Last weekend in Omaha, NE the HobbyTown USA HobbyPlex (The Plex) conducted Round 4 of their 1/8 Winter Series on their massive indoor off-road 1/8 dirt track. This series has been growing bigger and bigger over the years, and this last round saw 246 entries competing in seven different classes!
Friday night the event begin with open practice running from 4 to 10pm. Then on Saturday the doors opened again at 7am for more practice laps. However, only drivers who failed to practice on Friday night were allowed on the track from 7-9am. That way they had a better chance to dial in their rides on the layout. Then from 9-10:30am the rest of the field could join them out on the track for some last minute setup changes.
Right after practice had ended a quick driver’s meeting was held, and then the first of two rounds of qualifying began. Each qualifier ran for five minutes, and between rounds one and two the sheets were reprinted as drivers were resorted based on their lap times in the first round. The idea behind that was to group drivers together that were on the same pace so that everyone would have a cleaner track for one last shot to secure the top qualifying position in their class. Only a driver’s best qualifier counted towards making the A Main, and the top eight cars were automatically locked into the finals. Positions 9 and 10 would bump up from the B Mains which made those lower mains even more competitive.
We had several team drivers in attendance that day and JConcepts was well represented both on and off the track. So let’s see how the the team finished starting with the largest class of the event, 1/8 Expert Electric Buggy.
Team driver Mason Fuller would TQ this class by setting down the fastest laps in both rounds of qualifying that day! For the single 10 minute A Main he would lead from tone to tone to take the win! Joining him on the podium were teammates Seth VanDalen (2nd) and Kaden Fuller (3rd) to complete the JConcepts podium sweep!
Winning JConcepts products:
- Gold compound Ellipse tires
- Bullet wheels
- S15 body
In the 1/8 Expert Nitro Buggy class, Mason would once again grab the TQ in Round 1 of qualifying, but then in Round 2 his teammate Seth would lay down the fastest lap times. So it went down to a tire breaker and Mason edged his teammate by 0.10 of a second! In the 30 minute main event Mason would get out to the lead before dropping down to 2nd on lap 21. He would take over the lead again on lap 27 and go on to take the win! Once again his fellow JC drivers Seth and Kaden joined him on the podium for another JConcepts podium sweep!
Winning JConcepts products:
- Gold compound Ellipse tires
- Bullet wheels
- S15 body
In the 1/8 Nitro Truggy class, team driver Brandon Kearney qualified 2nd overall for the 20 minute A Main. During the main the top three cars would swap positions multiple times, and Brandon would lead for several laps. As time expired he just got caught at the line and would finish 2nd overall!
Winning JConcepts products:
- Gold compound Ellipse tires
- Bullet wheels
- F2 8th Scale Truck body
- F2 Truggy Carbon Fiber Body Mount Adaptor for the RC8T3.2
- F2I wing
In the Gas Truck class (that’s 1/10 nitro stadium truck for you youngsters out there) team driver Will Brinton would capture the TQ by running the fastest laps in both rounds! For the 15 minute A Main he would get off to a rough start as he found himself in 4th place after the opening laps. He didn’t let that phase him as he was able to regain the lead by lap four and never look back as he crossed the finish line in 1st place! Joining him on the podium in 3rd was teammate Chad Parks!
Winning JConcepts products:
- Gold compound Ellipse tires
- Dirt-Tech inserts
- Mono wheels
- F2 body in the lightweight option
Finally, in the Mini Truggy class team driver Drew Rubenking dominated both rounds of qualifying to start on the pole for the eight minute A Main! When the horn sounded he got off to a great start and was able to enjoy a victory lap on the competition to take the win!
Winning JConcepts products:
- Gold compound Ellipse tires
- Mono wheels
- Finnisher body
The final round of this series is coming up soon on March 12th. Please use this link to view more on this exciting series: https://www.facebook.com/WinterSeriesatthePlex