Q2 Update 4WD Buggy

The second round of 4WD Buggy qualifying at the JConcepts Winter Indoor Nationals saw a 1-2 for the Associated team with Ryan Maifield again setting the top pace ahead of defending champion Steven Hartson with Xray’s Josh Wheeler taking his XB4 to the third fastest time for the round.  The round was a bad one for Kyosho’s Jared Tebo who could only manage the 9th fastest time saying afterwards that his zX5 was fine but the driver made a ‘bazillion mistakes’.

In 4WD Short Course, MIP are in early control of proceedings.  Defending Champion & MIP team leader Matt Olson topped the opening qualifier while in Q2 the order was reversed as team-mate Nate Jaskot set the pace bettering the previous fastest time by 8/10th, leaving the pair tied at the top of points.

4WD Buggy Qualifying – Round 2
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 18/5:06.288
2. Steven Hartson – Associated – 18/5:07.639
3. Josh Wheeler – Xray – 18/5:08.204
4. Michael Paige – Associated – 18/5:08.610
5. Mitchel Gardner – Associated – 18/5:10.411
6. Cody Turner – Kyosho – 18/5:11.577
7. Matt Gosch – Associated – 18/5:14.286
8. Aiden Horne – Associated – 18/5:16.129
9. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 18/5:16.449
10.Greg Niklas – Associated – 18/5:17.182

View the event images gallery here.

Tebo ups 2WD Buggy pace in Q2

Kyosho Jared Tebo upped the pace in 2WD Buggy qualifying at the JConcepts Winter Indoor Nationals taking Q2 from team-mate Cody Turner with TLR’s Cody Hollis completing the Top 3 for the round which saw Q1 Top qualifier Ryan Maifield forced to retire due to a complete lack of courtesy from a number of drivers running in his heat.

Having stood on the far right side of the drivers stand for his previous 2WD & 4WD Buggy and Mod Truck qualifier earlier in the day at SmacTrac, Maifield went up for his second 2WD Buggy heat, having stood in line, but there was no room left. Despite asking the drivers who had moved position if it was possible to just move over slightly his request fell on deaf ears.  With the heat about to start the Associated driver had no option but to move to far left hand side of the drivers stand but could only see the track by leaning forward which in turn blocked the view of the others drivers leaving him no choice but to pull up.  Having lost out on a TQ run in his second Mod Truck Qualifier after a back marker put his T4.2 on his roof, with AE team-manager Brent Thielke becoming a casualty of the same incident, the reseed for the third round of qualifying can’t come quick enough for the Arizona ace.

Avoiding the traffic issues he had in Q1, Tebo said changing to a white spring on the rear of his Orion powered RB6 gave him more grip.  Despite a mistake in the closing part of the 5-minute run, He was able to knock over 5-seconds off his previous time bettering Maifield’s pace by almost 2.7 seconds.  Very happy with how his AKA shod buggy is working he plans to leave everything as is for the third and final heat of the day. Turner also attributed less traffic issues to his improved pace as he knocked 2 seconds of his morning time. Like Tebo, the 21-year old will leave his Proline fitted RB6 as is for Q3.

Team Losi Racing’s Hollis was very happy with his run after a poor Q1 performance  saying he did nothing different to his JConcepts equipped TLR22 other than just put in a clean run.  The 19-year-old from Oklahoma, said his focus for Q3 is to focus on his driving and try put in another clean 5-minutes of driving.

Defending champion Steven Hartson set the 5th fastest time behind fellow Associated driver Mitchel Gardner.  Changing to JConcepts Barcodes all round on his Reedy powered B4.2 for the second qualifier he said he didn’t like the feeling it gave him and this resulted in a number of mistakes.  Having run Rips on the front in Q1 when he was 3rd fastest he will good back to that tyre combo for the penultimate qualifier.

In Mod Truck Tebo made it two out of two, taking the second round in a slightly slower time than Q1 ahead of Hollis’ 22T and Justin Driemeier’s Associated.  In 2WD Short Course Turner set a new fastest time with his Kyosho Ultima SCR ahead of Q1 pace setter JP Richards.

2WD Buggy Qualifying – Round 2
1. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 17/5:03.285
2. Cody Turner – Kyosho – 17/5:07.922
3. Cody Hollis – TLR – 17/5:09.992
4. Mitchel Gardner – Associated – 17/5:11.297
5. Steven Hartson – Associated – 17/5:12.481
6. JP Richards – TLR – 17/5:12.608
7. Matt Gosch – Associated – 17/5:13.389
8. Brent Thielke – Associated – 17/5:13.860
9. Luke Richards – Associated – 17/5:13.966
10.Al Horne – Associated – 17/5:14.358

View the event images gallery here.

Maifield doubles up to TQ opening 4WD Buggy qualifier

Having TQ’d the opening round of 2WD Buggy Qualifying at the JConcepts Winter Indoor Nationals, Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield notched up a second TQ run of the day when he claimed the first qualifier of 4WD Buggy again outpacing arch rival Jared Tebo.  Tebo’s Kyosho team-mate Cody Turner completed the Top 3 just ahead of defending champion Steven Hartson who is this weekend chasing a sixth consecutive 4WD Buggy win in the JConcepts Indoor National Series.

Like in 2WD, Maifield used a brand new set of unmodified JConcepts Barcodes tyres on his Reedy powered B44.2 and despite a few small issues with traffic declared himself happy with the run.  Associated team-mate Hartson also ran new tyres and was happy with his buggy but said he just had a few too many bobbles leaving him over 4 seconds off the TQ pace.

In the Kyosho camp both Tebo and Turner were happy with their opening 4WD heats. A second off the TQ pace, Tebo said his Lazer ZX5 SP2 was decent but needs just a little more steering and then he should be good to take the challenge to Maifield. Turner said his run was very steady and the plan was is to try continue with that approach for the rest of the day.

Making his first big race appearance with the Xray XB4, RC America team driver Josh Wheeler set the sixth fastest time despite a crash that lost the 1:8 Offroad World Championship finalist 3-seconds.  Running the same set of AKA Handlebar tyres as he used in yesterday’s practice he said they are getting better each run and overall he is really happy with how everything is working.  Commenting on his crash he said he tried to pass a slower buggy down the inside but cut the corner too tight launching the car over onto its roof.

4WD Buggy Qualifying – Round 1
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 18/5:07.081
2. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 18/5:08.100
3. Cody Turner – Kyosho – 18/5:10.911
4. Steven Hartson – Associated – 18/5:11.249
5. Mitchel Gardner – Associated – 18/5:12.235
6. Josh Wheeler – Xray – 18/5:12.886
7. Justin Driemeier – Associated – 18/5:13.956
8. Matt Gosch – Associated – 18/5:14.372
9. Al Horne – Associated – 18/5:15.059
10.Dustin Richards – Associated – 17/5:00.713

View the event images gallery here.

Maifield tops 2WD Buggy Q1 at Winter Indoor Nats

Making his debut in the JConcepts Indoor National Series, Ryan Maifield got the Winter Indoor Nationals at SmacTrac in St.Louis, Missouri off to the perfect start as he TQ’d the opening round of qualifying for 2WD Buggy ahead of fellow series debutant Jared Tebo with series champion Steven Hartson completing the top 3.

Setting the fastest lap of the opening round with a 17.715, Maifield topped the timing by 3.5 seconds from Tebo saying afterwards that his B4.2 ‘felt good’ and he hopes ‘it stays that way’ for the rest of the day.  Switching to a full set of fresh JConcepts Barcodes for his first qualifier the factory Associated driver said it felt better than in yesterday’s practice when he used a ground down set of tyres.  While the pits at SmacTrac could easily be confused for a factory where toxic chemicals are produced, Maifield is one of the few drivers not running additive on his tyres adding that he doesn’t believe that would give any advantage.

Running in the same heat as Maifield, Tebo said his run was good except for traffic, with the Kyosho driver losing time as his RB6 got tangled up in a group of back markers.  Running the same set of AKA Super Soft Handlebars as he ran in practice yesterday, he said he found the track a little looser than yesterday and having used additive will now try running Q2 without.  Planning to freshen up his shocks for the next qualifier he said he may also revert back to a white spring on the rear.

Defending champion Hartson said his run was safe but he could feel his B4.2 was a little off the pace.  Running JConcepts Rips on the front he said he will switch to pins all round for Q2 following in the direction of his team-mate Maifield by running a new unmodified set of Barcodes.

Setting the fourth fastest time in Q1 was the Kyosho/Proline driver Cody Turner.  Running his RB6 the same as yesterday’s practice and on the same set of Proline Suburb M4 tyres he said his buggy is getting better each run as the tyres scrub in.  Slowed a little by traffic the Californian driver had one roll over which he said was of his own doing but overall it was a solid opening run.  Having not touched his shocks since arriving at the event, Turner said he will rebuild the shocks for the next run but will leave the set-up and tyres as they are, adding that unlike team-mate Tebo he will continue saucing his tyres.

Team Losi Racing’s JP Richards took his TLR22 to the 5th fastest time with Associated team-manager Brent Thielke completing the Top 6.

In the other 2WD classes it was Tebo set the pace in Mod Truck from defending champion Thielke and TLR team driver Cody Hollis third while in 2WD Short Course Richards topped the time sheets ahead of Turner and Justin Driemeier.

2WD Buggy Qualifying – Round 1
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 17/5:05.968
2. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 17/5:08.529
3. Steven Hartson – Associated – 17/5:08.778
4. Cody Turner – Kyosho – 17/5:10.048
5. JP Richards – TLR – 17/5:12.853
6. Brent Thielke – Assocaited – 17/5:13.161
7. Matt Gosch – Associated – 17/5:14.372
8. Zac Phillips – Kyosho – 17/5:15.798
9. Daimon Borkowicz – Associated – 17/5:16.487
10.Mitchel Gardner – Associated – 17/5:17.932

View the event images gallery here.