GLADWIN HOBBY SHOP

Latest race news from Losi:

Team drivers Dakota Phend and Dave Henry used their Team Losi Racing family of 8IGHT Race Rollers to take home the top spots at the Canadian Indoor Offroad Shootout. Phend TQ'd 1/8 Nitro Buggy and went on to take first place using Losi Eclipse Green compound tires followed in second by Henry. Phend then used his 8IGHT-T Truggy Race Roller to TQ and win the 1/8 Nitro Truggy class with Henry finishing 4th. Henry rounded out the event with a 2nd place finish in 1/8 Electrics using his 8IGHT-E Race Roller.

Latest race news from Losi:

From Nitro Novice to Expert Buggy, Team Losi Racing Race Rollers won every available class at the Arizona Championship Series.

The Intermediate classes were dominated by Danny Trevino with his 8IGHT-T 2.0 truggy and Autie Bender with his 8IGHT 2.0 buggy. In the Expert Buggy class Billy Fischer was the man and took his second straight ACS championship. Casey Peck, Chris Wheeler, and Ryan Philips completed a TLR Top 4 with 2.0 buggys. The expert Truggy class was a carbon copy of buggy with Fischer, Peck, and Wheeler in the podium positions.

Latest from ROAR

Feb 23, 2010 - The ROAR Executive Committee and Section Chairs, working with various Affiliate Partners, today Announce the formation of the Official ROAR 1:10 Scale 4 Wheel Drive Short Course Truck Racing Class. Our Teams set the following guidelines as we leveraged our 4wd SCT Specs and SCT Body Specs to introduce the 4x4 SCT Class. Thanks to all the Manufacture Affiliates, Track and Race Promotion Members who engaged in the 4x4 SCT Class Specifications during this process. The ROAR Rule book (online version) will be updated in the next day or two and you can find those changes in colored font. The printed version will not reflect this addition.

Our Guiding Principals for Short Course Truck Racing Classes were:

1. Keeping these Classes (SCT 2wd and 4wd) true to scale appearance
2. Keep these trucks from going too fast so to provide competitive racing at reasonable speeds
3. Keep the cost of entry AND cost to continue operating as low as possible
4. Keep the class fun in nature

Latest race news from O'Donnell Racing:

Harrisburg, PA
February 20-21

Just as they did last year, the O’Donnell Team came into Motorama with something to prove. This time it was with three new cars, the Z01-B SG, Z01-T SG and the Z01-E. On-road legend and team driver Barry Baker was also out to prove that he could run with some of the best off-road drivers in the country.

Electric 1/8 Buggy

Baker went out in the first round and set a blistering pace, taking the TQ for the round. When all the rounds were finished and the qual points were tallied, Baker ended up second overall. In the main, however, Baker had other plans — he took the early lead and never looked back. The brand new Z01-E never missed a beat either, proving that it will be a car to reckon with. Baker also used the Team Checkpoint 5000 / 40c LiPo racing packs to provide the juice needed to take the win.

Nitro 1/8 Pro Buggy

Disappointed with his second qualifying spot in electric buggy, Baker laid the smack down and proved to everyone that on-road drivers CAN drive off-road! Besides the excellent drive by the “Fabulous One”, the Z01-B SG was extremely impressive in its national debut, taking the overall TQ in the premiere class. Unfortunately, a few miscues in the main event dropped Baker back to a sixth place finish.

Nitro 1/8 Pro Truggy

If other drivers don’t know this by now, the last thing you want to do is motivate Baker…all it does is make him drive harder and faster…and that’s what he did in the truggy main event. The first half of the race saw an epic battle between Baker and Jason Ashton…some people even stated it was one of the best races they ever saw. After Ashton had a slight issue, Phillip Atondo was there to pick up the slack and another epic chase began. In the end, the “Fabulous One” took the win in pro truggy.

Once again, O’Donnell proved that you don’t want to mess with the underdog, because you might get bitten!

Latest race news from Tekno RC:

Tekno RC chassis conversions have put a driver on the #1 podium spot in the Electric 1/8th class at Nitro Challenge 2 years running. This year, Travis Amezcua was running a Tekno equipped Mugen MBX6. Starting 4th on the grid while going through the 12-pack, Travis was hit early and had to battle from the back of the pack. He passed all others including recent Hot Bodies team mate Jessie Robbers in the 10 minute main event to become the Nitro Challenge Electric 1/8th Champ. Bobby Tillman (Tekno/Mugen) and Tyler Vik (Tekno/Kyosho) placed 4th and 5th respectively. That's 3 of the top 5 spots. Drew Moller (Tekno/Mugen) placed 9th. Tekno RC was a proud sponsor of this year's event and would like to see the class continue to grow. Thanks to all that made it possible and we hope to see you all there next year!

Latest race news from Losi:

This past weekend was Motorama’s Indoor race in Harrisburg, PA. There were an impressive 460 entries, and the event hosted the best racers from the East and West coasts. Losi driver Phillip Atondo made the trip out to run all three 1/8 classes which included 1/8 Electric Buggy, 1/8 Nitro Buggy and 1/8 Nitro Truggy.

After qualifying was complete Phillip was the Top Qualifier in Electric Buggy, took 4th place in Nitro Buggy, and 2nd place in Nitro Truggy. In the electric A-main Phillip finish in an impressive 2nd place with his Team Losi Racing 8IGHT-E 2.0 Buggy Race Roller.

In the 1/8 Nitro Buggy class Phillip managed to win the A-main by one full lap with his Nitrotane powered Team Losi Racing 8IGHT 2.0 Buggy Race Roller. Teammates Chuck Berg and Kevin Wilson placed 5th and 7th respectively.

In the 1/8 Nitro Truggy class Phillip had a rough start that put him to the back of the field. Phillip put in a great charge and just came up short from achieving the overall win to take 2nd place with his Team Losi Racing 8IGHT-T 2.0 Truggy Race Roller. Teammates Kevin Wilson and Chuck Berg battled to take 6th and 7th places respectively.

After the event Phillip Atondo let us know that his "Team Losi Racing vehicles worked great all weekend and I want to thank all my teammates for the help and the great team effort! Motorama was a great event and can't wait to go back next year!”

Latest race new from Kyosho:

This month's featured track in RC Car Magazine, The Winter Race Place, saw over 70 entries on January 23, 2010. The Winter Race Place is located just a few miles outside of Joplin, MO and drivers from Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas showed up to make this club race one to remember.

Kyosho team driver Mike Jackson TQ'd all three classes entered including: 2WD buggy running a Kyosho RB5 SP, 1/8 nitro buggy running a Kyosho MP9, as well as 1/8 nitro truggy running a Kyosho STRR. In 2wd buggy Jackson's RB5 SP handled flawlessly and was one of the few able to get the drive to clear the big triple, enabling Jackson to take the win.

2WD BUGGY

1. Mike Jackson - TQ - RB5 SP
2. David Myers
3. Shane Patzer

For the first time since opening back in October, T.W.R.P started its nitro classes with an inverted starting order, which put the TQ, Jackson, in last place on the grid. Truggy started out with Alan Watson taking the early lead. At around the 10 minute Mark Watson surrendered the lead to Jackson and he never looked back putting a lap on the entire field.

EXPERT TRUGGY

1. Mike Jackson - TQ - Inferno STRR
2. Jeff Phifer
3. Alan Watson

In buggy it was a different story, the first few laps were harsh on the entire field except for Losi driver Sean Thomas. Thomas got a huge lead and had almost lapped everyone halfway into the race. Once the field got sorted out the crowd was on its feet as Jackson's MP9 was crossing it up over the triple setting him perfectly for the 180 turn immediately after. It was moves like this that put Jackson back in contention for the lead. With less than a minute to go Jackson got by Thomas and won by only 3 seconds!

EXPERT BUGGY

1. Mike Jackson - TQ - Inferno MP9
2. Sean Thomas
3. Toby Brown

Latest driver news from RC Pro Products:

Latest race news from Hot Bodies:

Jesse Robbers wins buggy using HB’s all new tires!

Ve8 - Electric 1/8 Class

In the electric 1/8 class Jesse qualified 2nd, finished 1st! Even with electronic problems plaguing him all weekend Jesse was able to hold onto his lead and go on to win the race.

D8T – Nitro Truggy Class

In nitro truck Jesse qualified 2nd and finished 2nd about 10 seconds or so behind leader. Jesse had this to say, “Maifield and I were same speed or possibly Maifield slightly faster”.

In the main event Jesse came out in the top 3 along with Jared Tebo and Ryan Maifield, but lapped traffic proved to be a big problem with seemingly biased actions. With Mayfield out front and Tebo back in the third spot, Jesse was able to close in on Mayfield in the middle of the race but there was just not enough time to close the deal and Jesse settled for 2nd spot on the podium. Jesse had this to say “I drove too hard and I think I made some small mistakes too often that off-set additional speed I gained by driving harder. I also had problems with pit stops."

D8 – Nitro Buggy

In nitro buggy Jesse Qualified 3rd and finished 1st, “I had 2 laps or so on 2nd position!” For qualifying Jesse and Ryan Maifield traded 1st position several times. In the main Jesse was able to drive better pace/average lap time and less mistakes so made a big gap to Maifield in 2nd position. Good clean driving combined with good clean pit stops made for an easy win, congratulations Jesse Robbers!

HB – Tires

Quite a few non HB drivers were spotted using HB Megabite tires, in both buggy and truggy. Jesse used HB tires all weekend and proved they can win over all the established tire companies!

Latest race news from Losi:

This past weekend was the third round of the AMA Supercross Series at Angel's Stadium in Anaheim, CA. Losi drivers Adam Drake and Mike Truhe attended the event to show their support for the Rockstar/Canidae/Suzuki team. Losi presented Rockstar/Canidae/Suzuki team driver Tommy Hahn with a Losi 1/10 Strike Short Course Truck to keep him occupied during his off time.

The Rockstar/Canidae/Suzuki team did not see the results they were hoping for as championship contender Ryan Morais was injured during the first heat of the race. Everyone at Losi would like to wish Ryan a fast and full recovery.

Latest race news from Kyosho:

The 2010 CRCRC Winter Mid-West Electric Championships were held January 16-17 in Columbus, Ohio.

This years event had an amazing 440 entries, including some of the Nations best. Factory Drivers like: Jared Tebo, Ryan Cavalieri, Cody King, Dusting Evans, Dakotah Phend, Matt Chambers and Jesse Robbers were all in attendance, just to name a few.

Open practice was held on Thursday and Friday. Saturday would consist of 3 rounds of qualifying. Sunday would run 1 round of qualifying, followed by triple A-Mains. The drivers best 2 of 4 rounds were used to determine the overall qualifying order.

After qualifying was complete, it was Kyosho's Jared Tebo who was TQ in all 3 Modified Classes!

In the 2WD Modified Class, Jared took full advantage of his TQ position and went on to win the 1st and 2nd A-Mains to take home his 1st title fro the weekend. Congrats goes out to Kyosho Drivers: Jesse Robers and Cody King for making the A-Main with their Kyosho RB5 SP's! Kyosho America Team Manager Joe Pillars just barely missed the A-Main by qualifying 11th overall.

2WD Modified Overall Finishing Order

1. Jared Tebo (TQ) Kyosho RB5 SP
2. Ryan Cavalieri
3. Dustin Evans
4. Steven Hartson
5. Matt Chambers
6. Jesse Robbers Kyosho RB5 SP
7. JP Richards
8. Dakotah Phend
9. Cody King Kyosho RB5 SP
10. Johnny Loguidice

In the Modified Truck Class, Jared would have a great battle with AE's Ryan Cavalieri. Tebo held off a hard charging Cavalieri to take home his 2nd title of the weekend by winning A-Main 1 and 1. Congrats also goes out to Kyosho Drivers: Cody King, Al Horne and Max Flurer for making the A-Main!

Truck Modified Overall Finishing Order

1. Jared Tebo (TQ) Kyosho RT5
2. Ryan Cavalieri
3. Dakotah Phend
4. Dustin Evans
5. Cody King Kyosho RT5
6. Al Horne Kyosho RT5
7. Matt Chambers
8. Max Flurer
9. Brandon Rohde
10. Josh Stough

In the 4WD Modified Class, Tebo and Cavalieri would go at it once again. In A-Main 1, Cavalieri took home the wind with Tebo in a close second. In A-Main 2 Tebo took the wind and Cavalieri finished 2nd. So 4WD Modified would be the only class that would come down to the 3rd and final A-Main. Tebo drove perfect to take home the win in A-Main 3 to complete his 1st ever Sweep of all three Modified Classes at one event!

4WD Modified Overall Finishing Order

1. Jared Tebo (TQ) Kyosho Lazer ZX-5 FS
2. Ryan Cavalieri
3. Dustin Eveans
4. Brent Thielke
5. Dakotah Phend
6. Steven Hartson
7. Brandon Rohde
8. Mike Gay
9. Dustin Richards
10 Dan Griffin

Latest race news from Losi:

Team Losi Racing burned up the track at the 2010 Chili Bowl Jr. dirt oval race, run in conjunction with the 24th Annual Chili Bowl which is the biggest Midget race in the world. With over 220 entries the Dirt Late Model class was the largest with 70 entries including many of the fastest racers in the country. The Team Losi Racing L8IGHT Model was used by different drivers to Top Qualify each of the three qualifying rounds.

The A-Main saw 9 of the 10 finalists driving the L8IGHT Model. L8IGHT Model drivers Gary Guffey (TX), Josh Hudson(IL), and Matt Murphy(CA) made it a 1-2-3 Losi sweep to finish off the week long race event. In addition to the great drive by the Texan, Gary Guffey, was the drive by Matt Murphy who raced his way into the A-Main getting a third place finish after bumping up from the C and B mains by finishing at the front. Matt used a Losi 350 Engine, as used in the Losi RTR’s.

Congratulations go out to all the racers as well as the organizers for putting on a great show for the overflow crowd.

1. Gary Guffey - L8IGHT
2. Jason Hudson - L8IGHT / Dynamite /Spektrum
3. Matt Murphy - L8IGHT / LOSI 350
5. Doug Gaut - L8IGHT / Dynamite /Spektrum
6. Eugene Ryder - L8IGHT / Spektrum
7. Ralph Walters - L8IGHT / Dynamite /Spektrum
8. Lars Johnson - L8IGHT / Dynamite /Spektrum
9. Lee Morrison - L8IGHT / Dynamite /Spektrum
10. Michael Shackelford - L8IGHT /Spektrum

Photo courtesy of Chris K. at RC Driver Magazine

Latest race news from HPI:

January 17, 2010
Columbus Radio Control Racing Club Midwest Championships

Jesse Robbers wins Modified SCT class with HPI Blitz.

Latest race news from Team Associated:

The third leg of the NEGS (Northeast Grand Slam Series) was held the weekend of January 16-17 in at Tri-State Hobbies in Cincinnati, Ohio. Having missed the second leg of the series, I had some extra pressure to do well now that I had already used my one throw-out.

Friday was practice all day and early on I was very happy with both my TC5R and 12R5.1. Along with Paul Ciccarello, I was setting some of the fastest lap times in both Pro Rubber class and Pro 1/12 Class. Chris Goetz was also showing some early speed and was turning some fast laps with his Schumacher car in the rubber class.

Three rounds of qualifying were scheduled for Saturday. At the end of the day, I had secured TQ in both the Rubber Touring Car and 1/12 classes with a comfortable five-second lead in TC and six seconds in 1/12.

The last round of qualifying and the mains were scheduled for Sunday. In the last round, I made a minor change to my TC5R and during the warm-up lap, I knew it was going to be a good round! I improved my overnight TQ by a little over two seconds to secure TQ with Chris Goetz in second, Paul Ciccarello in third, and Robbie Dodge in fourth. In the last 1/12 qualifier, I ran fresh tires for the first time; and it was the right way to go. My car did not get loose halfway through the run like it did with rerun tires so I was able to improve my time by five seconds. After qualifying was over, I was TQ with Steve Radecky in second, Mike Pulfer in third, and Paul Ciccarello in fourth.

The A Mains went just as well as qualifying. In TC I took off at the start with Chicky taking the second spot from Goetz early in the race. While they fought for position, I had a clear track in front of me which allowed me to extend my lead. I was able to maintain the gap and win the main. Craig Xavier finished second with Chris Goetz in third, and Paul Ciccarello in fourth after a big crash on the last lap.

In the 1/12 Pro A Main, the tone sounded and two laps in I lost the lead after hitting a turn marshal in the middle of the track. Mike Pulfer went by into the lead with Chicky right behind me. We ran like this for about four laps until Pulfer made a mistake and I took the lead again. Chicky stayed close to me the entire race but I was able to hold him off and take the win. Paul Ciccarello finished in second with Aaron Buran in third.

Products used:

#30105 TC5R FT Touring Car
#LRP80710 LRP SPX Stock Spec ESC
#4019 12R5.1 FT 1/12 Car
#LRP50842 LRP X-12 Stock Spec 13.5 Motor
#709 Reedy 5000mAh 35C 7.4V LiPo Battery
#719 Reedy 4600mAh 40C 3.7V LiPo Battery

Latest race news from Kyosho:

Round 3 of the Electric Championship Tour (ECT) was hosted by Mike's R/C World in Bellingham, WA.

The city of Bellingham is about as far north you can go while still being in the United States, located about 20 miles south of the Canadian border.

The track was open on Friday for practice, followed by Saturday for racing consisting of 2 qualifiers and triple A-Mains. There were a total of 167 entries for this event, making it the 2nd biggest turnout of the year so far. The ECT is an 8-race off-road series that visits 4 different tracks in the North-West over a 5 month period. The track layout was very technical with a hi-traction surface that allowed some racer to even run slicks. At the end of the day, it was Kyosho taking home 7 out of a possible 8 classes!



Pictured from Left to Right:

Andy DiBrino- Winner of the Stock Truck Class / Kyosho RT5
Brian Munn - Winner of the Super Stock Buggy Class / Kyosho RB5 SP
Joe Pillars - Winner of the 2WD Modified Buggy Class / Kyosho RB5 SP
Shaun Dunlap - Winner of the Modified Truck Class / Kyosho RT-5
Jesse Munn - Winner of the Super Stock 4WD Class / Kyosho Lazer ZX5 FS
Daniel Lee - Winner of the Stock Buggy Class / Kyosho RB5 SP
Daniel Lee - Winner of the Super Stock Truck Class / Kyosho RT5

Latest race news from Losi:

The Nitro Pit hosted Round 2 of the Arizona Championship. Losi drivers Autie Bender, Billy Fischer, Casey Peck, Chris Wheeler and Varek Wright competed at the event with their Team Losi Racing 8IGHT 2.0 Buggies and 8IGHT-T 2.0 Truggies.

In the Expert Buggy class Billy Fischer was the Top Qualifier and went on to take first place, with teammates Casey Peck finishing in second and Chris Wheeler finishing in third. The 8IGHT 2.0 buggy race roller was used to capture the top six positions in the class.

In the Expert Truggy class Billy Fischer was again the Top Qualifier. The A-Main resulted in Billy finishing in first place, Casey in second and Chris taking third place.

In the Intermediate Buggy class Autie Bender finished the main in first place, and Varek Wright finished in second. This race was Autie’s second win in a row for his class.

Latest race news from NAMBA:

OPC 1st Dave Newland, 2nd Mike Ball (also a new Record), 3rd Bill Oxidean

LSO 1st Doug Twaits Jr, 2nd Dave Newland, 3rd Ken Joye

Q Mono, 1st Ken Haines, 2nd Mike Martin, 3rd Doug Twaits Jr

P Hydro, 1st Doug Twaits Jr, 2nd Randy Naylor, 3rd Dave Newland

Ult Offshore, 1st Doug Twaits Jr, 2nd Ken Haines, 3rd Mike Paganelli

Production, 1st Ken Haines, 2nd Marc Cerankowski, 3rd Chuck Crawford

10th Scale, 1st Sean Cordova. 2nd Chuck Alarid, 3rd Rod Sanata

Concour's 10th scale Rod Sanata

P Offshore, 1st Doug Twaits Jr, 2nd Dave Newland, 3rd Ken Haines

N2 Offshore, 1st Dave Newland, 2nd Doug Peterson, 3rd Ken Haines

N2 Sport, 1st Ken Haines, 2nd Dave Newland, 3rd Mike Ball

Q Offshore, 1st Mike Paganelli, 2nd Mike Martin, 3rd Doug Twaits Jr

P Spec Hydro, 1st Doug Twaits Jr, 2nd Alan Nayman, 3rd Howard Tucker

P Mono, 1st Doug Twaits Jr, 2nd Dave Newland, 3r Larry Jaques

LSH 1st Doug Twaits Jr. (N/A), 2nd Mike Ball (UL-1), 3rd Terry Davis (Whiplash)

8th Scale, 1st Alan Nayman, 2nd Steve Reesor, 3rd Eddie Hansen

Q Sport Hydro, 1st Terry Davis, 2nd Mike Paganelli, 3rd Fred Siewert

N2 Mono, 1st Dave Newland, 2nd Doug Twaits Jr, 3rd Larry Jaques

Ultimate Sprint, 1st Ken Haines, 2nd Mike Martin, 3rd Mike Paganelli

N2 Hydro, 1st Mike Paanelli, 2nd Doug Twaits Jr, 3rd Joe Kazmierski

P Sport Hydro, 1st Randy Naylor, 2nd Larry Jaques, 3rd Sean Cordova

N1 Mono, 1st Bill Oxidean, 2nd Tom Costello, 3rd Jay Stolz

T Hydro, 1st Howard Tucker, 2nd Mike Paganelli, 3rd Ken Joye

Q Hydro, 1st Doug Twaits Jr, 2nd Mike Martin, 3rd Ken Haines

Winners of the 2009 Michigan Cup Team RumRunner: Doug Twaits Jr, Mike Paganelli, and Mike Martin

High Points Winner DOUG TWAITS Jr 8392.25 points (unofficial)

Latest driver news from RC Pro Products:

Latest driver news from Caster Racing USA:

Jonathan Hernandez has been promoted to West Coast Team Manager for the 2010 season for Caster Racing USA. Jonathan has proven his capabilities on and off the track to not only represent himself as a good leader and strong racer, but a person who is beginning to build a west coast division that will be a force for the other manufacturers to deal with in the next several months. Jonathan has helped with some of the research and development of the Fusion line and has also gained respect for the Caster name out in the California area. Mike Mazza was quoted as saying that Jonathan is perfect for the position because he is fast on the track and is one of the first guys to help out at the track and also showcase our products in a positive light. I have even gotten some calls from people representing other brands saying he has brought Caster to their attention and they were surprised as to how far forward we have moved the ball in the past year.

Earlier this year, Jonathan went to the 2nd annual Labor Day Shootout and won the dash for cash against most of the big names in rc. http://sites.google.com/site/riverfr...rday-shootout-

Recently, he was at the Turkey shootout at NorCal and was on the podium. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SUNycc02PI We know that he will just keep getting better for the 2010 season and he is working on growing the west coast to be big. So if you think you have what it takes and you live west of the Mississippi River, contact Jonathan Hernandez.

Latest race news from JConcepts:

Event: 2009 JConcepts Clash
Location: Lake Park – Lutz, Florida
Date: December 11-13, 2009
Reporter: JConcepts Team

JConcepts and Ryan Maifield, JR Mitch and JP Richards win at 2009 Clash.

The 3rd annual JConcepts Clash kicked off at Lake Park in Lutz, Florida and the competition was hot and heavy as drivers from all over came to the hottest off-road event in Florida 3 years running. The event started off very slowly with consistent rain on Thursday, severely limiting the practice on the quick and technical track layout. As Friday came, the rains and weather disappeared but the conditions were still rather damp and the usually high bite surface was now a slick groove. Friday morning, drivers were eager to practice and attacked the track trying to find the hottest driving lines and setups.

JConcepts tires, wheels, bodies and accessories had the hot hand all weekend as JR Mitch started things off with in the Modified Truck class with TQ and placing his T4 truck in the prime position for the A-main. Although a control tire race in the 1/10th modified classes, Jared Tebo and JR Mitch TQ’ed the 2wd modified, 4wd modified and truck modified classes running the Double Dees combination.

Ryan Maifield, the defending 1/8th buggy champion put his stamp on the 1/8th truck class by TQ’ing in convincing fashion on the newly released Sevens in Blue compound. Ryan also placed his RC8b in striking distance by qualifying in the second position with the brand new Double Dees V2 tire. JR Mitch with his freshly built RC8e TQ’ed the electric 1/8th buggy class utilizing the Subcultures tire in blue compound.

Sunday was main day as drivers carefully evaluated the conditions and made changes to steadily changing surface and elements. JR Mitch used the TQ position in the Modified Truck class to his advantage and won A-main #1 and #3 wrapping up his 3rd consecutive modified truck Clash title.

Ryan Maifield and Jared Tebo staged an epic battle in the 2wd modified class with Maifield winning A-main # 2 and 3 to clinch the title. Ryan and Jared chose the JConcepts Bar Codes in blue compound in A-main #3 to do battle on the super blue groove afternoon conditions. Ryan Maifield posted the quickest lap in any of the 2wd A-mains in A-3 with a 27.172.

In the 2wd Super Stock Class 2nd qualifier JP Richards mounted a fresh set of Bar Codes in blue compound for the 10 minute A-main and held a tight battle with TQ Leon McIntosh. JP pulled a comfortable lead with only a few minutes to go but made a mistake allowing Leon to move in for a pass and they raced side by side. Coming onto the straight away JP had the inside line but touched wheels with Leon sending him into the pit lane wall. JP finished off the last lap adding another title to his already impressive list of racing wins.

1/8th truck TQ Ryan Maifield held a close battle with early leader JR Mitch throughout the A-main but while leading with 45 seconds to go a screw backed out jamming the rear brake assembly forcing him out early. Ryan Cavalieri was right in position to take advantage and pick up the win with JConcepts driver JR Mitch finishing in the 2nd position. 6 out of 10 drivers in the A-main were running JConcepts tires, wheels and bodies.

1/8th buggy TQ Jared Tebo had a magnificent start with 2nd qualifier Ryan Maifield holding down the 2nd spot. Ryan made an uncharacteristic mistake allowing Ryan Cavalieri and JR Mitch to move by into 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Cavalieri was on the hunt and actually caught Tebo and made a move toward the end of the race and took over race lead with only a few laps to go. Ryan made a mistake in the rhythm jump section and Tebo quickly drove by and finished off the last several laps on his way to another impressive weekend taking the overall win. Ryan Cavalieri would finish 2nd and JR Mitch would finish 3rd. 5 out of 10 drivers in the A-main were running JConcepts tires, wheels and bodies.

Photos courtesy of: Hot Bodies / RedRC.net

Latest race news from Team Checkpoint:

KO Grand Prix
West Coast RC Raceway
California
December 12-13, 2009

The KO Grand Prix, held this past weekend, marked Barry Baker’s first race after returning to Team Checkpoint. He and the brand had already won three national titles together and really wanted to make a statement. Mission accomplished!

Baker took his Team Checkpoint 5.5 Modified Brushless Motor to the front of all four qualifying rounds, beating out some of the best drivers in the country including a world finalist. When the A mains rolled around, Baker made quick work of the field — the A1 and A2 wins were no problem.

In the hotly contested 13.5 class, Baker picked up right where he left off in modified. First he took the TQ with his Team Checkpoint 13.5 Spec Brushless Motor. In a spec class where every ounce of power makes a difference, Baker had full confidence in his Team Checkpoint 5000 LiPo batteries.

Like a broken record, Baker laid it down in A1 and A2 to take the overall win. Then he got to sit back in stands with a hot dog and Coke to watch them duke it out for the first loser position.

Congratulations to Barry Baker and Team Checkpoint for truly making a statement!

Latest race news from the International RC Speed Challenge:

Latest race news from Kyosho:

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, Adam Rayls and Ben Ellis attended the 13th Annual Illinois State Race, at Rectors RC Raceway in Alboin IL.

On Saturday was Stock Class Day, Adam was able to secure the TQ and win in the stock truck class. He was also able to get the TQ in stock buggy and finished 3rd. In stock 4WD, Adam qualified 2nd and finished 2nd.

On Sunday for Mod Day, Ben Ellis was able to grab the TQ in 2wd Mod, Adam qualified second. Adam got TQ in Mod truck, Ben qualified 2nd. Adam qualified second and Ben Ellis qualified third. In the mains Adam was able to get out to and early lead in all three classes and couldn't be passed. Adam went on to sweep all three classes in the Mains. Ben Ellis finished 2nd in 2WD and 4WD.

Stock Truck:

1. TQ Adam Rayls Kyosho RT5
2. Gary Fanning AE
3. Craig Karcher AE

Stock Buggy:

1. Jacob Robins AE
2. Chris Shieldsmith Hot Bodies
3. TQ Adam Rayls Kyosho RB5-SP

Stock 4WD:

1. TQ Jacob Robins AE
2. Adam Rayls Kyosho Lazer ZX5-FS
3. Chris Shieldsmith Hot Bodies

Mod Truck:

1. TQ Adam Rayls Kyosho RT5
2. Jacob Robins AE
3. Robbie Cold AE

2WD Mod:

1. Adam Rayls Kyosho RB5-SP
2. TQ Ben Ellis Kyosho RB5-SP
3. Chris Shieldsmth Hot Bodies

4WD Mod:

1. Adam Rayls Kyosho Lazer ZX5-FS
2. Ben Ellis Kyosho Lazer ZX5-FS
3. TQ Jacob Robins AE

Latest race news from Traxxas:

Race Report by Steve Slayden

2009 RC Pro Series International Finals
Diamond W Arena - Alvarado, TX

Each year, the RC Pro International Finals wraps up the racing season at an exciting venue on a large, national-caliber track. This year, all of the qualifying drivers from their respective regions and countries gathered at the Diamond W events arena to compete for the overall international title in their respective classes. This year’s finals pulled in nearly 250 entries and treated the racers to brutal track conditions on a large 250ft+ layout. I attended the Finals with the goal of earning Traxxas a sixth RC Pro national title, while helping my fellow Traxxas racers out with their setup and tuning so they could put in their best performance too.

Monster trucks ran in the Pro Mod Truck class, with nitro and electric trucks running together. R/C Pro also held Slash exhibition races on a shortened version of the full track layout. This provided lots of close racing action between the drivers and was a ton a fun. Practice and qualifying took place during the week for racers to set final tweak to their rigs before the big show on Saturday. The Pro Mod class ran four 10-min qualifiers plus a 45-min main while the Slash class consisted of 3 5-min qualifiers plus a 7-min main. All of the Slash races were held throughout the program on Saturday. Let’s check out the action.

Pro Mod Truck Qualifying

Qualifying kicked off on a surprisingly smooth layout for the first round. The track was blowing out pretty badly during practice in the days prior. However, I knew this wouldn’t last for long. I wanted to take advantage of the good track conditions by putting up a solid fast run. Fortunately, it worked out as I TQ'd the first round with the only 11-lap run. The track was much bumpier for the next round and finding smooth lines became very important. I managed another consistent round and turned in another TQ run.

The third round started to get change things up a bit as David Johnson’s brushless-powered E-Revo set the fastest time, giving him the TQ for the round. David was fast in all of the rounds and was starting to put together consistent laps. If David were to TQ one more round, the tie-breaker would come down to the third best round of each driver. Technical difficulties knocked me out of the race in the third round, so I knew I would have to put in a solid finish in the fourth round to have a chance at the overall TQ.

By the fourth round, the track was absolutely insane. Navigating around the huge potholes and picking the right lines on each jump became incredibly difficult. The punishing conditions managed to pull a rod end off of a pushrod, which took my truck out of contention. But my Revo was not the only Traxxas truck in the fight. David Johnson and Mike Battaile were battling on the clock with just seconds between them for most of the race. Mike eventually secured the win and TQ with his Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition. This actually locked me in with the overall TQ. I came into the finals behind several drivers in points, but the extra points acquired from the TQ put me right there with everyone going into the main. It was going to be a great race in the Main as half of the field actually had a shot at the title.

Pro Mod Qualifying Results

01. Steve Slayden Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
02. Mike Battaile Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
03. David Johnson E-Revo Brushless Edition
04. Christian Blake E-Revo Brushless Edition
05. Paul Gaertner E-LST
06. Ricky Johnston E-Revo Brushless Edition
07. Gunnar Rieck Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
08. Jerry Graff
09. Ron Anderson Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
10. Tim Roberts Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
11. Jeff Felty E-Revo Brushless Edition
12. Bob Sydow Revo 3.3
13. Ron Wall E-Revo Brushless Edition
14. Matt Sistrunk Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition

Pro Mod Truck A-Main

The track was in horrible shape as the trucks gridded for the Main. Only a few of the jumps were possible and there were huge potholes and ruts in every corner. The race was scheduled for 45 minutes, so making the truck last was key. The race started pretty smoothly with Mike Battaile and I leading the way. Paul Gaertner and Tim Roberts (3-time RC Pro Champion) quickly made their way up to the front just behind me as Battaile fell back a few spots. I knew Tim was going to be a handful so started to step it up a little bit. Tim and I were eventually battling for the lead. The jump faces were horrible but a few of the jumps simply had to be cleared in order to keep pace. Tim caught a rut on the off-camber turn and flipped his truck over. I snuck past him on the inside to take the lead back, and trouble found Tim again as his engine flamed out from the tumble. This gave me some breathing room, but it wasn’t nearly over yet. The fast pack was still right behind me and I knew that a couple of the electric trucks would only have to pit one time, while I would have to make four stops. About halfway through the race, my truck started torque-steering very badly to the left under acceleration and also under braking. This was making it very difficult to drive fast and many areas of the track. I was afraid of getting caught and having to push the truck harder than what it was capable of handling. Meanwhile, David Johnson had Gunnar Rieck had made their way into third and fourth place respectively. David was gaining on me quickly as my average lap time suffered by nearly two seconds a lap. David and I swapped the lead over the next 10 minutes or so, until he had to come into the pits for a battery swap. He managed to hang onto second place, but dropped back over 20 seconds behind me as I kept making consistent laps. With only 15 minutes left in the race, I had one more pit to go. David passed me just as I was exiting pit lane. I caught him and we battled back and forth until I was able to stretch a two-corner lead on him, but the effort was unnecessary as David lost power, ending his race prematurely. This allowed Gunnar and Ron Anderson to slip into second and third place respectively, and that's how we finished. I managed to hold onto a two-lap lead at the end with Gunnar locking in second place while Ron would secure third. Bob Sydow and Ron Wall rounded out the top five with fourth and fifth.

Pro Mod Truck A-Main Results

01. Steve Slayden Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
02. Gunnar Rieck Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
03. Ron Anderson Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
04. Bob Sydow Revo 3.3
05. Ron Wall E-Revo Brushless Edition
06. Paul Gaertner E-LST
07. Mike Battaile Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
08. Christian Blake E-Revo Brushless Edition
09. David Johnson E-Revo Brushless Edition
10. Ricky Johnston E-Revo Brushless Edition
11. Jeff Felty E-Revo Brushless Edition
12. Jerry Graff
13. Tim Roberts Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition
14. Matt Sistrunk Revo 3.3 Platinum Edition

Slash Main

Qualifying for the Slash event was basically for getting the track down and getting a final setup for the Main. Qualifying position didn’t matter as the field was lined up side-by-side for an MX-style start. The 7-minute Main started off with the entire field roosting the off the line, banging fenders all the way. After the first few corners, David Johnson, Tim Roberts, Mike Battaile and I led the way. Mike, Tim and I eventually broke away and began battling for first. After the halfway mark, Mike Battaile started to develop a solid lead while Tim and James Christopher battled for second place and I fell back to fourth. Mike Battaile held on for the win with Tim Roberts finishing second and James finishing third.

Slash A-Main Results

01. Mike Battaile
02. Tim Roberts
03. James Christopher
04. Steve Slayden
05. Jason Fiock
06. Spencer Wall
07. Chris Haldeman
08. Kelly Lillard
09. David Johnson
10. Unknown
11. Sean Smith
12. Ron Wall

Thanks to RC Pro for hosting another great season of series racing. The track was very challenging and the race program ran flawlessly. They worked their tails off and it was a great event. Thanks again to the entire RC Pro crew and to Diamond W to putting on an awesome show. Most importantly, I want to thank all who have not only supported, but also participated in the Pro Mod class this season. I’ve met a lot of great people in this hobby of ours and look forward to meeting many, many more. See ya!
—Steve Slayden

Latest race news from Losi:

The First Annual King of the Desert Championships was held at Phoenix AZ's newest nitro facility, ET Motopark. Losi drivers Autie Bender, Trevor Clement and Chris Wheeler participated at the event with their 8IGHT 2.0 Buggies and 8IGHT-T 2.0 Truggies.

Chris TQ'd the Expert Buggy and Truggy classes, and went on to take the win in the Expert Buggy A-Main. Trevor finished in first place in the Expert Truggy A-Main. Twelve-year old Autie took the win in the Intermediate Buggy A-Main; this was also his first race with his new 8IGHT 2.0 Buggy. All three drivers were running Losi's Nitrotane Fuel in their vehicles.

Congratulations to each driver on their outstanding performance!

Latest race news from Losi:

The 2009 Sidewinder Nitro Explosion was hosted by Thunder Alley. The track featured several technical jumps, rhythm sections and a challenging set of downhill studder bumps. Several Losi drivers attended the event including Phillip Atondo, Matt Castellano, Kevin Gahan, Levi Jackson, Casey Peck, Mike Truhe and Clint Wachter.

Drivers competed in the 1/8 Expert Nitro Buggy class with their 8IGHT 2.0 Buggy Race Rollers, the 1/8 Expert Truggy class with their 8IGHT-T 2.0 Truggy Race Rollers, and the 1/8 Electric Buggy class with their 8IGHT-E 2.0 Buggy Race Rollers.

In the Expert Buggy class Mike Truhe was the top qualifier and finished in first place in the A-Main. Mike equipped his buggy with the new Team Orion CRF .21 Mike Truhe Edition Ceramic Buggy Engine, Losi's Green Compound 450 Series Eclipse Tires and Nitrotane fuel. Matt Castellano finished the A-Main in fourth place and Clint Wachter finished in eighth place.

In the Expert Truggy class Mike Truhe was again the top qualifier and achieved a first place finish in the A-Main. Mike was running Nitrotane fuel in his truggy. Matt Castellano finished the A-Main in fourth place, Phillip Atondo finished in eighth and Kevin Gahan finished in tenth.

In the Electric Buggy class A-Main Mike Truhe took his third first place win for the day, with Casey Peck taking a spot on the podium in third place. Both Mike and Casey were running Xcelorin Brushless Motors and ESCs in their buggies.

Congratulations to the Losi team for their outstanding success and performance!

Latest race news from JConcepts:

Event: Super Cup – Fall Series – Round #3
Date: October 24, 2009
Race Reporter: Jason Ruona

SmugMug photo gallery

It was time for a new twist in the Super Cup as we headed into Round 3. Extreme Hobby Zone in Winter Haven is a new stop on the Super Cup series and I have to say I’m pretty excited. Hobby Zone presented us with a smaller track than we are used to but right away I noticed that it made for extremely competitive racing. Qualifiers and drivers were separated by very little which made every lap so important.

Our trip started with getting packed up and making the 1 hour drive to Winter Haven. We were ready and when we arrived the track was already about 75% ready to go. Paul jumped out onto the track and started directing some jump building while I parked the trailer. We had a new eager racer Austin Blankenship and his father who were also helping with the track and Austin’s dad helped with backing up the trailer.

Once the trailer was in position it was time to unpack and start a little practice. I bummed a couple practice laps from Sherwin and others. Track was fun and my buggy was now charged and ready. Double Dees in the rear and groovy's in the front were the dialed setup early. Everything felt good and I was ready for Saturday.

Friday night we met up with Rich Muller at Longhorn and once again Paul and I both had the parmesan crusted chicken. Pretty good stuff!

After dinner we hit the local hangout, Jessie’s. Jessie’s is the local bar that has an assortment of games and to our delight, Craig Lowe and Rich taught Paul and I a new game called sand shuffle board. I was disappointed that this didn’t require any R/C car knowledge or ability but I thought I would give it a shot anyways. J After some practice Paul and I got the hang of things and we were quite competitive. I believe Craig and Rich will be looking for a re-match pretty soon. Ha-ha

Saturday morning we set-up our pits and looked over the track and helped arriving drivers get sorted. The race appeared to be a great turnout and I believe this is a great facility for our Super Cup events. I got the B4 ready and hit the track for a morning practice run again with my Double Dees rear tires and Groovy fronts. I was happy with the balance and I figured with the track drying out the vehicle was only going to get better.

In qualifying it appeared that Gary Fulp was again running quick in the 2wd stock class and Tim Moon and Scott Delfino were running strong once again in stock truck. Short course truck featured Malcolm Stewart putting in some quick runs and JR Mitch turned it on in Modified short course and set TQ.

In the modified classes I was able to set a very quick first round in the 2wd modified class with the only 16 lapper in the first round. Paul was a close 2nd with 15 / 6:03. Zack Genova really put down a super run as well in 2wd modified and almost tied Paul on time at 15 / 6:03. Awesome run Zack!

In the truck modified class Paul Wynn put in an excellent run and was able to take TQ utilizing his run from round 1. JR Mitch and Sherwin Diaz also put in great qualifiers with JR sitting in the 2nd position and Sherwin in the 3rd spot.

4wd modified was a little more difficult at first because the track became really bumpy and it took some track time to determine exactly the racing line of choice. By round 2 I was pretty confident where to drive my buggy and put in a quick run with 16 / 6:03, almost getting the elusive 17 lap run. Mike Barone with a great first round qualified in the 2nd position with Ryan Eckert in 3rd.

It was track maintenance time and everything was coming together for the main events. The Calcium was setting in quite nicely courtesy of Andy Ousley of Outta Control Raceway and it looked like Hobby Zone was ready to blue groove. I got a fresh set of Double Dees mounted and ready to go for the 2wd main and I was ready to go. I planned on using the same set on the 4wd so I was hoping to not burn them up to quickly in the 2wd main.

As the horn went off Paul and I were side by side and I wasn’t feeling very comfortable and Paul squeezed by and into the lead. By lap 2 I was right behind Paul looking to make a move and by about lap 3 I had taken the lead and was feeling good. The race for 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th was heating up quickly between Paul, Andrew, Ryan Eckert and Leon. At about 4 minutes in I thought I had the race in control and was in cruise control and the buggy felt good.

Just when I started getting comfortable I crashed at the end of the straight-away which cost me a few seconds. Ok, no big deal just one crash, oh wait I crashed at the end of the straight-away again. This was getting ridiculous! Ryan Eckert pulled up on the back of me and was within striking distance. Settling back into a groove, I thought, ok time to re-group a little bit. It was a little too late as I was in a crashing rhythm and crashed through the moguls. Ryan took the lead. I drove a frustrated 2 laps rather punched and pulled in right behind him as we entered the last lap. I made a “go for it move” at the end of the straight-away (apparently my favorite place) and stuck it into the pipe. Paul cruised around on the outside to take over second and Ryan Eckert took a well deserved win.

I took my turn marshaling position in the corner and watched the stock truck A-main. Scott “the madman” Delfino was the TQ with Tim Moon in 2nd. This was one of the best races of the weekend. Scott held the lead temporality but Tim the “veteran master” moved his way slowly into the lead. Scott put in several clean quick laps at the end and moved to within 2 seconds of Tim however it was not going to be enough. Tim Moon takes the win with Scott Delfino in 2nd.

The 2wd stock main was all Gary Fulp. For the 2nd Super Cup in a row Gary was on fire and racked up another victory. I have a feeling the points championship in 2wd stock is starting to tighten up quite a bit. Tim Moon continued his hot day with the 2nd place finish and Dave Duncan in 3rd.

The short course A-main was a battle as TQ Malcolm Stewart got hammered and severely T-boned in the first turn and dropped to last. Scott “mad man” Delfino took advantage of the early race incidents and took the lead. Scott was on a mission and checked out from the competition. Young Austin Blankenship worked his way up through the pack along with Malcolm and the 2 drivers battled in 2nd and 3rd throughout the race. Scott Delfino took the win with Malcolm Stewart finishing in 2nd and Austin Blankenship finished 3rd in just his 1st Super Cup race ever.

Modified truck TQ Paul Wynn got a good start and held the lead for several laps until a mistake put Leon McIntosh into the lead. Leon stretched his lead as JR Mitch moved into 2nd. JR was starting to get a handle on the track layout and would gain seemingly 2 seconds in 1 lap and then a bobble would cost him the time right back again. Toward the end of the race JR tightened up onto the lead and drew within a turn of Leon. JR made a small mistake allowing Leon the breathing room necessary to finish off his first win of the series. JR finished a very close 2nd with modified truck point’s leader Paul Wynn in 3rd.

I have to admit I was a little more determined in 4wd. I was a bit upset about letting go of the 2wd main and I wanted to take it out on the rest of the group in 4wd. Not in a bad way, but I just wanted to stretch the legs of the B44 and turn some good laps without mistakes. I took the tires off the rear of my B4 and put them right on my B44 for the main. Everything looked good and the track was really starting to come in traction wise.

At the tone I pulled the holeshot and Mike Barone and Ryan Eckert were close behind. It wasn’t long into the race that I heard someone say that Ryan’s switch turned off. I’m not sure what happened but I had a really big lead and I began to cruise. A conversation broke out under the driver stand about lap times. I felt obligated to turn on the jets for a lap and throw down a hero lap in the main. With a sizeable lead I took off for a hero lap and ended up turning a 21.2. I wanted a 20, but, hey I will take it. Ryan made a hard charge to the end and made up a lot of time and got into the 2nd position. In the end I took the win with Ryan Eckert in 2nd.

Modified short course was the last race of the day. JR Mitch looked great in qualifying and seemed to be very comfortable with his JConcepts equipped SC10 and Goose Bumps tires. In the main JR pulled a great lead with Scott Delfino in second. The middle of the race brought on a little close racing action with JR and Scott as the 2 bumped wheel to wheel several times and traded a little short course paint. JR’s quick consistent laps won out in the end and he easily took home the win with Scott Delfino in 2nd and Dan Borkowicz in 3rd.

Wrapping up I just want to thank Bobby Phillips for his work to make the Super Cup Series a success along with the Extreme Hobby Zone crew on a well hosted event. I’m looking forward to round 4 at Coral Springs on November 21st.









 

Latest race news from the Team Associated:

2009 R/C Pro Series Finals
Diamond W Arena, Alvarado, TX
Nov. 3-8, 2009

From regional entrants all over the country, the R/C Pro Finals brings together racers from nine different regions including the hotbeds like the South, East, and the top Pros from the West division. Racers accumulate points in their region and then take those points to the Finals in Alvarado, TX to compete against each other for the overall championship.

Team Associated's Ryan Cavalieri, racing out of the West division, traveled to the Lone Star state in hopes of claiming a double victory with his RC8B and RC8T. With only two opportunities to score points for the finale, Cavalieri came in to the event down on points to others who competed in multiple or weaker divisions than the "Pro" heavy, West division.

Throughout qualifying, Cavalieri was right on pace with the other top racers and qualified third in Pro Arena Truck and second in Pro Buggy. While racing for the lead in Pro Arena Truck, Cavalieri came up just a few feet short of the finish line on his pit-in lap and unfortunately ran out of fuel. Going almost two laps down in the middle of the race, Cavalieri continued and a late race flame-out from third place allowed Cavalieri to finish third at the event and third in the overall series. Also joining Cavalieri with their RC8T's in the final were Kyle Skidmore (fifth), Derek Guidry (fourteenth) and Chad Parks (fifteenth).

In Pro Buggy, Cavalieri was well down in overall points coming in to the event and would need some major stumbles from his competitors to compete for the overall championship. Breaking away from the pack 25 minutes into the 60-minute final, Cavalieri put on a clinic showing how to seal the finals win on the ultra-difficult Diamond W Arena track. Also joining Cavalieri in the final was Kyle Skidmore (eight). Unfortunately for Cavalieri, his competition did what they had to do to secure the overall title and Cavalieri finished second overall in the series.

Congratulations to all the R/C Pro Series champions and thank you to the R/C Pro staff for a great event that challenged drivers of every skill level. Next year already looks to be bigger and better.

For more information, visit http://bit.ly/RCProFinals

Latest race news from JConcepts:

Event: 2009 JConcepts Bash
Date: October 31, 2009
Race Reporter: Paul Wynn

SmugMug photo gallery

Once again JConcepts teamed up with Extreme Hobby Zone for the 2nd Annual JConcepts Bash. Drivers from all over the State of Florida were in attendance for what proved to be some of the closest racing this year.

Friday morning we packed up the trailer and headed out to EHZ for setup and final track prep. Upon arriving we quickly noticed the track was in premiere shape as Rich and the EHZ crew did a fantastic job with the surface. We setup camp and then proceeded with the final touches to the track.

By mid/late afternoon racers started showing up for some practice. I watch a few guys run and the temptation got to me; first out was the buggy! The buggy was dialed and after about 10 minutes I decided to get the truck out for a few laps. The truck was also working well, but I would need some fresh kicks on both cars for the first round in the morning. I took some time to bench race with some of the other racers and then mounted up some tires under the lights for Saturday.

Saturday morning arrived and I was pretty excited about racing. Fred “monster truck” Reep and I had an early breakfast run to McDonalds where we witnessed someone that apparently woke up on the wrong side of the bed. This guy in front of us just finished placing his order and when the cashier handed him his cup, he proceeded to yell at her about his order being to go. She calmly said “yes sir I understand, but the drinks are self serve and your order will be bagged for take-out”. Guess it didn’t register because he looks at his cup, then back at her and again started yelling at her about his order being to go….What a Jerk!

We arrived at the track around 8:15am and the track was looking great. Halloween decorations throughout, Fred had the tunes pumping, and entries were coming in. After a few hours of open practice, everyone was ready for some qualifying action.

Qualifying got underway with stock truck opening things up. Right from the tone Ron Beabout and Chris Richmond went to battle matching times lap for lap, but after 2 rounds Ron took the TQ spot followed up by Chris.

I was up next in mod truck and the field was stacked with some great competition. From the beginning everyone was right on pace taking turns leading both heats, but in the end JR was the man on top after 2 rounds. Brett Kingsbury, Sherwin Diaz, and I rounded out the top 4.

Next up was Stock SCT and this was the biggest class with 3 heats total. The high-bite blue groove conditions proved to be very tricky for the SCT class, but it was no match for T-Bone aka Malcolm Stewart! T-Bone dominated the field taking the TQ spot in both rounds with Tyler Noel in 2nd.

2wd buggy was up next and I was looking for a little bit better effort from myself compared to mod truck. Again, the racing was super tight and the lead changed almost every lap, but the extra effort paid off and I was able to take the TQ position.

Mod short course was dominated by the Associated SC10 with JR Mitch and Andrew Moore putting on a show. After 2 rounds JR was TQ with Andrew and Matt Moiseur sitting 2nd and 3rd on the grid.

Rounding out qualifying for the day was 4wd mod. The 4wd mod class was owned by Brett Kingsbury as he went on to TQ both rounds with Sherwin Diaz and Tim Davis rounding out the top 3.

During intermission everyone gathered for the JConcepts raffle where some great prizes were won. Plenty of SCT bodies, wheels, apparel, and even a Factory Team Kit were handed out.

Time for the Main events! Stock truck got things rolling with a fantastic race between TQ Ron Beabout, Chris Richmond, and Matthew Scott. When the dust settled it was Chris taking the win followed by Ron, Matthew, and Fred “monster truck” Reep.

Stock SCT B-main was up next with David Davis leading the way. The race for 2nd and the final transfer spot was between teammates Greg Lafferty and John Stefanacci, but in the end David and Greg took the 2 transfer spots in the A-main.

1/10th Mod truck turned out to be one of the best races of the year between me and Sherwin. JR Mitch got the quick start from the TQ position, but made an early mistake allowing the entire field to go by. Sherwin took the early lead and started to pull away slightly, but a mistake by him allowed me to get right on his bumper and make the pass for the lead. For the remainder of the race Sherwin applied serious pressure, but I was able to hold on for the win with Sherwin finishing 2nd and JR taking third.

With no time for me and Sherwin to catch our breath, 1/10th buggy was up next and it turned out to be another classic battle. Now it was my turn to take the quick start from the TQ position and just give it away by catching the pipe and letting the whole field by. Sherwin and Andrew took full advantage and quickly pulled away from the field. I just strapped it up and quickly made my way back up to 3rd and set my sights on 2nd. Andrew and I had a great battle for 2nd while Sherwin was just cruising out front. Once I got by Andrew, Sherwin made a mistake and that opened the door for me to try and catch him. I pushed really hard and made up some serious ground, but just ran out o time and Sherwin took the win with me and Andrew finishing 2nd and 3rd.

Mod SCT was the JR and Andrew show once again. JR and Andrew quickly pulled away from the rest of the field and then began to battle. JR appeared to be a little quicker, but they kept it interesting swapping the lead numerous times with JR finally taking the win followed by Andrew and Matt Moiseur in 2nd and 3rd.

1/10th 4wd mod was the Kingsbury show. Brett Kingsbury took the early lead and never looked back. The race for 2nd really heated up though as Tim Davis and Sherwin swapped positions a number of times. The race finished with Brett, Tim, and Sherwin taking the top 3 in that order.

And finally the show case showdown; Stock SCT! Qualifying was dominated by Malcolm Stewart, but as everyone knows the SCT mains can get crazy. At the tone Malcolm grabbed the quick start from the TQ position and was cruising, but Tyler Noel was making his way to the front. Things really tightened up between Malcolm and Tyler as they came up on lap traffic and Tyler took advantage by taking the lead. Once in the lead Tyler began making mistakes allowing Malcolm back into the race. Malcolm stepped up the pace and took back the lead and easily pulled away. The big surprise was Craig Lowe’s charge from the back of the pack. Craig stayed super clean and ran his own race just picking up spots and finally working his way into 2nd. The final finishing order was Malcolm, Craig, and the youngster Austin Blankenship.

What a great event and thank you to all the racers that came out and supported the 2nd Annual JConcepts Bash. Also a special thanks to the EHZ crew for a great venue and the race director/music DJ Fred Reep from R/C Monster Motorsports.

Latest race news from AKA:

Team Losi's Mike Truhe had his pick of the litter with what Truggy Tires to run on his Team Losi EIGHT-T at last weekends Sidewinder Nitro Explosion. That decision however was made pretty easy during practice after Gil Losi Jr. had Mike try a set of AKA's Truggy Gridions in the all new SUPER SOFV V compound. Mike was instantly a few tenths of a second a lap quckier than he was with what he was running before trying the Super Soft Gridions.

Qualifying saw Mr. Truhe take the TQ honors rather easily with more than 6 seconds of a cushion per run.

At the sound of the A main tone Mike jumped out to an early lead and settled in after the first few laps to eventually pull away from the field. At the 30 minute mark of the 45 minute long main, Mike found himself right behind and ready to lap the 2nd and 3rd place batle. Mike eventually got by the 3rd place lapper and was about to lap second as the tone went off and he cruised home on a victory lap.

After the race we asked Mike what he thought of the AKA Truggy Gridion in the new SUPER SOFT V compound and he said. "They felt more locked in by far and at the same time were more nimble".

Congratulations to Mike Truhe on a stellar performance.

New from RC4WD:

RC4WD was on hand at the Dennis Anderson Baja Challenge on October 16th thru the 18th. It was a wet and cold weekend, but that didn't stop the die hard Baja fans from coming out and supporting this event. While we ere there RC4WD presented Dennis Anderson with one of our Bully MOA competition crawlers. We built this truck as a RTR run with most of our own electronics. We equipped Dennis with a couple 45 turn motors for some wheel speed as we knew he would want to run all out like he does behind the wheel of the ever famous Grave Digger truck. Dennis was blown away by the truck and what it could do. He was methodically planning what and where he was going to run the truck on next.

The Bully truck is a Competition build crawler. Built from the ground up with some great features.

• Our popular Bully MOA axles
• Unique V chassis design
• Delrin skid plate
• 40:1 gear ratio
• Heavy duty XVDs
• X-lock comp tires
• Aluminum beadlock wheels
• And more

This is all priced at $349.99

Part number Z-K0011

Here you can watch a small clip of Dennis trying the Bully out for the first time while his son Ryan watches on.

http://www.vimeo.com/7215922

We would like to thank both Dennis and his son Ryan for the support they have been giving the RC hobby. They have some great events at there facility in Kill Devil Hills, NC. Be sure to check them out if you are near there, or plan a trip to check there place out. www.gravedigger.com

Latest race news from Hot Bodies:

Atsushi Hara, current IFMAR World Champion, won his 3rd straight Japanese 1/8th Scale Offroad Nationals over the weekend with his Hot Bodies D8! Hara completed the hat trick in very challenging wet conditions!

Latest race news from Team Durango:

Team Durango have been sent details of the recent Australian State Titles event, held in New South Wales.

It was a quite a large event and the DEX410s did well considering the very short time the drivers had to tune their new, unfamiliar, cars.

Venom Group International www.venom-group.com (Team Durango’s distributors in Australia) generously donated a DEX410 kit to the event, meaning one more lucky racer could get their hands on the 2009 World Championship winning car.

For the first time out in Australia, it was a good result for Team Durango, especially as it allowed many people to see the cars up-close for the first time.

Latest race new from LRP:

In its U.S. debut, the LRP SPX8 brushless impressed with a 1-2 finish in the 1/8 Electric Buggy class in Round 7 of the JBRL Nitro series. Revelation Raceway, one of the largest tracks on the west coast, is definitely a power circuit. The SPX8 brushless was up to the task— devouring the long backstretch and making the long-distance jumps an afterthought.

Team Associated factory drivers Chris Jarosz and Ryan Cavalieri chose two 5000mAh batteries wired in series to create a 4S configuration to power their RC8e buggies. This versatile combination was not only powerful, but easy to drive due the SPX8’s sensored design.

As a world leader in 1:10 ESC and motor design, LRP is proud to bring winning technology to racers in the growing 1:8 Electric Off-Road racing category.


Products used:

LRP80780 LRP SPX8 ESC
LRP50920 LRP VECTOR 8 2800kV
ASC709 Reedy LiPo 5000mAh 7.4V 35C

Latest race news from Team Waggoner Racing:

Capistrano Beach, CA – Cody Waggoner of Team Waggoner Racing competed this past weekend at Trail-Gear’s RC (Remote Control) Finals at the WE ROCK Grand National Event in Farmington, NM.

Very similar to the full scale rock crawling events these RC Events have preset courses in rocky terrain with cones that the drivers must stay between. The driver must then get from start to finish in a set amount of time and minimum penalty points. If boundaries are broken or cones hit there are penalty points acquired. There are additional penalty points for backing up, or a touching your car. The winner is the driver who completes the courses with the least amount of points.

After a long day of competing in the full scale rock crawling event Cody headed over to the top of the rocks and competed in the Trail-Gear RC Finals. Since he had competed in the previous Trail-Gear events throughout the year Cody qualified for the big $1,000 first place prize. Unfortunately, with a few missteps and maybe having to run the courses back to back without having much time to study them he ended up with a proud 3rd place.

“I am very happy with placing 3rd. But like with any competition that I do, “I am in it to win it”; so anything short of that is always a little disappointing. I am glad that I am able to show how great the Axial RC products are, and Axial is the right equipment to get you to the top ranks.” Cody states.

Axial is a manufacturer of high end remote control products and accessories. They cover the whole scope from beginners to racers. Axial products are designed to support the RC culture through the development and design of remote control parts and accessories. Every component of their products are thought out and evaluated in three key areas: performance, durability, and style. Check out Axial at www.axialracing.com or call (949) 600-8642.

RC Event Pictures are available on the team Webshots Account or this link:

http://sports.webshots.com/album/575...s&vhost=sports

Cody’s RC Rock Crawler

Chassis: Axial/Bender Customs SWX Chassis
Axles: Axial 100mm Comp Shocks
Transmission: Axial
Steering Servo: JR8711
Dig Servo: Hitec 225MG
Front Burn: Visionary Fabrication
Lockers: Axial Heavy Duty
Ring & Pinions: Axial Heavy Duty
Motor: Tekin 55t
Electronic Speed Control: Tekin FX-R
Body: Axial XC-1
Shocks: Losi Crawler Shocks
Radio: Spektrum DX3R
Battery: Thunder Power 1320 3s Lipo
Tires: Hot Bodies Rover
Wheels: Vanquish
BEC: Castle Creations
Other: Axial aluminum knuckles, Axial aluminum axle C’s, Axial aluminum lockouts and straight axles, Axial CVD’s, Axial battery/servo mount

Visit www.teamwaggonerracing.com for up-to-date team and event news. RC and Full Scale event pictures and videos are also available online. This is the close of another successful rock crawling season for the team.

Currently Team Waggoner is the First Place WE ROCK USA West Cost Series Champions and they are ranked 4th Place Nationally.

Latest race news from JConcepts:

Event: Super Cup – Fall Session – Round #2
Location: Farmers Raceway - Tampa, Florida
Date: September 26, 2009
Classes: 1/10th off-road
Race Reporter: Jason Ruona

Photos Courtesy: Greg Rojna – www.rcactionpics.com

SmugMug photo gallery

Weather is no obstacle for the Super Cup faithful. JConcepts has another great weekend winning 3 modified classes and also strong performances in Super Stock and Short Course.

Friday came really fast this week as we prepared for round 2 of the Super Cup at Farmers raceway in Tampa, FL. Paul and I were thrashing on some projects and we got a late start which typically means no practice on Friday evening. It's hard to get dialed with 1 or 2 practice runs. One of these days we are going to practice a whole day and really try and make something happen on the track.

Once the trailer was packed we made the relatively quick drive (1.5 hours) to Tampa to Farmers. Once we arrived we looked at the sky and it was looking like Goose Bumps because it was about to rain. ~yeh~ more rain.

We setup the trailer parallel to Burt’s road. Seemed like a great position but we had to cross a drainage ditch on the way to the track. Paul and I picked up a used pallet for a bridge. Pretty dialed now!

The sky opened up and the rain fell hard for a few hours. Racing in Florida near the summer requires a lot of patience. It was time to check in to the hotel while it rained.

Country Inn and Suites was the destination and with cookies on the front desk things were looking up. After getting adjusted to the room and getting the A/C kicked into high gear. It was time to head back to the track to get unpacked a little bit.

Arriving back at the track the conditions seemed very sloppy now and we were parked right in the middle of it. The F-150 pushed violently in the mud making it difficult to square-up properly to the trailer. We managed to get close enough to get out of the truck and set-up the JC pop-up tent and get things tied down.

Dinner time! We hooked up with Sherwin and Zack Genova and Larry Genova at Chilis. We dropped off a new JC body for paint and had a good dinner. As you could imagine we spent quite a bit of time talking shop and racing. Don’t you want to know what the cool new JC body is Larry is painting? J

With dinner out of the way it was time to get some sleep and get ready for the morning.

Apparently arriving at the track at 8:30 is too late. I had 2 "where are you" phone calls on the way to the track as obviously we had some guys *cough* (Matt and Tim) that were ready to go racing and practicing. We arrive to a pretty wet pit area and the track was muddy. No one was allowed on the track yet but our pit area was packed with excitement. I think Paul and I were thinking the same thing. Another race with no practice.

Trailer traffic was brisk early-on and I hadn't even put the B4 on charge yet. It's a little tight trying to pit in the trailer but we manage to get it done. It's just sooo hot outside!

I had enough of sitting around and no practice so I got the B4 ready and threw it down. Track had a lot of traction because it was wet but the GB's were hooked! The actual track layout was a lot of fun and especially the right side where the driving line was probably one of the coolest areas thus far this year. The front table top was kind of weird because you kind of had to double onto the table top and then double off. Jumping on was even more difficult because the second jump was taller than the take-off which made clearing it somewhat tricky. I ran about 3-4 minutes and the car was very dirty but it was a lot of fun!

Qualifying was quick early on as from our pits I could hear the lap times Zach Mote, Zach Genova, Paul Wynn and Leon McIntosh were putting down in 2wd. I wasn’t up by the track but it sounded like Zach Mote had the hero lap in the qualifier but Leon took the win. The runs they put down sounded tough to beat.

I got my buggy cleaned up and ready and the Reedy Lipo charged and ready to go. I ran Double Dees front tires and Goose Bumps in the rear. Everything felt great early but I didn’t really hear any hero laps from the announcer. I started pushing a little harder and the lap times dropped and then when they announced the pace I was a little happier with where I was at. I was roughly 10 seconds under the current TQ mark and things felt pretty good. The jumps were really tough but I thought I found a pretty good line through everything and I felt pretty happy with the pace. Ouch, there goes a donkey flip crash on the center of the track. The marshal was pretty on top of the crash so I didn’t lose too much time. I settled back in and then donkey flip crashed on the center table top….this one hurt a little bit more. I was able to finish off the qualifier with a few more hot laps to still take the TQ.

Modified truck is the new “cool” class to run. It seems every month another couple guy’s throw their hats back into modified truck and it is exciting to see that. At round 1 it was Paul Wynn who threw out the T4 and ended up getting the win. He was challenged heavily by Sherwin Diaz who had taken TQ and given Paul all he wanted in the mains. Getting back to Farmers it was apparent that Zach Mote was all business and he laid it down and took TQ by a pretty nice margin. Everyone else seemed to be struggling with the track conditions and Zach had it figured out in round 1.

Stock truck qualifying looked to be owned by Scott “the madman” Defino. Tim Moon was also running very well and appeared to be right up front as well. We will have to see how things shake down in the mains.

2wd stock qualifying looked like the Gary Fulp show. Gary put down a TQ run and it appeared at least from the outside that his driving was really on this weekend.

Short Course Truck stock class is the Leon and Ryan Eckert show. Matt Mosieur has his Slash working very well and with a new Truth body on it now, things seem to be getting better in the Mosieur team pits. I noticed that the crew chief was not at the race this weekend so it remains to be seen how this might affect Matt’s performance. It looks like if things go Matt’s way at one of these races both Leon and Ryan could be looking at the back of Matt’s truck. Leon’s truck has been dialed since he pulled it out of the box almost a year ago. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him break it or lose a race straight up. Something seems magical about Leon’s Slash. Maybe it is the body? Maybe it the driver? I don’t know but Traxxas might start to fly into our races pretty soon if Leon keeps it up with this truck.

4wd modified came up quick and I wasn’t ready. I was still in the trailer when the guys in my race were checking in. Sorry for making everyone wait.

I got a couple warm-up laps in and things started clicking. I made a few mistakes on the tricky double jumps and Brett Kingsbury took a pretty sizable lead in the qualifier. Judging by what was happening with the conditions it seemed round 1 was when you need to put your best run in and Brett took advantage early and hammered everyone setting the new TQ in 4wd. I was able to maintain second for the round but I wasn’t really happy with the run I had. Better luck next time?

I noticed an all black SC10 in our pits when we arrived to the track earlier in the morning. Looks like JR Mitch is going to show us some moves in the modified short course class now. JR chose the Dare body which seems appropriate for the first time out. JR went with the all black body and wheel combination and it looked super sharp. JR took a relatively easy TQ the first run out but it looked like Scott Delfino was also getting an SC10 ready in the pits so we will see what happens come the mains.

Looking toward the mains we were hot in the pits and the heat index must have been through the roof. I think Paul and I were ready to Tapout on several occasions and I don’t even like saying Tapout. Paul and I were both frustrated with our qualifying performances and started wrenching on our vehicles. Good thing Greg Rojna was on hand to shoot photos because we began a major wrench session to get our vehicles back up to speed and we didn’t allow time for the photos. Paul’s 2wd was looking good back together and he was eager to bump out of the B-main into the A-main. Andrew Moore was also in the B-main and it looked to me that those 2 were the favorites to bump.

I changed my set-up on my 2wd buggy and washed my tires and it was ready to go. My 4wd needed a little more love but not too much as I washed the tires on it and got it charged and ready to run the main.

The 2wd modified B-main was a quick one with Paul out front of Andrew and Sherwin Diaz in 3rd. Sherwin put a scare into both Paul and Andrew but in the end he couldn’t make it stick this time around and Paul and Andrew made the bump into the A.

The 2wd stock main was basically a run away for TQ Gary Fulp. Gary had it dialed in from the start and it appears he is going to be someone to recon with for the rest of the series. Does anyone have anything for Gary in 2wd stock?

Stock truck was one of those mains that made you excited about R/C racing all over again. This was a 3 way battle for most of the race but Scott Delfino and Tim Moon were in 1st and 2nd most of the race. There were moments when I thought it was over and then all of a sudden everything tightened back up again and it was a race to the finish. Scott the “madman” Delfino outlasted everyone with his all blue Associated T4. We are going to have to get Scott a paint job and with a nickname like madman the paint job is going to have to be good.

Stock Short Course truck was all business for Leon. Leon still remains unbeaten from what I’ve seen in this class and either Ryan Eckert or Matt Mosieur is going to have to step up their games to make it more interesting.

Modified buggy A-main was getting ready. Everyone got checked in the tension was a little unnerving up on the drivers stand. Not like the worlds or anything but it feels good to be in races where everyone is serious and the competition is top notch. The Super Cup is really brining this year. I would like to thank Bobby Phillips for putting these races on and the thankless job that comes with it. Thanks Bobby!

I lined up in the TQ position and Leon in second and Zach Mote in 3rd. I got a great start and Leon and I were very close. A lot of pile-ups in the back of the pack brought some words on the drivers stand but nothing too serious or an apology later would not fix….ha Paul Wynn really got a great start and moved into 3rd toward the middle of the race. I guess wrenching really helps? I held a nice lead and mostly focused on not crashing on the jumps and tried to maintain a steady pace. Leon made a few bobbles and things opened up a little bit for me. Paul made a big charge and started putting a little pressure on Leon. I tried to maintain focus but I really wanted to see them battle. Can I call a time-out to watch?

I rolled the whole double, double, double section at the end and Leon pulled up a little closer but with a few more laps to go I didn’t really want to donkey flip the race away…ha I made the extra lap and Leon got caught giving me the win and Leon 2nd and Paul 3rd. Awesome main!

Modified truck was up next and TQ Zach Mote looked like he wanted to check out early. Leon once again moved his way up and was challenging Zach now for race lead and looked confident. Zach made a small mistake and Leon took the lead. A few laps later Leon’s truck stopped on the track allowing Zach to retake the lead. Leon was walking off the drivers stand. Tim Davis was up in the action! Matt was along side of the track taking things in looking a bit like Phil Jackson coaching the LA Lakers in crunch time. Matt leaned into me and said if Tim wins this I’m going to go nuts. Oh snap! Veteran Paul Wynn was steadily gaining distance on everyone after a bad start and Tim was fading. Paul worked his way up in to 3rd place and was now battling with the leaders. Little Sean Krause was up in the action with the purple T4 and looked to be on pace. What a race!

I couldn’t believe how close the top 5 was and it really did look like anyone’s race. Interestingly Leon was back on the track and still looked to be in the top 5. How did he walk off the drivers stand and still stay in the top 5? He was quick apparently. Zach looked to have a comfortable lead but some little issues here and there but 2nd and 3rd within distance. Paul was inching his way closer to the lead and Leon had moved back into contention with some smooth driving of his own. Zach’s motor starting making some weird noises but the truck looked ok. Right at the end Zach made a mistake that allowed Paul to take the lead. Is Paul really going to go back to back on Super Cup wins in mod truck? Break up the team……..he’s too good!

It got really close at the end between Paul, Zach and Leon and it appeared experience made the difference as Paul remained calm and put it away. 2 for 2 in modified truck at the Super Cup for Paul Wynn? Great job! As Larry David would say; Pretty ah Pretty ah Pretty good!

4wd modified was up and my 4wd was ready. I didn’t like my grid position and with 4wd anything could happen. Brett had been quick all day and it wasn’t going to be easy pulling off the win. I relied on some BJ4 luck because Brad Reelfs came out and turned my 4wd car on for the mains and I felt obligated to perform out there. Anyone that knows Brad knows he doesn’t let you get away with much. I knew Brad was thinking 2nd on the grid is all you could do with the 4wd?

When the tone went off I went straight for the inside move and took the lead in the first turn. I wanted to do the big jump in front of the drivers stand but I had a small delay on my radio response or speed control and I thought my race was over. Everything clicked back into place and Brett and I were side by side. I got into the lead for good partially through the first lap and just tried to maintain the lead. Brett went for the big jump and made a mistake which gave me enough breathing room to relax a little. Bobby Phillips actually made the comment during the race that I don’t make many mistakes once I’m in the lead. Ouch, just as he said that I donkey flipped in the double’s and needed to be marshaled…..hurry hurry! I got everything squared away and took the win with Ryan Eckert recovering from a poor start to take the 2nd place position.

Modified Short Course was up next and JR Mitch was sitting in the TQ position. He shot off to a quick lead but Scott Delfino and his new SC10 were very close behind. JR played a little and Scott put on the jets and pulled along side of JR to battle. Scott was driving very well and I think he even impressed JR at the end because things got really tight. One little mistake by JR and Scott would have the lead and the upper hand for the smack talk in the pits later on. JR was very professional in his approach at the end and made nice quick tight lines and pulled about a 20 foot lead which he never relinquished.

Round 3 of the Super Cup Series is scheduled for October 24th, 2009 at Extreme Hobby Zone in Winter Haven, Florida. Remember this is going to double as the Super Cup and JConcepts Bash warm-up race. Remember eHz is a quick track that is sure to be challenging. Be there!

Latest race news from Losi:

The 2009 Horizon Shootout was held at J-Tech Racing and Fun in Tilton, Illinois this past weekend amidst the rain drops early in the weekend, but the weather finally broke and the racing began. During Friday’s practice rain out Losi drivers Adam Drake, Billy Fisher and Mike Truhe were on-hand to answer questions, lend advice and offer setup suggestions to anyone in attendance. One round of controlled practice and two rounds of qualifying set the stage for the mains with Billy Fisher TQing both Truggy and Buggy while Dakota Phend TQed the Electric Buggy class.

After the dust had settled this is the finishing order for the 2009 Horizon Shootout!

1/8 Truggy - 8IGHT-T 2.0 Truggy Race Roller

Driver Laps/Race Time

1. Adam Drake 60/ 30:23.086
2. Billy Fisher 60/ 30:24.267
3. Derek Weatherholt 58/ 30:29.481

1/8 Buggy - 8IGHT 2.0 Buggy Race Roller

Driver Laps/Race Time

1. Adam Drake 59/ 30:20.131
2. Billy Fisher 58/ 30:02.758
3. Derek Weatherholt 58/ 30:16.684

1/8 Electric Buggy - 8IGHT-E 2.0 Buggy Race Roller

Driver Laps/ Race Time

1. Alex Sturgeon 23/ 12:32.778
2. Ben Burtle 22/ 12:08.533
3. Dave Henry 22/ 12:14.288

Congratulation to the top finishers and all of the racers. A big THANK YOU to J-Tech Racing and Fun, Scotty Earnst, Sonny Brown and many others for a great weekend of racing.

Photos courtesy of Gary Katzer/HorizonRC.com

Latest race news from RC Pro Products:

In the 3rd round of the famous BB-Cup in Germany, which was held at the Roadrunner-Speedway in Berlin. Manuel Mayer does it again Alpha-Plus engines.

After three qualifing-heats he was the TQ using Alpha´s F-850 engine and VP-Pro tires. In the 30 minute A main-final he finished in 1st more then one lap in front of 2nd place.

Manuel was happy with the linear power of this new engine and his fastest lap in the main was more then 1 second faster then all other drivers.

We congratulate him on his win and wish him all the best for his next races!

Latest race news from Orion:

This past weekend was the 1st Annual Pro-Line Gas Championships held at Thunder Alley in Beaumont, CA.

Team Orion Factory Drivers Ryan Cavalieri and Cody King were both in attendance. The race format consisted of 2 10-minute qualifiers on Saturday and 1 10-minute qualifier on Sunday. Then each drivers 2 best points would seed them into the Semi's. A 15-minute Semi would be ran the fill the A-Main.

In the Pro 1/8 buggy class, Ryan Cavalieri won his Semi by 11 seconds as well as the fastest time and would start first on the grid. Team Orion teammate Cody King won his Semi by 9 seconds and would start 2nd for the 30-minute A-Main.

At the start of the main, Cavalieri go out to a clean start. King was involved in a first lap crash and would be shuffled back to 6th position.

5-minutes in Cavalieri was in 1st, Wheeler in 2nd, and Lutz in 3rd.
8-minutes in Wheeler and Bradley both break out
10-minutes in Cavalieri has a 10 second lead, King now in 2nd, Amezcua in 3rd
15-minutes in Cavalieri has a 7 second lead, King still in 2nd, Amezcua still in 3rd
20-minutes in Cavalieri has a 20 second lead, Amezcua now in 2nd, King now in 3rd
22-minutes in Cavalieri laps Ryan Lutz running in 4th place
25-minutes in Cavalieri has 25 second lead, Amezcua in 2nd, King in 3rd
29-minutes in Cody King posts the fastest lap of the race with a 31.904

At the end of the 30-minute A-Main, Cavalieri took the win by 25 seconds with his Team Orion powered RC8! Cody King passed Travis Amezcua on the last lap to take 2nd overall making it a Team Orion 1/2 Podium.

1/8 Nitro Buggy Overall Top 12

1. Ryan Cavalieri (TQ) Team Orion
2. Cody King Team Orion
3. Travis Amezcua
4. Ryan Lutz
5. Matt Castellano
6. Dylan Rodriguez
7. Jesse Robinson
8. Brent Thielke
9. Colby Poh
10. Curtis Door
11. Josh Wheeler
12. Chad Bradley

Winning Equipment Used By Ryan Cavalieri:

ORI80647 - Team Orion .21 ABI Alpha Engine
ORI88217 - Team Orion 2013 Exhaust Kit
ORI88810 - Team Orion Hot Turbo Glow Plug
ORI12236 - Team Orion 1500 Li-Po Receiver Pack
ORI30127 - Team Orion Race Spec Charger
Charge Rate: 1.5amps @ CCCV

*Special thanks to Team Associated for providing the photo

Latest race news from Orion:

Team Orion’s newly joined driver Jilles Groskamp took a great win in his first debut race for the Team. At the RC Addict raceway in Bangkok, one of the World’s best RC tracks with perfect facilities, Jilles went on to take a great TQ in the 10 minutes qualification. Powered by the latest Team Orion Alpha engine and Team Orion fuel, which was running flawlessly for the whole weekend in the still prototype Shepherd 1/10 on road car, it was clear the game was on for the final. With World class drivers like Surikarn and Meen it was sure to be a great battle, and it iwas for the first 15 minutes in the one hour long final, where of course anything can happen.

The final started with commotion already, with pole man Jilles asking for a 10 minutes delay since the one way bearing broke in the warm up lap… which meant he was going to start from dead last position. But with a sensational start, it took him 3 minutes to close in to the leading pack of Surikarn and Meen, and for 15 minutes long the battle was on… with the lead changing often due to the different fuel stops strategies, all tension was on the pit crew to make no mistakes. Jilles was driving with great tactics, knowing the final was long in the very high ambient temperatures and tire wire would become a key issue. After 20 minutes it was clear that it was going to be Jilles his race, and only a technical defect could stop him taking the win.

With 3 minutes to go Jilles pushed once more, to set the fastest lap times of the race, and his flawless race without even a slightest mistake of him and the pit crew would end up in an advantage of 7 laps to the followers, who were plagued by some technical issues as well issues at pit stops.

Congratulations go to Jilles and his pit crew, a great result of a great event; a great thank you to the organizer to have such a great event with good fun, a great food buffet at the end and a very welcomed raffle with huge prices made it an event to remember.

Jilles' equipment:

Team Orion Alpha .12 engine
Team Orion EFRA pipe
Team Orion fuel

Latest race news from Tekin:

In Derek's words it was game on at the region 12 on road championships this last weekend. Derek had been working hard the last few club races at Ripon with the spec tires and getting the RS and Redline 13.5 dialed in just right. Boy did it payoff in a big way! Starting with Touring car Super Stock (13.5) he was fastest qualifier in rounds one and three securing the TQ honors. In the triple A mains he held off a hard charging Eric Albano for two straight rounds to secure the win.

In World GT Derek qualified behind Tim Copp. In the first two mains he took the lead on the first lap and took home the win in World GT as well!

In touring modified the field was stacked with some big names but it was game time. Derek pulled off a 5th place qualifying position and was ready for the mains. In the first main he got loose on the start but worked all the way back up to the third position. In the second main he got a much better start and held third all race finishing with another third right behind Tyler Vic and EJ Evans. He was tied for second in points with EJ and for round three EJ was going to be starting on pole so he went for broke, but couldn't run him down so he ended up with 3rd overall. A great start for his modified debut. Wow, what a weekend!! (words by Greg Stephansen)

Latest from JConcepts:





Event: 2009 Reedy Truck Race
Location: Hot Rod Hobbies – Saugus, CA
Date: September 25-27, 2009
Classes: 1/10th and 1/8th truck
Race Reporter: Frank Root

JConcepts Racing Tires on a tear. Bar Codes in orange compound TQ and win Factory Modified Truck while Cross Hairs TQ 1/8th truck.

Whenever we get an excuse to go to the world famous Hot Rod Hobbies in Saugus, CA, we make sure to go. Again, this was the case with the Reedy Truck Race. Ryan Maifield, Frank Root, and Steven Hartson, as well as new team members like Brian McDuffie, Jason Pang, Cody Turner, and Brent Calvert were all in attendance.

The track was prepped and ready for the Wednesday and Thursday practice sessions. Many of us chose to start practice on Thursday morning, and wow, was the track ever hooked up by then. Ryan, Frank, and Steven all started off on Orange Bar Codes for electric truck. This was clearly the tire for the weekend, and we each tried some different foam, and setup combinations. Ryan and Frank ended up with 2-stage foam front and rear, while Steven preferred And-1 foam in the front, with 2-stage in the rear.

Ryan and Frank were both running their RC8T FT truggies as well, and went straight for the hot tire, Yellow Crosshairs. These tires mounted on the new light-weight Mono wheels combination proved to work well, but we still felt we could get even faster in qualifying.

In electric truck, the first round of qualifying on Friday morning came fast and furious. Tebo was able to grab TQ for round 1 with Maifield, Hartson, and Root putting Orange BC's 2nd, 3rd, and 4th for the round. In round 2, it was all Steven Hartson and Orange Bar Codes as he set a blistering pace to set TQ by over 3 seconds. Tebo, Maifield, Cavalieri, and Root finish out the running order. Some of the other drivers noticed how big of an advantage the Orange Bar Codes were proving to be and decided to give them a try in Round 3. Tebo make a the change to Orange Bar Codes for round 3 and this proved to be the ticket as Tebo moved back to the front, with Cavalieri, Hartson, Maifield and Root close in tow. Round 4 were for all the marbles and the overall TQ honor, and Tebo took this round as well. The overall grid for the main would be Tebo, Hartson, Maifield, Cavalieri, and Root.

A-Main 1 was all Tebo. Maifield and Cavalieri tried to chase him down after moving past Hartson and Root, but had no such luck. A-2 was a close battle, but Cavalieri was able to pull off the win, forcing a decisive A-3. Cavalieri, Tebo, and Maifield all had a chance to win the overall. An early pileup between Hartson, Maifield, and Cavalieri allow Tebo to gain an insurmountable lead, and he would cruise in for the A-3 and the overall championship. 5 of the top 6 drivers overall were using JConcepts Orange Bar Codes.

In truggy, Jared Tebo and Ryan Maifield were battling in round 1 for the tq, when Maifield's front wheel fell off. Too bad for Ryan as his truck was looking fresh and responsive and he would have to wait until the next round to show what he has. Ryan Maifield would not let round 2 get away. He strapped it up, and took TQ's in rounds 2 and 3. In round 2, he chose Yellow Crosshairs, and in round 3, Yellow Compound Sevens were the weapon of choice. Round 4 was setup to be a battle for the overall TQ between the Tebo and Maifield, but it was not to be. Tebo had a mechanical failure and Maifield took the opportunity to try some engine tuning changes, so Cavalieri TQ'd his first round of the weekend.

The grid was set, Maifield, Cavalieri, Tebo, Bradley, Kinwald and Root. The track was hot and slick for the main and both Ryan and Frank chose to go out on Yellow Crosshairs. The tires worked great for both, but Maifield had an unfortunate failure and had to pull out of the main after leading the early stages. Frank would battle on to a solid 4th place result, behind Chad Bradly in 3rd, Ryan Cavalieri in 2nd, and Jared Tebo with the win in the 45 minutes main.

Factory Modified Truck finishing order -

1. Jared Tebo (TQ) Kyosho RT5/Team Orion JConcepts Bar Codes (Orange)
2. Ryan Cavalieri Associated/Team Orion Unknown
3. Ryan Maifield Associated/Reedy JConcepts Bar Codes (Orange)
4. Steven Hartson Associated/Check-Point JConcepts Bar Codes (Orange)
5. Frank Root Associated/Reedy JConcepts Bar Codes (Orange)
6. Joe Pillars Kyosho RT5/Team Orion JConcepts Bar Codes (Orange)
7. Johnny Wachter Losi/X-celorin TL
8. Nick Lasley Losi/Team Orion TL
9. Chris Jarosz Associated/Reedy Unknown
10. Brian Kinwald X-Factory/Trinity Unknown



1/16th E-Revo Products and Accessories

JConcepts has released a promotional video of the recently released 1/16th E-Revo products and accessories. This is a direct follow-up to the release of these performance parts to support the popular 1/16th vehicle from Traxxas.

Video includes –

JConcepts – Jason Ruona
Illuzion - Traxxas 1/16th Hi-Flow body
Double Dee's - green compound (fits Tense wheel)
Bar Codes - gold compound (fits Tense wheel)
Goose Bumps - green compound (fits Tense wheel)
Tense - 2.2" - 1/16th E-Revo wheel (Black w/ bead locks) - 4pc
On-track action

Latest race news from Losi:

The 2009 Horizon Shootout was held at J-Tech Racing and Fun in Tilton, Illinois this past weekend amidst the rain drops early in the weekend, but the weather finally broke and the racing began. During Friday’s practice rain out Losi drivers Adam Drake, Billy Fisher and Mike Truhe were on-hand to answer questions, lend advice and offer setup suggestions to anyone in attendance. One round of controlled practice and two rounds of qualifying set the stage for the mains with Billy Fisher TQing both Truggy and Buggy while Dakota Phend TQed the Electric Buggy class.

After the dust had settled this is the finishing order for the 2009 Horizon Shootout!

1/8 Truggy - 8IGHT-T 2.0 Truggy Race Roller

Driver Laps/Race Time

1. Adam Drake 60/ 30:23.086
2. Billy Fisher 60/ 30:24.267
3. Derek Weatherholt 58/ 30:29.481

1/8 Buggy - 8IGHT 2.0 Buggy Race Roller

Driver Laps/Race Time

1. Adam Drake 59/ 30:20.131
2. Billy Fisher 58/ 30:02.758
3. Derek Weatherholt 58/ 30:16.684

1/8 Electric Buggy - 8IGHT-E 2.0 Buggy Race Roller

Driver Laps/ Race Time

1. Alex Sturgeon 23/ 12:32.778
2. Ben Burtle 22/ 12:08.533
3. Dave Henry 22/ 12:14.288

Congratulation to the top finishers and all of the racers. A big THANK YOU to J-Tech Racing and Fun, Scotty Earnst, Sonny Brown and many others for a great weekend of racing.

Photos courtesy of Gary Katzer/HorizonRC.com

Latest race news from Mugen:

Taylor Peterson wins the NCT (North West Championship Tour) race! With so many different car manufactures out there Mugen still dominates with wins in both buggy and truggy class.

Latest race news from Tekin:

Mike Dumas wins the Expert World GT class in style!

This was the first year where there Experts were separated from the non factory drivers at the IIC in the WGT class. Stepping up to the 10.5 and 1s lipo for this also proved to set an example that will likely set the standards at many races to come. Every race seems to have some controversy and this year’s IIC was no different. A new controller was in use that raised a few eye brows. However Mike Dumas and the rest of the Tekin/Speedmerchant team did what was needed to be done and kept their focus and poise. Throughout qualifying Mike’s car was simply in a class of its own being setup by Speedmerchants own Bruce Carbone. Mike was able to destroy any advantage that was made in the straight away by carrying more speed and having superior punch in the infield. Mike was right on the heels of the leader throughout the majority of the race waiting patiently for a mistake. That mistake did happen and Mike took the lead and quickly got out front with Hupo in tow. The racing was good and at times there was less than 6” between the two cars. Hupo got into the back of Dumas and spun him out, and in true championship fashion waited for Mike to regain the lead. Mike immediately dropped right back into his winning rhythm of speed putting distance between himself and Hupo taking the Expert WGT Title at the 2009 IIC in Las Vegas! Mike Dumas and Team Tekin, proving that Tekin is “Smarter, smaller, faster."

Kenny Lambert had the early Tq position after 2 rounds of qualifying in the WGT class (13.5). Kenny’s cars were up to speed as soon as he arrived at this year’s event. Kenny is often the “go to” guy for all of his fellow Tekin/Speedmerchant teammates. This type of dedication often costs the average driver at large events as they often worry about helping their fellow teammates over themselves. However Kenny is an extraordinary racer that not only helps his fellow racers go faster, he manages to stay at the upper level of carpet racing! Kenny managed a 2nd place in WGT and a 3rd place in 1/12 17.5 at this year’s IIC. Great Job Kenny!

Donny Lia ,Wes Lion and Larry Fairtrace also all making their respective A mains.

Donny stepping up this year running 1/12 Modified using a Tekin RS Pro and Tekin Redline 4.5 in his Speedmerchant Rev 5 giving Donny the smooth power needed to run at the top level. Donny also made the A in the Expert WGT class using a Tekin RS speed controller.

Larry Faitrace took a podium spon in the 13.5 Foam Class using Tekin power in his Top Photon chassis. Larry has one of the coolest paint schemes in the races! Larry’s car was easily one of the fastest cars on the track.

Wes Lion also dropping the hammer in the 13.5 Foam Class placing 5th overall. That is a huge improvement for the young racer from last years lower mains. Nice Job!

Latest race news from Traxxas:

Race report by Steve Slayden.

I recently had the pleasure of traveling to Minnesota for the 5th annual R/C X-Fest event held at the Cambridge Fairgrounds in Cambridge, MN. The weather was beautiful and the people couldn’t have been nicer. This event has been growing in both numbers and popularity each and every year. With an overall entry count well over 200 this year and great support from the manufacturers, this event has proved to be the best yet. Mike Fisk and crew put a lot of sweat and tears into this event and it shows.

On the agenda for the weekend was Slash racing on Friday night (on the Slash-specific race course built to the side), all qualifying for the other classes on the big X-Fest track on Saturday night, with all mains to be run on Sunday. Racing wasn’t the only excitement at the X-Fest. Mike put together a great show for the crowd with hilarious events such as the "Spud Run" where participants drove their vehicles through a trough of instant potatoes. This was insanely funny and got anyone who was sitting close enough a face full of taters.

There were also jump contests on the 10ft+ "Mountain" jump (above) on the back straight of the X-Fest track, which brought a lot of oohs and aahs, along with freestyle exhibitions periodically to keep people on their feet. I entered the Last Man Standing event where you had to drive around without a pit man or marshals on the track. This was a riot, because once you were hung on a pipe, flamed out or flipped over, it was over for you. The goal was to knock out the competition without taking yourself out and the last driver on the track wins. I didn’t last very long at this one as I got hung on a pipe that I didn’t see and spent the rest of my tank trying to throttle off of it with no luck. I made some cool ruts though.

The main events were held on the Slash specific track on Friday night and on the big nitro X-Fest track on Sunday. The Slash racing was a blast. Nearly 40 Slash entries raced two rounds of qualifying and the mains all on Friday night. There were both stock and open classes and lots of fun was had by all. The track was perfect for Slash racing with high-speed berms, jumps and even bigger jumps. The dirt was soft and loamy which made for great roosts and traction as well.

Monster Truck

The Revo racing on the big track was also intense. The competition was tight and qualifying was close. The track got so blown out it was a challenge just to make it from one corner to the next without flipping over. I just love rough track racing with loamy dirt. This is the way off-road racing should be.



Conclusion

The FHF X-Fest event was a blast. I haven’t had quite this much fun at an event in a while. I hope to return next year and I commend Mike and his crew for putting on such an amazing event. If history repeats itself, then next year will be even better. Thanks to all who came by my pit area to chat or to ask for help. If you ever see me at an event feel free to swing by and hang out. My favorite part of this hobby is meeting fellow R/C enthusiasts and having a good time. See ya next time!







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Latest race news from Caster Racing USA:

Caster Racing USA is proud to announce that Caster Racing USA team driver Jonathan Hernandez had some great success for the Caster team this weekend at the second annual Labor Day shootout at Riverfront RC in California. He entered the dash for cash race with the likes of Ryan Cavalieri, Mike Truhe, Tyler Vik, Jason Moberly, and others and pulled off the impossible by beating all the famous drivers and winning the cash. Congratulations Jonathan for proving that Caster can even beat champions.

In electric 1/8 scale triple a mains, Jonathan was able to end up on the podium with a respectable third place being edged out by Jason Moberly and Kevin Jelich. Finally, Jonathan decided to try running a Caster ZX1.5R donated to him for the day by Dave and Becki Des Jardin who both are part of the Caster family in California. It was actually Becki's car and Jonathan ended up 5th in the B main with a car he had literally never driven before. What a great way to show team work and dedication and Caster USA cannot thank Jonathan, Dave, and Becki enough for the great results posted by Jonathan Hernandez.

Latest race news from Tekin:

The Roar Region 3 Electric On-Road Championships hosted at SpeedWOOD R/C Complex in Goldsboro, NC went off without a hitch this past Saturday. With the best from Region 3 attending and attendees from as far away as Indiana, the mains were stacked! 1/10 Stock was the center piece of the event with multiple regional and national A-mainers filling the field. Recent carpet national A-main qualifier Ken Miller was attending from Ft Wayne, Indiana and got the farthest traveler award. Others came from South Carolina, Virginia and Maryland to represent their region's talent.

Heat 2 Round 1 of TC Stock, Local Jesse Bean Set TQ followed by Ken Miller on a 20 lap pace. During Heat 3 fellow North Carolinians Laurie Willis and George Ryals joined the 20 lap club with Laurie setting a new TQ by 3/4 of a second over Jesse and George took third. After resorting for round 2 Jimmy Mac found some speed after some mishaps in R1 and put together a 20 lap run accending to the third spot just ahead of George who also had a good run with a faster 20 laps run than in R1. Round 3 was the final attemp and was the best qualifying battle of the day as the top 4 flipped around for the lead for the first minutes of the qualifier. As the Race seasoned the top 2 emerged in a battle all the way to the end as Jesse and Laurie flopped back and forth in the top spot until the buzzer sounded and Jesse prevailed by less than half a second over Laurie with both on new TQ paces of 21 laps. George, Jimmy, Ken and Chris Johnson, Mike Bright, Alex Carr, Manuel Wis, and B-Main Winner and Bump-up Ernie Roberts set the field for the A-Main event!

In the Main event your TQ Jesse Bean lead a clean start and just as it looked like he may be able to leave the pack your second place qualifier Laurie Willis latched on to the wheel and turned some of the fastest laps of the day closing in to within a half a second of the leader. As the top two began to gap the field Laurie made a nasty mistake rolling on to his roof allowing Jesse to stretch his lead and George and Jimmy to take second and third before Laurie could rejoin the effort in fourth. Then on Lap 12 as George and Jimmy battled out for second George suffered a collision that would put him out of the event and that left Jimmy and Laurie to battle it out for second with Laurie prevailing over Jimmy in the closing minutes. Ken Miller quietly shadowed the top 3 followed by Chris Johnson who completed the top 5. Your final order was Jesse Bean (Tekin RS/Redline 17.5), Laurie Willis (Tekin RS), Jimmy Mac, Ken, Miller (Tekin RS), Chris Johnson, Alex Carr, Manuel Wis, Ernie Roberts, George Ryals (Tekin RS) and Mike Bright (Tekin RS) who suffered problems and a DNS. Thanks to all those who attended SpeedWOOD this weekend and Congratulations to your new ROAR Region 3 On-Road Champions!

SpeedWOOD will be hosting the "Throw Down at the WOOD" Charity event on Sept 12 benefiting the Children's Cancer Research Fund. We invite all to attend this event as it's for a wonderful cause! Many Sponsor prizes will be awarded and it's sure to be a fun event!

Latest race news from Kyosho:

Lamberto Collari and The Kyosho Evolva M3 Evo are World Champions..AGAIN!

The 2009 IFMAR 1/8 Scale On-Road World Championships were held in August 17-23 in Lostallo, Switzerland.

Kyosho Team Driver Lamberto Collari was in attendance to try and bring home his 9th 1/8 Scale IFMAR On-Road World Championship. Throughout practice Collari looked very fast and laid down some impressive lap times. After qualifying was complete, Callari would find himself starting from the 2nd grid position for the 1-Hour A-Main event.

As the tone went off for the A-Main event, Collari was very careful and made sure he got off to a good clean start. He then began to apply pressure on the leader throught the opening laps. Callari eventually mad the pass for the lead and never looked back. By the time the checkered flag waved, it was Collari crossing the line 1st by 2 laps over 2nd place.

Congrats also goes out to former World Champion, Kyosho/Team Orion Driver Adrien Bertin for finishing 3rd overall.

Overall Finish Order

1 Lamberto Collari Kyosho
2 Mike Swauger Mugen
3 Adrien Bertin Kyosho
4 Robert Pietsch Mugen
5 Alberto Picco Mugen
6 Dario Balestri Motonica
7 Takaaki Shimo Kyosho
8 Mark Green Serpent
9 Rick Vrielijnck Mugen
10 Robin D'hondt Motonica

Latest race news from JConcepts:

Event: R/C X-Fest V
Date: September 4-7, 2009
Location: Cambridge, MN
Race Reporter: JConcepts Team

Ryan Maifield adds another title by winning the R/C X-Fest with JConcepts Crossbows

For R/C racers Labor Day weekend in Minnesota has become R/C X-Fest weekend. For the 5th annual event 3 of the fastest drivers in the world converged in Cambridge, Minnesota for a weekend of excitement and no-holds barred entertainment. With an event known for a multitude of classes and special events, the R/C X-Fest has become something to remember for all participants. There is always something going on it seems during the X-Fest. Powder-puff, Big Air Contest, Spud Run, Helicopter night fly, R/C Boat Demo and Mini X Off-road track rental are just a snippet of events available.

Ryan Maifield was in Minnesota to do business as his JConcepts equipped RC8b and RC8T were at the top of the field all weekend. However, it did not come easy in the 1/8th buggy class. Ryan encountered a few problems in qualifying which placed him into unchartered territory, the C-main. Ryan, working together with teammates as the race developed, steadily got faster and ironed out qualifying problems. Once the C-main was up Ryan was ready and was determined to work his way to the A-main the hard way. Winning the C and B-main by multiple laps, Ryan was poised and ready for the A-main. Mounting up a fresh set of JConcepts Crossbows in blue compound proved to be the ticket for the developing conditions for the A-main.

Ryan started near the back of the pack in the A-main but only after 10 minutes he threw down the fastest lap of the main and was fighting for 2nd place. The 45 minute A-main proved to be too much for most of the competition but with plenty of practice from the C and B main and a healthy dose of the RC8b and JConcepts, Ryan continued to run down the leader. With 10 minutes to go, Maifield made up critical time on the leader Ryan Lutz and a problem by the leader put Maifield at the front of the pack. Leading out the last 10 minutes and then into victory lane was almost too sweet as Ryan crossed the finish line for yet another win with JConcepts on the 2009 racing tour.

Ryan Maifield’s winning combination included following JConcepts products:

• Crossbows tires in Super Soft Blue Compound
• Profiled 1/8th buggy inserts
• Mono 1/8th buggy racing wheels
• Illuzion – High Down force wing
• Illuzion Hi-Flow body

Photos Courtesy - Cory Chuchna

If you go to http://www.carpetracers.com you can watch the trailer for this upcoming documentary about RC cars. The camera crew spent a year documenting the carpet racing RC culture and now they are coming out with a full length motion picture.

Is this one step further for RC becoming more mainstream???







   

Latest race news from JConcepts:

Event: Super Cup / Outlaw Cup round 4
Location: Coral Springs, Florida
Date: July 25-26, 2009
Classes: Electric / Nitro
Race Reporter: Jason Ruona

SmugMug race image Gallery – Super Cup Photos

It's Coral Springs time again and we were excited to make the trip to one of our favorite electric tracks in Florida. It's really hard to choose a favorite track in Florida but this track reminds me the most of the 90's style electric tracks at Lake Park. Coral Springs follows ROAR rules and even asks for your ROAR membership during registration. They run a clean organized operation and it's always a pleasure racing with that group.

The 3 1/2 hour drive is a little rough but we've made the trip so many times now the Ford's might actually auto pilot the way down but I can't find that button on the dash. We stopped at the FT Pierce stop and fueled up and I got one of those ice-cream chipwich snacks. These things should be illegal they are so good. I wanted ice-cream of the future but settled for a cookie of the future. I wonder if the cookie monster has ever tried the ice-cream cookies? If he did that might change the whole program.

Arriving to the track it had suffered some rain damage but everyone was practicing and having a good time of it. Paul and I quickly setup shop and started wrenching. Paul was putting the final touches on his T4 and was mounting his Hi-Flow body. White with white stripes we call it. Paul was also testing out some new rear T4 wheels that we should be releasing in the August / September releases. These new Rulux T4 rear wheels are for using a standard rear axle.

I spent most of my time installing the radio gear for my new M11X radio. 2.4 GHz here I come! I'm finally making the switch and it just feels weird not having an antenna on my radio. As I told everyone I have a built-in excuse if I don't perform.

I decided to sit out 4wd because I was sitting in a good position points wise and didn't need to run to win the overall.

I was in a point’s battle with Ryan Eckert in the 2wd class but Ryan is on vacation and was unable to attend. So I would like to thank Ryan personally for the gift this time around. I wasn't really happy with my previous 2 results in 2wd at rounds 2 and 3. I was driving a little wild at Lake Park and just blew out at Outtacontrol so I was looking to establish my pace once again.

2wd is just so fun at Coral Springs because of the traction and layouts. I highly recommend 2wd at Coral Springs.

Paul hit the track for some practice while I tried to figure out my radio install work and bind my radio. I've never "binded" before so that was a new experience. Very 2000 and late!

It isn't fun wiring up an RC car when you’re really picky about the way it looks. I think I starred at my 4wd longer than worked on it because the wiring was jamming me up so bad. It looks pretty good now but I'm still not completely happy with it. Ugh, they are just wires right?

I walked out to the track to con JP into a few laps with his buggy. I started driving it and the trim was off. Now I'm trying to adjust the trim on a Futaba and I don't know what I'm doing. JP unlocks it and I made some changes. I'm happy now!

Paul was running some hot laps with his B4 and I went back to the trailer for a little A/C action. The track crew started track maintenance and added a few obstacles. I'm never wild about single jumps but it was also a challenge so I was up for it.

Paul and I finished up our wrenching and walked outside to find we were the last ones at the track. 2 guys that spend the entire day working and talking about R/C were still at the track getting it done. After all these years apparently there is still some passion left?

The LaQuinta was calling our name so we checked in and got ready for dinner. Long Horn is one of our Coral Springs favorites so we dined with them. Is a Shirley Temple a girls or kids drink? I really like them but I'm looking for a new name so I can at least get some adult credibility. Red Dog? Seven in Red? I think I'm going to cultivate one of these 2 new names and see how it goes. Perhaps add it to a Wikipedia page?

We thought about Sharky’s for later but decided to post some photos online and call it a night. Did guy see how nice the track and surrounding area looked in the photos? Dialed!

We were trying to get an early start because of rain concerns so we set the alarm for 6:00am.

We arrived at track early and we weren't the first ones to arrive. Super Cup director Bobby Phillips was setup and getting entries entered. 100% committed!

Paul and I got the 2wd's ready and hit the track for practice. It was my first run with the new M11x and no antenna. Weird! The Groovy fronts and Double Dees rears felt good but I was feeling Goose Bumps coming on with potential weather concerns. For the first round I put on the Double Dee fronts we made for this track about a year ago and I borrowed a set of Goose Bumps from Paul for the rear. I didn’t notice at first but I think he gave me the more worn out set.

First qualifier went off at roughly 9:30 and we were pressing the program because we wanted to finish the day before the rains hit. The first round seems to take the longest as all the transponder check-in takes forever now. I don’t remember checking in back in the day for racing. We actually didn’t take warm-up laps either. I’m blaming an overall longer race program on Brian Kinwald. He was the first person I saw warm-up before qualifiers in southern California and now we spend almost as much time warming up and checking in than we do qualifying. Thanks BK! J

Paul and I were in race 3 so we had our cars ready to go and starting “checking in”. Track was wet and loamy and looked a lot like the old days. Everyone loved it! The track had traction the tires were not wearing and the cars came off the track dirty and they looked like off-road vehicles. Pretty cool actually. The hardest part about trying to keep a wet or watered track is the longer it stays wet the bumpier the surface becomes and the less control everyone has. Ideally to keep the track wet you would have to groom the track every couple races. Again, this adds time to the program and depending on the turnout there just isn’t room for this much track work. Blue groove is the answer to shorter more consistent race programs but unfortunately is not as much like off-road and the tires wear faster.

Paul and I started the qualifier pretty quick and made the way through traffic. Bobby was calling me on a 14 lap pace for the majority of the race. My buggy felt good but I had a little under steer in some of the sweeping corners and it was a little loose coming on the front straight away. I needed it to “square up” as the experts say. I made a mistake on the left side double and needed to be marshaled. I finished with 13 laps 6:01 and Paul finished with 13 laps 6:04. Pretty quick first round.

Paul was up with his T4 and he was running Goose Bumps on the rear and Double Dee’s on the front. It looked cool with that combination and it was pretty dialed on the track. The new wheels were working flawlessly and Paul was running with a truck for the first time in about 8 or 9 years. His last truck was a T3!

I ran out to the track to take some photos and watch some racing. The Short Course guys were beating and banging as usual and JP, Bart Collins and Sean Kersten were the front runners in the stock Slash class. JP was sporting the Truth body with his custom paint job. Pretty impressive looking!

4wd modified looked to be the funnest class on the track as Sean Kersten, Roly Cusine and Mike Barone looked to be quickest. We will see what happens come the main events.

Stock truck and stock buggy was a battle between Dave Bowser, Tim Kowal and Jeff Lynn. We are anticipating a good race here so we will see how the mains turn out.

Short Course open was the last class of the day and I just had to drive one after watching Tim Kowal’s truck. With the Oakley inspired paint job and Goose Bumps the truck was on rails. My first impressions were this is the perfect track for this truck and 2 the tire combination was the secret to the truck feeling so good. Everybody that drove Tim’s truck wanted a short course truck. Of course I was still looking for more power! J

We had a short rain delay and now the track was even wetter than round 1. I was going for the 14 laps but the track was developing some holes and bumps so it wasn’t as easy to get down into that time bracket. I finished with 13 – 6:00.

Paul decided to not run the 2nd round of truck because of the threatening weather conditions. Mike Barone put down a nice TQ run in mod truck and Paul slid to 2nd.

Mains –

Looking around everyone was getting ready for the mains. I decided to go back to Double Dee’s for the main in 2wd and Paul was running the Goose Bumps. The start seemed clean and Paul and I broke away from the pack. I held a 2-3 second lead for the majority of the race and stretched it slightly toward the end. I didn’t make any mistakes during the race and I don’t think Paul and had major problems either so it was pretty intense high concentration main. I think the Double Dee’s were a little better on my car than the worn Goose Bumps I had run earlier but either way the lap times seemed pretty close. The buggies were dirty afterwards but it was a lot of fun.

The stock truck and buggy A-mains were very close. Stock truck was the best race of the day with the last laps coming down between Tim Kowal and Dave Bowser. Dave took the lead briefly but Tim got around him and was leading the last lap. I was also shooting photos and happened to get the “photo finish” photo just as they crossed the finish line. Tim took the win with Dave in 2nd and Jeff Lynn in 3rd. The buggy main was a Dave Bowser and Roly Cusine show the entire race. A small mistake toward the end put Roly a little behind on the last lap and Dave took a well deserved win. Roly almost looks more of an off-road racer now than on-road. Maybe he has made the official jump? Tim used Double Dee fronts and Goose Bumps rears on his T4 while Bowser ran Goose Bumps all the way around. Goose Bumps all the way around is maximum steering on the loamy track.

The Slash Short Course main appeared to be a blast. JP Tirronen, Bart Collins, Scott Delfino and Sean Kersten again had all the moves and battled the whole time. In the end JP made some driving clinic moves and muscled his way past Scott and Bart for the victory. The top 3 were separated by 2 seconds. The trucks looked good on the loamy wet track. These are all stock Slashes so no products to report on here other than different bodies. JP won with the Truth body so it was obviously the fastest! J

4wd modified was a race between Roly Cusine and Bart Collins. The track was really wet but everyone seems to enjoy the racing and the close battle at the top. Roly won by about 6 seconds over Bart Collins who had 3 seconds on Armando Ledesma. It looked like Roly chose the Goose Bumps all the way around for the main and they looked great.

In Modified truck Paul had some issues at the start of the race with his truck which either had a speed control or sensor wire problem. Tim Kowal who just won stock truck offered his truck to Paul to race in the modified A-main. Paul took him up on the offer and started the main right behind TQ Mike Barone. Mike Barone held a nice lead early as Paul adjusted to Tim’s truck and radio. Bobby Phillips took advantage of a mistake by Paul and pulled right behind leader Mike. Mike made a mistake which cost him a lot of time due to a marshal being out of position. Bobby took the lead with Paul now in second. As the 6 minute race wore on Paul began pecking away at Bobby’s lead but would lose a little ground on the straight away because of the 13.5 horsepower as opposed to Bobby’s 7.5 power. Bobby and Paul touched wheels and Paul went for the pass and made it stick with out a minute to go. Tim was cheering his truck on the sidelines hoping the truck would have enough battery to finish 2 races. Bobby got hung up with a back marker on the 2nd to last lap giving Paul and even bigger lead on the way to victory. Tims truck completed a stock and modified sweep of the weekend. Double Dee fronts and Goose Bump rear tires were the hot ticket!

One race to go and we could put round 4 in the books. Modified short course and TQ Dan Borkowicz took off in the lead but Tim Kowal and Scott Delfino were hot on the heels. Scott appeared to have motored up quite a bit and had the advantage on power. Dan and Tim appeared equal but couldn’t exactly compete with Scott and his high powered Slash. Scott took a well deserved win with Dan 2nd and Tim 3rd.

Final point’s standings should be tabulated and posted on www.rcsignup.com and JConcepts events website within the next several days. Keep checking back on www.jconceptsracing.com , www.jconceptsevents.com and www.rcsignup.com for more information on the next Super Cup session starting in August. Stay tuned!

Latest race news from Caster Racing USA:

Caster Racing USA is proud to announce their debut to latemodel racing at the Nitro Summer Nationals. Caster team driver Lloyd Smith Took 3rd place in the a main with the first time ever on a track in an event. During qualifiers, Lloyd turned over the controls to his personal friend and NEWEST Caster team driver Rodger Moore. Rodger took the Caster for a test spin and ended up TQing the night with it never driving a Caster before.

Mike Mazza commented "We knew that the Caster all had a great reputation for handling on the off road motocross style tracks. However, we were concerned that we were not very familiar with late model oval. At that point we made the decision to enlist the help of Team Hoagie Designs owner Derrick Hochgesang and late model driver Lloyd Smith. I knew that these guys were much more versed in what we were trying to achieve and when we got together with a plan, I knew they would be successful being in charge of the project. As a result, prototyping has been completed, parts are being copied and modified overseas, and we should have a late model for the general public very soon."

Congratulations to Lloyd for taking a car out of the box on a Thursday and being on the podium a few days later.