The penultimate round of the 2023 JConcepts Points Series was a hot one at Auburn RC. The track still had a ton of grip in it after hosting the JConcepts Spring Dirt Oval Nationals the week prior and made for some exciting racing on the “Double S” track layout.
2.2 Mini Monster Results
Brian Romo came into Round 4 with a 1 point lead in the standings with his “Hater Maker” on top with Jeremy Bunting right behind with “Bad Company”. So it was no surprise that Bunting and Romo would qualify 1-2 going into the Round 4 racing bracket with Bunting getting the first round bye. Dale Udell advanced to the second round with his “Sloppy Seconds” taking out Jacob Smallwood and El Matador, while on the bottom half of the bracket, Bunting’s “Crash Test Dummy” eliminated Georgia Smallwood’s “Lucas Stabilizer” and finished off with the big upset with Udell’s 7th ranked “Lost Cause” knocking out “Hater Maker”. The semi finals were back-to-back matchups of Bunting and Udell with Bunting taking both wins and the racing win going to “Bad Company”.
In freestyle, the high grip track was hard on the 2.2 trucks with lots of rollovers and none of the trucks filling the clock. In the end, Bunting would edge out Romo and Udell to take the freestyle win after losing a wheel with a score of only 19 for “Bad Company”. The 43 total points would earn Bunting the Overall Event win and goes into the final round with an 18 point lead on Romo who leads the 3rd place “Crash Test Dummy” by a huge 34-point margin. However, Dale Udell is only 8 points out of third and has been coming on strong in freestyle, so the podium is far from set.
Bee Line Trucking 2.6 Monster Truck Results
Zac Soares set the top qualifying time of the night with a blistering 9.10 putting “Prospector” in the pole position. Rookie of the Year favorite Marc Detka would later match that time with his “Red Bull” truck finishing .4 seconds faster than the rest of the field. Sam Elliott and his “Shaker” would take third with a 9.55 followed by David Heimbigner’s “Flyin’ Hawaiian” and Bunting’s “Bad Company rounding out the top 5. Round 4 will go down in the history books as the first time ever in not only the Nor Cal RC Monster Truck Series, but maybe in all racing clubs, an RC4WD Carbon Assault chassis competed as PJ Bruner debuted his new “Angry Mick”. While the rest of the truck was all Vanquish upgrades, it was still a notable milestone and also led to a major upset as he knocked out the current points leader “Flyin’ Hawaiian” in the second round! Heimbigner would stay alive with his “Bigfoot” pulling off an upset over Soares’ 6th seeded “Excaliber” launching halfway across the track off the final jump bringing back memories of last year’s pin it to win it finish in the finals.
In the quarter finals, “Prospector” would keep rolling taking out a hard-charging Smallwood and “King Krunch”, Bunting made easy work of Bruner after the “Angry Mick” lost a wheel going into the first turn, Elliott’s “Shaker” advanced to the semi finals eliminating Heimbigner, and Detka’s two entries were paired up advancing “Red Bull” into the next round. In the semi finals, the two fastest qualifiers were destined to meet up as Soares and Detka ran smooth races eliminating Bunting and Elliott to meet in the finals. Both trucks ran even to the final turn, but Detka bobbled with the high grip surface lining up the last jump and Soares ran a picture perfect lap to take the racing win.
After getting two DNF’s in qualifying and then having to eliminate the “Fenrir” truck in the second round when it was matched against the 3rd seeded “Shaker”, Elliott went third in freestyle and set the bar high with a run that filled the clock without a rollover scoring 25 points. Udell went out shortly after and performed his patented “Dive Bomb” reverse backflip to kick off his freestyle run and scored a respectable 22 with some big sky wheelies and Romo nearly filled the clock with a fast-paced run getting a 23. In what is becoming a trend this season, for the third straight round Bunting would receive the same score as Elliott across all three categories creating a tie for first place with “Carnage” also filling the clock without a rollover with over 10 trucks remaining. However, early rollovers and breakage would result in deductions and the all-important time element not being filled, but there were definitely wow moments including Bunting and Elliott’s second runs with “Bad Company” getting some long jumps and saves and “Shaker” completing the move of the night with an awesome front flip to cap off a wild run that would have been the runaway winner if not for an early rollover deduction. In the end, Elliott would take home the freestyle victory with “Fenrir” and get the overall event win scoring 58 points for “Shaker” moving into first place in the standings heading into the final round. Heimbigner is in second 19 points behind with Romo in third with Bunting, Elliott’s second entry, and Soares still alive for a shot at the podium.
Blackmarket RC Retro Results
The Retro Class continues to be one of giant point swings if you are able to get a racing win. After completing his “USA-1” build just in time for Round 3, Detka was able to take the top qualifying spot in Round 4 followed by Bunting and “Shotgun” and Soares with the points leading “Excaliber” who had to scramble and rob some parts from his “Samson” entry to make qualifying after breaking in the practice session. In the first round, Heimbigner’s “Flyin’ Hawaiian” would wheelie its way to the finish over “King Krunch” after Smallwood took a tumble coming over the first big hill. “Excaliber” would take down Rod Ward’s new “Money Pit” after he bicycled and rolled, and after not completing a qualifying pass, Heimbigner’s “Bigfoot” advanced over “Shotgun” after Bunting broke an axle link and collided with Heimbigner getting a DQ. In the semi-finals, Detka would run a smooth pass sending USA-1 to the finals where he would meet Heimbigner and “Bigfoot” who would knock out “Excaliber” after he also tumbled coming off the first big hill. In the finals, both trucks were even to the final turn, but Heimbigner got on the brakes too hard and the high traction surface sent him over giving the win to Detka who has shot up into 5th place. Soares has all but sealed a spot on the podium with Heimbigner 10 points behind in 2nd and Bunting hanging on to 3rd going into the final round.
A big thank you to the racers who braved the heat and battled it out under the lights. While the final round is not until October, there are two big exhibition races coming up with the “Summer Showdown” in August and the ASD Crawlers 7th Annual Autism Awareness Crawl 2023 in September.
Thank you to our sponsors: JConcepts, AMain Hobbies, Protek RC, EcoPower, Blackmarket RC, Bee Line Trucking, Insano Industries, and Brass Ring Fab as well as Auburn RC for the hospitality. Make sure to follow us @NorCalRCMT on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for all the latest information and event highlights.