This past weekend was Round 1 of the JBRL (Jimmy Babcock Racing League) 1/8 Off-Road Series. This annual series features some of the best drivers in southern California, and this opening round kicked off their 19th season.
The host track for Round 1 was The Dirt Race Park at Perris located in Perris, CA, and the event brought in a combined 331 entries!
There were 11 different classes to compete in, and all of the classes were either 1/8 nitro or electric vehicles only.
Wednesday night practice was open from 4-9pm so drivers could get their first crack at the new layout. Practice then ran again the following night from the same designated time. On Friday the track was open again for more practice starting at noon and it ran till 9pm that night.
The next day the track was open again for all qualifying and mains events. Due to the number of entries for this one day race program, there was only one round of qualifying so a driver had to make sure they were up to the challenge. Each qualifier ran for seven minutes and there were 26 heats for the entire round.
For the lower mains the top two finishing drivers could bump up into the next highest main. All the A Mains for the electric classes would run an AA format that were eight minutes long each. All of the A Mains for the Nitro classes competed in a 20 minute single race.
Leading the charge for the JConcepts team at this event was team driver Adam Drake. Adam competed in in the Expert Nitro Buggy and Truggy classes plus Open Electric Buggy. After qualifying had completed Adam would lock in the TQ for the Expert Nitro Truggy and Open Electric Buggy classes, and would start 2nd on the grid in Expert Nitro Buggy!
The first main for Adam would be A1 of Open Electric Buggy. After one lap he would lead the field for two laps before a mistake would drop him back to third. He would continue to battle with 2nd place and swap positions and when time expired he would finish 2nd overall.
A few mains after that was the 20 minute Expert Nitro Truggy A Main. Starting on the pole he would get off to a great start, and only relinquish the lead when he came in for fuel twice during the race. When time had expired he would cross the finish line with a three second lead over 2nd place to take his first win of the weekend!
Winning JConcepts products:
- Triple Dees tires in the Green compound
- Bullet wheels
- Dirt-Tech inserts
- F2 body
- F2I wing
- Medium Advanced Formulated Tire Glue
The next main would be A2 of Open Electric Buggy. Adam would drop to 3rd place early on, but then battled his way back to 2nd place where he finished for A2. Only a driver’s best main finish would be used to determine who won, and after everything was calculated he would finish 3rd overall in this class!
Winning JConcepts products:
- Reflex tires in the Green compound
- Bullet wheels
- Dirt-Tech inserts
- S15 Mugen MBX-8 Eco body
- MBX-7R Front Scoop
- F2I wing
- Medium Advanced Formulated Tire Glue
The final race of the day was the Expert Nitro Buggy A Main. After one lap he would find himself in first place, and then drop back to 2nd again on lap six. On the following lap he would find himself in first once again, and then never look back as he crossed the finish line with a 14 second lead over 2nd place!
Winning JConcepts products:
- Reflex tires in the Green compound
- Bullet wheels
- Dirt-Tech inserts
- S15 body
- MBX-7R Front Scoop
- F2I wing
- Medium Advanced Formulated Tire Glue
Round 2 of this series is on June 4th at Thunder Alley RC Raceway in Beaumont, CA and more info on this series can be found here: http://www.jimmybabcock.com/8th-scale-series.html
Photo credits: JBRL