Last weekend the 18th Annual Nitro Explosion took place at Thunder Alley Raceway in Beaumont, CA. There was nearly 200 entries at this event as drivers competed in 9 different classes. A fresh layout was installed a few days before this event kicked off on Thursday night with practice running from 6-10pm. On Friday practice was open again on the track from 2-9pm as drivers tested their setup and tried to find the best lines.
On Saturday qualifying kicked off shortly after 9am. There would be three qualifiers that day, but only a driver’s two best runs would count towards their final qualifying position in the class they competed in. Each qualifier consisted of six minutes and the top 10 were locked into the A mains. Two more drivers would bump up from the lower mains for a total of 12 cars in each A Main on the large layout.
All of the electric classes used a AAA Main format which meant that each racer would run three mains for 10 minutes each, but only their best two finishes would be used to determine who came away with the hardware. Each nitro A Main was 30 minutes long and the lower mains ran shorter times of 20 (B Main), 15 (C Main) and 12 minutes (D Main).
Leading the charge that weekend for the JConcepts team was Adam and Ronda Drake. Adam competed in the 1/8 Expert Nitro Buggy and Open Nitro Truggy classes and would lock up the top qualifying spot in both!
In the truggy main he would lead the pack for nearly the entire race and go on to take the win!
In the buggy main he would get off to a rough start and find himself in 10th place after two laps! However, he would remain calm and slowly pick off the cars in front of him, and by lap 26 he would take the lead back for good to capture his 2nd win of the weekend!
Ronda competed in the 1/8 40+ Nitro Buggy class and started 2nd on the grid for the 30 minute final. In the early stages of the long main she would run in 2nd place till the 16th lap where she took over the lead and never looked back! Joining her on the podium in 3rd place was teammate Miguel Perez!
Winning JConcepts products:
Nitro Buggy:
- S15 body
- F2I wing
- Green compound Reflex tires
- Dirt-Tech inserts
- Bullet wheels
- Front nose scoop
- Medium Advanced Formulated Tire Glue
Nitro Truck:
- F2 body
- F2I wing
- Blue compound Reflex tires
- Dirt-Tech inserts
- Bullet wheels
- Medium Advanced Formulated Tire Glue