Round 3 of the JConcepts Points Series invaded Auburn RC for the first of three straight night races. With over 50 trucks in attendance, it would be an exciting night of racing on the oval on the 2019 All Star Challenge Chicago-style course. Full event photo gallery from Eric Myers Photography can be found here.
In the Nor Cal Performance Diesel 2.2 Class, Sam Elliott and “Get Er Done” would set the fast time in qualifying with the only run under 15 seconds while also setting the second fastest time with “Hell Raiser” edging out Zac Soares and “Prospector” by .02. In Round 2, he would fall to Jacob Smallwood and “Max D” after missing a ramp putting Smallwood in the semi-finals where he would face the number 4 seeded “Crash Test Dummy” of Jeremy Bunting. On the bottom half of the bracket, Elliott’s other truck would make it into the semis against “Prospector” after eliminating David Heimbigner’s “Flyin’ Hawaiian”.
The semi finals would see Bunting advance to the finals over Smallwood where he would meet Soares who eliminated Elliott after “Hell Raiser” crashed on the big ramps leading to the final jump of the course. This would play a factor in the finals as “Prospector” rolled over early seemingly giving the win to Bunting. However, the ramps were not reset resulting in Bunting also crashing and a re-race would occur as neither truck finished. With the track properly reset, Soares would pull ahead going into the final turn and Bunting would push too hard rolling “Crash Test Dummy” in the turn and Soares would take the racing victory.
The Bee Line Trucking Monster Truck Class would see the largest field of the season with 29 entries. Coming off a win in 2.2, Soares had the big-tired “Prospector” in pole position setting the fastest timed lap of the day with a blistering 13.91 earning a bye into the second round along with Elliott’s “Saigon Shaker” and Heimbigner’s “Son Uva Digger: Ice”. The first round featured one of the more remarkable races we’ve ever seen between Wes Harriger’s “Taurus” and Connor Anapol’s “Bounty Hunter”. Disaster almost struck as Harriger would break a tie rod and lose steering, but Anapol rolled over. Harriger somehow managed to finish the race course without steering and would advance. After no upsets in the first round, the second round of racing would see some significant upsets along the way with Kirk Noakes and 12th seeded “Knucklehead” knocking out Elliott’s new “Ragnarok” after qualifying 5th. The number 4 qualifier “Bad Company” would also be eliminated as Harriger and “Bigfoot” would advance to the quarter finals.
The quarter finals would see both Soares and Heimbigner have automatic advances of their higher ranked trucks into the semi-finals as they were matched against their other entries resulting in “Excaliber” and “Flyin’ Hawaiian” being done until freestyle. The two upsets from Round 2 squared off with Harriger’s “Bigfoot” advancing to take on “Prospector” in the semis. On the bottom half of the bracket, Elliott’s “Saigon Shaker” would end the night for “Taurus” setting up a matchup with Heimbigner’s “Son Uva Digger”.
The final four would not disappoint with two exciting races among the top drivers in the series, each final eliciting big reactions from the driver’s stand. Harriger’s hot streak would come to an end as “Prospector” was on rails and advanced to the finals. Soares would take on “Elliott” once again as “Saigon Shaker” took out the all-new “Son Uva Digger” BMRC chassis setting up a 1 vs 2 finals. In the end, Elliott’s night of clean, consistent passes would pay off and “Saigon Shaker” would take the big racing win.
A quick track change to a traditional Chicago-style course for the Black Market RC Retro Class would make for some great racing. The faster trucks would end up cutting the turn close and in some cases even drifting the bouncy retro trucks to avoid a hole used for hose on the oval track deep in the corner of turns 3 and 4. Soares would once again take the pole position with the fastest qualifying time of the night with a 10.31. 2nd through 4th would be separated by .02 seconds guaranteeing a night of close racing. While Soares got the top spot, he would also suffer a major break in qualifying as his “Samson” did its best USA-1 impression with the front end folding up under the truck and sheering the right front wheel off.
Excaliber would advance to the semi finals after eliminating new-comer Sigi Rizo’s beautiful “Pony Express” clod where he would meet Bunting’s “Shotgun” that eliminated Noakes’ “Bigfoot 1”. Heimbigner’s “Bigfoot II” would get the the better of Harriger’s “Coors Extra Gold” and Smallwood’s striking new “Hawaiian Punch” eliminated Elliott’s “Beast”.
In a battle of JConcepts Regulator chassis, Bunting would edge out Soares to get to the finals where he would once again meet Heimbigner and the BMRC shafty “Bigfoot II”. For the second round in a row, it would be Bunting taking the win in a nail-biter continuing to build on the lead for “Shotgun” going into the halfway point of the season.
With racing completed, it was time for freestyle. A more simple layout than normal was used as it was getting late, however the ramps and obstacles still provided a challenge to many, especially in the 2.2 Class as over half of the field would not fill more than a minute of the allotted time. Heimbigner’s “Flyin’ Hawaiian” would set the early high mark being the first to fill the clock despite losing a wheel with a 22.
The score would stand until “Hell Raiser” took to the track filling the clock and getting a 10 and two 9’s, however a rollover deduction would set the new mark to beat at 25 with only two trucks to go.
After coming up short in racing, Bunting went for broke with “Crash Test Dummy” and ended up breaking the front steering tie rod with time left on the clock. That did not stop the chaos as he was able to keep going and hitting obstacles filling the clock while not rolling the truck over getting a score of 26 with only Soares and “Prospector” left. While a valiant effort was made, Soares would only score a 21 and Bunting would take home his second freestyle win of the year. After the points were tallied up, Soares would take home the overall Event Championship by 2 points.
Much like the 2.2 Class, early on the track would be a struggle to stay on all 4 wheels. Smallwood set the early high mark with “Hot Shot” filling a little over a minute of clock and scoring 17 which would stand until Haidyen Steinert finally broke into the 20’s with “Backwards Bob” the first truck to fill the entire 100 seconds.
Rich Steinert, Harriger, and Noakes would all score 21 points on their ensuing runs to tie for the lead, but still leaving room at the top which would hold until the final 9 trucks. Elliott would then eclipse that score with a barn-burner of a run that some felt might have been the best run of the night putting the new “Ragnarok” through its paces filling the clock with a high-flying, fast-paced run without rolling scoring a 28 with 8 trucks to go.
With little wiggle room at the top, it was going to take a near-perfect run to win. Bunting gave it an honest effort capping the run off with a second backflip that snapped the rear wheel off as time ran out scoring a 25.
Heimbigner channeled his inner Ryan Anderson and had a couple of moonshots with the biggest leaps of the night, however would get a deduction for a rollover, and still scored a 25.
With just two trucks remaining, Soares would get the near perfect run that he needed with some great saves to go along with outstanding momentum and big air filling the clock without rolling to get a 29. Elliott would take to the track to close out the night needing a perfect score from “Saigon Shaker”, but started to have mechanical issues toward the end of the run that prevented the big air assault finale needed to get a perfect score. However, he would still came away with a 27 giving him enough points to secure the overall Event Championship while Soares would take home the freestyle win with “Prospector”.
We are now halfway through the season and things are still wide-open. Round 4 will return to Auburn RC for another exciting night of racing and freestyle under the lights with a Nor Cal inspired double crossover track for the 2.2 and MT classes while will have the return of straight-line drag racing for the Retro Class.
A big thanks goes out to Kyle Layton and everyone at Auburn RC for their hospitality and letting us use their top-notch facility. Additional thanks to our sponsors Black Market RC and Insano Industries for providing the new eye-catching pop-up tent to go along with our new for ’22 trophy backdrop and table covers. Make sure to reach out to them for all of your design and graphic needs! We could not do it without the support of the rest of our sponsors: JConcepts, AMain Hobbies, Bee Line Trucking, Nor Cal Performance Diesel, Eric Myers Photography, and WrenchHead RC. And finally, thank you to all of the racers who came out, whether it was your first race, or fifteenth, this series would not be possible without you all.
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