Hartson's double led Team Associated to seven wins at fourth round of JBRL

0 June 24, 2016, 8:45 a.m.

By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Race report from Team Associated:
www.teamassociated.com

Steven Hartson leads the team to 7 victories at JBRL Electric Round 4

Under the sunny skies of Huntington Beach lies the world-famous OCRC Raceway. Currently the home of the prestigious Reedy Off-Road Race of Champions, the facility guaranteed a great day of racing. Team Associated was well represented by Steven Hartson, Jake Mayo, Nick Wautlet, Chris Vanair, Nick Miller, Tyler Hicks, and Jesse Granat.

The field for the Modified 4WD class was heavily stacked by many top drivers from Southern California. Steven Hartson proved to be the one to beat by nearly laying down the only 15-lap run of the day -- missing it by less than a second. Teammate Jake Mayo started on the number-three spot for the six-minute main event. At the sound of the tone, Hartson made a slight mistake and gave Jake Mayo the lead. Unfortunately for Mayo, Hartson took the lead back from him on lap five and checked out from the field. Mayo ended up in the third spot.

Just like 4WD Modified, the 2WD Modified class featured the same amount of talent. Once again it was the duo of Hartson and Mayo starting 1 and 2. From the start, Hartson led the field and eventually began to walk away from the rest of the pack. Toward the middle of the race, Mayo made some costly mistakes that put him as low as the seventh spot. He put his head down and charged back toward the front, but finished shy of the podium by a couple of tenths of a second.

In addition, Team Associated vehicles took five other victories at the capable hands of Rick Martin, Owen Stryker, Mike Fisk, and Casey Becica. Despite Nick Wautlet's hard charge at the end of the main, Rick Martin dominated the Modified SC class, getting the TQ and win. Mike Fisk cleaned up with his B5M in both the 13.5 Buggy and 17.5 Buggy classes by taking the TQ and win in both. Lastly, OCRC locals Owen Stryker and Casey Becica used their T5Ms to take the TQ and win in the Stock and Modified Truck classes.

Team Associated would like to thank Jimmy Babcock, the whole JBRL staff, Robert and Nick Black, and the whole OCRC army for putting their efforts into making another great event! We will see you at the next one in Bakersfield.