JConcepts’ Scottsdale Success at the Arizona State Championships
The 26th annual Arizona State Championships presented by JConcepts was held at the World famous SRS Speedway in Scottsdale, Arizona. With a new challenging track layout, drivers were scrambling to get things figured out, as the track didn’t have the traction that some of the drivers were expecting. Perfect weather greeted racers as Saturday’s qualifiers got under way. One hundred and seventy five entries made up the 23 heats of racing. Three rounds were run on Saturday, at the direction of race announcer Richard Lake. Sunday started with one more round of qualifiers, then it was on to the finals.
JConcepts tyres were in control, with many of the Modified drivers running JConcepts Bar Codes in Blue compound, whilst some of the stock drivers were going to the Green compound. In 2WD Modified Buggy, TQ Ryan Maifield led the parade and got a comfortable lead taking the easy win. With heavy racing back in the field, it was easy to go from the the second or third spot, back to five or seven with one mistake as the action was intense. As A2 started, Ryan made a mistake and was back in third then one more mistake had him back in fifth, but it was impossible to count out Ryan completely from the leg. Billy Fischer was out front and Ryan started mounting a charge towards the front, laying down the fastest lap times of the day. Finally back in the second spot, Ryan was inching up on Fischer. Billy made a mistake and Ryan was back in the lead. At the tone, it was Maifield who took the win and the title with wins in the first two legs. Brian Kinwald won the third leg and Billy Fischer finished third overall.
In Modified Truck, it was Ryan Maifield again who took TQ and then a wire to wire run to take the win. Brian Kinwald took the number two spot, both using JConcepts Bar Codes in Blue compound, and JConcepts Punisher bodies on their T4.1 trucks.Short Course Modified was again a Ryan Maifield win, with a dominating run for the extended length A final. With a hard fought battle, Tanner Denney worked his way from his second spot at the start to fall back, and put his head down to regain his spot on the podium in third. Ryan and Tanner were both using the new JConcepts Hi-Flow body, Hazard wheels and JConcepts tyres in blue compound.
SCT 4×4 was all Billy Fischer in qualifying. As the finals began, Brian Kinwald had found another gear and was keeping Billy in his sights, putting pressure on him at times. Billy made a mistake and Brian was in the lead for the first time in the leg. On the next lap, a mistake by Brian gave it right back to Billy. As time expired, it was a one lap dash for the win with both drivers inches apart. Entering the last turn, Brian stuck it on the inside, but brushed the pipe, bouncing him into Fischer ruining Brian’s momentum. So Billy drove to the win followed closely by Kinwald. with both using Bar Codes to grip the Arizona dirt.
In 4WD Modified, Billy Fischer was TQ and was trying to catch his breath after running the SCT. Unfazed, Billy jumped out at the start trying to get a gap. A battle between Jake Thayer, and Brent Fiege kept pushing towards Fischer. Fiege putting pressure on Fischer, but a mistake would drop him back and that is how it would finish, with Billy Fischer taking his second title of the day and Jake Thayer finding the podium in third.
As the sun set on the Arizona desert, another great event was coming to a close. Thanks goes out to JConcepts, SRS Hobbies, the SRS track crew, race director Richard Lake, and all the racers for another great event.
Photo courtesy of Brent Fiege
Source: JConcepts
