JConcepts Drivers take over the JConcepts Stock Nationals at OCRC!

On April 29th – 30th, OCRC hosted the 6th Annual Stock Nationals at OCRC in Huntington Beach, California. With over 310 entries dedicated to pure stock racing from all classes and skill level ranging from Novice, Sportsman, and Expert. Some would argue this race is harder to win then the official ROAR Stock Nationals as it draws in more competition and also being based in southern California where the skill level is among the highest in the country. With the event selling out in a short amount of time, the JConcepts Stock Nationals has been one of the most anticipated races in the region.

The qualifying order was sorted by running 4 rounds of qualifying in 5-minute heat runs taking each driver’s best 2 of 4 rounds to sort for a lengthy 10-minute single A final. The lower mains would see 7 and 6-minute finals to decide a ‘2 car bump up’ to field a full 12 car main event. As hectic as that sounds, the huge size of OCRC made it very manageable in the stock classes.

The crew at OCRC did a terrific job with the layout making it fun all the while challenging with critical jump timing sections and ‘carry your speed’ style corners. Timing was extremely crucial especially on the right side of the track that had a small double and then went into a double – double set before getting full gas on the straightaway. Cornerspeed was also very important to car setup as there were a lot of high speed turns with smooth arcs and double apexes.

“The key to fast laps was to carry as much speed through the corner while staying in the groove to utilize the maximum amount of grip. A bonus to lap times was timing all the jumps perfectly and to maximize the downsides to increase speed and acceleration.” – Kyle Layton

As expected, the racing was top notch up and down the field and with the experience of the OCRC crew, the event ran smoothly and without any issues. Taking the 1st win of the weekend for JConcepts was AE/JConcepts’ Kyle Layton. Kyle would set the TQ and go on to take the win from tone to tone in the Expert Stock Short Course class. Layton would put in a near perfect performance over 10 minutes of pushing his SC5M to the limits to take a well-deserved win using gold Dirt Webs with Dirt Tech inserts. Arizona’s Kyle Davis would hold down 2nd with Florida’s Alan Wight finishing 3rd.

The 2nd win of the weekend for JConcepts would come from long time JConcepts team driver and former Team Associated engineer, Kody Numedahl. Taking a car he mostly designed, Kody would prove to be untouchable in the 13.5 4wd class with his B64. Not only claiming the class TQ, Kody would go on to win from tone to tone and do it in style with a 7-second margin! Finishing 2nd on the podium was TLR/JConcepts Jake Thayer, also known as the OCRC shop manager, and AE/JConcepts’ Kyle Layton 3rd making it a podium sweep for JConcepts. All drivers would utilize the gold Space Bars with Dirt Tech inserts to lock out the podium.

In the Stock Stadium Truck class, TLR/JConcepts’ Blake Beyett would provide JConcepts with their 3rd expert stock win of the weekend by going on to TQ and win stadium truck. Using his TQ position, Blake would build a gap from the field and check out letting the rest of the field to battle amongst themselves. Beyett would take the decisive win with JConcepts’ Kyle Defatte taking 2nd and Andy Smolnik 3rd by a referee call to reverse the finishing order because of an ‘unclean’ pass by Smolnik on the last lap.

It was a miracle comeback by TLR/JConcepts’ Jake Thayer in the Expert Stock 2wd class as his first lap crash dropped the local star down to 6th ending all of Jackie’s chances for glory. Checking out early, was class TQ AE/JConcepts’ Kody Numendahl, but unfortunately, Numendahl would suffer from a few mistakes diminishing his lead and force Numendahl to go on the attack. After a poor start, Jackie would focus his efforts and get back into the mix and find himself once again battling for the lead. While on the 2nd to last lap, another mistake would drop Numendahl to 2nd and seal the win for Thayer as Thayer would pull off a huge comeback win against the odds. JConcepts teammate, Numendahl would finish 2nd and sneaking into the final spot on the podium on the last few laps would be JConcepts’ Blake Beyett making it another JConcepts podium sweep!