JConcepts Sweeps the ROAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road Nationals!

History was made, records were broken, and memories were created last weekend at the ROAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road Nationals! Before we get to breaking records, we have to take it back to the start. Nationals week started for us on Monday as we embarked on the drive from Flordia to Maryland. Come Tuesday afternoon the JConcepts Van would find itself parked out front of The Track in Gaithersburg, MD. As we walked up the stairs and through the entryway we were quickly greeted by track owner Mimi Wong. Mimi Wong is a long-time track owner having settled this facility 40 minutes outside of the Nations Capital approximately 25-30 years ago. She has a fully stocked hobby shop and Mini Z course in addition to her off-road track.

You may recognize this facility as we visited The Track back in 2017 for Nationals. Since then the track has actually been flipped around allowing more space for a bigger layout, which was awesome! The track for the 2021 Nationals was built by Garland Smith who also is part of the ROAR official crew. He actually told us if anyone wanted specifics on how he built the track, he’d be happy to share. For the surface itself, the track was approximately a 70/30 clay/topsoil mix sealed with glue. The layout was enjoyed by drivers in every class, but don’t let it fool you, it was very unforgiving. One mistake and the scoring board changed quickly. One slight touch of a pipe and there would be no mercy. Everyone was essentially fighting to drive the same line. Luckily, we brought some of the best drivers in the industry to represent and battle it out on the track.

In the stock class, we brought Matthew Gonzales who has been a dominant driving force in the stock classes through the JConcepts INS/NCTS series, Desert Classic, the Florida Carpet Champs, and more. In addition to that, we had long-time JConcepts driver AJ Marasco who has made a name for himself in the stock world and has been on the National podium several times. Another driver who has been on fire this year is Davey Batta from Coyote Hobbies in California. Davey won the 17.5 Short Course National Title back in 2018, and 2021 has been a shining year for Davey as he’s won INS races, NCTS races, JBRLs, and historically Surf City among others. A driver to keep your eye on, as he proved it this weekend taking top 5 on the National podium, is Doug Lariviere. Doug has been pushing hard on the travel circuit this year and his results are showing. While we have several powerhouses on our team, there are other drivers like Sammy Moran and Brennan Schimmel who would give these guys a run for their money. Check out the A-Main finalists, it was stacked with fast drivers.

In modified we saw the greatest in the North American region present themselves. Champions from all over would return to either defend their titles or add another one to their stellar resumes. 2x World Champion and 2019 National Champion Spencer Rivkin (JC/AE) would return to defend his title. If you’ve seen Rivkin wheel a 1:10 buggy you know how brilliantly he’s able to do so. Another favorite would be World Champion Ryan Maifield (JC/Yokomo) who won 4wd Modified Buggy at the last Nationals in 2019 and who we saw win 4 National Titles earlier this year already. Making it a triple threat was Dakotah Phend (JC/TLR) the Phenom himself, who also has his own handful of National Titles and wins at prestigious 1:10 races! Cole Tollard (JC/AE) was another driver you better keep your eye on as he’s always been fast, but he’s been up in the mix and ready to take on a National Title. As always the competition would be stiff. Making an appearance and a favorite to win it all would be 4x World Champion Ryan Cavalieri (Proline/TLR). Ty Tessmann (Hot Race/Xray) who has many National Titles under his belt would round out the top 6 favorites of the weekend. Not in attendance this year was Dustin Evans (Proline/AE) as he and his wife were due to have their first child! We could go on listing others because making the main at this Nationals would not be an easy feat.

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Seeding:

17.5 2wd Buggy: Davey Batta (1), Matthew Gonzales (2)

2wd Modified Buggy: Spencer Rivkin (1), Ryan Maifield (3)

17.5 Stadium Truck: Davey Batta (1), Doug Lariviere (3)

13.5 4wd Buggy: Davey Batta (1), Doug Lariviere (3)

4wd Modified Buggy: Dakotah Phend (1), Spencer Rivkin (2), Cole Tollard (3)

17.5 Short Course: Justin Sherman (1), Tom Sherman (3)

2wd Modified Short Course: Spencer Rivkin (1), Dave McEwen (2)

Modified Stadium Truck: Dakotah Phend (1), Cole Tollard (3)

Qualifying would go down Friday and Saturday, 2 rounds per day. Qualifying is one of the most crucial parts of this event. You needed to qualify as far up the starting grid as possible if you wanted a shot at winning. That being said, with the track being unforgiving, one bad wreck could change matters very quickly. It was important for drivers to keep their mental game strong and positive because nothing was over until the trophies were in hand. With that, Dakotah Phend was able to TQ every single class he entered! He couldn’t have asked for his race to go any better. He would start first on the grid come Sunday morning and if he could get in a few clean runs it would be game over. After having a perfect round of seeding, Davey Batta used that momentum to push through qualifying. He was able to TQ 2 of the 3 classes he entered. As for Short Course, we had Spencer Rivkin TQ Mod and Justin Sherman TQ 17.5!

Qualifying (Best 2 of 4):

13.5 4wd Buggy: Davey Batta (1), Matthew Gonzales (2), Doug Lariviere (4),

17.5 2wd Buggy: Matthew Gonzales (1), Doug Lariviere (3), Davey Batta (4)

17.5 2wd SCT: Justin Sherman (1), Tom Sherman (2)

17.5 Stadium Truck: Davey Batta (1), Matthew Gonzales (2), Doug Lariviere (3)

2wd Modified Buggy: Dakotah Phend (1), Cole Tollard (2), Spencer Rivkin (4)

2wd Modified Short Course: Spencer Rivkin (1), Dave McEwen (2)

4wd Modified Buggy: Dakotah Phend (1), Spencer Rivkin (2), Ryan Maifield (3), Cole Tollard (4), Tom Rinderknecht (5)

Modified Stadium Truck: Dakotah Phend (1), Cole Tollard (2)

Final Results:

13.5 4wd Buggy:

13.5 4wd Buggy was a battle all the way to the end! Sammy Moran put the hammer down in A1 taking the win with Gonzales and Batta going 2 & 3. In A2 Gonzales was not going to go down without a fight. He took the win but this time Brennan Schimmel made his way up in the charts taking 2nd for the round with Batta 3rd again. This made things interesting. In the final heat, Batta put his head down and tried to gain a lead in order to secure the win. Gonzales finished 2nd and Nate Sutherland from 7th on the grid made his way up to the top 3! Gonzales and Batta were very consistent in their placements and therefore were able to secure their spots on the podium! Brennan Schimmel out of Coastal RC Raceway has been putting in the time and it showed as he made the National Podium!

Matthew Gonzales (1), Davey Batta (TQ)(2), Doug Lariviere (5), Aj Marasco (6), Nate Sutherland (8)

17.5 2wd Buggy:

Gonzales started first on the grid after having a stellar second day of qualifying. He put the work in early TQ’ing rounds 3 and 4 which set him up for success on the main day! Gonzales was not playing around, coming out of the gate full punch he locked in A1 & A2 and never looked back! Matthew Gonzales officially secured his very first ROAR National Title!! Doug Lariviere wanted his top 3 podium spot bad, so he made sure to hold his own against Sammy Moran and Davey Batta who were consistently putting in top 3 runs. In the final A3, Moran was able to take the win so even with his 4th place finish in A1 he was able to wrap up 2nd on the podium. Batta scored himself two 2nd place runs in the final two races to combine with his 6 in A1, which secured him 3rd overall.

Matthew Gonzales (TQ)(1), Davey Batta (3), Doug Lariviere (4), Aj Marasco (6), Justin Green (7), Matt Wilbert (9)

17.5 2wd Short Course:

Father and Son duo Tom and Justin Sherman battled it out all weekend in the 17.5 Short Course Class. It came down to the final A3 as Josh Boring put himself in the mix. Justin was able to win both A1 and A3 to secure his first National Title!! Congratulations Justin!

Justin Sherman (TQ)(1), Tom Sherman (2)

17.5 Stadium Truck:

17.5 Stadium Truck was a JConcepts heavy main! We had 8 drivers make it to the final and they surely brought their A-Game! Davey Batta and Doug Lariviere battled it out all the way to the A3 going back and forth. Gonzales who qualified 2nd on the grid took the win in A1. Batta took the win in the final two heats and earned his 2nd National Title ever!! We were stoked for team driver Doug Lariviere on his first ROAR Nationals Podium! He has been putting in some serious work all year and we’re taking note. He truly left it all out on the track in every class he ran this weekend.

Davey Batta (TQ)(1), Doug Lariviere (2), Matthew Gonzales (4), Nate Sutherland (6), Tom Sherman (7), Chase Raymond (8), Justin Sherman (9), Justin Green (10)

2wd Modified Buggy:

After making the overall TQ Dakotah Phend knew he just had to make two clean runs to secure his National Title. When the tone went off, it was game on as he quickly tried to lengthen his lead. Behind him was the freight train of 2wd buggies going over that first double and into the next 180. Talk about pressure! Thankfully for Dakotah, he was able to do just that and lock down his national title right after A2. We were pumped to see Cole Tollard consistently in that top 5 group, where in A1 he battled with Aydin Horne for 2nd place. In A2, Ty Tessmann was on a mission to catch Dakotah, but he finished 2 seconds behind him. It wasn’t over for Tessmann though, he used that fuel to take the win in A3 and secure 2nd overall. We were stoked for Cole Tollard to take 3rd on the podium as he drove marvelously! Some new names we saw in the A-Main finals were Charlie Maiorana and Lee Setser. Maiorana is a 1:10 Pro-line/TLR driver based out of Michigan. Lee Setser is our very own JC/AE driver based out of Florida who’s had a break-out year making 4 A-Mains at the various Nationals in 2021.

Dakotah Phend (TQ)(1), Cole Tollard (3), Spencer Rivkin (4), Tom Rinderknecht (8), Lee Seter (9)

2wd Modified Short Course:

Spencer Rivkin and Dave McEwen represented the JConcepts Team in 2wd Modified Short Course. Both drivers were running JConcepts equipped Team Associated RC10 SC6.2s. Dave McEwen battled it out with Rivkin at the beginning of A1 and A2. Rivkin was able to win both A1 & A2 to earn his National Title! McEwen drove fast as well and took 2nd overall on the podium!

Spencer Rivkin (TQ)(1), Dave McEwen (2)

4wd Modified Buggy:

Dakotah Phend had certainly displayed impeccable driving skills all weekend and he kept the momentum going all the way down to the final race. It all paid off for Phend as he locked up his 2nd National Title of the weekend just after two of the 3 Mains! He was able to average 13.3 to 13.5 seconds laps between both of his mains, faster than anyone else on the track! It was truly a battle for the final two podium spots. Spencer Rivkin and Ryan Maifield were both able to take 2nd and 3rd so it came down to the A3 to determine how those final spots would shake out. If Cole Tollard had anything to do with it, he was going to put himself up in the blend. In the final minutes of A3 Tollard was on Rivkin’s wing. He was looking for a way around, he tried to make the pass in the turn after the straightaway but Rivkin closed the door. As they approached the 2nd double, time was running out, Tollard knew he had to do something bold if he wanted to win A3. Tollard went to overjump Rivkin into the turn, but they both ended up on their lids! Tollard gave Rivkin the position back, Maifield caught back up and was able to squeeze by Tollard in the Quad taking 2nd for the round. It’s definitely a battle you want to watch and props to Tollard for going big!

Dakotah Phend (TQ)(1), Spencer Rivkin (2), Ryan Maifield (3), Cole Tollard (4), Tom Rinderknecht (5), Broc Champlin (10)

Modified Stadium Truck:

Dakotah Phend had a killer qualifying taking the TQ for modified stadium truck! That being said, Tollard sat behind him in 2nd on the starting grid waiting to make his move. He knew he had a fair shot at taking his first National Title if he could just hang onto Phend and make a clean pass. It wouldn’t be easy, but he knew he could do it. The fire in Tollard’s heart lit him up and he was on it to take the win. His Stadium Truck looked fantastic out there as it made its way flying around the track. Phend had to battle it out with Tessmann and Lemiuex to determine the final podium spots. Chase Lemiuex, is a fast driver you may want to make note of. He finished 4th in Mod Stadium Truck as well as 3rd in both 2wd & 4wd Mod Buggy B-Mains. Overall, Tollard won both A1 and A2 of Stadium Truck! As he made his way down the driver stand team manager Brent Thielke was there to celebrate his first National Title and the smile on Tollard’s face was priceless!

Cole Tollard (1), Dakotah Phend (TQ)(1)

Making History & Breaking Records:

For the first time, JConcepts took every ROAR 1:10 Electric Off-Road National Title! We could not be more grateful for the drivers on our team who go all in, work hard, and leave it all on the track every time they step on the driver stand. However, breaking records didn’t stop there. This is the first time in JConcepts history where we won all 9 of the ROAR Off-Road National classes with an open tire. JConcepts swept the 2021 ROAR Nationals winning 13 titles in one year! We truly sit back speechless at the accomplishments of our team. It was also a weekend of firsts as we saw Cole Tollard, Matthew Gonzales, and Justin Sherman take their very first ROAR National Titles and we were so stoked to celebrate those accomplishments with them!

Winning Products:

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