HobbyPLEX Team Associated Summer Series Finals race report

 

The 2013 Team Associated Summer Series at the Plex finished up on Saturday, September 14. Another 140 entries filled the heat sheets as everyone settled in for another fun day of racing and prize giveaways. Everybody walked away with something and a lucky name was drawn for a new vehicle in each class.

Plexspec
Plexspec is the backbone of racing at the Plex. It costs $5 to race and is open to any age and any 1/10 scale vehicle. As in previous years, the Plexspec champion wasn’t crowned until the final car crossed the loop. Travis Hizer Jr. raced to his first TQ and win of the season securing the overall championship. Kaden Fuller gave Travis a run for his money all year in second and Adam Rutherford’s consistency would hold him in third. Travis never finished outside of the top three and Kaden only missed the podium once. Kaden also had four TQ’s. The top six drivers never missed an A-main, although Rylan Pummel and Emerson Sturgeon had to bump from the B-main on several occasions. Six-year-old Chase Henriksen was the youngest in the top ten, while Clayton Wittmayer was the oldest at fifteen. Alex Aufenkamp held the fort for the girls, battling for wins by the end of the season. Ethan Lauth, who finished just outside the top ten, won a T4.1 RTR for next year.
 
Stock Truck
Much like the last couple of seasons the stock classes came down to the wire. Team Novak’s Brian Valles had to stay ahead of Cole Henriksen no matter what to secure the win. Cole could only manage a fourth place qualifying effort, while Brian battled for TQ. In the main, Brian made a pass on TQ Mike Fuller on the first lap and never looked back. Don Drozd continued his momentum and crossed the line in second. His scores would break the tie with Cole and place him second overall for the series. Cole, Don and Brian shared the podium in four out of the six races. Cole and Don each had a win, while Brian crossed the line first four times. Tenth place finisher Josh Todd won a T4.2 kit.
 
Stock Buggy
Mason Fuller rolled into Saturday with a two point lead on Brian Valles. He made it tougher for the field by earning another TQ. Brian needed to finish four spots in front of Mason to win the series. Mason had none of it and led almost wire to wire in the main. Brian settled for second. Jay Fairchild drove a strong second half of the season and finished off the podium in third. Stock Buggy was the largest class on Saturday with 28 cars and the second largest attendance throughout the series with 19 drivers attending at least five of the six races. Eight-year-old Mason Fuller is the youngest ever to win a summer series class outside of Plexspec. Another young up and comer and Hobbyplex local, Adam Kohler walked away with a B4.2 kit.
 
4wd Modified
Team Associated’s Will Brinton had the wheeler title locked up a month ago, so he sat out this round and watched the action from the sideline. David Fast was secure in his second overall position, so the race to watch was for the final podium spot. After a brand change in round four, Brian Bernt needed one more strong finish. Brian set the fast time for the day, while David won the race. Brian would edge out Dustin Hosick for the final podium spot. Will and David never finished lower than third. Will won three times and TQ’d four of his five races. This was the first year that a 4wd modified buggy class was included in the summer series. Team Associated cars filled all but one of the top ten cars. Brian Bernt’s charmed weekend continued as his name was drawn for a B44.2 kit.
 

Novak Short Course Buggy
Novak SCB is the only true spec class at the Plex. The cars are limited to blinky speed controllers, Novak motors, Losi eclipse tires and an 8.5 gear ratio. All the races from qualifying to the mains are ran heads up. Car setup and mistake free runs are the key to doing well. Don Drozd surprised the field this year with dominant performances in each round. His only finish outside of the top three was the last race, which really didn’t matter by then anyways. Dillan Voelker, driving his Kyosho buggy finished second overall. Rob Turner won the third spot with a second place finish and a better tie breaker over Jason Andrews. Don also walked away with the SC10Brs RTR.
 
Pro-2 Short Course Truck
Pro-2 was the last class without a series champion leading into Saturday. Team Associated’s Alex Vanderbeek lead the points from week one, while Kyosho’s Dillan Voelker closed the gap with a dominating second half of the season. The terms were simple. Alex had to finish 4th or higher and he would be this year’s champ. Dillan set his third TQ in a row with Alex second on the grid. Alex took the lead from Dillan on the second lap and looked as if he would coast to the championship. It was then that the RC gods pushed their fat fingers onto Alex’s truck. With about two-minutes to go, Alex traction rolled and popped a ball cup. When he reemerged onto the track he scored in sixth place. Dillan Voelker went on to claim his third Pro-2 title in a row. In fact, Dillan has been the only Pro-2 champ since the class was introduced in 2010. This year was the largest turnout for Pro-2 with 19 drivers active in the best 5 out of 6 series. Dillan and Alex both had three wins, one second and one third. It was the extra TQ point that tipped the balance towards Dillan. Seventh place finisher Mark Gengenbach found some luck and took home a SC10.2 Kit.

 
Mod Truck
Even though the mod truck podium was pretty much decided in round 5, there was still much racing to be done. With the championship locked up, TLR’s Alex Sturgeon chose not to race the final round. Derek Wood took full advantage and cruised to a TQ and win. Dillan Voelker finished fourth on the day, but maintained enough points to make his third series podium. Alex Vanderbeek gathered himself together and finished second in the main followed by another fast Des Moines guy, Sam Anderson. Neither of them was in the points chase, but they gave the crowd something to cheer about. Mod truck had the most amount of drivers that didn’t make the necessary five races for the points, so each of the finalists were separated by almost ten points a piece. Seventh place finisher Corey Rutherford took home the T4.2.
 

Mod Buggy
Mod buggy has provided for some rather crazy A-mains throughout the year and Saturday was no different. Once again, Alex Sturgeon sat out the day, having already locked the title up in round five. Team Associated’s Mack Vanderbeek was poised to battle with Derek Wood for second, but his newest addition to the family was being born the same weekend. Derek went on to top off his big day with his second TQ and win of the weekend; but only by a split second as Sam Anderson pressured him the entire way. Alex Vanderbeek placed third and also secured the final podium position overall. The top three all won a main event at one point this year. Alex Vanderbeek won round one, Alex Sturgeon won the next three and Derek won the last two. Sturgeon goes back to back in both mod buggy and mod truck. Dillan Voelker just missed making his fourth podium of the season, but all is well when you win a B4.2 in the class prize drawing.

 
Pro-4 SCT
There was a lot going on in Pro-4 on Saturday. Dustin Hosick successfully navigated the most well attended class of the season to relax a little bit at the finals. In doing so, he went on to win the race Saturday and cap off a heck of a year. Dustin had three wins, a second and a third. He won the title by eight points. Durango’s Nick Pavel missed all of qualifying because of a school function, then bumped to the A-main from dead last in the C-main and finished third. He ended the year second overall. Mike Fuller, dad of Kaden and Mason, ended up third overall. Pro-4 never had less than twenty cars in each round. Dustin and Mike were the only two drivers to make all six A-mains. Seventh place finisher Mitchell Pavel took home the SC10 4x4.
 
 
The exponential growth of the series can’t be denied. Looking back to the first season in 2006, there were only five electric classes listed and the average total entry count was less than 30. With the help of our great sponsors year after year and the patience and commitment of our racers, the Team Associated Summer Series at the Plex has reached the level of prestige it was intended.
   

Thanks to Team Associated for its valuable partnership. Thanks to all of our door prize sponsors that made the finals day even more memorable: AKA, Durango, Duratrax, Dynamite, Futaba, Jconcepts, Novak, Panther, Proline, Orion, Reedy, RPM, TLR and Vaterra.

 

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