2020 JConcepts Midwest Carpet Nationals

This past weekend we had the JConcepts Midwest Carpet Nationals at Thunder Road RC Raceway in Waite Park, Minnesota! It was a snowy weekend where the high was 33 degrees but with a hot cup of coffee in hand and heavy jackets we were ready to race! Thunder Road RC Raceway is one of the nicest and most professional facilities in the country. It was clean, organized, had great lightening, and the facility is bright and upbeat with pops of orange everywhere. Thunder Road has a fully stocked hobby and pro shop along with an indoor carpet track, indoor rock crawling course, slot car track, a model club, War Hammer gaming, and more! It is definitely a place you’ll want to add to your bucket list!

The team arrived Thursday night and were ready to hit the track for practice on Friday morning! The spec tires of the weekend were Swaggers in the front and Twin Pins in the rear. These tires truly hold up great on carpet, allowing for awesome car control. Practice took place Friday as well as a seeding round. Moving into Saturday we did 3 rounds of Qualifying and finished the weekend off with mains on Sunday. Broc Champlin consistently put down fast laps on the field during the mod classes and was dominating all weekend! However, it wasn’t easy as he had stiff competition between Cole Tollard, Lee Setser, Seth VanDalen, and Brad Shearer. In Stock, team driver Kyle Holmberg was battling it out to earn his top spots all through qualifying and mains. We also had Dave Duncan on the mic all weekend keeping the program running smoothly and providing top notch announcing!

Seeding:

13.5 4wd Buggy: 1- Kyle Holmberg

2wd 17.5 Expert: 1- Kyle Holmberg

2wd Modified Buggy: 1- Broc Champlin 2- Cole Tollard 3- Brad Shearer

2wd Open: 3- Thor Ott

40+ Modified 2wd Buggy: 1- Thor Ott 3- Jason Ruona

4wd Modified Buggy: 1- Broc Champlin 2- Cole Tollard 3- Lee Setser

Qualifying (2 of 3):

13.5 4wd Buggy: 1- Kyle Holmberg

2wd 17.5 Expert: 2 – Kyle Holmberg

2wd Modified Buggy: 1- Broc Champlin 2- Cole Tollard 3- Lee Setser

2wd Open: 3- Thor Ott

40+ Modified 2wd Buggy: 2- Thor Ott 3- Jason Ruona

4wd Modified Buggy: 1- Broc Champlin 2- Cole Tollard 3- Seth VanDalen

2wd Modified Buggy Triple A-Mains: 1- Broc Champlin 2- Cole Tollard 3- Lee Setser

• Broc Champlin was on fire winning all 3 rounds of Mains for 2wd Buggy.

• Cole Tollard took 2nd all 3 rounds and 3rd place was a battle between Lee Setser and Brad Shearer.

• In A2 VanDalen and Setser were neck and neck at the end when Setser pinned it across the line barely making it across before VanDalen.

• Tollard didn’t make it easy for Champlin as he was always applying the pressure during A1 and A2. The two of them put a lap up on the entire field during A1.

• Champlin’s hot lap was a 14.2 and was the only driver to achieve 22 laps during the triple A-Mains.

• You can find all three 2wd Modified Buggy A-Mains on our Facebook page!

4wd Modified Buggy Triple A-Mains: 1- Broc Champlin 2- Seth VanDalen 3- Cole Tollard

• Broc Champlin took the A1 Main in 4wd Mod but A2 got a little hairy in the beginning and Broc got the worst of it. He had to bring his A-game going into the final A-Main to earn that top podium spot. 3-4 drivers could have secured that number one spot during A3, it truly was anyone’s race. Luckily, he was able to pull it off and win 2 of the 3 qualifiers.

• Tollard and Champlin were battling in the 1 and 2 spots consistently during A1 and A3. However, during A3 Champlin pulled away and the battle was tight between Tollard, VanDalen, and Shearer.

• Seth VanDalen was highly competitive in all 3 rounds and took the win in A2 and 3rd in A3 securing him that second place podium spot.

• Brad Shearer and Lee Setser were also highly competitive grabbing a top 3 spot during the mains, but Cole Tollard was also consistently on a fast streak which ultimately allowed him to grab that 3rd place spot on the podium when it was all set and done!

• You can find all three 4wd Modified Buggy A-Mains on our Facebook page!

2wd Open A-Main: 3- Thor Ott

40+ Modified 2wd Buggy: 1- Thor Ott 3- Jason Ruona

2wd 17.5 Expert: 1- Kyle Holmberg

13.5 4wd Buggy: 1- Kyle Holmberg

After a weekend of racing we made a special pit stop at the USA-1 4×4 head quarters in Ham Lake, Minnesota to visit Everett Jasmer. It was an incredible experience to see where it all began with his monster truck and take a journey back in time. We were able to take a tour of his facility and hear many of his favorite USA-1 memories. We captured some video from our trip, so stay tuned for that! Thank you to Steve and Linda of Thunder Road RC Raceway for being very welcoming and providing a beautiful facility! An additional thanks to Dr. Chris Michelson who was also racing at the event to help Broc with his injury and get him back on his feet! Up next, AMS in Cullman, Alabama!

Winning Products:

• Swaggers
• Twin Pins
• S2 Body
• F2 Body
• Mono Wheels
• Carpet Wing