2023 ProTek RC Midwest Nitro Challenge Results

Press Release From St. Louis Dirt Burners:
www.dirtburners.org

St. Louis Dirt Burners is a non-profit, club-run organization founded in 1994. At this time, Dirt Burners is one of the oldest tracks in the United States! The world-class facility offers many benefits for out-of-town racers, such as RV and Trailer accommodations, a 2-day weekend race program, affordable entry fees, lower-cost hotel options, and reasonable airfare from anywhere in the continental US.

The ProTek RC Midwest Nitro Challenge was initially created in 2002 and, at that time, called the Kyosho Nitro Challenge. St. Louis Dirt Burners has continued the tradition of this annual race for 20 years, also known as the Futaba/OS Nitro Challenge, and for many years, selling out the event at 450 entries. Many ROAR national and IFMAR world champions have made the pilgrimage to Dirt Burners over the years for this event; at times, up to 6 world champions have been in attendance simultaneously!

New for 2023, St. Louis Dirt Burners partnered with AMain Hobbies to take this legendary event to the next level, appointing a new title: The ProTek RC Midwest Nitro Challenge. The event is, to put it simply, grueling. The track is run dry to develop a smooth, high-grip blue groove surface, and minimal track maintenance during the main event portion of the race program to let it develop character and live up to the race's name. Racers love the challenging aspects of this yearly race and flock to Dirt Burners nationwide. Thanks to the partnership between Dirt Burners and AMain Hobbies/ProTek RC, this event has become one of the Midwest's largest outdoor 1/8 scale events. This year’s edition was no exception, with 233 entries and the Midwest’s top drivers in attendance, including racers who traveled as far as Alaska!

This year’s track combined a high-speed, flowing supercross layout with a hooked-up groove developing early in qualifying. The track stayed consistent throughout the event, thanks to the hard work of Dirt Burner’s track crew and in-house track builders. The Dirt Burners team takes pride in designing and building tracks with their unique style.

Next year, the Dirt Burners team plans for new classes, such as 40+ 1/8 Electric Buggy, as well as many facility investments, such as additional lighting upgrades, infrastructure, and track equipment to improve racer’s experiences.

1/8 Expert Electric Buggy

The highly competitive top-skill level 1/8 E-Buggy class is always one to watch! Our 1/8 Expert Electric Buggy A-Main finalists put on a show with a tone-to-tone battle for the podium, with the winner, Braden Bruce, making an incredible pass and holding off Charles Day on the final lap. The margin of victory was only 1 second!

1st Braden Bruce (AE)

2nd Charles Day (AE)

3rd Calvin Bruce (AE)

4th Kevin Day (AE)

5th Paul Svejkosky (Mugen) (TQ)

6th Eric Fletcher (Tekno)

7th Chris Marrant (WRC)

8th Aaron Pucci (WRC)

9th Vanja Vujkovic (Tekno)

10th Wes Miravalle (Mugen)

11th Jake Stoeltzing (HB)

12th JJ Truex (Kyosho)

B-Main Winner: Wes Miravalle

1/8 Expert Nitro Buggy

The race we have all been waiting for. The 1/8 Expert Nitro Buggy A-Main at the 2023 Protek RC Midwest Nitro Challenge certainly lived up to its name. Outside temps reached a sweltering 102*F, with track temps peaking at 117*F! Our track was peaking in grip level and developing character on the racing surface. These aspects tested the limits of man and machine over a 30-minute final. Congratulations to our A-main finalists and local Dirt Burner winner, Paul Svejkosky. Honorable mention goes to local Dirt Burner Nate Jaskot for his lightning-fast TQ runs throughout qualifying.

1st Paul Svejkosky (Mugen)

2nd Braden Bruce (AE)

3rd Larry Wright IV (Tekno)

4th Jake Stoeltzing (HB)

5th Eric Fletcher (Tekno)

6th Josh Dill (Mayako)

7th Wes Miravalle (Mugen)

8th Dan Walter (XRAY)

9th Alex Richards (Mayako)

10th Chris Marrant (WRC)

11th Nate Jaskot (XRAY) (TQ)

12th Aaron Pucci (WRC)

B-Main Winner: Josh Dill

1/8 Open Nitro Truck

The 1/8 Nitro Truck A-Main was exciting - these 1/8 scale Trucks were flying around our high-grip outdoor track! Dirt Burners local Paul Svejkosky and Fastlane’s Chris Marrant would battle it out over the 20-minute main, with the winner decided in the final laps by 2 seconds! Congratulations to our A-main finalists.

1st Paul Svejkosky (Mugen)

2nd Chris Marrant (WRC) (TQ)

3rd Nick Lewis (HB)

4th Marc Girouard (Tekno)

5th Matt Kennedy (WRC)

6th Jerry Klingbeil (Tekno)

7th Derek Smith (Tekno)

8th Dan Walter (XRAY)

9th John Rodgers (Mugen)

10th Jeff Chandler (TLR)

11th Charles Henson (Mugen)

12th Ron Lynn (Mugen)

B-Main Winner: Matt Kennedy

1/8 Open Electric Truck

Like many other main events, the 1/8 Electric Truck A-main did not disappoint, with five different racer leaders at various points. In the latter half of the main, Larry Wright IV and Kevin Day swapped leads back and forth, with Larry getting the win by a 2-second margin. Congratulations to our A-main finalists.

1st Larry Wright IV (Tekno)

2nd Kevin Day (AE)

3rd Colin Krivitz (Tekno)

4th Calvin Bruce (AE) (TQ)

5th Josh Dill (Tekno)

6th Kyle Kosek (Tekno)

7th Marc Girouard (Tekno)

8th Jake Wilhelm (Kyosho)

9th Vanja Vujkovic (Tekno)

10th Frank Krivitz (Tekno)

11th JJ Truax (Kyosho)

12th Mike Marshall (Tekno)

B-Main Winner: Marc Girouard

1/8 40+ Nitro Buggy

1st Bucky Bachman

2nd Jake Wilhelm (TQ)

3rd Coach Townsend

4th Chris Kuklinski

5th Jeremy Sonnier

6th Tony Roney

7th Nick Lewis

8th Nick Snethen

9th John Rodgers

10th Mike Branham

11th Matt Kennedy

12th Dave Martin

B-Main Winner: Nick Snethen

1/8 Sportsman Nitro Buggy

1st Bucky Bachman

2nd Tennison Willis (TQ)

3rd Joshua Lavergne

4th Travis Slover

5th Dylan Michael

6th Kyle Kosek

7th Hopper Callahan

8th Austin Schaeffer

9th Jeremy Sonnier

10th Malcolm Townsend

11th Eric Dillon

12th Jack Dillow

B-Main Winner: Austin Schaeffer

1/8 Sportsman Electric Buggy

1st Bucky Bachman (TQ)

2nd Malcolm Townsend

3rd Jeremy Sonnier

4th Adam Raber

5th Travis Slover

6th Jerry Klingbeil

7th Nick Snethen

8th Brian Gaedke

9th Alex Mcelwee

10th Trevor Parrish

11th Ken Schueler

12th Steven Maxwell

B-Main Winner: Nick Snethen

1/10 Gas Truck, Presented by Ignite Design RC

Carrying on a St. Louis Dirt Burners tradition, 1/10 Gas Trucks were again part of our racing program. These nitro-powered, two-wheel drive stadium trucks were awesome to see flying around the high-grip outdoor track during the 10-minute main event! Ignite Design RC team driver Wes Miravalle set the pace for the weekend with two TQ runs but would DNF early on in the main. Alexander Richards would come away with the win with a consistent and fast run in the main event.

1st Alexander Richards (Ignite Design)

2nd Mike Arnold (AE)

3rd Travis Slover (Ignite Design)

4th Wes Miravalle (Ignite Design) (TQ)

5th Josh Dill (Mugen)

1/10 Open

1st Steven Maxwell

2nd Chris Light (TQ)

3rd Marc Girouard

4th Alex Edwards

5th Brian Whitener

6th Chris Goodman

7th Paul Corley

8th Dalton Linder

9th James Corley

10th Trevor Parrish

11th Kenny Corley

12th Seth Lyons

B-Main Winner: Paul Corley

Novice

1st Rachel Marrant (TQ)

2nd Kenny Corley

3rd Mike Arnold

4th Shelby Corley

5th Briar Jones

6th Griffen Walter

7th Madison Corley

8th Joshua Winkler

9th Jackson Reichenbacher

10th Bruce Harris

11th Riley Hosfeld