2021 JConcepts Team Associated Top Gun Shootout Report

Press Release From JConcepts:
www.jconcepts.net

What an incredible way to end the JConcepts California Tour! Before we dive into the Team Associated Top Gun Shootout (our final stop on the tour), let’s go back to December 2nd. On December 2nd, the JConcepts crew headed out for the first-ever JConcepts Tour! We started out in Palm Desert, California where we visited Palm Desert Raceway and participated in their 17th Annual Toys for Tots Race. Jason Ruona, Allison Ruona, and Hannah Hardison from the JConcepts HQ attended. As for drivers, we were joined by Spencer Rivkin, Ryan Maifield, Adam Drake, and Ronda Drake for the duration of our Southern California Tour. From Palm Desert, we headed to The Dirt in Perris, where our drivers would test and tune before competing in the Wednesday Night Club Race. Wrapping up the tour, we finished with  1:10 scale racing at SDRC Raceway in San Diego for the 2021 Team Associated Top Gun Shootout!

We arrived early Thursday afternoon to set up and practice. Friday was another full day of practice and qualifying would begin on Saturday. As usual, Sunday was reserved for the highly anticipated main event day! The track layout seemed to flow well and drivers, first unsure about the large center triple, quickly mastered it. The competition in the modified classes was stacked. We had several seasoned drivers along with a couple of new faces. New to the modified classes were Matthew Gonzales and Davey Batta. Both drivers have decided to push themselves to the next level and compete in the prestigious modified division. They each had a great debut with Matthew Gonzales finishing 4th overall in the 4wd Class and qualifying 2nd in the 2wd Mod Buggy main. Davey Batta finished 5th in 2wd Mod Buggy overall and made the 4wd main!

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Qualifying:

• 2wd Modified Buggy: Spencer Rivkin (TQ), Matthew Gonzales (2), Ryan Maifield (3)
• 4wd Modified Buggy: Ryan Maifield (TQ), Spencer Rivkin (2)
• 13.5 Expert 4wd Buggy: Doug Lariviere (TQ), Ian Crawford (2), Gary Slater (3)
• 17.5 Expert 2wd Buggy: Doug Lariviere (2), Ian Crawford (3)
• 13.5 2wd Short Course: Chris Raymond (2)
• 13.5 2wd Stadium Truck: Doug Lariviere (2)
• 17.5 Intermediate 2wd Buggy: Ivan Moreno (TQ)
• 13.5 Intermediate 4wd Buggy: Ivan Moreno (2)
• 40+ 13.5 2wd Buggy: Brent Thielke (TQ), Kevin King (3)
• 40+ 13.5 4wd Buggy: Brent Thielke (TQ)

Final Results:

2wd Modified Buggy: Spencer Rivkin (1), Ryan Maifield (2), Ryan Cavalieri (3)

Spencer Rivkin was on point all weekend in the 2wd Buggy class. He was able to take the overall TQ, after winning 2 rounds of qualifying. Ryan Maifield tried to give him a run for his money when he won round #2 of qualifying. When it came time for the mains Rivkin had his sight set on an early victory. In A1, he led the race start to finish never giving an inch to Gonzales who started behind him. Maifield ran 3rd for the majority of A1 until around lap 14 where he took over 2nd place. A1 concluded with Rivkin in 1st, Maifield 2nd, and Gonzales 3rd.

In A2, Rivkin was ready to call it a day. He blazed the way, leading the entire race, and stood first on the podium! As for Maifield, within the first lap, he moved into 2nd. Cavalieri and Gonzales were battling for that 2nd place spot when after some carnage Aydin Horne was able to rise from 6th to 3rd within 4 laps. In the final race, Maifield had basically locked in 2nd but with a win, he would seal the deal. He went on to lead the race the entire time, while Cavalieri, Batta, and Rinderknecht battled for the final top 3 positions. It was a close call towards the end of the race, but Cavalieri was able to take 2nd back over from Tom Rinderknecht who finished 3rd. This allowed Cavalieri to take 3rd overall.

4wd Modified Buggy: Ryan Maifield (1), Spencer Rivkin (2), Aydin Horne (3)

4wd Modified Buggy was a fight to the end, as every single driver would go on to compete in the A3. Ryan Maifield and Spencer Rivkin were once again battling for that top position in A1. Even after swapping positions between laps 8 and 14, Maifield was able to take the win in A1. Meanwhile, behind them, the battle for 3rd swapped hands multiple times. At one point Horne had it, then Rinderknecht, followed by Devoll, and then Cavalieri. Devoll took it back from Cavalieri. However, Rinderknecht was not ready to give it up and on the last lap, he surpassed Devoll locking in 3rd for the round.

In A2, everything looked much different. Aydin Horne would power his way to the top taking 1st. Matthew Gonzales ran 4th for most of the race but towards the last 5 laps of the race, he would surge into 2nd. Some carnage put Rivkin and Maifield 3rd and 4th for the round. It was quite the wrench in what seemed to be Maifield’s race. When it came to the final heat, everyone was on edge. With two different winners, it could go a few different ways. A3 was less interesting in regards to battles, but drivers held tight to their positions. Maifield led the majority of the race until a mistake on the last lap allowed Rivkin to take the lead and win. Horne cruised his way through A3 taking 3rd overall. Rivkin and Maifield both had a 1st and 2nd on the leaderboard, and ultimately Maifield was able to win the tiebreaker with a faster time!

13.5 Expert 4wd Buggy: Doug Lariviere (1), Gary Slater (2), Logan Thompson (3)

It’s been an impressive year for Doug Lariviere who has really made his way to the top in the stock classes! We were stoked to see him to conclude his year with a win in both stock classes at the Top Gun Shootout! He was able to win A1 and A2 for an early victory! We also wanted to recognize Gary Slater who drove very well this weekend and ran JConcepts Ellipses. Congratulations!

13.5 Intermediate 4wd Buggy:  Ivan Moreno (1), Austin Riley (2), Teucer Carrera (3)

13.5 2wd Short Course: Sean Story (1), Bryan Wyrick (2), Chris Ryamond (3)

17.5 Intermediate 2wd Buggy: Ivan Moreno (1), Bryan Wyrick (2), Joel Navaro (3)

17.5 Expert 2wd Buggy: Doug Lariviere (1), Sammy Moran (2), Lucas Wedsted (3)

13.5 2wd Stadium Truck: Domnic Paccione (1), Doug Lariviere (2), Sammy Moran (3)

40+ 13.5 4wd Buggy: Brent Thielke (1), Kevin King (2), Al Horne (3)

40+ 13.5 2wd Buggy: Brent Thielke (1), Al Horne (2), Chris Raceles (3)

A big congratulations once again to all of our drivers who made the podium! We were stoked to win all of the buggy classes and take some spots on the Short Course/Stadium Truck podiums! This event was the perfect ending to our JConcepts Tour and we couldn’t be more grateful. Thank you to Sean Story for hosting us at SDRC, you and your team hosted a phenomenal program! We’d also like to recognize Anthony Westerguard and his family for hosting us at Palm Desert during stop #1 on the tour. Lastly, we’d like to thank Joey Christensen for allowing us to test and tune at his facility along with a great Wednesday Night club race. The JConcepts Team has been incredible to work with all year long and we can’t wait to see what’s in store for the 2022 season!