor Nationals after he couldn’t get a spot on the driver’s stand, Ryan Maifield bounced back in Q3 to head a Team Associated 1-2 ahead of series champion Steven Hartson who benefited from a mistake on lap 12 by Kyosho’s Cody Turner who went on to set the third fastest time of the round.

With the heats reseeded for the penultimate round of qualifying all the top contenders at the St.Louis event where now running together.  Leading away the field for the 5-minute qualifier was Maifield’s B4.2 followed by Tebo’s slightly faster RB6.  Closing in on his arch rival and on a TQ pace, Tebo would come undone on Lap 8 rolling at the end of the main straight and losing almost 3-seconds.  Maifield wasn’t phased by Tebo’s ability to close him in, saying it is ‘easier to go faster when your chasing someone’.  Admitting he would like a little more corner speed he plans to make some small changes for the morning’s final and deciding qualifier.  Comfortable with the feeling of his JConcepts equipped buggy he said with just one single 10-minute Main its important to have a safe rather than outright fast buggy especially on such a tight track as SmacTrac.

Hartson’s best points finish and also his fastest heat so far, the Californian driver said switching backed to JConcepts Rips on the front of his B4.2 was the correct choice but for the track conditions at the time of the night run he would have benefited from a larger pin on the rear tyres and should have went for a newer set of Barcodes.

Despite rolling away a potential second for the round, Turner said he was still happy with 3rd joking he was ‘pumped to beat Jared’.  Finding the track a little looser than the previous runs, something he has put down to a drier track, he said other than charging his battery for the final qualifier he wont be touching anything else on his RB6. Tebo said his buggy was ‘really good’ but he ‘just crashed’.  Recovering to take fourth for the round the Q2 pace setter said he will not make any changes for Q4 and ‘go after it (the TQ honours) tomorrow’.

In Mod Truck, Tebo secured pole position for tomorrow’s finals with a third TQ run of the day taking Q3 ahead of the Associated’s of defending Champion Brent Thielke and Maifield.  In 2WD Short Course JP Richards backed up his Q1 performance with a second TQ run in round 3 ahead of Hartson and Q2 pace setter Turner.

2WD Buggy Qualifying – Round 3
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 17/5:05.901
2. Steven Hartson – Associated – 17/5:08.408
3. Cody Turner – Kyosho – 17/5:08.747
4. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 17/5:09.274
5. JP Richards – TLR – 17/5:11.122
6. Aaron Breuer – Kyosho – 17/5:13.290
7. Brent Thielke – Associated – 17/5:13.444
8. Mitchel Gardner – Associated – 17/5:14.048
9. Cody Hollis – TLR – 17/5:14.139
10.Michael Paige – Associated – 17/5:15.716

View the event images gallery here.