JConcepts at the 2014 ROAR Off-Road Nationals

Ryan Maifield and the JConcepts team impress, while Nathan Bernal wins 17.5 truck at the 2014 ROAR Off-road Nationals

Race: 2014 ROAR Off-Road Nationals
Date: August 20-24, 2014
Track: SCRC – Cocoa, FL

There was a lot to be proud of at the 2014 ROAR Off-Road Nationals for the JConcepts Racing team. Located in our home state of Florida, Space Coast R/C provided a nice location in albeit a hot climate to what I consider one of the most competitive years in recent memory in the modified classes. Leading the JConcepts charge was once again Ryan Maifield who remained in the hunt all weekend taking round TQ’s and ultimately settled qualifying in the 3rd position in 2wd modified, 3rd in SCT and 4th in 4wd modified.

JConcepts direct team drivers stacked the A-main’s with youngsters such as Spencer Rivkin and Tanner Denney making their first A-main in the 2wd modified class. Veteran drivers Dustin Evans, Steven Hartson, Chad Due and Kody Numedahl also turned in fantastic results in the 2wd modified class making the A-main using JConcepts Dirt Webs and Dirt-Tech inserts all weekend. Ryan Maifield won an exciting A-main #3 over Ryan Cavalieri to finish 3rd overall while setting one of the fastest overall times of the weekend. In the end, 8 of the top 10 drivers chose JConcepts Dirt Webs to tackle the difficult surface at SCRC.

The 4wd modified class was also stacked with JConcepts drivers with local driver and TLR / JConcepts pilot JR Mitch who stunned the crowd during round 3 of qualifying laying down a TQ run in the fastest class of the weekend. Ryan Maifield would take 4th on the grid while JR lined-up 5th and Steven Hartson 8th. The mains turned brutal for many drivers but Maifield made the most of the triple A-mains taking a 4th for the team. JR Mitch battled with the best in the country taking 6th overall and Hartson finished 10th after some mechanical failures limited his success. 7 of the 10 drivers in the featured main event utilized JConcepts tires to pack the A-main.

2wd SCT modified has increased competition from a year ago placing more pressure on the field than usual. A packed A-main field produced close qualifying separated by tenths of a second each round. Ryan Cavalieri utilized the tried and true SC10.2 and had the magical touch throughout qualifying and into the A-main where he won it in 2 straight main events. Ryan Maifield the 4-time ROAR champion was his biggest competition all weekend pushing the TLR 22SCT 2.0 to the limit during round 4 of qualifying almost getting the overall TQ in the process but after a roll-over was placed back into the 3rd grid position. 7 of the 10 drivers in the A-main chose JConcepts tires to qualify into the A-main while Maifield led the team with a 2nd place overall after winning a highly competitive A3 over Jared Tebo. Ryan Cavalieri chose the JConcepts Hi-Flow SCT body to top off his winning SC10.2 giving the body an unprecedented 4 ROAR National title wins.

Racing truck modified produced several great moments for JConcepts drivers and product. The freshly tested Dirt-Webs for 1/10th Racing truck made a great debut by TQing the class along with the Finnisher CT4.2 body. Once again the team loaded the A-main with 6 of the 10 drivers running on JConcepts during the triple A-mains. Steven Hartson finished 4th, Tanner Denney 6th, Michael Schoettler 8th and Cody Hollis 9th.

JConcepts driver Nathan Bernal came all the way from Northern California to present a challenge in the 17.5 stock classes. Nathan picked up the track very quickly and began tuning his B5M and T4.2 and with each round he became more comfortable with the track and surface. At the end of qualifying Nathan sat with the TQ in the 17.5 buggy class and 2nd qualifier in the 17.5 truck class. The main events were a battle between local driver Jeremy Harris and Nathan in each class with the drivers flip flopping on their qualifying results. Nathan took the 17.5 truck class in 2 A-main events by winning each race in a close battle.

The buggy class was up for grabs in A3 after both Jeremy and Nathan won a main event. The crowd was pumped and excited as the 2 drivers exchanged position multiple times on the last few laps until Jeremy came out on top winning A3 in dramatic fashion. Nathan proved a serious contender for both title picking up his first in the process. All drivers in the 17.5 stock classes were using the JConcepts control tire selected by Space Coast R/C for the ROAR Nationals. Blue compound Bar Codes on each vehicle provided the winning traction.

A huge thank you and congratulations to the JConcepts team for their hard work together and successful results individually and collectively throughout the weekend. I personally witnessed great runs by almost all of our drivers at one point or another and several drivers I had a privilege racing with in my own qualifiers and main event. Very impressed by our B drivers in the 2wd modified class led by Daimon Borkowicz 1st, Michael Schoettler 3rd, Cole Tollard 5th, JR Mitch 8th and Alex Kosciuszek 9th. Also our C-main drivers ran extremely tough and should qualify for the 2015 IFMAR World Championships.

Finally, congratulations to the champions. Dakotah Phend, Ty Tessman, Ryan Cavalieri, Nathan Bernal, Jeremy Harris and Wayne Wyrick. See you next year!