For the third and final time of the 2022 season, the JConcepts Points Series battled it out under the lights of Auburn RC. Round 5 would be crucial to start separating out the contenders and pretenders with lots of valuable points still available and 42 trucks competing in three classes. All three classes would be running dueling S tracks starting on the outside of the oval and finishing side by side in the middle of the infield.
In the Nor Cal Performance Diesel 2.2 Mini Monster Class, Jeremy Bunting would lay down the fastest qualifying time with the only run under 8 seconds in the class putting the “Crash Test Dummy” in pole position. Zac Soares would be right behind taking second and third with his “Excaliber” and “Prospector” which was sporting a new prototype LMT-based chassis from Black Market RC. Sam Elliott’s “Hell Raiser” would get the 4th and the final bye into round 2 of the 12 truck bracket. The biggest surprise of the night would be David Heimbigner, who came into the event in 2nd place, struggling in qualifying accumulating penalties on both runs and then suffering mechanical issues in round 1 losing to Kirk Noakes and “Old Skool”.
In the quarter-finals, “Crash Test Dummy” would advance over new-comer Brian Romo and his “Hater Maker” SMT10 and would face Elliott’s “Hell Raiser” in the semi-finals. On the bottom half of the bracket, “Prospector” would end the night for “Old Skool” and “Get Er Done” would eliminate “Excaliber” putting both of Elliott’s trucks in the semi-finals.
In the semis, “Hell Raiser” would take advantage of a bobble out of the first turn by Bunting and cruise to the finals. Elliott would then face Soares once again to determine if both of his trucks would make the finals, but the “Prospector” prototype would take the win from the yellow lane finishing a truck-length ahead setting up a third matchup between Zac and Sam. In the finals, Soares drilled the light and never gave up the lead cruising to the racing win.
In the Bee Line Trucking 2.6 Monster Truck Class, Soares started the day on top of the standings by just one point with Elliott and Heimbigner right behind. Just like in the 2.2 Class, Noakes would shock everyone turning in the fastest qualifying pass of the day with his “Rebel Racer” setting a blistering time of 7.63. Heimbigner and Elliott would finish second and third respectively while Wes Harriger’s two entries would round out the top 5.
Due to the 20 truck field, there would only be 4 races in round 1 with the remaining trucks advancing to Round 2, but one of the closest races of the entire season occurred between Noakes’ “Knucklehead” entry and Ryler Powell’s “Shadow Hunter” as Powell led into the final jump, Noakes pinned it and after a frame by frame review was determined to be the winner by less than a tire.
Round 2 would start with a big upset as the number 1 seeded “Rebel Racer” would red light and DQ giving the win to the 17th seeded “Live Wire”. Noakes would redeem himself and continue his hot streak knocking out the 4th seed “Taurus” to advance to the quarter finals. On the bottom half of the bracket, heavy-hitters still remained with “Saigon Shaker”, “Bad Company”, “Excaliber” and “Son Uva Digger” all moving on with big points implications on the quarter-finals matchups.
Jacob Smallwood’s night would end with a blown rear-end in “Live Wire”, so “Flyin’ Hawaiian” would move on to the semi-finals to race Harriger’s “Bigfoot” who would not be beaten twice by Noakes. In similar fashion, Elliott and “Saigon Shaker” would eliminate “Bad Company” after Bunting knocked out “Ragnarok” in the previous round. The race with the biggest implications was the final matchup between “Son Uva Digger” and “Excaliber” with Heimbigner knocking off the points leader and setting up a matchup with the racer in front of him and putting both entries into the final four.
In the semi-finals, Heimbigner would eliminate Harriger’s 5th ranked “Bigfoot” and now it all came down to one race to determine if there would be a finals race or not between “Saigon Shaker” and “Son Uva Digger”. When the light turned green, both trucks were even through the first turn and down the straightaway. It seemed like Saigon Shaker was on the way to a smooth win after making a tight turn and carrying a truck length lead up the final jump when Heimbigner came flying out of the turn like he was shot out of a cannon and overtook Elliott in the air with a huge leap landing near the exit of turn 2 of the dirt oval for the win. Heimbigner would elect to have “Son Uva Digger” take the racing win and we would move on to the Black Market RC Retro Class.
Coming into Round 5, the only racer to win 2 events in the Retro Class in 2021 still had not won a race even after adding a second entry this season. Despite that, consistency has kept Soares in the top 3 and came into Round 5 only two points out of second place behind Heimbigner who has come in runner-up three straight rounds. Soares would put “Excaliber” on top early getting the top qualifying time of the night and the only run under 10 seconds with a 9.93. Current points leader Bunting and “Shotgun” would be right behind in second and Smallwood once again had a strong qualifying pass earning the third seed. In the 9 truck field, there would only be one first round race of who would make the 8 truck bracket and face the top-seeded Soares. After a disastrous qualifying session, Heimbigner would have to race Ryan Isbell who returned to the series with his “Bigfoot Racer” in order to stay alive.
Heimbigner would win the battle of the Shafty ‘Foots but would fall to Soares in the quarter-finals relinquishing second place in the standings. Once again, Harriger and Noakes would meet in a racing bracket with “Coors Extra Gold” eliminating the last remaining “Bigfoot” entry. Elliott and “Beast” seem to have figured out the early season gremlins and advanced over Smallwood and “Hawaiian Punch” while “Shotgun” and “Samson” had a close race with Bunting advancing due to Samson not getting both front tires up a ramp.
The two JConcepts Regulator chassis remaining in the field were on a collision course for a rematch in the finals and the top two qualifiers would advance over Harriger and Elliott. In the finals, both trucks were even to the first turn, but “Shotgun” would roll after clipping the turn barrier and “Excaliber” would take the Round 5 win and pick up valuable points moving into second place by 20 points and only 11 behind Bunting with one round to go.
In 2.2 freestyle, Noakes and his “Soleyna” entry set the bar high early filling the clock without a rollover deduction scoring 23 points. That score would then be matched by Soares and the “Excaliber” who had a run filled with big air and saves after nearly filling the clock, but had a rollover deduction. The two-way tie would stand until Bunting and “Crash Test Dummy” nearly filled the clock hitting everything on the track and elected to end the run without the deduction moving into the lead with a 24. Elliott’s two entries and Soares would get their shot, but early rollovers and filling less than a minute was not enough. When the dust settled, Bunting would take the Overall Event Championship by one point over Soares and “Prospector” with the win all but sealing back-to-back 2.2 Class titles with a commanding 55-point lead going into the Championship.
Wrapping up the night would be the 2.6 Monster Truck Class and Powell would set the early high mark with a score of 19 running his “Shadow Hunter” into the ground destroying the rear of the truck while being the first to fill the clock. After an early exit in round 2, Soares and his “Prospector” would set the bar extremely high going earlier than usual but filled the clock with a high-flying, action-packed run that went even beyond the time allotted without a rollover getting a big score of 26 throwing down the gauntlet with a dozen trucks still to go.
Bunting would then follow up with a respectable run with “Titan” but did not fill the clock and received a 24. We then entered a stretch in which the track seemed to win the battle as trucks were breaking or rolling over early and scores remained in the teens. It was not until Soares took to the track again with “Excaliber” that we got another run that filled the clock with another destruction filled run leaving pieces of the printed roll-bar on the track and scoring 24.
Finally, it came down to Elliott and Heimbigner with Elliott having another textbook freestyle that he has become known for which is why he currently leads the series in the overall freestyle score. He put “Saigon Shaker” through its paces but was perhaps just a bit cautious and came up just shy with a 25. After a big night of racing, Heimbigner threw caution and his trucks to the wind with some big air but an early rollover for “Flyin’ Hawaiian” only received a 19. Finally, “Son Uva Digger” would close out the event and went big early, but eventually a rod end let go in the front end and limited the chaos to a 21 giving Soares and “Prospector” the freestyle victory.
With the second fastest qualifying time, racing victory and coming in 4th in freestyle, Heimbigner accrued 66 points and took the Overall Event Championship for Round 5 and more importantly moved into second place by just one point trailing Elliott going into the final round. Meanwhile, Soares is still only 9 points out of first place as well meaning that every point will matter come October 15th in Rescue. Not only are trophies and bragging rights at stake, but a cash payout from the “Podium Pot” which will be doubled thanks to Bee Line Trucking with first place receiving $450!
A big thank you goes out to Auburn RC for their hospitality this season and being able to run under the lights during the summer has been a game-changer. And of course, nothing would be possible without our Series sponsors JConcepts, AMain Hobbies, Black Market RC, Bee Line Trucking, Nor Cal Performance Diesel, Wrench Head RC, and Insano Industries.
Our next event will be an exhibition as part of the ASD Crawlers Autism Awareness Crawl in Bear River Lake Resort in Pioneer, CA on September 17th, we will be putting on the 2.2 and 2.6 Monster Truck race and freestyle competition as well as having a tough truck course set up before-hand. Then we wrap up the 2022 JConcepts Points Series with our Championship event on October 15th at Rescue Community Center RC Track.
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