Well, the nationals are under way! Let's not kid ourselves- this race would be called the "Californianals" if recent history could play a part in any potential re-naming of the event. 2013 marks the third consecutive year the event has taken place in the West Coast state and the second time in three years it's been held north of the San Francisco Bay Area. That's not necessarily a negative thing when you consider the amazing Californian facilities that have played host. In fact, one could argue that the last three venues to host the ROAR Nationals are amongst the nicest in R/C history.
No expenses were spared in the planning and construction of the 2013 host facility, that's for sure.
Silver Dollar R/C Raceway
Only a fraction of the available track real estate is being utilized for the 1:10 nationals
Somewhat of a light turnout for a ROAR Nationals. However, all the heavy-hitters are here.
The bomb-proof driver's stand at SDRC Raceway is designed and built better than 99% of the homes we saw on the drive in.
The paddock is also well built. I believe long after the nuclear apocalypse eliminates life on Earth, portions of Silver Dollar R/C Raceway will stand as a reminder to future species that visit our planet of what humans were capable of building.
Early reports from the pits indicate drivers are experiencing an increased desire to buy products in bulk after their practice heats.
"Sugar" has been a controversial word within the R/C world in the last few months. The substance has been put on the track this weekend to increase traction and create a smooth, consistent surface that will hopefully produce excellent racing.
Traction awaits...
SPY SHOTS -- Ty Tessmann's new Hot Bodies 4WD car in practice:
IMPORTANT LINKS:
The time in which people learn about their cars and their driving has now ended and the time to put that knowledge to the test has come. We are officially ready to race here in Chico.
So while drivers and mechanics were learning about their programs, what did we learn about them?
Most everyone has chosen the mid-motor configuration for their 2WD cars. The lone exception amongst the top contenders is Dakotah Phend. Phend had ran a mid-motor car during the morning practice session but quickly abandoned the effort and switched back to the rear-motor car. Phend said the main reason for choosing the rear motor car was familiarity and lack of time to get used to the mid-motor car.
From what I have seen here this week, the mid-motor cars do not look like they suite aggressive driving styles whatsoever. They look like they require an extra amount of precision in comparison to the traditional configuration. One thing I noticed while watching Phend today was that he was instantly able to attack the track much harder with the rear-motor car. If the car got out of shape he was able to correct it much easier than the drivers using the mid-motor cars. The down side was that he had to drive more "point-to-point," which -- on this type of surface -- is extremely hard to do cleanly due to the car's desire to tip and grip the high-bite surface in an unusual manner during corner transitions. Even still, Phend is showing more than enough pace to contend. Word is he is still making changes to his car to make it less aggressive and more easy to drive. Keep an eye on his ability to stay consistent tomorrow... that will be the key to his success or failure.
One person who apparently is plenty familiar with the mid-motor configuration is Ryan Cavalieri. The defending national and world champion looks (in my opinion) to be the best car on the track.
Cavalieri's teammate Ryan Maifield also looks quick, however his car just doesn't look as "rooted" in the racing grove as Cavalieri's. Perhaps Maifield -- one of the most aggressive drivers in the history of the sport -- would look more comfortable with a rear-motor car? But then again, this is Ryan Maifield- and when have we ever seen him run smooth and precise in practice? (cue Allen Iverson YouTube clip)
TLR's Dustin Evans looks fast, but not nearly as comfortable as Cavalieri. Same with Jared Tebo.
Another thing I've noticed about the mid-motor cars is that they have a tendency to be very skatey going into corners and when landing jumps. Every single mid-motor car I watched had these characteristics. However, I think some were better at hiding these tendencies than others. (see: Cavalieri)
In the 4WD division, the only real thing of note I have for you is that Ty Tessmann's new car looks dialed. I saw it pull two wheelies today. Also, it broke during one of his runs and I swear there were shocks and towers hanging broken. Low and behold, Ty pulls it in, Gord starts snapping things together and just like that he was back on the track. Could the car be made out of Legos? (For the reading impaired, that was a joke)
We also talked with Torrence Deguzman (Hot Bodies engineer) about the car and he said that the main thing they had in mind when building it was to make it more durable than a typical 4WD buggy. It will be interesting to see what type of things they have built into the new car to adhere to this ideology.
We will dive more into the other classes as the weekend progresses. In the mean time, here are some interviews and pics!
Photos:
A Main Hobbies.com and Silver Dollar R/C Raceway owner Kendall Bennett is taking part in the racing this weekend. It is one of the perks of being the boss!
I'm not sure if it is a good sign to still be unsure of whether you are going to run mid-motor or rear-motor on the final practice day, but that's precisely what the Phends were working on this morning.
However -- while most of use would be doomed to be trying two separate cars a day before racing -- I have a feeling Dakotah will be able to adapt. Phend decided on the rear-motor car. He is one of the only drivers here who are running that configuration.
Ryan Maifield's B44.2 after his first timed practice run. As you can see, tires are not lasting long. If you have to buy your tires and you did not attend this race, you probably just saved yourself at least $500.
The fabulous Barry Baker awaits a practice run. Barry is one of the many A Main Hobbies Team Drivers. He, like the others on the team, can chose any car and equipment he wants as long as he flies the A Main Hobbies banner.
PK doing some blogging. Hey Paul, what kind of computer is that exactly? ;)
This is about as good of a shot of Ty Tessmann's D413 that anyone is going to get without going all TMZ on the HB team. As you can see, there are lots of interesting things happening with this car.
Tessmann's D413 exploring the outermost boundaries of the racing line.
DEM. BATTERY. SLOTS.
If you stare into the reflection of Charlie's glasses long enough, you may just catch a glimpse of the new TLR 4WD car.
Half of the qualifying program was run today and in nearly all of the classes we already have people who have secured a share of TQ. That isn't exactly what we were expecting to see given the difficulty drivers seemed to have yesterday. Going into today, clean runs seemed like they would be kept to a minimum.
In the prestigious 2WD Modified division, Ty Tessmann stuck first by crashing the least. Tessmann -- who is extremely good at getting consistent during racing conditions -- looked much smoother than he did in practice yesterday. Meanwhile, Ryan Cavalieri appeared to have lost a little of the consistency that he showcased yesterday.
In Q2, the Associated team came surging back to the front with Ryan Maifield and Ryan Cavalieri finishing one-two respectively- only a fraction of a second apart.
in 4WD, Ty Tessmann rode his new D413 buggy right through the field in both rounds of qualifying today to put the prototype car in at least a share of the TQ position for the weekend. The car looked every bit as good as it did yesterday and looks to be hard to beat if he can stay clean. Ryan Maifield's Associated B44.2 is the strongest looking contender to Tessmann at this point.
Dakotah Phend won both "A" heats of truck handily, and has locked himself into the front row of the grid on Sunday.Noticeably absent from the truck class are both Ryan Maifield and Dustin Evans, whom chose to run Mod SCT instead. This is most likely the result of ROAR's rule that drivers can only run three classes at the event. In my opinion, this is hurting both Mod Truck and Mod SCT and should be done away with, but I'll save that rant for another time.
Speaking of Mod SCT and Ryan Maifield, the Associated/Reedy/JConcepts driver showed why he is the poster boy for all things short course that get released by Associated and JConcepts. After battling with Dustin Evans in Q1 and Q2, Maifield captured both the zeros and a share of TQ with his SC10.2. Again, kind of a watered down field, unfortunately. But, like Mod Truck, I have a feeling that the TQ's results would not have been affected by the influx of missing drivers had the "three classes only" rule not been in place.
Other Notes:
Josh Wheeler is running a 4WD buggy in the 2WD class, only with the front driveline removed.
Jared Tebo is running a new Kyosho 4WD car. It is kept tightly under wraps, but has an aluminum chassis. People are speculating that the layout and general look of the car is similar to the B44.
JConcepts have been running a new tire called the "Dirt Web." The tire looks to be designed for indoor clay and high bite conditions.
The entirety of the TLR team who are running 4WD this weekend choose the XXX4. This isn't a surprise, given the car's historic success on surfaces such as the one we are running on this weekend.
Results:
2WD Mod
4WD Mod
Truck Mod
SCT Mod
2WD Stock
Truck Stock
SCT Stock
Videos:
Round 1 Recap
Kevin Jelich Talks Track Prep
Jason Ruona
Barry Baker After Round 1
ROAR Tech Process
Dakotah Phend After Round 1
Round 2 4WD TQ's
Ryan Maifield After TQing Round 2 of 2WD Buggy
Jared Tebo
Rick Hohwart Talks Future Reedy Competition ESC and Chargers
Ryan Cavalieri End of Day
Ty Tessman End of Day
Round 2 Recap
Pictures:
Joe Pillars breaks the factory edges off of Tebo's AKA tires before Q1
Ryan Maifield swept qualifying in the Mod SCT class today
Hot on Maifield's heels, however, was TLR's Dustin Evans, whom scored a pair of twos in today's qualifying
In the Mod Truck division, TLR's Dakotah Phend scored two zeros to secure a share of the overall TQ.
Ty Tessmann has debuted the Hot Bodies D413 in grand fashion, having topped both rounds of qualifying today. he will start either first or second on the grid in Sunday's triple A-mains.
Ty isn't the only guy here running a prototype 4WD buggy. Here, Jared Tebo's new Kyosho gets acclimated to the high bite surface.
Ty Tessmann set the early pace by TQ'ing Q1 of 2WD, with Ryan Maifield taking the top spot in Q2. The premiere class here this weekend is still very tightly contested with a handful of drivers looking capable of winning.
Seven classes, seven different ROAR National Champions. I don't have the ROAR historical records in front of me, but that has to be one of (if not the only) times there has been a different winner in every class.
It may not have been ideal for the manufacturers who like to claim total dominance at an event, or for the top drivers who like to clump as many large wins together as they can to collect bonus money. But for us spectators- it was quite the treat! Especially after Friday's qualifying where we saw multiple classes swept by a single driver. That -- paired with the tight and tricky track conditions that are ripe for running away and hiding -- it looked like we'd probably see some dominating performances across the board from whoever TQ'ed.
While a majority of the classes were decided after the second leg of the triple A-main schedule on Sunday, they were done in the least dominating way possible, for the most part.
In the 2WD Stock class, young-guns Spencer Rivkin, Michael Losi, and Daimon Borkowicz put on as tight of a battle in the mains as you can have. It was the only class that was decided in the final leg of the mains, with each of the young drivers capturing a main win. If there was a theme to describe this class it would be that patience is still a skill that has yet to be mastered by the drivers during the mains. Granted, there aren't many patient drivers that are that age, but it was still the defining characteristic of the class when I think back to how the mains went. Lots of forced passes and crashes that could have been avoided. In the end, Spencer Rivkin was able to turn in faster runs, thus breaking the points tie between himself and Daimon Borkowicz. All of these young kids have bright futures and they put on a great show!
In the Stock Truck class, Brent Fiege basically ran away with the first two mains and sealed the deal early. It was the most dominant victory of the weekend. The youngsters from the 2WD Stock class also mixed it up in the truck class, but they had nothing for Fiege during the main.
In the SCT Stock class, it was Spencer Rivkin again taking the title after winning the first two mains. Not a bad weekend for the kid.
In SCT Mod, Ryan Maifield cruised to two main wins to gain his third SCT Mod national championship. There were times When Dustin Evans looked like he could hang with Maifield, but in reality- Maifield's truck was completely dominant. He was the only one not constantly battling the wind or wheelie issues. To put it one way, his truck looked the least like a short course truck as possible.
In Truck Modified, TQ Dakotah Phend had trouble staying clean early in both of the first two mains which allowed Kyosho's Jared Tebo to sneak away both times and capture the title.
4WD was the class with the most drama today. While it appeared that Dakotah Phend might be able to mount a charge on TQ Ty Tessmann after seeing his speed in Q3 yesterday, no challenge ever materialized from Phend as he ended up getting punted off the track in A1 and had consistency problems in A2. He ended up 5th overall.
Racing wise, Hot Bodies Ty Tessmann cruised to a relatively easy victory. Where the drama begins is after the race when an unnamed manufacturer filed a protest on behalf of one of their drivers whom was not in the A-main. The protest involved whether or not Ty's car met ROAR specifications for battery fitment. The rules claim that a chassis must be configured to accept either a full-size battery or a saddle-pack. It is rumored that Ty was using a shorty pack -- which is legal, however, not if the chassis will only accept the length of a shorty pack.
Regardless of the validity of their concerns, the protest was thrown out due to it being illegal for a driver to protest a race that they weren't in.
In the premiere class -- 2WD Modified -- things appeared to be nice and rosy for Team Associated up until the last minute of A1. Both Ryan Cavalieri and Ryan Maifield had a sizable lead over the rest of the pack until they ended up getting a little too racy with each other, flipped, and allowed TLR's Dakotah Phend to slip by for the win.
Mid-way through A2 -- with the Ryans battling yet again -- Dakotah Phend was able to capitalize on Cavalieri and Maifield's errors yet again by cruising past them as they collided after a triple. Phend led from there on out despite a late charge from Ryan Maifield.
The win for Dakotah marks a new benchmark in his career - his first major premiere class win. The LiveRC crew has been saying for years amongst ourselves that there would eventually be a flood gate that opens after Dakotah got his first major win that would allow a slew of major wins to follow. Time will tell if our premonition is correct.
A good test for our psychic abilities -- and for Dakotah's abiltiy to provide an encore -- will come in just over a month's time when we all return to Silver Dollar R/C Raceway for the IFMAR World Championships.
See you then!
Results:
2WD Stock
Truck Stock
SCT Stock
SCT Modified
Truck Modified
4WD Modified
2WD Modified
That will do it from the nats! Thanks for tuning in! 
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