This past weekend the JConcepts team hit the road to fill the pits at OCRC Raceway in beautiful Huntington Beach, CA for the 13th Annual Pro-Line Surf City Classic. There was a total of 315 entries and 9 different classes to compete in. The race format called for practice on Friday and then on Saturday morning three rounds of qualifying began. On Sunday the doors opened up and one more round of qualifying was held.
Your best two qualifying rounds were used to determine your overall position for each class. The top 10 in each class were automatically locked into the single, 10 minute A Main. The two drivers who finished 1st and 2nd in the B Main would then transfer to the A for a full 12 car main event. We had numerous drivers competing at this race so let’s check on the team to see how they performed.
Mod 2wd Buggy
Starting with the most prestigious class, Mod 2wd buggy, qualifying was very intense as each round had a different driver laying down the fastest laps. After all four rounds were in the books JConcepts driver Broc Champlin would start on the pole with team mate Ryan Maifield right behind him in 2nd. Once the top 12 cars were set, we had 4 drivers qualified for the main and all were in the top 7. When the horn sounded Broc got off to a great start and would take the wire-to-wire victory with team mate Spencer Rivkin capturing the final podium spot!
Here is what Broc had to say about this race:
“Coming into the 10 minute main, I knew from qualifying Maifield was going to be a handful. He was swinging in qualifying and edged me out from mistakes in the first 2 rounds. I still had overall TQ but he was very quick starting right behind me. I knew I had the speed and the car, just needed to keep all 4 on the dirt. First few corners I pulled a bit of a gap, made a small bobble through the rhythms after the whoops on the 2nd lap, and I thought, “game on.”
We came in front of the drivers stand and he under jumped the triple. Ryan crashed and I had a small gap early. Still 9 plus minutes to go I knew I just needed to drive my own race and focus on getting through lappers. I did so and was able to pull a huge lead. I scared myself with a 5 second crash but I stayed calm and quickly opened it back up. No real strategy just make it through the first few laps clean and charge. I showed a ton of aggression through the rhythm sections this weekend and I felt a little more comfortable than my competitors which is a huge plus! I’m super happy with how I drove as I stayed consistent and still drove hard! Definitely a huge confidence boost going forward after proving to myself I can do it on a hard, technical and open layout! Excited for the future races going forward!”
Winning JConcepts products:
Broc Champlin
- Silver compound Ellipses
- Mono wheels
- Dirt Tech inserts
- S2 body
- Carpet | Astro High-Clearance Rear Wing
- Black B6.1 Fin Titanium Turnbuckle Set
Spencer Rivkin
- Silver compound Ellipses
- Mono wheels
- Dirt Tech inserts
- P2 body
- Aero S-Type Rear Wing
Mod 4wd Buggy
In the Modified 4wd Buggy class, the JConcepts team dominated qualifying with drivers Ryan Maifield, Tom Rinderknecht and Broc Champlin all grabbing a TQ in in the qualifiers. But in the end it was Ryan who was the fastest in two of the four rounds which placed him 1st on the starting grid. Tom would qualify right behind him in 2nd and Broc in 3rd. In total we had 5 JC drivers in the single A Main. Ryan would lead every lap of the race event to take the victory in this class!
Here is what Ryan had to say about this race and his tires that weekend:
“The 4wd was a whole different story, now knowing what to expect a little more with the increasing traction, I put in some clean opening laps from TQ. After seeing what happened in the 2wd main and knowing a 10 minute electric race is usually difficult, I kept my pace up to where I felt I would be the most consistent.
The game plan came together and traffic cooperated nicely on the way to a great win for the newly released YZ4-SF2. The tire situation is always most critical at OCRC but JConcepts keep me set with Ellipse in silver compound and I was amazed with that combo from the start of the event to the last final.”
Winning JConcepts products:
Ryan Maifield
- Silver compound Ellipses
- Mono wheels
- Dirt Tech inserts
- S1 body
- Aero S-Type Rear Wing
Tom Rinderknecht
- Silver compound Ellipses
- Dirt Tech inserts
- Light-weight F2 body
- Carpet | Astro High-Clearance Rear Wing
13.5 4wd Buggy
In the 13.5 4wd Buggy class JConcepts driver Matthew Gonzales dominated qualifying by capturing three out of four rounds! That secured the TQ for the main event and when the race started he got out to great start. Team mate Jake Thayer qualified 5th for the A Main and after one lap he jumped all the way to 2nd place! That led to an amazing battle between the two JC drivers and just about halfway through the race Jake was able to take over the lead and hold off Matthew for the win!
Winning JConcepts products:
Jake Thayer
- Silver compound Ellipses
- Mono wheels
- Dirt Tech inserts
- S1 body
- Aero S-Type Rear Wing
Matthew Gonzales
- Silver compound Ellipses
- Mono wheels
- Dirt Tech inserts
- Light-weight S1 body
- Aero S-Type Rear Wing
17.5 2wd Buggy
In the 17.5 2wd Buggy class the JConcepts team was led once again by Matthew and Jake. For the single main Matthew would start 2nd overall with Jake in 3rd. After the race had completed both drivers would finish in the position they started in to fill out the podium for the JConcepts team!
Winning JConcepts products:
Matthew Gonzales
- Silver compound Ellipses
- Mono wheels
- Dirt Tech inserts
- Light-weight F2 body
- Aero S-Type Rear Wing
Jake Thayer
- Silver compound Ellipses
- Mono wheels
- Dirt Tech inserts
- F2 body
- Aero S-Type Rear Wing
Mod Stadium Truck
Finally, in the Mod Stadium Truck class team driver Spencer Rivkin would set the fastest qualifying times in Round 1 and start in 3rd overall for the single main. After 10 minutes had completed Spencer would lock up 2nd place on the podium!
Winning JConcepts products:
- Silver compound Ellipses
- Mono wheels
- Dirt Tech foam
- Finnisher body