Event: JConcepts Clash
Location: Lake Park – Lutz, FL
Dates: December 7-9th 2007
Race website: www.rcclash.com
Live coverage: www.liverc.com
Photos: www.rcactionpics.com
Winter in Florida – “The Powers Explode”
Bringing the magic back to Lake Park in Tampa, Florida the JConcepts Clash was an event to remember. As promised “The Powers Exploded” and a unique event featuring electric and nitro vehicles competing the same day was launched. With sportsman and expert classes available this event catered to drivers of all skill level.
Friday morning –
Looking around the track Friday morning it just had a “big race” feel to it. Familiar banners bordered the race area and the perfectly groomed track surface gave notice that the Hurricane track crew was out in full force the night before. The track Layout looked promising combining finesse and brute power.
All drivers were on full alert once race announcer Jimmy Babcock and race director Kenny Holmes held the drivers meeting. When announced that the event was live around the world on www.liverc.com. The “race faces” were on!
Early race predictions had Maifield out in front by a mile. However, Lee Martin and Richard Lowe from the UK and California driver Frank Root and local drivers JR Mitch and Jason Ruona showed that it wasn’t going to be that easy for the speedy driver from Chandler, Arizona.
After 2 rounds of qualifying Lee Martin had placed his RC10B4 out front in the 2wd modified class and also in 1/8th buggy with his RC8.
He was followed closely by Ryan Maifield in both classes and JR Mitch in 1/8th buggy. Day-1 also saw Ryan Maifield place his B44 out front with Jason Ruona and Lee Martin following in 2nd and 3rd. JR Mitch, Richard Lowe and Frank Root showed the fast way around the track in the Modified truck class with Mitch showing a slight edge in the overnight standings.
Jason Smith from South Carolina blistered the track in the Expert 1/8th truck class taking the early top position.
Sportsman drivers Jeremy Harris, Andrew Moore, Brian Duncan, Jay Johnson and Trey Cook were all having an early battle for TQ in multiple classes showing their diverse skills in each class.
Saturday –
Lee Martin picked up right where he left off in the 1/10th buggy and 1/8th buggy classes by picking up the quick times in round 3-5 and assuring himself the overall TQ. Ryan Maifield, Jason Ruona and Lee Martin held an epic qualifying battle in round 4 in the 4wd class. Separated by only 8 tenths of a second for most of the qualifier the 3 battled with Ryan Maified winning a close race and also the overall TQ in the 4wd class.
JR Mitch continued his stellar drive in truck modified by taking the overall TQ with Richard Lowe in the 2nd position and Frank Root in 3rd. Jason Smith continued his great qualifying results in the Expert 1/8th truck by putting down another quick run and securing the TQ.
The JConcepts Clash Top Qualifiers were as follows:
2wd limited – Jeremy Harris – RC10B4
2wd modified – Lee Martin – RC10B4
1/10 gas truck – Jay Johnson – GT2
Truck limited – Jeremy Harris – RC10B4
Truck modified – JR Mitch – RC10T4
4wd limited – Andrew Moore – BJ4
4wd modified – Ryan Maifield – B44
Sportsman 1/8 truck – Kyle Knowles – Hot Bodies
Expert 1/8th truck – Jason Smith – Losi
Production Monster Truck – JJ Turk – Revo
Sportsman 1/8th buggy – Trey Cook – Mugen
Expert 1/8th buggy – Lee Martin – RC8
Sunday – Bumping up
Sunday started with the lower mains in electric. As promised the bump-ups in electric were quite exciting and a great compliment to the event. 6 Minute
C-mains followed by 8 minute B-mains provided the perfect avenue for the new electric technology. Bump-up action in nitro was wild as always with 10 minute C-mains and 20 minute B-mains.
2wd limited A-mains –
The first A-main up 2wd limited, Jeremy Harris took advantage of this TQ position and pulled a small lead on Brian Duncan.
Brian Duncan countered early and found himself in the lead but only for a very short time as Jeremy took back the lead and pulled away to the finish.
After a poor start, Andrew Moore used the extended 10 minutes to pull back within 4 seconds of Brian at the end.
2wd limited A-main – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Jeremy Harris
Brian Duncan
Andrew Moore
2wd modified A-mains –
After a small drivers introduction the drivers lined up and they were off. Lee Martin took the early lead followed closely by Ryan Maifield. Approaching the top of the hill, Lee’s car lost a little traction and Maifield slightly nudged him sideways. Maifield took the lead with Martin now in second and Frank Root in 3rd. Frank tried an early overtaking move on Lee that collected both drivers and gave Maifield an even bigger lead. Out front Maifield continued to push as Lee Martin was turning some of the fastest laps of the event to catch. At the end Maifield took a 4 second win over top qualifier Lee Martin with Richard Lowe from the U.K. finishing in the 3rd position.
2wd modified A-main – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Ryan Maifield
Lee Martin
Richard Lowe
1/10th gas truck A-main –
1/10th gas truck was the Jay Johnson show from start to finish. Jay drove his beautifully prepared GT2 to the TQ position and once the A-main started drove away from the field. Juan Gascot and Jon Faulkner finished in the 2nd and 3rd position respectively.
1/10th gas truck A-main – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Jay Johnson
Juan Gascot
Jon Faulkner
Truck Limited A-main –
TQ Jeremy Harris had the touch all weekend long in the limited classes. Jeremy pulled a terrific start and pulled away from the field. Jeremy finished with a 17 second lead over 2nd place finisher Brian Duncan. Rounding out the top 3 was Jay Johnson finishing in 3rd.
Truck Limited A-main – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Jeremy Harris
Brian Duncan
Jay Johnson
Truck Modified A-main –
JR Mitch held control early, only briefly being challenged by Richard Lowe and Frank Root in the first few corners. As the 10 minute main developed Richard Lowe mounted a charge coming back from an earlier crash, Richard was on a mission. Lap after lap Richard was decreasing the gap between him and JR. JR was smooth and steady and Richard pushed harder. Coming down to the final few laps Richard pulled up to within a few seconds of JR but it was not enough as JR’s great drive was complete and took home the 1st place with Richard Lowe in 2nd and Leon McIntosh rounding out the top 3.
Truck modified A-main – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
JR Mitch
Richard Lowe
Leon McIntosh
4wd Limited A-main –
4wd limited belonged to Andrew Moore and his BJ4. Andrew set the TQ in the first 4 rounds of qualifying and sat the last round out to prepare for the finals. In the A-main Andrew pushed his perfectly prepared BJ4 out front and never looked back. Jon Faulkner and Chris Cristo finished in the 2nd and 3rd positions respectively.
4wd Limited A-main – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Andrew Moore
Jon Faulkner
Chris Cristo
4wd Modified A-main –
TQ Ryan Maifield took the hole shot and quickly negotiated the downhill S-turn with precision creating some first lap breathing room. Lee Martin who got involved in a first lap crash regrouped to trail Maifield by only a small margin. Lee turned it on for the next several laps pulling right up on the back of Maifields B44. Maifield responded as only few can with his fastest single laps of the weekend creating space once again. Lee made a small mistake coming down the table top in front of the driver’s stand which gave Maifield all the space he needed to cruise onto his 2nd win of the day. Toward the end of the race Lee’s battery became very soft and Tony Truman and Richard Lowe squeaked by to overtake for 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
4wd Modified A-main – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Ryan Maifield
Tony Truman
Richard Lowe
Sportsman 1/8th truck A-main –
Kyle Knowles and Kawri Brown held a very close battle throughout the 30-minute race with Kawri leading throughout the first half of the race. Kyle put the
pressure on in the later stages of the race and over took Kawri for the lead at the 48 lap mark. Kyle took a well deserved win with Kawri finishing 2nd and Mike Brotherton finishing in 3rd.
Sportsman 1/8th truck – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Kyle Knowles
Kawri Brown
Mike Brotherton
Expert 1/8th truck A-main –
Jason Smith from South Carolina was the man to beat in the expert 1/8th truck class. Jason TQ’ed and led every lap in the main. Local driver Tony Pattishall pushed hard and maintained a consistent distance. In the end Jason took home 1st place with Tony Pattishall taking 2nd and Mike Jones taking 3rd.
Expert 1/8th truck A-main – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Jason Smith
Tony Pattishall
Mike Jones
Production Monster Truck A-main –
TQ JJ Turk was on fire in the Production Monster Truck division. JJ took advantage of an early first turn crash and had a huge gap on the field right from the start. Dave Warr kept pace throughout most of the race but eventually settled into 2nd while Dante Villanueva finished in a well deserved 3rd place.
Production Monster Truck A-main – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
JJ Turk
Dave Warr
Dante Villanueva
Sportsman 1/8th buggy A-main –
Local driver Trey Cook took the TQ and was off and running early on in the A-main. Trey powered to a sizeable lead until an engine flameout which sent him to the pits early. Tony Pattishall took advantage of the flameout and went directly into the lead with Jay Johnson in 3rd. Tony led for several laps until an interference problem sent Tony off track and out of contention. Jay Johnson remained poised and took home 1st place. Trey Cook recovered from the early flameout to finish in 2nd. Rounding out the top 3 was David Kobisk.
Sportsman 1/8th buggy A-main – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Jay Johnson
Trey Cook
David Kobisk
Expert 1/8th buggy A-main –
Lee Martin took a quick lead out front with Ryan Maifield in 2nd. Lee and Ryan were very close for many laps until Maifield made a small mistake giving Lee some breathing room. Maifield put on a charge closing in on Lee and just then Lee encountered a flameout sending him into the pits early. Ryan Maifield picked up the lead and continued to push his RC8 to the limit while increasing the lead. JR Mitch picked up the 2nd position and was just cruising as he pulled away from the rest of the field. After a rough start Jason Smith pulled through the pack and picked up the 3rd position.
Expert 1/8th buggy A-main – 1st, 2nd and 3rd
Ryan Maifield
JR Mitch
Jason Smith