If Round 1 of the JConcepts Points Series will be remembered for the wind, Round 2 will be remembered for the heat. Racers and event organizers fought the high temperatures to keep their trucks, cameras, phones and themselves from overheating on a sunny, hot June afternoon at the Rescue Community Center R/C Track. Despite the oppressive heat, 17 racers brought out 44 trucks to compete on the dirt oval track that was transformed into a “Cottage Grove”-style track with the trucks running a J-hook, but from opposite ends of the track. Trucks would start over a roller jump before making a 180 degree turn on the berms and then attack a big jump before having to settle down and clear the second jump over a set of cars only 10 feet away.
In the 2.2 class, David Heimbigner would start the day off setting the fast time in qualifying putting his “Son Uva Digger” in the number one spot with a 6.86 lap. Jeremy Bunting’s “Hooligan” qualified in 2nd with Sam Elliott’s “Get-Er-Done” taking third and getting byes into the second round. Newcomer Jack Meredith brought his “Boogey Van” SMT10 out for the first time and had an amazing debut eliminating Zac Soares’ “Excaliber” and then knocking out the top qualifier “Son Uva Digger” in the semi-finals to meet “Hooligan” in the finals, all with a brushed motor. While Meredith was smooth and consistent running less power than most in the field, he did not have enough to overtake Bunting in the finals and “Hooligan” would take the racing win.
Moving onto the 2.6 MT Class, David Heimbigner was on a rail setting the fastest times of the day with his “V8 Bomber” SCMT Warpath and “Flyin’ Hawaiian” BMRC BRD taking the TQ and 2 seed. Jeremy Bunting’s “Sinistar” SCMT Warpath and Zac Soares’s “Prospector” BMRC BRD were right on his heals, both with runs under 7 seconds with Wes Harriger’s “Bigfoot” Warpath and Rich Steinert’s Escalade less than a tenth of a second behind. Bunting’s “Bad Company” and Sam Elliott’s “Ragnarok would round out the top 8 that would get a bye into Round 2 of the 24 truck field.
The first round of racing would only see one upset as Everest Goforth, filling in for Kirk Noakes, would pilot the 19th-seeded “Rebel Racer” past the all-new “Amerigeddon” of Taylor Underhill that qualified 14th. Underhill would have his best day of racing of the series with his “Freedom” SMT10 making it to the quarter-finals after taking out Jay Henerson’s “Black Widow” and then knocking out the 5th-seeded “Bigfoot” before falling to Soares and “Prospector”.
In the end, nobody was beating Heimbigner as he ended up with both of his trucks seeded in the semi-finals with only “Prospector” and Round 1’s racing winner “Sinistar” to go. The “V8 Bomber” would advance to the finals eliminating the “Prospector” and would be paired against the winner of the “Sinistar” and “Flyin’ Hawaiian” matchup. After knocking out Bunting’s “Bad Company” in the quarter finals, the semi-finals race was a classic as both trucks were even the entire way resulting in a photo-finish that took multiple reviews to determine that the “Flyin’ Hawaiian” crossed the line inches ahead to take the win giving Heimbigner the racing win for the day.
After the exciting finish to the MT class, the track was completely changed to a figure 8 with a giant pile of cars in the middle for the Retro class. After a rushed Round 1, it was decided that a double-elimination bracket would be used for Round 2. Once a truck lost, it would be placed in the “loser” bracket where they would pair up until taking a second loss and one truck would remain which would then go back to take on the winner on the “winner” bracket side. If it sounds confusing, it was, as a total of 19 races took place for a 9 truck field that resulted in Zac Soares coming back after losing his first race to finish 8-1 and defeating Jacob Smallwood and his all-new “Just Show-N-Off” in the finals. I can’t even explain how it all happened so enjoy some photos below:
At the conclusion of retros, it was time to freestyle! After winds prevented the use of the crush cars in Round 1, we brought out a slew of new obstacles for Round 2 and it made for some exciting runs and dramatic photos. For the 2.2 class, Jacob Smallwood set the bar high early on with a score of 20 from a blistering run from his new “Outta Control” BMRC chassis.
Jack Meredith was responsible for bringing out a bunch of new obstacles to crush and his debut run was solid scoring a 17, but left too much time on the clock.
Smallwood was in the lead until Sam Elliott hit the track with his “Get-Er-Done” and nearly filled the clock without rolling over and received high scores from the judges to take the lead with a 25 with only two trucks remaining. Bunting’s “Hooligan” would give a valiant effort, but a backflip that did not rotate ended the run early giving Elliott his first 2.2 win.
In the 2.6 MT Class, a new obstacle was brought out, appropriately called the “FreeDOOM Bus” courtesy of Taylor Underhill and it led to chaos as it proved to be too stiff to crush, but not stable enough to completely rely on for a backflip. It led to some incredible moves including a double backflip by Ryler Powell’s “Shadow Hunter” Axial SMT10 and a reverse backflip by Brandon Stanley’s “RC Propaganda” Losi LMT as well as a lot of early rollovers and destruction.
Haidyen Steinert would set a high mark early on as the 5th truck out put up a score of 19 with a destruction-filled run with his “Over Bored” truck which he would then eclipse a few runs later with his “Monster Energy” Losi LMT setting the bar at 23.
After taking the 2.2 Class freestyle win, Sam Elliott had his sights set on taking another one home as he laid down a full, rollover-free run with great air and momentum and losing the body in the process, scoring a 29 from the judges leaving very little room for error for the remaining trucks.
Soares and Bunting would both put on valiant efforts, but rollovers and breakage could not put them over the score to beat leaving only Heimbigner’s two trucks to go.
After two rollovers in less than a minute with his “Flyin’ Hawaiian” resulted in a score of 20, Heimbigner would go for broke and the first ever “trifecta” of being the fastest qualifier, and winning both racing and freestyle. Going big early, he would break a rod end on a trailing arm giving the truck a lean, but was able to keep going with a run full of great momentum, saves, and a crash into a car pile as time expired without a rollover putting the judges in a tough spot and opting to reward a 29 as well. We would then go to the tie-breakers: with both trucks not rolling over and filling the clock, it came down to the air/tricks portion of the score where Elliott scored a 9 while Heimbigner received a 10 thus giving him the victory and two bonus points for the event.
After two rounds, Heimbigner has taken over the top spot in the points standings now 10 points ahead of second place Bunting with his “Flyin’ Hawaiian” truck moving into 3rd. Round 3 will be on July 17th in Chico at AMain Silver Dollar RC Raceway under the lights which should make for a much more pleasant racing experience. A big thank you to everyone who braved the heat and put on a great event. Special thanks goes out to Eric Myers for getting some incredible shots, of which you can find the full gallery here. And none of this would be possible without the support from our amazing sponsors: JConcepts, AMain Hobbies, RC Country Hobbies, Insano Industries, BMRC, Bee Line Trucking, Nor Cal Performance Diesel, Blu Chrush Racing, Fat Cat Customz, and Wrenchead RC!
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