The 2024 edition of the Dirt Nitro Challenge is complete and it was just as entertaining as the original 25 years ago. Congratulations to The Dirt crew on a successful 25 years and a big thank you to all the JConcepts Drivers as well as everyone who chose to use JConcepts products at one of the most prestigious events on the calendar!
Finally, after many years of getting rained on, the decision was made to move the event to March which proved to be a positive with much better weather all week for the event. The “challenge” aspect of the nitro challenge came with the considerable winds the racers faced daily while trying to navigate the large and tricky circuit.
Wednesday was organized rounds of open and seeding practice. Every round of practice at a Dirt event seeded or not is so critical with the limited track time and ever changing conditions. The following drivers found form early on the epic layout to seed themselves well for qualifying.
Pro Buggy: 1st Seth VanDalen, 3rd Mason Fuller, 4th Ryan Maifield, 5th Dakotah Phend
Pro Truggy: 1st Seth VanDalen, 2nd Ryan Maifield, 3rd Dakotah Phend
Pro Ebuggy: 1st Dakotah Phend, 4th Joe Bornhorst, 5th Mason Fuller
Pro Etruggy: 1st Seth VanDalen, 2nd Jared Wiggins, 3rd Spencer Rivkin, 4th Brandon Rose
Intermediate Nitro Buggy: 1st Don Vinkemulder, 3rd Dylan Bartlett
Intermediate Nitro Truggy: 5th Dylan Bartlett
Intermediate Etruggy: 1st Dylan Bartlett, 3rd Brenden Bartlett
40+ Nitro Buggy: 1st Mike Truhe
40+ Nitro Truggy: 1st Paul Ciccarello, 2nd Eric Deschenes, 5th Reggie Tongue
40+ Ebuggy: 1st Barry Baker (JC Privateer), 4th Paul Ciccarello
40+ Etruggy: 1st Paul Ciccarello, 4th Matt Wolter (JC Privateer), 5th Daniel Lewis (JC Privateer)
50+ Nitro Buggy: 2nd Don Vinkemulder, 4th Dennis Wilson, 5th Barry Baker (JC Privateer)
Going into qualifying the days would now be split for the rest of the weekend, Thursday qualifying was focused on Nitro Truggy and Ebuggy. The JConcepts team had a great showing with the following results.
Pro Truggy: 2nd Ryan Maifield, 3rd Seth VanDalen, 4th Dakotah Phend
Pro Ebuggy: 3rd Juan Carlos Canas, 4th Ryan Maifield, 5th Dakotah Phend
Intermediate Truggy: 4th Dylan Bartlett, 5th Brenden Bartlett
40+ Ebuggy: 1st Paul Ciccarello, 2nd Barry Baker (JC Privateer), 3rd Brent Thielke
40+ Truggy: 3rd Paul Ciccarello
50+ Ebuggy: 3rd Miguel Perez
This aspect is what makes The Nitro Challenge and Silver State so unique, drivers on Friday had not driven their Nitro Buggies or Etruggies since Wednesday and their first laps of the day would be directly into a qualifying run. The team once again did great on the second qualifying day with these results:
Pro Nitro Buggy: 2nd Spencer Rivkin, 5th Ryan Maifield
Pro Etruggy: 1st Ryan Maifield, 4th Brandon Rose, 5th Jared Wiggins
Intermediate Etruggy: 5th Dylan Bartlett
40+ Nitro Buggy: 1st Mike Truhe, 4th Paul Ciccarello
40+ Etruggy: 2nd Paul Ciccarello, 5th Matt Wolter (JC Privateer)
50+ Nitro Buggy: 2nd Don Vinkemulder, 3rd Barry Baker (Privateer)
Once again the main days are split leading to two epic sets of nighttime main events on Saturday and Sunday night. At night at The Dirt, moisture comes up through the surface of the track and creates a loam on top of the surface. Tire wear is low but after a full day with little track grooming, the surface is quite choppy and tricky.
Saturday Night Pro Truggy: This main event was the type of main that makes The Dirt Nitro Challenge what it is. Our own Ryan Maifield and Dakotah Phend had an absolute duel. Two of the best drivers at race management from the front of the field were pushed to the limit going into the final two fuel stops trying to beat each other. Finally with less than a minute to go Dakotah Phend would tap out early and end his race, but their gap on 3rd was large enough for him to still finish 2nd. The top 2 had lapped the field at the end and gave us a main event for the ages. Congratulations to Ryan Maifield on the win and Elliott Boots on rounding out the podium.
1st Ryan Maifield (JC), 2nd Dakotah Phend (JC), 3rd Elliott Boots
Saturday Night Pro Ebuggy: The Pro Ebuggy class at these large events has every bit of the race intensity as 2wd modified. There is no room for error and the drivers are driving flat out as fast as they can for the full 10 minutes. David Ronnefalk and Cole Ogden would take turns leading before mistakes would drop them out of contention. The staple at the top of the field was Juan Carlos Canas but he was not without small mistakes of his own. Just past the 2/3rds mark, JCC would reclaim the lead and not give it up. The final two laps were mass chaos, Ryan Maifield was in 2nd but a mistake on the final lap would drop him off the podium, Spencer Rivkin would inherit 2nd. With 2 laps to go Brandon Rose was in 7th and when he crossed the line to finish the race he found himself in 3rd a smart drive from the young racer. Congratulations to the team on a podium lockout.
1st Juan Carlos Canas (JC), 2nd Spencer Rivkin (JC), 3rd Brandon Rose (JC)
Sunday Night Pro Buggy: Big congratulations goes out to Elliott Boots for leading the event from start to finish. The highlight for our team was Dakotah Phend, Dakotah had some less than expected qualifying and had to bump up from the B-Main. After a dominant performance in the B he looked poised and ready for the A. After starting 13th, Phend was up to 5th on the 2nd lap and battling for the podium just after the first pit stop. Dakotah and David Ronnefalk would battle for the 2nd place position for the remainder of the event. David would end up 2nd with Dakotah taking 3rd just over a second back after 45 minutes. Spencer Rivkin, Joe Bornhorst, and Brandon Rose would have a crazy battle for 4-6th at the end and finish all within 4 seconds at the stripe.
1st Elliott Boots, 2nd David Ronnefalk, 3rd Dakotah phend (JC)
Sunday Night Pro Etruggy: If you look at the lap chart this race looks really boring, but the actual event was far from that. While they never swapped the lead Ryan Maifield and Ryan Lutz had a battle for the ages for the full 10-minute Etruggy affair. Maifield would end up with the win with Lutz finishing just .3 back. Brandon Rose would once again round out the podium after stealing the final spot from Ryan Cavalieri towards the end of the race.
1st Ryan Maifield (JC), 2nd Ryan Lutz, 3rd Brandon Rose (JC)
40+ Nitro Buggy: 2nd Mike Truhe (JC)
40+ Ebuggy: 2nd Brent Thielke (JC)
40+ Truggy: 2nd Don Vinkemulder (JC)
40+ Etruggy: 1st Paul Ciccarello (JC)
Intermediate Ebuggy: 3rd Dylan Bartlett (JC)
50+ Nitro Buggy: 1st Don Vinkemulder (JC), 2nd 2nd Barry Baker (JC Privateer)
50+ Ebuggy: 3rd Miguel Perez (JC)
Special shoutout and thank you to Benny Komerian and his dad for choosing to run JConcepts products in the Sportsman Class. Benny is the 2024 Sportsman Nitro Buggy and Truggy champion as well as a 3rd place finish in Ebuggy.
Products Used:
- 3121 – Green and Blue Reflex
- 4073 – Green and Blue Dirt Bites
- 4071 – Green and Blue Falcons
- 3186 – Green and Blue Kosmos
- 3125 – Green and Blue Truggy Reflex
- Prototype Truggy Dirt Bites
- 3357 – Mono Buggy Wheels
- 3369 – Mono Truggy Wheels
- 2800 – F2I Wing
- 2998 – Razor Wing
- Prototype Razor Polycarbonate Wing