JConcepts RCSignup SuperCup Series Results

2009 Race #1 Results

The wildly successful JConcepts/RCSignUp.com SuperCup kicked off its 2009 season this past weekend at historic Lake Park in Tampa, Florida. The series had rave reviews last season and this was apparent in the 134 strong entry count. The surface saw a lot of work and for the start of Saturday the track was butter smooth. The Hurricane crew did a great job with the layout as well; flowing and lots of elevation changes. Even the weather was cooperating, a light breeze and mid 60s without a cloud in the sky.

The first round of qualifying kicked off with a slicker track as the morning dew wore off. Although the traction was down, it didn’t appear to affect the top level guys as the times quickly began to fall. Jason Ruona and Ryan Eckert were both super quick, but Ruona secured the TQ for 2wd AND in the 40 strong 4wd field for the round. As the sun started to warm the ambient temperature and the track surface lap times started to decrease gradually. The second round saw TQ’s far faster than the first round, in fact in most classes the previous round TQ’s were beat by 3-4 drivers. Joey Perez took home TQ for J82, Leon McIntosh in Slash, Spencer Sinsabaugh for Stock Truck, Sean Krause in Mod Truck, and Dave Bowser in Stock Buggy.

As the mains rolled around the sun was starting to set and traction was decreasing. Tire wear had stayed low all day, and the mains looked to have Double Dees as THE tire to run. The lights went on and the mains were underway with Kevin Bell taking the win in J82 Outlaw over Nathan Wincek and TQ holder Joey Perez. Mod 4wd TQ man Jason Ruona had some issues in the main and Ryan Eckert was able to make the pass and stay out front for the hard fought win. Kevin Bell proved his speed in Mod Truck as well, stretching out a large lead over TQ Sean Krause. After his 4wd problems, Ruona put it on the 2wd Mod field, winning by more than 10 seconds over Ryan Eckert.

The Stock Slash “Main” was next, with all 20 trucks placed into one race. Leon McIntosh (TQ) was challenged for the lead, but was able to hold on for the win. Stock Truck proved to be the best race of the day as TQ holder Sinsabaugh had a first lap first turn crash. He battled back throughout the race and ran down leader Dave Bowser. Spencer’s truck was wicked fast, but he couldn’t find a clean passing opportunity and had to settle for 2nd place. Although Bowser had an epic battle in Stock Truck, his Buggy main was relatively uneventful taking the win over Paul Lawrence.

Watch the Event video here or view more event photos: On RCCarActionPics.com

2009 Race #2 Results

Event: 2009 JConcepts/RCSignup.com SuperCup Rd. 2
Location: Outacontrol Raceway – Ocoee, Florida
Dates: 2/28/09
Classes: 4w Mod, Truck Mod, 2w Super Stock, J82, Slash Race
Reporter: Andrew Moore

The JConcepts/RCSignUp.com SuperCup rolled into Outacontrol Raceway for second round of the series carrying great momentum from the first event. Nearly 100 entries reported to race on the “roval” (road course/oval) multicolored surface. The layout was not new for the weekend, but had been freshened and the track had been prepared with calcium chloride to keep the moisture in during the sunny Florida day.

Although traction was down for the morning first round, the track was still better groomed than the practice day and times were quick. JConcepts drivers set the pace in several classes as the track began to rubber in. Double Dees proved to be the hot tire and nearly every TQ was set on them. Jason Ruona found the quick line and TQ’d 2w and 4w mod, using lines that no one had even considered in practice. Spectators oo’d and ah’d at the blistering laptimes he, Paul Wynn, and Ryan Eckert were laying down in 4w mod.

The second round brought more excitement as the track was finally dialed in. Traction had come around well and the sun was directly overhead. As traction was up, times were dropping…considerably. Each class set a new TQ, with several drivers beating the old quick time.

The mains began immediately following a short practice session with Super Stock Buggy. Using JConcepts products, on-road ace Dave Bowser proved he was once again the man to be taking the win by nearly 10 seconds over his nearest competitor. JConcepts’ own Zach Mote was able to capitalize on his TQ spot and take the win in Mod Truck ahead of local hotshot Jeremy Harris and series head Bobby Phillips. Painter extraordinaire Jim Myers banged his way into the lead and held off late charges for the win in Stock Slash. Jason Ruona made up for his rough 2w mod A main by a dominating 10 second margin of victory in 4w mod. Mark Mixon held off the field in J82 outlaw to take the win.

Round 3 Results

Practice started Saturday morning with all drivers trying to get a handle on the new layout. The Hurricane track crew did an outstanding job of preparing the track and surface prior to race day and traction was steadily raising throughout practice and then into qualifying. JR Mitch dusted off his 2wd electric buggy and showed everyone the fast line around the track with a blistering TQ run in the 2nd round of 2wd modified. Personally I had to settle for the 2nd grid position and Ryan Eckert qualified a sneaky 3rd. Leon McIntosh also looked quite fast in the 2nd round of qualifying but a problem with the vehicle forced him out and a grid position further back than his speed showed.

In the 4wd modified class I was able to redeem myself by taking the TQ in 2nd round of qualifying. After a less than brilliant 1st round in both classes I was just looking for something clean and without breakage. Choosing the Double Dees all the way around proved to be a great choice as the Lake Park track was now nice and grooved which made for the quickest lap times of the day and TQ worthy.

The 2wd stock class was TQ’ed by James Tanous and the stock truck class was TQ’ed by Lake Park veteran Spencer Sinsabaugh. The modified truck class and stock Slash class was TQ’ed by Leon McIntosh. Gary Mazur took his brand new SC10 to the top of the pack in qualifying in the Short Course modified class. Jeff Lynn put in a great qualifier and TQ’ed during the 2nd round in the J82 class.

Race director Kenny Holmes held a small break between qualifying and mains which allowed drivers to get a little extra practice in. Paul Wynn, Andrew Moore and JR Mitch all tried blue compound Bar Codes as the Lake Park track looked ready for them. After a little testing we all stuck with the safe selection (Double Dee’s) heading into the mains.

The 2wd modified main started with JR getting a great start with myself trailing behind. As we rounded the first turn I fell off the inside of the jump and quickly fell to last. JR looked extremely comfortable making the next several turns and had a great approach leading into the “surfs up section”. Surf’s up section took JR for a ride as JR nosed into the ground just before timing and scoring. This allowed Ryan Eckert to squeeze by and take control and take a huge lead. Several crashes by JR and me allowed Ryan to move into an even bigger lead while Leon picked his way through traffic and picked up the 2nd position. Jeremy Harris held 2nd through most of the race but a late mistake cost him as Leon overtook and Jeremy held on for 3rd. With the wild finishing results and a TQ by JR the points in the 2wd modified class were going to be close heading into round 4 in Coral Springs. Stay tuned!

4wd modified started with me getting a nice start but an unintentional hit from Ryan Eckert meant I was in need of a turnmarshal. Ryan also needed to be turnmarshaled which left Brent Kingsberry to take an early lead. After 1 lap I was able to re-take the lead with Ryan Eckert moving into second. A nice little battle was shaping up as Gary Mazur was a force against Eckert. A few mistakes by Ryan gave Gary a comfortable margin in 2nd over Ryan. The battle between 2nd and 3rd allowed me to escape and pull a large lead. As the vehicles crossed the finish it was JConcepts drivers finishing 1st and 2nd.

The 2wd stock class was settled early with Jeff Lynn taking advantage and a strong lead that was never relinquished. Jeff cruised onto the win and was unchallenged with TQ James Tanous taking the 2nd position. Good Run Jeff!

Stock truck was all about Chris Baron, the Red Baron doesn’t run a lot of electric but proved he was all business in the main as he held a consistent lead on stock truck TQ and specialist Spencer Sinsabaugh.

Short course Slash was alive and exciting; fresh paint jobs for Ryan Eckert meant things were starting to get a little more serious. Great paint job by Jim Myers on the Monster (Factory Dude) paint scheme b.t.w. Point’s leader Jim Myers was focused and determined to show the “factory dudes” how it is done in the Slash class. However, it was Leon McIntosh still sporting a complete stock Slash who continued his strong Lake Park performance by driving away from everyone for the victory. Eckert appeared to have something for him but when the 2 collided early in the main Leon enjoyed a large lead which was impossible to make-up for Ryan and his stock Slash. With the Leon victory things could get quite interesting in points as Jim Myers the points leader finished in 8th an obvious throw out. Who is going to make the run to Coral Springs to lock up the title?

Modified truck was a Leon show from start to finish. Leon’s X-Factory X-60 was on rails all weekend consistently turning quick lap and overall times. This trend continued into the main as Leon drove away from the field. Youngsters Zach Mote and Zack Genova had to settle for 2nd and 3rd respectively. The Zac’s will be looking forward to one of their favorite tracks for round 4 to try and makeup some points on the speedy Leon.

Finishing things off, Gary Mazur with his brand new SC10 took the win in the brand new modified short course class. Gary had a great race with Hurricane club member Dave Warr but ultimately Gary’s consistency paid off and walked away with the first win in the exciting new class.

Round 4 is scheduled for May 30th in Coral Springs. I’m in, who else is coming?
For complete photos of the event please visit www.rcactionpics.com

2009 Race #4 Results

Event: Super Cup / Outlaw Cup round 4
Location: Coral Springs, Florida
Date: July 25-26, 2009
Classes: Electric / Nitro
Race Reporter: Jason Ruona
SmugMug race image Gallery – Super Cup Photos

It's Coral Springs time again and we were excited to make the trip to one of our favorite electric tracks in Florida. It's really hard to choose a favorite track in Florida but this track reminds me the most of the 90's style electric tracks at Lake Park. Coral Springs follows ROAR rules and even asks for your ROAR membership during registration. They run a clean organized operation and it's always a pleasure racing with that group.

The 3 1/2 hour drive is a little rough but we've made the trip so many times now the Ford's might actually auto pilot the way down but I can't find that button on the dash. We stopped at the FT Pierce stop and fueled up and I got one of those ice-cream chipwich snacks. These things should be illegal they are so good. I wanted ice-cream of the future but settled for a cookie of the future. I wonder if the cookie monster has ever tried the ice-cream cookies? If he did that might change the whole program.

Arriving to the track it had suffered some rain damage but everyone was practicing and having a good time of it. Paul and I quickly setup shop and started wrenching. Paul was putting the final touches on his T4 and was mounting his Hi-Flow body. White with white stripes we call it. Paul was also testing out some new rear T4 wheels that we should be releasing in the August / September releases. These new Rulux T4 rear wheels are for using a standard rear axle.

I spent most of my time installing the radio gear for my new M11X radio. 2.4 GHz here I come! I'm finally making the switch and it just feels weird not having an antenna on my radio. As I told everyone I have a built-in excuse if I don't perform. :)

I decided to sit out 4wd because I was sitting in a good position points wise and didn't need to run to win the overall.

I was in a point’s battle with Ryan Eckert in the 2wd class but Ryan is on vacation and was unable to attend. So I would like to thank Ryan personally for the gift this time around. :) I wasn't really happy with my previous 2 results in 2wd at rounds 2 and 3. I was driving a little wild at Lake Park and just blew out at Outtacontrol so I was looking to establish my pace once again.

2wd is just so fun at Coral Springs because of the traction and layouts. I highly recommend 2wd at Coral Springs.

Paul hit the track for some practice while I tried to figure out my radio install work and bind my radio. I've never "binded" before so that was a new experience. Very 2000 and late!

It isn't fun wiring up an RC car when you’re really picky about the way it looks. I think I starred at my 4wd longer than worked on it because the wiring was jamming me up so bad. It looks pretty good now but I'm still not completely happy with it. Ugh, they are just wires right?

I walked out to the track to con JP into a few laps with his buggy. I started driving it and the trim was off. Now I'm trying to adjust the trim on a Futaba and I don't know what I'm doing. JP unlocks it and I made some changes. I'm happy now! :)
Paul was running some hot laps with his B4 and I went back to the trailer for a little A/C action. The track crew started track maintenance and added a few obstacles. I'm never wild about single jumps but it was also a challenge so I was up for it. Paul and I finished up our wrenching and walked outside to find we were the last ones at the track. 2 guys that spend the entire day working and talking about R/C were still at the track getting it done. After all these years apparently there is still some passion left? ;)

The LaQuinta was calling our name so we checked in and got ready for dinner. Long Horn is one of our Coral Springs favorites so we dined with them. Is a Shirley Temple a girls or kids drink? I really like them but I'm looking for a new name so I can at least get some adult credibility. Red Dog? Seven in Red? I think I'm going to cultivate one of these 2 new names and see how it goes. Perhaps add it to a Wikipedia page?

We thought about Sharky’s for later but decided to post some photos online and call it a night. Did guy see how nice the track and surrounding area looked in the photos? Dialed! We were trying to get an early start because of rain concerns so we set the alarm for 6:00am. :(

We arrived at track early and we weren't the first ones to arrive. Super Cup director Bobby Phillips was setup and getting entries entered. 100% committed!

Paul and I got the 2wd's ready and hit the track for practice. It was my first run with the new M11x and no antenna. Weird! The Groovy fronts and Double Dees rears felt good but I was feeling Goose Bumps coming on with potential weather concerns. For the first round I put on the Double Dee fronts we made for this track about a year ago and I borrowed a set of Goose Bumps from Paul for the rear. I didn’t notice at first but I think he gave me the more worn out set.

First qualifier went off at roughly 9:30 and we were pressing the program because we wanted to finish the day before the rains hit. The first round seems to take the longest as all the transponder check-in takes forever now. I don’t remember checking in back in the day for racing. We actually didn’t take warm-up laps either. I’m blaming an overall longer race program on Brian Kinwald. He was the first person I saw warm-up before qualifiers in southern California and now we spend almost as much time warming up and checking in than we do qualifying. Thanks BK! :)

Paul and I were in race 3 so we had our cars ready to go and starting “checking in”. Track was wet and loamy and looked a lot like the old days. Everyone loved it! The track had traction the tires were not wearing and the cars came off the track dirty and they looked like off-road vehicles. Pretty cool actually. The hardest part about trying to keep a wet or watered track is the longer it stays wet the bumpier the surface becomes and the less control everyone has. Ideally to keep the track wet you would have to groom the track every couple races. Again, this adds time to the program and depending on the turnout there just isn’t room for this much track work. Blue groove is the answer to shorter more consistent race programs but unfortunately is not as much like off-road and the tires wear faster.

Paul and I started the qualifier pretty quick and made the way through traffic. Bobby was calling me on a 14 lap pace for the majority of the race. My buggy felt good but I had a little under steer in some of the sweeping corners and it was a little loose coming on the front straight away. I needed it to “square up” as the experts say. I made a mistake on the left side double and needed to be marshaled. I finished with 13 laps 6:01 and Paul finished with 13 laps 6:04. Pretty quick first round.

Paul was up with his T4 and he was running Goose Bumps on the rear and Double Dee’s on the front. It looked cool with that combination and it was pretty dialed on the track. The new wheels were working flawlessly and Paul was running with a truck for the first time in about 8 or 9 years. His last truck was a T3!

I ran out to the track to take some photos and watch some racing. The Short Course guys were beating and banging as usual and JP, Bart Collins and Sean Kersten were the front runners in the stock Slash class. JP was sporting the Truth body with his custom paint job. Pretty impressive looking!

4wd modified looked to be the funnest class on the track as Sean Kersten, Roly Cusine and Mike Barone looked to be quickest. We will see what happens come the main events.

Stock truck and stock buggy was a battle between Dave Bowser, Tim Kowal and Jeff Lynn. We are anticipating a good race here so we will see how the mains turn out.

Short Course open was the last class of the day and I just had to drive one after watching Tim Kowal’s truck. With the Oakley inspired paint job and Goose Bumps the truck was on rails. My first impressions were this is the perfect track for this truck and 2 the tire combination was the secret to the truck feeling so good. Everybody that drove Tim’s truck wanted a short course truck. Of course I was still looking for more power! : )

We had a short rain delay and now the track was even wetter than round 1. I was going for the 14 laps but the track was developing some holes and bumps so it wasn’t as easy to get down into that time bracket. I finished with 13 – 6:00.
Paul decided to not run the 2nd round of truck because of the threatening weather conditions. Mike Barone put down a nice TQ run in mod truck and Paul slid to 2nd.

Mains –

Looking around everyone was getting ready for the mains. I decided to go back to Double Dee’s for the main in 2wd and Paul was running the Goose Bumps. The start seemed clean and Paul and I broke away from the pack. I held a 2-3 second lead for the majority of the race and stretched it slightly toward the end. I didn’t make any mistakes during the race and I don’t think Paul and had major problems either so it was pretty intense high concentration main. I think the Double Dee’s were a little better on my car than the worn Goose Bumps I had run earlier but either way the lap times seemed pretty close. The buggies were dirty afterwards but it was a lot of fun.

The stock truck and buggy A-mains were very close. Stock truck was the best race of the day with the last laps coming down between Tim Kowal and Dave Bowser. Dave took the lead briefly but Tim got around him and was leading the last lap. I was also shooting photos and happened to get the “photo finish” photo just as they crossed the finish line. Tim took the win with Dave in 2nd and Jeff Lynn in 3rd. The buggy main was a Dave Bowser and Roly Cusine show the entire race. A small mistake toward the end put Roly a little behind on the last lap and Dave took a well deserved win. Roly almost looks more of an off-road racer now than on-road. Maybe he has made the official jump? Tim used Double Dee fronts and Goose Bumps rears on his T4 while Bowser ran Goose Bumps all the way around. Goose Bumps all the way around is maximum steering on the loamy track.

The Slash Short Course main appeared to be a blast. JP Tirronen, Bart Collins, Scott Delfino and Sean Kersten again had all the moves and battled the whole time. In the end JP made some driving clinic moves and muscled his way past Scott and Bart for the victory. The top 3 were separated by 2 seconds. The trucks looked good on the loamy wet track. These are all stock Slashes so no products to report on here other than different bodies. JP won with the Truth body so it was obviously the fastest! :)

4wd modified was a race between Roly Cusine and Bart Collins. The track was really wet but everyone seems to enjoy the racing and the close battle at the top. Roly won by about 6 seconds over Bart Collins who had 3 seconds on Armando Ledesma. It looked like Roly chose the Goose Bumps all the way around for the main and they looked great.

In Modified truck Paul had some issues at the start of the race with his truck which either had a speed control or sensor wire problem. Tim Kowal who just won stock truck offered his truck to Paul to race in the modified A-main. Paul took him up on the offer and started the main right behind TQ Mike Barone. Mike Barone held a nice lead early as Paul adjusted to Tim’s truck and radio. Bobby Phillips took advantage of a mistake by Paul and pulled right behind leader Mike. Mike made a mistake which cost him a lot of time due to a marshal being out of position. Bobby took the lead with Paul now in second. As the 6 minute race wore on Paul began pecking away at Bobby’s lead but would lose a little ground on the straight away because of the 13.5 horsepower as opposed to Bobby’s 7.5 power. Bobby and Paul touched wheels and Paul went for the pass and made it stick with out a minute to go. Tim was cheering his truck on the sidelines hoping the truck would have enough battery to finish 2 races. Bobby got hung up with a back marker on the 2nd to last lap giving Paul and even bigger lead on the way to victory. Tim's truck completed a stock and modified sweep of the weekend. Double Dee fronts and Goose Bump rear tires were the hot ticket!

One race to go and we could put round 4 in the books. Modified short course and TQ Dan Borkowicz took off in the lead but Tim Kowal and Scott Delfino were hot on the heels. Scott appeared to have motored up quite a bit and had the advantage on power. Dan and Tim appeared equal but couldn’t exactly compete with Scott and his high powered Slash. Scott took a well deserved win with Dan 2nd and Tim 3rd.

Keep checking back on www.jconceptsracing.com, and www.rcsignup.com for more information on the next Super Cup session starting in August. Stay tuned!

2009 Results