After 3 rounds in Redding, the 2020 Points Series presented by JConcepts shifted to AMain Silver Dollar RC Raceway in Chico. During the week leading up to the event, it was decided Round 4 would be held on the 1/8 scale track allowing for room and keeping the dirt oval track open for racing. With the change in plans came a change in track design with an over/under course similar to the layout of the MLMT’s Las Vegas 2007 track built the night before. During the driver’s meeting, it was announced that next season, the Retro Class is being added with Zac Soares’ “Excaliber” and Jeremy Bunting’s “Shotgun” trucks on display.
After Round 3, Jacob Smallwood went through his “New Age Outlaw” 2.2 truck and gave it a facelift with an all new red and black wrap and new suspension package. The updates would pay off as Smallwood took the top qualifying spot and go on to win the racing bracket over new-comer Rick Grant and his “Cannibal” truck. In freestyle, he edged out Connor Anapol who had one of the biggest jumps of the day, but rolled over early to take the freestyle win. By capturing the Overall Event Championship, Smallwood moved up to 2nd place in the standings behind the absent Chris Prestwood and all but guaranteed himself a spot on the podium at the season finale next month.
In the Monster Truck class, David Heimbigner debuted his all new Black Market RC “Son Uva Digger” and would capture the top qualifying position by .31 seconds after having to replace the spider gears after practice. Jeremy Bunting was looking to capitalize on Prestwood’s absence and make up some ground on Wes Harriger after Harriger crashed hard in his qualifying run that resulted in a broken upper link and a 9th place in qualifying after being assessed a penalty for missing a jump. Bunting would qualify 2nd and 4th with Heimbigner’s new “Bigfoot” taking 3rd and Todd Henderson’s “Kamikaze” rounding out the top 5 who would all earn a bye into the second round.
Harriger would face 8th seeded Smallwood’s “Dragon Slayer” and get the win after Smallwood rolled going over the cross-over jump. The other “Excaliber” truck in the bracket driven by Zac Soares would get by new-comer Richard Steinert and “Grave Digger the Legend” to advance to the quarter finals. Steinert’s son Haiyden’s neon yellow Titan had plenty of speed but was not able to get by Smallwood’s “Turd Wrassler”.
In the second round, Heimbigner’s 1 seeded “Son Uva Digger” took out Harriger’s “Excaliber” to move on to the semi-final round. Bunting’s “Bad Company” and Henderson’s “Kamikaze” had a wild race in which both trucks would tumble and recover on the down ramp going to the final turn even, but Henderson was out of shape and missed the final jump. Despite being the 4th fastest truck, Heimbigner’s “Bigfoot” could not make the call due to breakage from qualifying, so “Dragon Slayer” was brought back to race “Excaliber”. Soares would cruise to a win as “Dragon Slayer” broke an axle to advance where he would meet Bunting’s 2nd seeded “Crash Test Dummy” after eliminating the “Turd Wrassler”.
Heimbigner was looking to make his first final round appearance of the series and would have to get by “Bad Company” to do so. On green, Heimbigner pulled a power wheelie all the way over and bouncing back onto all fours going over the first jump. The bobble would be all Bunting would need to capitalize and run a smooth race to the final round. Soares was now faced with having to beat Bunting two times in order to win the racing bracket, however it was not meant to be and Bunting picked up the win to put both of his trucks in the finals and “Crash Test Dummy” getting the racing win.
With racing out of the way, “Grave Digger the Legend” took to the track and set the tone with a score of 21 getting high marks for tricks and momentum, but the truck stopped running only 45 seconds into the run. “Titan” would get some big air early, but mechanical issues limited the run for a score of 12. Throughout the year, Smallwood has been consistently putting on high speed, big air runs but has not been able to get a victory in the Monster Truck class. In Round 4, he threw down the gauntlet and put on one of the best runs of the year and definitely his best with a run full of big air, saves, and great momentum despite breaking the rear axle housing in half early in the run. The judges awarded him a score of 27 with 8 trucks still to go.
Wes Harriger made a valiant effort filling the clock but not able to match the momentum and air of Smallwood scoring a 26. Smallwood’s other truck would not have the same success with two early rollovers for “Turd Wrassler”. Henderson would hit the track next with his second freestyle with his new chassis and kicked off his run with a forward rotating backflip before going over the down ramp and clipping the other side and tumbling out of bounds. He’d then go for a double backflip in the cross-over valley and land it sheering the rear wheel off the axle, but that did not stop him from going all out on 3 wheels tumbling all over the course before shredding a front tire to end his run in spectacular fashion. The out-of-bounds deduction netted a score of 24, but it was definitely one of the most exciting, destructive endings to a run to date.
Soares, Heimbigner and Bunting would put up respectable scores in runs that came close to or filled the clock, but had rollover deductions and only were in the low 20’s that wouldn’t be enough to top the run by “Dragon Slayer” and Smallwood claimed his second freestyle victory of the day. Bunting scored enough freestyle points to take home the Overall Event championship with “Crash Test Dummy” and moved into the points lead by 2 going into the final round.
The countdown is on for the 2020 Points Series Championship on October 24th once again in Chico. Champions will be crowned in addition to the year-end awards including the Fat Cat Customz Freestyle winners who will receive a replica body wrap, plus a raffle and more. We will also have Eric Myers out again to capture more amazing event photos like the ones in this recap. Finally, a big thank you to Kevin Jelich for allowing us to use the 1/8 scale space, create an awesome track to race on, and letting us host the series at a world-class facility.
