JConcepts NCTS Rd4 Midwest Carpet Nats – Report
The final round of the inaugural JConcepts NCTS was held at Thunder Road RC Raceway in Waite Park, Minnesota over the weekend. The popularity of carpet and turf racing is definitely on the rise and without any doubts whatsoever, racing on artificial surfaces is clean, consistent, and drivers always have a good amount of grip. As the NCTS season 1 comes to an end, the organisers are convinced that the carpet wave will carry strong into 2020 and beyond. For the season finale, the hype was high as many of the team drivers have been raving about the facility and they are completely right. The layout was actually very cool. It was a reflection of itself if you were to split it down the middle. With the jumps and features laid out in a manner that challenged drivers, it wasn’t an easy track to get around going 100 precent. However, cruise around at 80 percent, it was very easy. The double vertical chicanes haven’t been done in a while, but definitely, required precision and commitment to get the hot laps. The jumps were quite easy, which promoted close racing and many laps of battling on the track that ultimately made for a wonderful race experience. Overall, it was a fun layout that favoured cars with balanced setups that inspired confidence and control.
The epic carpet showdown in 2WD Modified was unreal. Having some of the fastest carpet drivers on hand demonstrated just how fast you can go around the track with a 2WD buggy. A1 went to Team Associated’s Broc Champlin, which put the entire field under immense pressure. With Broc known to be one of the nation’s best on the rug, it was going to be a difficult task to stop him in A2. However, Yokomo’s Ryan Cavalieri had it all under control in A2, until the very last lap. Miss timing his braking point, Cavalieri jumped his car across the camel hump and passed the no-fly zone and was disqualified. With Cav’s DQ, A2 went to Team Associated’s Joona Haatanen. With Cav in redemption mode, he drove a perfect A3 and won the main making it three different winners in three mains. With three points total, Broc Champlin was crowned your 2WD Midwest Carpet Champion. Cavalieri finished in 2nd with four points and winning the tie-breaker against Joona Haatanen was Team Associated’s Cole Tollard, who is very new to carpet racing and progressed quickly throughout the weekend.
With a dialled 4WD, Team Associated’s Broc Champlin was unstoppable in the triple A-Mains. In fact, Broc only needed two mains to lock up the overall as he was able to win A1 and A2 over a very fast field of 4WD mod drivers. Joona Haatanen was peaking just at the right time and was able to challenge Broc for the win by finishing 2nd in both mains and only less than a second back. Also in the hunt for the 4WD Mod victory was 4-time world champion, Ryan Cavalieri, but a mistake in each main cost Cav valuable time and landed him 3rd fastest overall at this year’s Midwest Carpet Nationals.
In 40+ 2WD Mod Buggy and with the King of 40+ in the mix, it was going to be a tall task for anyone to challenge the fast AE team manager. Nearly matching Brent Thielke’s speed, Yokomo’s Thor Ott came close. After eight long minutes, Thor was 2.2 seconds back from an always fast, always deadly Brent Thielke. Thor finished 2nd while Serpent’s Brian Bohlman put his carpet mastery to the test, as he used the brand new Serpent SRX2 Gen3, to put himself on the podium.
Tekno’s Sean VanDalen and Matthew Mickelson put on a fantastic show in the 4WD Mini Truggy class as the two swapped leads throughout the entire race. In the end, Mickelson pushed hard to recapture the lead but came up just .4 seconds short. Sean was composed and crossed the line in 1st and took a well-earned win. Matthew finished 2nd and wrapping up the final podium spot was Daniel Cost.
Tekno’s Seth VanDalen was focused and fierce in the 13.5 4WD class. With a terrific effort in qualifying earning the TQ, Seth led comfortably in the main, but an unfortunate roll over saw Yokomo’s Matthew Gonzales take over the lead. Unfortunately for Matthew, a lap traffic incident saw the lead switch back to VanDalen and from there, the gap was too big to close and Seth crossed the line taking a huge win. Matthew went on to finish 2nd with Minnesota’s own, Team Associated’s Kyle Holmberg, closing out the top 3 making it two podium finishes for Holmberg.
Norcal’s Jovy Levin was on fire in the 13.5 Stadium Truck A-Main as he suffered a few mishaps in qualifying. With speed and grace, Jovy made his way around class TQ, Clayton Cartalucca, and hit the afterburners to eventually cross the line in 1st. Clayton edged out a hard-charging Nick Cummins by .3 seconds to lock up 2nd as Cummins finished 3rd overall.
It was Nick Cummins and James Dolan who fought for the win in the 13.5 SCT class with Cummins grabbing the lead early in the race and never looked back. James went on to finished 2.1 seconds from Cummins keeping him on his toes the entire eight minutes. The final spot on the podium went to Chance Rohlk.
In 17.5 2WD Expert Buggy it was a clinic for Yokomo’s Matthew Gonzales, as he showed his speed in practice and qualifying to produce a flawless 8-minute final and dominated a very competitive 17.5 2WD Expert class. Tekno’s Seth VanDalen had great pace and proved he is a contender in the Midwest and finished 2nd overall. Finding the speed to top the rest, Team Associated’s Kyle Holmberg nearly finished 2nd and was only 0.193 seconds back and finished 3rd.
The success of the 21.5 Independent class shows that there’s a place in the industry for an easy-to-race, cost-effective, entry-level class for new racers and for racers that can’t often make it to the track. This zero sponsor class was nearly full this weekend and showed some real racing talent. Having made the trip to 702, RC Madness, and Thunder Road Raceway, Trevor Goff has shown that he’s one of the best independent drivers out there. Slotting himself 2nd through 3 rounds of qualifying, Trevor put his experience to the test and came out on top winning the 8 minute A-Main. Making moves and working his way up from the back of the pack. 10th place qualifier, Andrew Joarnt, powered his way through the field and finished 2nd. Fighting until the last lap, Bruce Collins rounded out the top 3.
Source: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]
