Last weekend the JConcepts team made the trip to Rome, New York for the 2023 ROAR 1:8 Off-Road Electric Nationals. We visited the long-time facility CRC Raceway! You may recognize that name from Calandra Racing Concepts (CRC). The company was founded in 1993 and they manufacture a variety of RC products. This track is owned by the same family! The facility is awesome! They have a super clean and newly remodeled hobby shop and indoor carpet track! Behind the main building, they have their outdoor 1/8 off-road dirt track. This is where we battled it out for the new ROAR National Title!
The surface was treated and watered throughout the day to keep the dust levels low. For tires, we kept things pretty simple using the Reflex. Everyone ultimately ended up on the Reflex, but some drivers did experiment with the Recon and Relapse early on. We started off on the green compound and as the weekend progressed we switched to blue. We were expected to get a substantial amount of rain on Friday, but thankfully it was just enough to water the track and prep it for racing that morning!
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Seeding:
Electric Buggy: Dakotah Phend (1), Jared Wiggins (3), Joe Bornhorst (4), Lee Setser (5)
Electric Truggy: Dakotah Phend (2), Joe Bornhorst (4), Ryan Maifield (5)
Masters Electric Buggy: Eric Deschenes (1)
Masters Electric Truggy: Eric Deschenes (3)
Qualifying (Best 2 of 4):
Electric Buggy: Joe Bornhorst (2), Ryan Maifield (3)
Electric Truggy: Jared Wiggins (3), Ryan Maifield (5)
Masters Electric Buggy: Eric Deschenes (TQ)
Masters Electric Truggy: Eric Deschenes (3)
Final Results:
Electric Buggy: Ryan Maifield (1)
A1:
EBuggy would be an epic showdown between Ryan Maifield and Ty Tessmann for the overall championship. In A1 Tessmann would give up the lead early to Maifield but would take it back a few laps later and take the win by less than a second at the end of the race. Ryan Lutz would round out the top 3 after lengthy battles with Dakotah Phend, Tater Sontag, and Douglas Shewfelt.
A2:
Ebuggy A2 would see a momentum shift with Maifield taking the upper hand after a mid-race pass by Tessmann for the lead and the eventual win. Ryan Lutz would again grab 3rd this time after battles with Phend, Shewfelt, and Joe Bornhorst.
A3:
A3 would see Ryan Maifield vault from his 3rd place starting position to the lead in just 3 laps and never give it up taking the A3 win and the Ebuggy overall championship. Ty Tessmann would have to settle for 2nd with Ryan Lutz again taking 3rd. Dakotah Phend would find himself in 4th after a late race pass by Tater Sontag.
Overall it would be Ryan Maifield ahead of Ty Tessmann and Ryan Lutz for the top 3 on the podium. Douglas Shewfelt would finish 4th with Dakotah Phend 5th in the standings.
Electric Truggy: Ryan Maifield (3)
A1:
Ty Tessmann would take the win in A1 of Etruggy after leading every lap. Tessmann would go on to take a 5-second win over Tater Sontag. Ryan Maifield would climb from his 5th place starting spot to 3rd just before the halfway point. Tater and Ryan would battle late in the race swapping spots once but ultimately Ryan would end up with a 3rd. Joe Bornhorst would climb all the way up to 5th after an 8th-place starting position.
A2:
Tessmann would take another win in A2 giving him the overall championship, and Sontag would again finish up 2nd. Maifield would find himself battling again in this main this time with Ryan Lutz but would pass Lutz halfway through the main and settle in for 3rd. Jared Wiggins would recover after a mistake on the 1st lap to finish up 5th.
A3:
With the title already wrapped up the rest of the podium would be settled in A3. Tater and Wiggins would run 1st and 2nd for over half the race until mistakes for both of them would promote Maifield to the lead which he would hold onto until the end of the race. Another mistake from Sontag would promote Wiggins to a 2nd place finish. Lee Setser would climb steadily from his 10th-place starting position all the way to 3rd by the end of the race.
The Overall would see Tessmann with the win, Tater in 2nd, and Maifield 3rd. Jared Wiggins and Ryan Lutz would round out the top 5.
Masters Electric Buggy: Eric Deschenes (1)
Junior Electric Buggy: Dylan Raposo (2), Dylan Manchanda (3)
Overall, it was an exciting weekend filled with plenty of intense battles! It was close between multiple drivers all weekend long and it truly came down to those final main events to crown an overall champion! Congratulations, to Ryan Maifield on another ROAR National Title for the year! Maifield also won Nitro Truck a few months earlier at the Fuel Nationals! Congratulations, to Eric Deschenes on his Masters Electric Buggy Title as well! He was dominating that class all weekend long! A huge thank you as well to the Calandra family for hosting such an excellent event! It’s a quick turnaround for the JConcepts HQ as we’re already on the road to The Wicked Weekend in Gainesville, Georgia!
Winning Products:
- S15 Body
- Reflex Tire
- Mono Wheels
- Dirt-Tech Inserts
- Razor Wing
- Fin Titanium Turnbuckles
- Radial Bearings
- Rm2 Wing Buttons