This past weekend the JConcepts race team hit the road to fly out to SDRC Raceway in San Diego, California for the 2020 Top Gun Shootout. This annual event ran from Friday through Sunday and saw nearly 200 entries in total.
There were 10 different classes to compete in with the largest amount of entries falling into the 13.5 Expert 4wd Buggy class with 33. The SDRC race team did an excellent job putting in another fun and competitive fresh layout and ran a smooth race program as usual.
Saturday the drivers competed in three rounds of qualifying to determine the TQ for each class. Only a racer’s best two qualifiers counted towards the final seeding order which didn’t leave much room for error that day.
For each class the top 8 drivers were automatically locked into the single 7 minute A Main. Each B Main ran for 6 minutes and mains below that ran for 5 minutes each. In each lower main the top two finishers bumped up into the next highest main so that meant the top two from the B Main would transfer to the A for a total of 10 cars.
We had a ton of drivers in attendance for this event and the JConcepts race team was well represented in the mains for several classes. Per usual, the biggest and most competitive classes were Mod and 17.5 Expert 2wd Buggy as well as Mod and 13.5 Expert 4wd Buggy. Let’s focus in on the team to see how they performed in these large classes.
In the 13.5 Expert 4wd Buggy class team driver Matthew Gonzalez dominated qualifying as he TQed each round! In the main he would lead the pack for nearly every lap to take the W for the weekend! Joining him on the podium in 2nd place was team mate Doug Lariviere!
Winning JConcepts Products – Matthew Gonzalez
- Silver compound Ellipses
- Mono wheels
- Dirt Tech inserts
- F2 body
- Carpet | Astro High-Clearance 6.5″ rear wing
In the Mod 4wd Buggy class team drivers Spencer Rivkin and Ryan Maifield would battle it out for the top qualifying spot. In Round 1 Spencer would lay down the fastest laps to set the TQ for the round with team mate Tom Rinderknecht setting the next highest mark for the team in 3rd. In Round 2 Ryan would lead the charge for the team as he reset the TQ time for the weekend with Tom finishing 2nd and JC driver Austin Wick putting in the next highest finish for the team in 4th.
In the final round Ryan would reset his own TQ time for the weekend to lock up the pole for the A Main with Tom once again finishing 2nd, Spencer 3rd, and Austin 4th. Ryan would then go on to take the wire to wire win in the main with Spencer finishing in 2nd and Tom in 3rd to complete the JC podium sweep!
Winning JConcepts Products – Ryan Maifield
- Silver compound Ellipses
- Mono wheels
- Dirt Tech inserts
- S1 body
- Carpet | Astro High-Clearance 6.5″ rear wing
In the Expert 17.5 2wd Buggy class once again Matthew led the team’s efforts by capturing two rounds of qualifying to set the TQ for the weekend. When the tone sounded in the main he would lead the pack from start to finish to capture his 2nd title for the weekend!
Doug once again filled up the podium for the JConcepts team with a solid 3rd place finish!
Winning JConcepts Products – Matthew Gonzalez
- Silver compound Ellipses
- Mono wheels
- Dirt Tech inserts
- F2 body
- B6.2 Front Wing
- Carpet | Astro High-Clearance 6.5″ rear wing
In the Mod 2wd Buggy class, JConcepts drivers Spencer and Austin would each take a round of qualifying to lead the team’s efforts. After points were calculated for the single A Main Spencer would start off in 2nd, Austin in 3rd, Tom in 4th and Ryan in 5th. After two laps in the main event Spencer would jump out into the lead and never look back as he took the victory! Ryan would join him on the podium in 2nd place!
Winning JConcepts Products – Spencer Rivkin
- Silver compound Ellipses
- Mono wheels
- Dirt Tech inserts
- F2 body
- B6.2 Front Wing
- Carpet | Astro High-Clearance 6.5″ rear wing