Champlin and Moran Win at the Northwest Carpet Nationals!

We’re officially halfway through the NCTS5 series! This past weekend, we stopped at Northwest Hobbies in Albany, Oregon. Northwest Hobbies has a lot to offer to the Pacific Northwest! They have a drift car course, an off-road carpet track, a practice track for beginners, crawling, oval carpet racing, and a fully stocked hobby shop! The modified buggy classes were crazy! We had some of the best drivers, such as Broc Champlin, Dustin Evans, Brandon Foote, Harley Yoshii, Austin Cracknell, and so many others! The event also followed the standard JConcepts format:

1 round of seeding on Friday

3 rounds of qualifying on Saturday

Main Events on Sunday

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The layout was quick and challenging, and you really had to commit to your lines to be fast. It’s always a bit nerve-wracking to race on carpet, as it’s easy to make a very detrimental mistake. The lap times were impressive, with the A-Main drivers in 2wd and 4wd Modified Buggy averaging around 15 seconds per lap. Overall, it was a really enjoyable layout! For Tires, we saw drivers running Fuzz Bite Rears and Pin Swag Fronts!

Seeding:

13.5 4wd Buggy: Alix Ferri (1), Sammy Moran (2), Cole Chura (5)

13.5 Stadium Truck: Matt Olson (1)

17.5 2wd Buggy: Sammy Moran (2), Josh McCall (3), Alix Ferri (4)

2wd Modified Buggy: Brandon Foote (1), Broc Champlin (2), Dustin Evans (3), Harley Yoshii (5)

4wd Modified Buggy: Broc Champlin (1), Brandon Foote (2), Harley Yoshii (3), Dustin Evans (4)

40+ 2wd Modified Buggy: Jeff Keeton (2), Kevin Focht (4)

Qualifying (Best 2 of 3):

13.5 4wd Buggy: Sammy Moran (TQ), Alix Ferri (3), Cole Chura (4)

13.5 Stadium Truck: Matt Olson (2)

17.5 2wd Buggy: Sammy Moran (2), Tyler Hooks (3), Cole Chura (4), Josh McCall (5)

2wd Modified Buggy: Broc Champlin (TQ), Brandon Foote (2), Austin Cracknell (4), Harley Yoshii (5)

4wd Modified Buggy: Harley Yoshii (TQ), Brandon Foote (2), Dustin Evans (3), Broc Champlin (4)

40+ 2wd Modified Buggy: Jeff Keeton (3)

Final Results:

13.5 4wd Buggy: Sammy Moran (1), Tyler Hooks (3), Cole Chura (4), Casey Vitale (5)

2wd Modified Buggy: Broc Champlin (1), Brandon Foote (2), Austin Cracknell (3), Dustin Evans (5)

A1: Broc Champlin put on a masterclass and secured the pole position after a perfect day of qualifying. He continued to lead the race from start to finish with unrivaled precision. Brandon Foote also had a fantastic performance, challenging Champlin throughout the race and finishing in second place. Reavis made an unfortunate mistake on the first lap, which allowed Austin Cracknell to move into third place, closely followed by Dustin Evans in fourth. Cracknell held on to third place and completed the race alongside Champlin (1st) and Foote (2nd).

A2: Champlin and Foote were unrivaled once again in A2. Champlin and Foote held on to their starting positions (1st and 2nd) for the entire 5-minute main event. Ryan Reavis and Austin Cracknell were in battle once again and this time Reavis was hanging on in 3rd for the majority of the race. On lap 15, Cracknell made the pass on Reavis for 3rd and held on for the remaining 6 laps! A2 concluded with the same identical top three finishers.

A3: Champlin locked up the overall win after taking A1 and A2. Foote started first on the grid in this one, with Champlin finished for the day. The tone went off and it was chaos from the start. Foote was able to take off and create some space for himself. Dustin Evans moved from 6th to 4th after the double when Yoshii caught a little too much traction. On lap two, Reavis and Cracknell were battling it out once again, and this time it was for 2nd place. Evans was lurking in 4th when Reavis and Cracknell made the turn onto the straightaway and they were trying to out motor each other. Cracknell got too close to the wall, got squirrelly, and Reavis slowed down to avoid a crash. Meanwhile, Evans saw a clear straight shot and flew by them into 2nd. In the midst of that chaos, the marshall went to grab Cracknell, and Foote traction rolled right before the roller, and Evans got by into 1st. From there, Evans led for the majority of the race and held off Foote who was coming for him in 2nd. On the last lap, Foote was on Evans’s wing, but Evans was playing the defense. Before the second roller, Dustin got caught on a little too much traction which threw him sideways and allowed Foote to take back the lead. Meanwhile, Sammy Moran was quietly taking advantage of various mistakes that were being made throughout the race and were climbing his way up the leaderboard all the way to third! The race concluded as Foote, Evans, and Moran.

17.5 2wd Buggy: Sammy Moran (2), Cole Chura (3), Josh McCall (4), Tyler Hooks (5)

4wd Modified Buggy: Broc Champlin (1), Harley Yoshii (2), Brandon Foote (3), Carrol Culver (5)

A1: Harley Yoshii drove incredibly well all weekend long and he took the overall TQ in 4wd Modified Buggy! Yoshii was on the move and led A1 tone to tone. Behind Yoshii was a three-way battle between Foote, Champlin, and Bristol. Foote started 2nd and held on to second place for 5 laps. Champlin was on his wing looking for a way around and to make the pass into 2nd. By lap 5, Champlin made the pass into 2nd, but Foote and Bristol were still looking for a fight. Champlin made up some space on those two, got up onto Yoshii’s wing, and wanted a taste of the lead. Yoshii and Champlin went over the double, got together and both fell on their lids. The marshall got to them, but unfortunately for Champlin Ashon Bristol took over 2nd place. However, it wasn’t over yet. Champlin was back in the hunt looking for a way around him. With two laps to go, Champlin made a move on Bristol and took over 2nd place! Foote was also able to make a move on the final lap for third. The race concluded as Yoshii, Champlin, and Foote.

A2: After an intense A1, it was another 3- way to battle for the lead in A2. Yoshii was on fire and led for the first half of the race, holding off Foote and Champlin. On lap 10, Yoshii made a small mistake which allowed Foote to take over the lead and Champlin to move up to 2nd. Champlin was putting the pressure on Foote for the lead. By lap 14, Champlin got up in the lead and finished out the race there! Foote finished 2nd and Yoshii locked in 3rd.

A3: This 4wd title would come down to this race. Yoshii and Champlin both had a win under their belt and needed one more each to take it all! The tone went off and Yoshii was on the move. Foote and Champlin were both in the fight looking to hold on to 2nd and maybe even take over the lead. By lap 5, Champling got past Foote and took over 2nd. Champlin quickly started to edge his way closer to Yoshii for that lead position. Yoshii was holding on strong, so it would not be an easy feat. On lap 16, Champlin made a move on Yoshii and took over the lead. The race concluded as Champlin, Yoshii, and Foote as the top three.

13.5 Stadium Truck: Matt Olson (2)

40+ 2wd Modified Buggy: Jeff Keeton (3)

Congratulations to Sammy Moran and Broc Champlin on their wins! Thank you to our drivers who came out and supported the NCTS5 Northwest Carpet Nationals! We had a fantastic time his weekend and we look forward to seeing everyone at the next race! Stop #3 in the NCTS5 series will be at RC Madness in Enfield, CT. Mark your calendars for September 1st-3rd! Thank you to Casey Vitale and his Northwest Hobbies team for hosting a superb event! Lastly, we want to thank our sponsors for making this possible: AMain Hobbies, Hobbywing, Sunpadow, 1Up Racing, Whitz Racing, Willspeed, Team Associated, Reedy, Tekin, Schumacher, and Protek RC!

Winning Products: