2015 J Concepts Labor Day Shootout

Amain.com would like to first off thank all that attended this years 2015 J Concepts Labor Day Shootout race at Silver Dollar RC Raceway and making it a great success!

This year AMain.coms Kevin Jelich (KJ) combined with NWT series promoters Justin Wilde and Rob Howe put down a great layout and perfectly ran race. This years layout was fast, consistent, had great flow and produced some great racing which was complimented by the informative and exciting race announcing of Justin and Rob. This combination would prove a hit to the attending racers and bring out some of the best racing to date and some exciting close battles and finishes.

One of the race highlights would come in the addition of a new open overall winner award. This years race would offer the open division overall winner a package just like the yearly SWorkz race coming in the form of a new Team Associated RC8B3, Reds Sponsorship and Proline tires. With all this on the line it would bring out some top performances from drivers in the Open division.

Saturday would kick of with an intense 3 rounds of qualifying with some guys getting the runs they needed on their final qualifier. After qualifying was over in the open division it would cast the spotlight on 6 possible overall winners coming in the names of Bryce Beaver, Robbie Williams, Mark Schroeder, Mike Gordon, Steve Hood and Kerry Lemos. All these drivers would qualify top 7 in both classes and be looking on paper as favorites for the overall win. Pro Buggy and Truggy would have top names Ryan Lutz, Phillip Atondo, Curtis Door, Austin Blair, Jacob Haas and Jonathan Hernandez all making top 5 showings in qualifying in the buggy and truggy fuel divisions. 40 + divisions would be top fived by Scott Rapoport, Brian Curran, Jason Kodysz, Erich Neola, Chet Miller, Steve hood, Jeff Fridrich and Rich Langford, E Buggy would be top fived by Ryan Lutz, Mason Eppley, Charlie Ross, Taylor “needs” Wonders and Jason Schurig and SCT top three would be by Scott Rapoport, Tom Soares and Thomas Taylor. See the link below for official listings:

Labor_Day_Shootout main event line ups

https://www.amaintracks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Labor_Day_Shootout-main-event-line-ups.pdf

As in every race ran at Silver Dollar R/C Raceway the end of qualifying would give way to 8 drivers having a shot at the popular and entertaining TQ dash for cash. The Dash for cash would be ran backwards, no marshals, five minutes with last man standing or crossing the line first getting a Hundred dollars. The race would go on the tone and the drama would start. The race would have guys stopping and waiting for the leader, cutting the track, playing strategies with the eventual win going to Phillip Atondo. Phillip would take home the Hundred Dollar an the first photo opportunity of the event. Congrats to Phillip Atondo on the win.

Sunday would bring on main event day with the track opening for some open practice before the main events would start. A quick drivers meeting would go down and the announcing team of Justin Wilde and Rob Howe would right on schedule kick off the main events. Justin and Rob would tag team the main events calling the race clock every thirty second and keeping the drivers informed of overall position while calling exciting race action on the track. Having two guys on the mic had its benefits for the drivers that is for sure. Lower mains would would produce some big moves up into the A Main events for drivers like Richie Bauer, Brandon Curran , Joe Escano, Jim Wood, Erich Neola and Caleb Bennett.

Ding Ding main event time. With all eyes on the overall open division opportunity there would be no shortage of drama , heartbreaks and success stories. Bryce Beaver would drop the win in The truggy A final making him the on paper favorite going into the buggy final with Robbie Williams in second and Steve Hood in third. Mark Schroeder had a shot at the truggy win but suffered a broken axle after his first 10 minute fuel stop while in a close second. Mike Gordon would pop up for a top three in the main then have a battery failure putting him out of contention along with Mark Schroeder.

The buggy division final would set the stage for the overall winner and had it share of heartbreaks as well. Bryce Beaver would do what he needed and pulled out to a sizable lead. Around the 16 minute mark Beaver would come in for fuel and leave pit lane and out in an unbelievable act of bad luck would loose rear wheel drive coming out of pit lane and ultimately close the door on his dominating chance at a overall championship. This would allow Robbie Williams running a quarter lap back to take the lead and take it the rest of the main for the win in buggy and ultimately winning the overall championship. Congrats Robbie on the overall open win.

Needless to say there wasn’t any shortage of great racing and close battles. Ryan Lutz and Scott Rapaport would clean up with wins in all three classes they TQd and grab 6 out of the 8 1st place trophies between the two of them. The final two winners would be Bryce Beaver in open truggy and Robbie Williams in open buggy.

Amain.com would like to thank everyone who attended and congratulate the TQs and top three on their achievements.

final results can be found here: Labor_Day_Shootout_Mains

Event trophies were on point this year for the top three as seen below: