The 2023 Silver State was the largest RC Race of all time, with a staggering 1,106 entries for the weekend! The race took place at the Southpoint Casino, making for the perfect all-inclusive week. The hotel rooms are luxurious, the track is entirely inside, and you never have to travel more than a short walk for dinner. Not to mention, Starbucks is open around-the-clock. We had a 5-day program that began on Wednesday with two practice sessions. The two practice rounds served the same purpose for seeding. From there, we proceeded to the first of three qualifying rounds and you know how the rest goes!
The course layout had several thrilling and difficult elements that provided for some fantastic racing! The layout consisted of a double right after the straightaway into an S-Turn, into another double, a medium-sized back stretch, into a drop-down, over another double, into an S-Turn, through a single, into a little rumble section, and finally the turn back to the main straight. Although not particularly abrasive, the surface was uneven, bumpy, loamy, and dusty. In the mains, we saw drivers run Triple Dees or Kosmos, primarily.
Seeding:
40+ Nitro Buggy: Drew Spurgeon (3)
40+ Nitro Truck: Drew Spurgeon (3)
Int. Electric Buggy: David Olsen (3)
Int. Electric Truck: Dylan Bartlett (3)
Int. Nitro Truck: David Olsen (1)
Pro Electric Buggy: Dakotah Phend (1), Mason Fuller (3)
Pro Electric Truck: Mason Fuller (1), Phi Long Nguyen (3)
Pro Nitro Buggy: Dakotah Phend (2)
Pro Nitro Truck: Kaden Fuller (2)
Qualifying (Best 2 of 3):
40+ Electric Buggy: Brent Thielke (2), Reggie Tongue (3)
40+ Electric Truck: Brian Eiter (1)
40+ Nitro Buggy: Drew Spurgeon (1)
40+ Nitro Truck: Reggie Tonge (2)
Int. Electric Buggy: Bryan Kata (1), David Olsen (2)
Int. Electric Truck: Dylan Bartlett (2)
Int. Nitro Buggy: David Olsen (2)
Pro Electric Buggy: Dakotah Phend (1), Spencer Rivkin (2), Mason Fuller (3)
Pro Electric Truck: Mason Fuller (1), Spencer Rivkin (2), Phi Long Nguyen (3)
Pro Nitro Buggy: Dakotah Phend (1), Spencer Rivkin (3)
Pro Nitro Truck: Dakotah Phend (1), Ryan Maifield (2)
Final Results:
40+ Electric Buggy: Reggie Tongue (1), Brent Thielke (3)
40+ Electric Truck: Brian Eiter (1)
40+ Nitro Buggy: Brent Thielke (3)
40+ Nitro Truck: Drew Spurgeon (1)
Int. Electric Truck: Dylan Bartlett (1)
Int. Nitro Buggy: David Olsen (1)
Pro Electric Buggy: Dakotah Phend (1), Spencer Rivkin (2), Mason Fuller (3)
Dakotah Phend led the way, with Rivkin putting the pressure all over Phend’s wing. Mason Fuller was running 3rd. The top three drivers quickly pulled away from the rest of the pack. The Pro E-Buggy main was relatively uneventful as the top three cruised around in the same position for the majority of the race. About halfway in Phend got upside down going over the back drop-down and Rivkin took over the lead. Rivkin was trying to run away with the win. Phend was not going to let it go that easily and it was an intensely close battle. Rivkin went a little wide over the center double with a couple minutes to go, and Phend threw his buggy into the inside line and took back the lead. Mason Fuller moved up to 2nd and Rivkin was still in the fight in 3rd. Fuller got caught on the pipe and Rivkin got by back into 2nd. The top three were running close together, but Phend ultimately took the win!
Pro Electric Truck: Mason Fuller (1), Spencer Rivkin (2), Ryan Maifield (3)
Mason Fuller took the TQ and led the entire Pro Electric Truck main tone to tone. The race was relatively uneventful as Rivkin cruised around in 2nd for nearly the entire race. Kaden Fuller and Ryan Maifield battled back and forth briefly at the beginning of the race for third, but ultimately Maifield took over 3rd by lap 4 and held on to it for the remainder of the race.
Pro Nitro Buggy: Phi Long-Nguyen (2), Mason Fuller (3)
Dakotah Phend started on the pole position after TQ’ing Pro Nitro Buggy! The start was clean, but it was a bit chaotic in the middle of the pack. On the second lap, Ogden got caught on the pipe in the back section, Rivking got by into 2nd, and part of the back-pack got caught up in the mix. Phi Long Nguyen moved up to 5th and Baruffolo moved up to 4th after the chaos. Rivkin got caught up and fell back to 9th shortly after, Baruffolo moved up to 2nd, Lime in 3rd, and Nguyen was now in 4th. Phend was still leading the way. Lime had some trouble next, and Phi was there to capitalize and move into 3rd. Tollard was now in 4th! Baruffolo had a small bobble and Nguyen moved on to 2nd. Tollard and Baruffolo were battling for 3rd. Nguyen was 5 seconds back from Phend who was in 1st and Baruffolo was 2 seconds back from Nguyen who was in 2nd. Baruffolo and Nguyen were battling for 2nd going back and forth. On lap 16, Phend went into pit lane but flamed out during his stop. Baruffolo took over the lead and Nguyen moved to 2nd. They got Phend started back up quickly and he resumed racing in 3rd. From there it was a battle between Baruffolo and Nguyen for that coveted top spot! While all the chaos was happening up front, Mason Fuller was making his way up from 16th to 3rd! What made that more incredible was that he actually came from the middle of the B-Main all the way up to 3rd on the podium!
Pro Nitro Truck: Ryan Maifield (1), Spencer Rivkin (3)
Dakotah Phend led the way in this 45-minute event after taking the TQ! Ryan Maifield was charging in 2nd. In 3rd, the battle was between Spencer Rivkin and Ryan Lutz. Rivkin took 3rd early on and was making a charge to make up some time on Maifield. The first round of pit spots started to happen. Maifield was right on Phend’s wing only 0.4 seconds back. Phend stayed out for another lap, Truhe got Maifield in and out of the pits in a split second. Maifield was pitting at 8:25 and Phend was going 9+ minutes. Sontag got him in and out of pit lane in no time and Maifield was still sitting 2nd, but very close behind. Around lap 20, Phend got caught on the pipe and Maifield took over the lead. Maifield held on to the lead for about 7 laps. Phend was closing the gap and less than a second behind Maifield. They went over the back straight away, Maifield got a little squirrely in the dust and Phend launches it through the gap in the inside line and re-took the lead. From there, Dakotah Phend led the next approximately 34 laps. On lap 61 Phend made his way over the back straightaway section and his car flamed out. Maifield took over the lead all the way to the finish.
Once again, we’d like to congratulate Dakotah Phend, Ryan Maifield, Mason Fuller, Reggie Tongue, Drew Spurgeon, David Olsen, and Dylan Bartlett on their wins! We couldn’t be more proud of our team and all their hard work! Thank you to Joey and his crew for putting on a fantastic event and running a tight program even with the abundance of entries! We have one weekend off and then were back at it for the JConcepts Spring Indoor Nationals at Adrenaline RC Raceway on May 19th!
Winning Products:
Mono Wheels
Dirt-Tech Inserts
