Practice underway as drivers prepare to ‘Clash’ in Mississippi
The seventh running of the annual JConcepts Clash takes place this weekend in Flowood Mississippi where the big battle is set to between Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield and Team Losi Racing’s Dustin Evans. The winner of the three main classes at last year’s event when the ‘Clash’ made its first visit to the Flowood RC Indoor Park, Maifield has this year dropped out of the 1:8 Nitro Buggy instead running in 4WD as part of his preparations for the Electric Offroad World Championships which are just over 2 weeks away. Evans has also dropped nitro in favour of running 4WD EP Buggy alongside his 2WD Buggy & 2WD Short Course for the event. While TLR are set to contest the Worlds with a new 4WD chassis in limited numbers for their key team drivers, Evans will contest the Clash with his now classic XXX-4. TLR team-manager Keven Gahan is also racing in the event, this being his first ever Clash, but when asked about the subject of the new 4WD Buggy he did an excellent job of towing company lines and letting nothing out of the bag.
A late arrival to the event only getting into Flowood last night therefore missing out on yesterday’s opportunity for open practice, Maifield’s initial reaction was the lack of traction. Describing last year’s traction as ‘good’ he said there seems to be none now. While others expect the traction to get better Maifield believes if the track has not got traction by now its not going to have it and that means the use of tyre sauce which he said ‘sucks’, the Arizona driver well known for not being a fan of using it. In terms of the three cars he is running in the event Maifield said his main focus due to the low grip is for now on his C4 mid motored 2WD Buggy.
Evans, who took a hat trick of podium finishes last year, was happy with his early runs adding that the track was had a really good flow to it and while ‘fast’ should make for good racing. A very deep track for an indoor track the 2011 US National Champion said this makes it hard in terms of the perception of the further away corners in particular the back right hand section of the track. Happy with the early performance of his 4WD Buggy he said his focus is on his TLR22 2.0 which he is running in mid motor configuration. Running an all blue bodyshell on his 2WD this weekend, as he cut out his only painted shell for rear motor configuration and his other shells are with his body painter in preparation for the Worlds, Evans said getting as much running as possible with the mid motor is important for the Worlds adding that he believes as he runs the mid motor more he is finding it actually suits his driving style.
TLR will also be looking for a strong run this weekend from JR Mitch who was runner-up to Maifield last year in 2WD Short Course. Mitch has switched two classes this year moving over to 4WD SC and also ditching his 1:8 Nitro for 1:8 eBuggy which is the biggest class of this year’s ‘Clash’. Remaining in 2WD Buggy, in which he finished 4th 12-months ago, he said for the early practice runs his TL22 2.0 was his main focus as was readjusting to the depth of the track which he described as having ‘a good high speed layout’.
Track designer Paul Wynn, who was an A-finalist in 2WD Buggy & Short Course here last year, said while he was happy with how the way the track turned out he is not so happy with his driving which he says ‘requires a bit of working on’. Describing his track as really fast he said it offers a lot of opportunities for passing which should make for some good fun racing.
Runner up at the recent ROAR Nationals in 2WD Stock Buggy the title being decided on a tie break, up & coming talent Damion Borkowicz was really pleased with his early runs. The protege of JConcepts founder Jason Ruona, the 13-year-old said his focus is on his buggies due to the fact that he will make his World Championships debut later this month. Also contesting Mod Truck he should be in contender for at least a podium in that class.
His first time to Flowood Indoor R/C Park, TLR’s Cody Hollis said this is the biggest track he has ever raced 1:10 on and he really likes the fast layout describing it as being ‘really fun’ to drive. Running 2WD & 4WD Buggy and Mod Truck, in which the Clash debutant is the pre race favourite, the 20 year-old said all his cars were running ‘pretty good so far’ and he was just waiting on the track to come in.
With a few more hours of practice alternating between nitro, of which last year’s 1:8 Buggy running up Jason Smith should be the man to beat, and electric Day 1 of the 2013 JConcepts Clash will end with the first of the four scheduled rounds of qualifying.
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