JConcepts Super Cup Championship Series packed the house at Shiverville Raceway in High Springs, FL for round 3, with a record 193 entries on the perfect spring day. Shiverville Raceway’s freshly expanded and highly groomed race surface was primed to see some close and intense racing action. The track crew did an amazing job rebuilding the surface as early in the week it was hammered by over 3 inches of rain. Practice was held to a 2pm start on Friday for extra time as the Florida sun worked its magic baking the track. Racers then hit the track to work on lines and setups for Saturday’s showdown that started at daybreak.
Independent 17.5 2wd Buggy popularity continues to grow for the JConcepts SCCS as racers filled the sheets with a D Main. Johnny Dye got plenty of track time as he took the win for both D and C Mains, Jeff Lynn made the C Main and Danny Wight had his eyes on the big show as he went from the C Main to the B Main to the A Main with an amazing finish when he broke on the last lap & then 3 wheeled his Losi for the bump spot along with Rich Schafer in the A Main. John Manikis sat P1 with a qualifying time of 16/5:15.346. It was Roberto Falcon that passed at the start for the race lead and never looked back. Robert Molina moved up from P5 to finish 2nd, John Manikis was 3rd followed by Matt Keeple 4th and all the way from the C Main Danny Wight rounded out the top 5.
Biggest and most challenging class of the day was Pro Stock 2wd Buggies 29 car field. JConcepts driver Billy Bruce took the overall TQ at 16/5:17.946. Tilar Pollack and Robert Molina made their way into the C Main that was won by Collin Cabre and runner-up Peyton MacDonald. A very closely contested B Main had Jovan Cruz atop with Erik Everett in a close second. At the start of the 10 buggy A Main, Billy Bruce made the right tire choice as his JConcepts equipped Kyosho RB6 lead from tone to tone. Fellow JC team driver Jovan Cruz took his TLR 22 2.0 from the B Main to a 2nd place finish. Brandon Denmark was 3rd, Mike Applegate 4th and Jim Anderson 5th.
Modified 2wd Buggy’s C Main had Paul Wynn and Chris Viesins bumping into the B Main. Leon McIntosh and Daimon Borkowicz took the final 2 spots for the 10 car A Main showdown of Florida’s elite racers. JConcepts team driver JR Mitch was the top qualifier after 2 rounds of close racing from the group of 22. Jeremy Harris would make a quick pass for the lead as Jason Ruona and Billy Easton followed very tight in his tracks. Easton would make the pass for the lead on lap 6 as Harris and Ruona kept pace for the next 9 laps until Jason and his JConcepts/Team Associated B5 made the move on the final lap to take the lead and cross the line for the win. Easton would finish 2nd as Harris was 3rd, Daniel Castaneda 4th and Ryan Eckert 5th.
JConcepts drivers dominated 4wd Modified Buggy starting with qualifying as JR Mitch’s 18/5:07.877 assured him the P1 A Main position. Daniel Castaneda began his climb to the top taking the win in both the C and B Mains. Bobby Phillips made his way into the B and Ryan Eckert took the final spot of the A Main. Felix Law found the power and traction needed from his JConcepts tires for a big win. JConcepts teammate Daniel Castaneda ran home to a 2nd place A Main finish after completing 44 laps in 14 minutes over 3 total mains. Daimon Borkowicz charged from P8 to a 3rd place finish. Collin Cabre was 4th and Jader Lopez in 5th.
Pro 2 Stock Short Course was a continuation from round 2 as JConcepts teammates Riker Gatenby, Peyton MacDonald and Walter Cruz took their Team Associated SC10.2’s to the front. Riker was TQ at the start of the A Main. Peyton was able to keep a tight line at the tone to move atop of the board, but Walter slipped past Peyton and held the race lead for 11 laps with Peyton tight behind. MacDonald made his move for the lead on lap 12 and held the top spot for the win. Riker made his way back into 2nd as Kris James beat Walter back to the line for 3rd. Cruz was 4th and Landen Lewis 5th.
JConcepts driver JR Mitch takes his 3rd TQ of the day in Pro 4wd SCT. Chris Viesins’s TLR on JConcepts rubber made a quick pass for the lead as JConcepts teammates JR Mitch and Janos Lazar followed close behind. The trio worked their way around lap traffic looking for room to pass. They would finish at the line with Viesins 1, Mitch 2 and Lazar 3. Brad Marszalek was 4th and Trey Roberts 5th. Congrats to Jeff Keeton and Brian Lewis racing into the A Main from the B.
Riker Gatenby’s T4.2 sat on pole for Stock Truck. For the Main, Tilar Pollack had the truck to beat as his Kyosho was dialed in for the final 5 minute A Main. Tracy Carver finished 2nd as Riker was 3rd. Brandon Denmark 4th and Robert Molina completed the top 5.
Modified Truck had Paul Wynn’s JConcepts T4.2 in P1 after qualifying with a TQ time of 16/5:12.254. Ryan Eckert’s Kyosho RT6 made the move for a quick lead at the tone and never looked back for the overall win. Paul battled with Mike Applegate for several laps but at the end Wynn beat Applegate back to the line for 2nd as Mike finished 3rd. Daimon Borkowicz was 4th and Jonathon Paulk 5th.
JConcepts Team Driver Billy Bruce TQ’d 40 and Over Modified Buggy in his Kyosho RB6’s time of 16/5:03.065. Rich Schafer made the pass on lap 2 as the ever changing track conditions proved to be very challenging as the sunset on the outdoor clay surface. Billy had fallen to 6th and regained composer and drove all the way back to a 2nd place finish. Danny Wight placed 3rd, Jonathon Paulk was 4th and Tracy Carver 5th.
Coolest class of the day was RC 10 Vintage, this round the Worlds Edition made its return and laid down some fast laps for a 20 year old design. Jeremy Harris, Jason Ruona and Lance Manfredi started 1-2-3 after qualifying in an old school heads up start. Harris and Ruona would battle for many laps until both hugged too close to a pipe and pooped off a ball cup each. Turn marshals quickly got the duo repaired for a 3 way shoot out to the finish. Ruona made a last lap pass on Harris for the win as Manfredi was a close 3rd.
Thank you to Shiverville raceway on all the hard work and amazing track that was challenging and beautiful. Thank you to each and every racer as we completed 75 races in just over 11 hours. The action continues for the final round of the JConcepts Super Cup Championship Series spring session at FZRC April 26th. Lets finish it off with another track shattering attendance record. See you on the stand, Let’s Race!
Race Reporter: Lance MacDonald
For more photos visit the Super Cup Facebook Page and also some great photos by Cheryl Joye-Shiver.