Blake Boggs wins big with JConcepts at the first annual Jamie Rogers Memorial Race hosted by Flowood RC.
Race Reporter: Blake Boggs
This past weekend I attended the Jamie Rogers Memorial race in Flowood, Mississippi. Jamie passed away in January due to a fatal heart attack while attending Flowood’s “January Jam” race. Around 150 racers from the surrounding states joined together to remember a fallen hero in the rc community. Bubba Barham, race director, did a great job for Jamie’s son Ty and his Mother, Melissa. FRC had many sponsors donating product to be raffled off to raise money for Ty and his family, with close to $4,000 raised.
Practice got off to a great start Friday with a brand new layout from Ty Rogers himself. Greg Gatewood and track crew did an amazing job implementing Ty’s creation into the FRC facility. The track was technical and brought out some REALLY close racing. Saturday there were 2 rounds of 7 minute qualifiers and afterwards we had barbecue catered for all the racers along with a video presentation celebrating Jamie’s life.
I ended up racing in 4 classes, 2wd Open Buggy, Pro eBuggy, Pro Nitro Buggy and Pro Nitro Truggy. In 2wd Open Buggy I ran my JConcepts equipped Team Associated B5. In the first round of qualifying I was able to set TQ pace by 12 seconds over second place with Green compound JConcepts Bar Codes up front and Green Bar Code V2’s rear. I missed the second qualifier due to lack of time with 4 classes. With taking your fastest round I knew I would be destined for a great start if not overall TQ. To my surprise the track only got faster throughout the day and I ended up starting in the 4th position for the triple a-mains. JConcepts teammate William Ables would start TQ. I knew it would be a tight race with him being super quick throughout qualifying. So, to start the first main we all got off to a great start I was able to get by 2nd and 3rd to start gaining on William. I was able to put a pass on William early and check out for a win in A1. A2 was much the same, I was able to check out early and take A2 and the overall win. During A2 I wanted to see how hard I could push the B5 and still be consistent after I checked out a bit and to everybody’s surprise the car was way faster than anyone anticipated. I was able to clock a 27.4 second lap time with the 2wd buggy.
In 1/8th Pro eBuggy I ran my JConcepts equipped Associated RC8.2E. In round one of qualifying I wanted to get a safe run and was able to TQ with a 15 lap 7:09 pace with Green Compound JConcepts 3Ds. With TLR/JConcepts driver Martin Harrison a few seconds back. In round 2 I had to better my time as racers before me topped my time from Q1 with the ever improving track. On my scrubbed in 3Ds I was able to run the only 16 lap pace with a 16 lap 7:19 time. 2nd thru 4th would vary from a 15/7:00.2 to a 15/7:00.4 to make it extremely close. Starting in Q1 for the triples I knew I had to stay smooth as Willaim Ables, Tekno’s Kevin Mccoy and TLR’s Martin Harrison would be close in tow. I was able to have a very clean start and stay consistent to comfortably take the win in A1 only with a slight bit of pressure from FRC’s local young guy Matthew Hales. In A2 I tried to stay as clean as possible but a bobble in the rhythm section cost me dearly as I dropped back to 8th place. With that bobble I got caught up in more traffic and made it tough to fight back to first as Tekno’s Kevin McCoy stretched his lead. I was able to drive hard and make my way up to third, with another hot lap of 25.8 (fastest of the weekend), to finish behind Kyosho’s Ty Rogers. In A3 I was worried that the guys behind me would battle hard for the lead and force me to make a mistake ending my hopes of a win, but I stayed calm and was able to stretch out a good lead and take A3 and the overall win.
In Pro Nitro Buggy I ran my JConcepts equipped Associated RC8.2. In the first round of quals I was able to set an early TQ pace but round 2 would provide a much faster track and once again I would have to top my previous time to claim overall TQ. In round 2, I would once again be the only one to go 16 lap 7:22 time on Green Compound JConcepts Hybrids to secure overall TQ. The Main would be pretty straight forward with some early pressure from Tekno’s Kevin Mccoy. As the race went on I was able to stretch out a comfortable lead on Kevin and Kyosho’s Reggie Tounge. In the end my RC8.2 on JConcepts Green Stackers with the amazing RB engine would take the win by over a lap on the field.
In Pro Nitro Truggy I ran my JConcepts equipped RB Powered RC8TCE. I would set a early TQ pace in round one on Green Compound Hybrids only to be topped by one second by Derek Guidry. In round 2 I once again wanted to step up my game. I was able to set a pace to once again be on a 16 lap run until a small mechanical problem sidelined me for round 2. With the track improving TLR/JConcepts driver Cody Avant was able to place 1 spot above me. With Derek in the TQ position, Cody in second, I would start 3rd. For the main I glued up a set of Green Stackers for longevity during the 30 min main. At the start of the main I was able to get by Cody and set my sights on Derek. I would catch Derek and pace myself behind him until the first round of pit stops. He was able to pit clean and I would get tangled up with a back marker coming out of the pits. With what had seemed to be a flame out as I was tangled up, set me back about a half a lap. I was brought back to the pits with the engine still running and a obvious operator error. Although I had assumed the worst and thought the engine flamed, I was wrong. The engine was still running and back out I went only to let Derek stretch his lead and keep it that way only to finish second overall.
