Last weekend Thunder Alley RC Raceway in Beaumont, CA was host to Round 5 of the Top Notch Series. This round brought out 115 entries competing in 11 different 1/8 classes. Practice ran from 6-10pm Friday night as drivers got a crack this round’s layout. On Saturday morning another practice session was held, but only for drivers that didn’t practice Friday night. So if you ran laps on Friday you had to wait till qualifying to run on the track again, and this rule tried to make it more fair for track time for each driver.
There were two rounds of qualifying on Saturday and they used “Rocket Round” scoring to see who was the top qualifier for each class. That meant a driver’s best finish in either round of qualifying would be used to determine where they started for the mains. The top 10 qualifiers in each class were locked into the A Mains, and two cars were able to “bump up” into the main event if they finished 1st and 2nd in the B Main.
Each qualifier ran for five minutes, and the lower nitro and electric mains were 10 minutes long. The A Mains for the electric classes were also 10 minutes long, but for the nitro classes they ran 20 minutes A Mains. Leading the charge for the JConcepts team was team driver Adam Drake. He competed in the Expert 1/8 Nitro Buggy, Expert 1/8 Electric Buggy and Expert 1/8 Nitro Truggy classes and grabbed the top qualifying spot in all three!
The first main event for Adam was the Expert 1/8 Nitro Buggy A Main. He would lead the opening 4 laps before dipping down to 2nd place on lap five. By lap eight he would regain the lead and go on to win the race by two laps! Joining him on the podium in 3rd place was fellow JConcepts driver Ronda Drake!
Team products used:
- 3121 – Blue compound Reflex 1/8 buggy tire
- 0387 – S15 Mugen MBX-8 body
- 3357 – Mono 1/8 buggy wheels
- 2998 – Razor 1/8 buggy and truggy wing
- 2584T – Mugen MBX-8 Fin Titanium Turnbuckle Set
Up next was the Expert 1/8 Nitro Truggy finals. The tone would sound for the 20 minute race, and he would lead the entire final as he put the entire field down two laps!
Team products used:
- 3125 – Green compound Reflex 1/8 truggy tire
- 0453 – S15 1/8 truck body
- 3369 – Mono 1/8 truggy wheels
- 2800 – F2I 1/8 buggy and truggy wing
The final race for Adam this round was the Expert 1/8 Electric Buggy class, and he would collect his third win of the weekend too!
Team products used:
- 3121 – Green compound Reflex 1/8 buggy tire
- 0387 – S15 Mugen MBX-8 body
- 3357 – Mono 1/8 buggy wheels
- 2800 – F2I 1/8 buggy and truggy wing
Ronda also competed in the 40+ 1/8 Nitro Buggy class. For the finals she started 2nd overall and would run in that position for the opening 10 laps. On lap 11 she would take the lead for good as she crossed the finish line before the tone sounded to put a victory lap on the field!
Team products used:
- 3121 – Blue compound Reflex 1/8 buggy tire
- 0387 – S15 Mugen MBX-8 body
- 3357 – Mono 1/8 buggy wheels
- 2998 – Razor 1/8 buggy and truggy wing
- 2584T – Mugen MBX-8 Fin Titanium Turnbuckle Set
The final round of this series will take place at The Drake Raceway in Palm Desert on November 4th.
Photo credits: Top Notch Series