Round 2 of the JConcepts Winter Champs Series was held last Friday on January 17th, 2014 at Top Gear Hobbies in Clackamas, Oregon. As this was the 2nd race on the current layout, most locals had a lot of time to dial in their rides to hopefully go even faster than they did in round 1. The competition was stacked all the way from 2wd mod to box stock Traxxas proving this night was to be a great night of racing.

With the track aged another 3 weeks, one thing that is often overlooked is the changes required to adapt to the new surface conditions — mainly tires. Sweeping between each run, the groove was darker than ever and pins were relatively useless. Track evolution was requiring almost slicks in the rear and little tread up front to ease the aggressive, abrasive track surface. With close to 90 entries for a Friday night, the grip was insane and by main time… it was going to be out of this world!
 

I wanted to thank JConcepts for sending over 2 gift vouchers that were given to a few very awesome ‘Rookie’ class drivers. Congrats to Bo Domiguez (left) and Maclain Aldous (right) who have put a lot of time at the track and improving with every battery pack! Bo is constantly helping out at the track by volunteering when corner marshals are needed and Maclain is joyful, free spirit to be around. These two definitely embody the love of RC racing and thanks to JConcepts for making this happen and going that extra mile to support new racers as they are the future of this wonderful sport. Thanks guys!

Here are the results for all the individual classes below. Unfortunately, unable to cover every single race in full detail, here are the complete results of all the A-main ran for the JConcepts Winter Champ Series.

I had the video for Stock SC so why not. Click on the video below to see the action in Stock SC!

The stock buggy main event was awesome. TQ, Chocco Ferrell would lead the way with his rear motor RB5. That’s right… RB5! Using a bit of old school, he would utilize his TQ advantage and immediately pulled away from the field with Tony Bailey right behind him. After 3 minutes of freight training, Chocco would make a rare mistake and roll it over as he was making his way through traffic. 2nd place car, Tony Bailey and his rear motor TLR 22 2.0 would charge for the lead and challenge Chocco for the win . Together, they would race down the straight away wheel to wheel, but by having the inside line, Bailey would retain the lead going into the 1st corner. A half a lap later a minor racing incident occurred when the 2 buggies touched wheels and Bailey would flip. Showing great sportsmanship, Ferrell would wait for the leader to get marshaled but would pipe himself once Bailey was cornered and off and running again. This crash would ultimately end Ferrell’s chances for the win and now allowed Shaun Brown to join in on the hunt for 2nd place. With less than a minute left, a mistake would keep Brown from mounting an attack for 2nd and the order would be Tony Bailey taking home the win with Chocco Ferrell in 2nd and Shaun Brown in 3rd. Great racing drivers!

The event of the evening was 2wd Mod. Current points leader, Kyosho’s Andy Dibrino again set TQ, but this time just barely… only by .4 seconds! Both Andy and Shaun Dunlap set the first ever 20 lap qualifying times in the same heat for 2wd mod! They were going head to head and pushing each other to go even faster. The battle was on as the A main was set. From the sound of the tone, Andy had 1 thing on his mind and that was to gap the field. His first lap was a blazer and increased his lead over Shaun by a comfy 1 second margin. Knowing he had to retaliate, Shaun poured it on and within a lap, he was on Andy’s bumper! Shaun was applying as much pressure as he could without getting to close and possibly getting collected and eventually it paid off. A minute into the race, Andy made a mistake and crashed giving Shaun the lead. This would drop Andy back to 3rd and CJ Ferrell up to the 2 spot. With a lot of time left on the clock, Andy knew he had to make quick work of CJ to have any chance of winning this race. As CJ came up just short of the double, Andy capitalized on CJ’s small mistake and got around for 2nd place. Now the race was on. Matching each other lap for lap, it seemed almost impossible for Andy to make up the ground he had lost with less than 3 minutes remaining. Having a bit of luck on his side, it would be Shaun’s turn to make a mistake that would allow Andy to drive on by. Having learned from his error earlier, Andy would drive flawlessly and take home the win. Shaun would finish 2nd and CJ Ferrell 3rd. If you’d like, have a look at the video posted below for the intense 2wd mod action!

Here are some more photos of the Winter Champ Series brought to you by JConcepts in conjunction with Top Gear Hobbies. Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoyed the race report and photos! Also, here are the points total after 2 rounds.