Event: ROAR Electric Off-Road Nationals
Date: August 20-22, 2010
Location: Leisure Hours Raceway – Joliet, IL
Race Reporter: JConcepts Racing Team

Ryan Maifield and JConcepts take 1st ever ROAR Short Course Open National Championship. JConcepts picks up 4 ROAR National titles, 3 via control tire and 1 via open performance.

The scene was fresh and exciting at the 2010 ROAR Off-Road Nationals. With many of the major teams putting in a push that hasn’t been seen in many years, competition and stakes were at an all-time high. With the introduction of Short Course and the steady popularity of 1/10th buggies and trucks, 305 entries assembled into Joliet, Illinois for the largest 1/10th Off-Road race of the year. With an agreed upon or control tire used in 6 of 8 classes, a level playing field was present for all participating drivers.

For JConcepts, it was a ROAR National Event to remember, for the first time, Short Course Open was an official class and the JConcepts boys came “loaded for bear”. With an assortment of the finest SCT products on the market; JConcepts, together with Ryan Maifield, Chad Due and the rest of the team wasted little time moving to the front of the pack. It was Wisconsin native Chad Due that struck first in the SCT class putting in an early TQ with his JConcepts equipped SC10 Factory Team. Round 3 and 4 TQ went to Ryan Maifield as he blistered the track setting the fastest time of the weekend and picking up the overall TQ in the process.

As main event time approached, Maifield locked in on the goal of victory and after a relatively easy A-1 victory things appeared to be moving along smoothly toward the championship. With a great start in A-2 Maifield pulled out to a huge lead and looked to lock-up the overall. Disaster struck with about a minute to go as a freak malfunction in the internal transmission sidelined Maifield and allowed Travis Amezcua and Jessie Robbers into the mix with a 1st and 2nd putting the pressure on Maifield for a victory in A-3.

At the tone in A-3 Maifield stretched a nice lead and locked into cruise control for roughly 4 minutes until Amezcua picked up the pace and moved into 2nd. Pressure from Amezcua forced Maifield to tighten his pace and maintain a steady cushion until the last-lap where Maifield picked his lines carefully and finished off A-3 in style and securing the 1st ever ROAR National Championship in the Open Short Course class. Ryan’s Factory Team SC10 was completed decked out in JConcepts gear all weekend. JConcepts Raptor SCT-R body, Rulux wheels, SC Double Dees front tires and SC Bar Codes rear tires topped off the championship machine.

JConcepts tires were chosen as control tires in the 2wd and SCT stock classes. The Groovy and Double Dees combination was a massive success for Kenny Farris in the 2wd stock class as he powered his way to TQ and a win in the 1st and 2nd A-main to take the stock national title. Cory Crosley enjoyed similar success in the SCT stock class with the Subcultures SCT tire. Cory was the star of the SCT Stock Class all weekend by first taking the TQ and then A-main victory. Both drivers relied on the performance and consistency of JConcepts all weekend.

In the Open modified truck class JConcepts blue compound Bar Codes were chosen as the agreed tire between major manufacturers. With a vast assortment of conditions the Bar Codes proved to be a great choice in the modified truck class as TQ Dustin Evans looked flawless in qualifying. The track evolved for a slightly different condition in the A-mains and Jared Tebo proved too much for the competition with a win in A-1 and A-2 and the fastest overall main event time in any of the 2wd classes, Jared and Dustin were on rails all weekend.

Debuting performance -

In a much anticipated release, JConcepts debuted the all-new Punisher B4.1 body in the 2wd modified class with Ryan Maifield taking the 2nd qualifying position and ultimately settling for 4th overall after a stellar A-2 victory. Look for the Punisher B4.1 body release very soon.

Products in focus:

SCT Double Dees
SCT Bar Codes
Ford Raptor SVT body
SCT Rulux wheels
SCT Subcultures
1/10th Truck Bar Codes
1/10th Double Dees
1/10th Groovy front
B4.1 Punisher body
B44 Punisher body

Ryan Maifield takes home the trophies, TQ and Champion. Ryan drove his JConcepts equipped Factory Team SC10 to victory this past weekend at the 2010 ROAR Off Road Electric Nationals. More photos, videos and a complete recap of the race will be posted through out the week.
Stay Tuned…

Ryan Maifield takes the win in the A2 Main, 2wd buggy.

A recap of Saturdays Qualifiers from the 2010 ROAR Off-road Electric Nationals. Watch Zack Rogers TQing a round in stock buggy, Maifield TQ run in Short Course round 3, Chad Due finishes 4th. Ryan Maifield TQs round 3 of 2wd and is the overall Top Qualifier in Short Course.

Jason sent over some more photos and a quick video of Ryan Maifield running his 4WD.

Time to head off once again, I’m on the road again (in the air actually) to
the ROAR Electric nationals. I’m really looking forward to being at the
ROAR Nationals this year because I’ve missed it the past few years. We have
had representatives at the past 4 and now I’m back for 2010.

In the airport we had a meltdown by a 14 year old because she didn’t get
what she wanted at McDonalds. It didn’t appear she was struggling for food
so I don’t know the problem, but it was a scene.

Had a mother on the airplane cause a small scene because she couldn’t sit
with her kids. I completely understand but she is traveling South West and
was in boarding group C. Now she wants special treatment from us to
accommodate her? Sure, take my seat.

Oh no, we have a super cryer on this flight….eek!

My lovely wife, Allison, again dropped me off at the airport with my 2 check
bags and 2 carry-ons. Well back-pack and lap-top. Hopefully I can get some
work done.

We are racing at the same track as the ROAR fuels nationals from last year
so hopefully that can bring us some luck. Leisure Hours has elected to use
our tires in the 2wd Stock and SCT stock classes this year. Really excited
to see how things go and be apart of the race in those classes.

In the modified class we are using the Manufacturer agreement in the 3 mod
classes. Mod truck will be using JConcepts Bar Codes, 2wd mod will be
using Losi ribbed fronts and X-2000 rears and 4wd mod will be using the PL
Holeshot.

Overall this has worked well for the past 5 years and I expect it to
continue. This allows the drivers to concentrate on their vehicles and the
team managers don’t need an entire hotel room for different tire options.
The agreement takes us out of competition in 2 classes but I agree on the
simplistic method.

I’ve heard they reduced the size of the track from the Fuel Nats, but I’m
still envisioning a large track, should be nice and fast.

We have a few new items to show this weekend so as soon as I’m setup at the
track I’ll snap some photos.

To go into a sidebar conversation the sports world is crazy right now.
Tiger is a mess, LeBron’s “decision” has everybody up in arms, Shaq vs.
retirement doesn’t seem to end. Celtics? Brett Favre coming back….again.
I’m looking for more sports daggers as the weeks unfold.

Can’t wait for the NBA season to start. Picking the Lakers in the finals has
me on a high. I’m embracing the bandwagon now. I can’t go wrong with my 4
favorite teams right? With the Lakers, Celtics, Heat and Magic, I have to
be safe. Magic need a trade for Carmello Anthony or Chris Paul to really
make waves.

NBA finals, poor Kobe shooting joke -

A group of friends of mine bet me I couldn’t do 24 shots in one night on my
21st Birthday. They were right, I vomited after 6 shots. Good thing they
were all Lakers fans and still named me MVP of my birthday.

Snack time on the airplane. Oh no, McDonalds girl is going to be upset
about 100cal Nabisco cheese nips. Meltdown time, Peanuts served of course.

So now thanks to my last trip I’m addicted to American Pickers and Pawn
Stars on the history channel. I can’t get enough of these shows now…this
is tough to schedule in with 200 work hours per week plus Entourage and Hung
on HBO. 100cal cheese nips suck. Don’t get these. Meltdown!!

Is it just me or are all the HBO and Showtime shows super cliff hangers?
Vince is now on Coke, studio is unsure…etc…etc. Oh well I’ll be
watching.. I watch just for Ari, that guy is an actor!! Show = junk
without him.

Bumped into an HBO show called the Neistat Brothers which is basically about
2 guys that got HBO to buy into them filming their lives and turning it into
short movies. One episode was especially interesting where one of the
brothers challenged his mentor to a model boat building contest where they
had a course to navigate with their home-made R/C boats. This was
interesting to me because they were so into the challenge and they had
limited resources and time.

It made me think of guys like Matt M, Tim D…etc who would really get into
this type of thing. Of course Matt would bet $1000 he would win before he
even knew the challenge. Tim would undoubtably sell us on his design being
the best very early on.

I could see Matt spending 2-3 weeks on the internet getting ideas and
issuing challenges and taking a week to build. Tim would build his in a
week and use 2-3 weeks selling us on the design.

Forget about me, Paul or Brad competing. I don’t think we would finish ours
in time. I know mine would take 3 weeks + design time and 4-5 weeks build
time. It sucks being really picky and to quote someone else, sometimes you
just have to shoot the designer to finish.

Guys say to me all the time, just finish, build or get ready really quick
and come have fun. They don’t understand I’m already doing it really quick,
for me, and it’s never just for fun. . Ok, maybe Short Course is for fun.
Yeah, right! It still has a personal transponder in it.

Another thing they have on the Neistat Brothers show is a segment called, “A
Cool Thing”. I’m going to try and incorporate that into my blogs.

Bro! Who put all the whoops in the sky on the way to Illinois? This is like
Boggy Creek meets Nitro Challenge. It’s not the Southwest easy!

Sick dude sitting next to me. I’m about to have a meltdown over here.
Where is my germ fighting hand cleaner? I’m going to need a germ fighting
suit to make it through this. Should I ask him to play his game boy?

Event: Summer Indoor Nationals
Date: July 31 – August 1, 2010
Location: Outback Raceway – Chico, CA
Race Reporter: JConcepts Racing Team

Steven Hartson, Jason Ruona, Nathan Lavery and Kendall Bennett clean-up at the first annual Summer Indoor Nationals.

Outback Raceway hosted the first annual JConcepts Summer Indoor Nationals at the brand new state of the art R/C facility in Chico, California. With an air conditioned pit area, fully stocked adjacent hobby store and friendly staff, Outback has turned into the new hot facility in Northern California. A strong turn-out in 2wd modified and SCT indicated a perfect blend of the experienced “old school” and fresh “new school” racer.

Qualifying started out on Saturday morning at 10:00am and it was JConcepts / Associated driver Cody Turner taking round 1 TQ in the 2wd modified class. Cody put in a near perfect run to hold the early TQ in the most popular class. Steven Hartson and Tyler Vik held the round 1 TQ in the 4wd modified and SCT modified classes respectively. It was clear early on whom the favorites were and as qualifying progressed, it appeared the fast only got faster.
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