This past weekend SoCal Nitro Raceway in Victorville, CA was host to the rescheduled Round #1 of the JBRL Nitro Series. Originally this race was supposed to be held earlier in the series but had to be rescheduled a few times due to local restrictions caused by the ongoing pandemic. But thankfully they were able to get this round finally in the books and it was another successful event.
There were 174 entries spread out over 10 classes and the event started on Friday with practice from noon to 9pm. On Saturday there were two rounds of qualifying that ran 5 minutes each. Your best finish between the two runs were used to determine your overall qualifying position for each class. Every class ran one main and the top two finishers in each lower main bumped up into the next higher main.
Since it was a new year and this was one of the first major nitro races in California, many drivers were making their 2021 debut with new cars, new gear, or even new race teams. Making his debut for the JConcepts race team was legendary RC driver, Adam Drake.
Adam has been racing at a high level for over 20 years now and we recently had a chance to talk to him about his early years in RC coming up through the Pro ranks which you can watch below:
Back to the racing, Adam’s Mugen cars were on point as usual and he was able to set the the TQ in two of the three classes he competed in! Starting with the Expert 1/8 Nitro Buggy class, Adam reports that he used the Green compound Reflex tires for both qualifying rounds to set the TQ. Then in the 15 minute A Main he used the same set to take the tone to tone win!
Winning JConcepts products:
- Green compound Reflex
- Bullet yellow wheels
- Dirt-Tech inserts
- S15 body
- MBX-7R Front Scoop
- F2I yellow wing
- Medium Advanced Formulated Tire Glue
In the Open 1/8 Electric Buggy class Adam just missed out on the TQ by a .10 of a second! Starting 2nd for the single 10 minute A main, Adam battled for the lead with the top qualifier for the first few laps before he took over the lead for good on lap 5 and went on to win by 9 seconds! Adam reports that in round 1 of qualifying he used the Reflex tire and then switched to Triple Dees for round 2. But for the main he went back to the Reflexes since they felt smoother and easier to drive.
Winning JConcepts products:
- Green compound Reflex
- Bullet yellow wheels
- Dirt-Tech inserts
- S15 body
- MBX-7R Front Scoop
- F2I yellow wing
- Medium Advanced Formulated Tire Glue
Finally, in the Open 1/8 Nitro Truggy class, Adam captured his 2nd TQ of the weekend by setting the fastest time in the first round of qualifying! For that round he used the Reflex tires once again, but for round 2 and the A Main he switched over to Triple Dees. In the main he made a small mistake early in the race, but he would continue to battle and take back the lead for good on lap 10!
Winning JConcepts products:
- Green compound Triple Dees
- Bullet yellow wheels
- Dirt-Tech inserts
- Finnisher body
- F2I black wing
- Medium Advanced Formulated Tire Glue
The final round of the series will be held in three weeks at Thunder Alley RC Raceway in Beaumont, CA.