This past weekend the HobbyTown USA HobbyPlex (The Plex) in Omaha, NE hosted their annual spring off-road trophy race on their enormous indoor dirt track. The title sponsor for this year’s event was ProTek RC, and the event drew in 226 entries which is their largest spring trophy race to date.
There were 10 classes to compete in for the 2022 ProTek RC Spring Off-Road Championships, and Thursday night the track was open for drivers for the first time.
Friday morning the doors opened at 10am for controlled practice till 5pm that night.
This year’s layout required drivers to both run fast and then slow down for the technical areas. There was a hill that transitioned into a sweeper at the top, and then that sweeper lead down to a diagonally cutting straight that was nearly the length of the entire track. Drivers could gain a lot of speed here, but then they had to slow down as the end of the straight led up a small hill to the next corner.
The diagonal straight away allowed for a cross over to be installed too. Drivers would start on top near the pit lane and then cross over and land below the straight which made it very easy to tackle this obstacle in all the classes.
The section that probably caused the most issues for drivers was the rhythm section placed in one corner of the track. A driver had to hit the line perfectly as they headed up into the top of the corner and then back down again. A lot of leads were lost in this section of the track which made the racing action even better.
After controlled practice had concluded each class ran a three minute seeding round. A driver’s fastest combined three consecutive laps were added up in order to determine their starting place for qualifying the next day.
On Saturday the doors opened again at 7am for some final practice sessions till around 8:30am. Then after a brief driver’s meeting three rounds of qualifying began. Only a driver’s best two qualifying finishes would be used to calculate their final qualifying position in each class they competed in. The top 8 drivers in each class were automatically locked into the 8 minute long single A Mains. The only exceptions were the Mod 2wd and 4wd Buggy classes since they ran an AAA format and each main ran for only 5 minutes. All the lower mains bumped up the top two finishers into the next highest main so that all the A Mains fielded a total of 10 cars.
The lower mains each ran for five minutes, and if you finished 3rd in the B Main you received an award since you technically won that race since the other two drivers who finished ahead of you bumped into the A Main.
After qualifying had completed that night the two largest classes of the weekend competed in special Dash 4 Cash events. The two largest classes of the weekend were 13.5 4wd Buggy with 41 entries and Independent 17.5 2WD Buggy (no sponsors) with 35 entries. The top five qualifiers for both of those classes would enter into the special cash races, but they had to start in reverse qualifying order. So the 5th overall qualifier would start 1st while the class TQ would start in 5th. When the tone sounded they took off to see who could complete five laps first, and there were no turn marshals to flip their cars back over.
JConcepts team driver Cole Henriksen would lead the 13.5 4wd Buggy Dash 4 Cash race the entire time and take home a fistful of dollars that night!
The JConcepts team was out in full force for this event. Team driver Will Brinton was able to set the TQ in the 13.5 Stadium Truck class by sweeping all rounds of qualifying!
Cole set the pace in the 17.5 2wd Buggy class by running the fastest in rounds 2 and 3!
Team driver, and HobbyPlex race director, Alex Sturgeon would lock up the TQ in the 40+ Mod 2wd Buggy class by running the fastest in the final two rounds of qualifying!
In the tightly contested Mod 2wd Buggy class JConcepts driver Mason Herrick would lock up the TQ with the fastest run of the weekend in the final round of qualifying!
After a rough start to qualifying in round 1 of Mod 4wd Buggy, team driver Alex Vanderbeek would sweep the final two rounds to capture the top qualifier position!
Sunday the doors opened at 8am for some more controlled practice and then the mains started up at 9am. Right before the A Mains began the race program was halted so a special Hooligan cash race could be held.
A total of 20 drivers would compete on the layout that was complete with many stationary and moving obstacles in their path. As you can see from the pics the debris on the track made it very challenging for the 20 contestants, but it was great to watch as a spectator or as a Hooligan participant! Watch the action below!
No marshals were allowed and the driver who could complete the most laps in three minutes came away with over $100 in winnings!
Then later before the start of the A2 of Mod 4wd Buggy, the race program was halted one more time for another special event, the Mini Melee!
This special cash race involved only Losi Mini-B and Mini-T vehicles, and these miniature cars had to race on the big track with no turn marshals to aid them.
Reverse was allowed and the first driver to complete six laps (or just survive) would take home the cash winnings! Once that event was complete the mains started up again and after the dust had settled JConcepts would go on to win in four classes!
Starting with the Mod 2wd Buggy class, Alex would take the win in A1 followed closely by JConcepts teammates Mason (2nd) and Ethan Delair (3rd). Mason would bounce back to take the win in A2 with JConcepts teammates David Alberico finishing in 2nd and Ethan once again 3rd. This meant it came down to A3 to determine the overall winner, and after five minutes of intense racing Alex would take the win and the overall title for the weekend! He was joined by Mason and Ethan on the podium to complete the JConcepts sweep!
Winning JConcepts products:
- Gold compound Dirt Webs in the front
- Gold compound Ellipses in the rear
- F2 body
- Mono wheels
- Dirt-Tech inserts
Alex would capture another win for the weekend in the Mod 4wd Buggy class as he won both A1 and A2! He would sit out for A3 and after it was complete and the points were totaled, he was joined on the podium by teammates Drew Rubenking in 2nd and Mason in 3rd place for another JC podium sweep!
Winning JConcepts products:
- Gold compound Ellipses in the front and rear
- F2 body
- Mono wheels
- Dirt-Tech inserts
In the 13.5 Stadium Truck class Will would lead from tone to tone to take the win and joining him on the podium in 2nd place was JC teammate Emerson Sturgeon!
Winning JConcepts products:
- Gold compound Ellipses in the front and rear
- F2 body
- Mono wheels
- Dirt-Tech inserts
In the 40+ Mod 2wd Buggy class it would be JConcepts driver Chad Karstens taking the win, and joining him on the podium in 3rd was JConcepts teammate Mack Vanderbeek!
Winning JConcepts products:
- Gold compound Dirt Webs in the front
- Gold compound Ellipses in the rear
- P2 body
- Carpet | Astro High-Clearance 7″ Rear Wing
- Dirt-Tech inserts
That wraps up another successful race event at the HobbyPlex. This track is also host to the upcoming Summer Indoor Nationals Series (INS12) in July. Online registration should open up in early May, and more details about this race can be found on the Events section of our website: https://jconcepts.net/indoor-national-series