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

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Practice Update

Practice for the opening round of the JConcepts Indoor National Series is complete with the leading entries declaring themselves happy with their days running at the SmacTrac track in St.Louis, Missouri. With no official timing available for the open practice sessions, we will have to wait till the first round of qualifying in the morning to see who has their gear sorted and who still has work to do. In general the main focus of the drivers today are tyres with sanding or cutting pins pretty much the order of the day.

Defending buggy champion Steven Hartson said due to tyre preparations he didn’t get as much track time as he would have liked but from the runs he did do he was happy with how his Associateds worked, in particular his B4.2. Running JConcepts green compound Barcodes on the rear and Rips on the front of his 2WD buggy he said it felt real good and it is ready for qualifying. Also happy with his 4WD, which he only got to run twice over the day, he said the one car that still needs work is his 2WD Short Course truck. Running JConcepts Pressure Points all round on the SC10 he said it lacked forward traction which the 21-year-old believes is down to tyre choice so for qualifying he will switch to Barcodes on the rear for Q1.

Associated team-mate Ryan Maifield said it was a pretty straight forward day at the office with him having to do little to his buggies over the day. Running the same set-up on his 2WD Buggy as he used at the recent Reedy Race of Champions the Arizona ace said it felt decent. Having done some testing with his B44.2 on asphalt prior to the event to test some ideas he had he said the set-up he concluded from that testing is working out well. Having did little racing with his Mod Truck recently, Maifeld said he did a number of set-up changes to the T4.2 and is comfortable with where it is at now.

Champion of the Mod Truck class, Brent Thielke said most of his work today apart from prepping tyres was also with his T4.2. With the advantage of having been to SmacTrac on three previous occasions, he said the track they have created for the Winter Indoor Nationals is a lot of fun and keeping your cars on the dirt over the elevating track takes a lot of discipline. Running his buggies just as they came off the track at the Reedy Race the Associated Team Manager said he plans to rebuild both tonight in preparation for tomorrow’s qualifying.

Kyosho’s Jared Tebo was pleased with his days running saying he really likes the track which is similar in size to that of his local home track. Starting out the day running AKA’s Vector front and Handlebar rear tyres in soft compound on his Laser ZX he said a switch to Super Soft improved the buggy a lot but he added he is still playing around with the saucing, trying to determine which is the best additive to use. On his Ultima RB6, Tebo is running Super Soft Handlebars all round.

Kyosho team-mate Cody Turner said he was very happy with how his cars worked in practice and he ‘can’t wait to start racing’. A Pro-line team driver the 21-year-old from California said he is still getting to terms with how to best sauce his tyres for this his first ever time at SmacTrac. On his 4WD he ended the day with Scrubs on the front and Suburbs on the rear while on his 2WD buggy and Mod Truck it was M4 Suburbs all round.

Xray’s Josh Wheeler said changes to his XB4 for his final run of the day didn’t give him the desired results but happy with the buggy earlier in the day he will just revert back to his previous set-up. Looking for a little more steering around what is a tight track layout, he switched away from the standard caster block but said this gave him very snappy steering. Planning to refit the standard block he will also adjust the rear swaybar which he is confident will give him a comfortable buggy for the opening qualifier.

Tomorrow’s schedule for the JConcepts Winter Indoor Nationals will see three of the four rounds of qualifying run with two to count to determine the grids for the bump up finals format.

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New releases from JConcepts

The Winter Indoor Nationals in St Louis Missouri has seen JConcepts introduce a number of new parts including their new Finnisher shell for Associated T4.2. An evolution of the shell introduced not too long ago for the T4.1, it sports an updated front end to cater for the new shock position of the 4.2 as well as a number of new tweaks around the roof and rear of the car. For the B44.2 there is a new centre diff top plate from aluminium as well as a front steering system comprising of two aluminium steering pivots as well as a carbon Ackerman plate, the whole system moving on a set of bearings. Introduced at the Reedy race two weeks ago there is a complete set of titanium track rods, with sets to be released for more popular cars in the future. Finally a new 7 inch rear wing gives a new higher downforce option for

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