2025 ProTek RC Midwest Nitro Challenge Results

Press Release From St. Louis Dirtburners:
www.dirtburners.org

St. Louis Dirt Burners is a non-profit, club-run organization founded in 1994. Currently, Dirt Burners is one of the oldest tracks in the United States! The world-class facility offers many benefits for out-of-town racers, such as RV and Trailer accommodations, a 2-day weekend race program, affordable entry fees, lower-cost hotel options, and reasonable airfare from anywhere in the continental US.

The ProTek RC Midwest Nitro Challenge was initially created in 2002 and, at that time, was called the Kyosho Nitro Challenge. St. Louis Dirt Burners has continued the tradition of this annual race for 20 years, also known as the Futaba/OS Nitro Challenge, and for many years, selling out the event at 450 entries. Many ROAR national and IFMAR world champions have made the pilgrimage to Dirt Burners over the years for this event; at times, up to 6 world champions have been in attendance simultaneously!

In 2022, St. Louis Dirt Burners partnered with AMain Hobbies to take this historical race to the next level, appointing a new title: The ProTek RC Midwest Nitro Challenge. This event has grown from 177 entries in 2022 to 261 entries in 2025, accruing 889 entries along the way! This event is, to put it simply, challenging. The track is run dry to develop a smooth, high-grip blue groove surface, and minimal track maintenance during the main event part of the race program to let it develop character and live up to the race's name. Racers love the challenging aspects of this yearly race and flock to Dirt Burners nationwide. The Midwest Nitro Challenge is the Midwest's largest outdoor 1/8 scale event. The popularity of this year’s edition was no exception, with 261 entries and many of the Midwest’s top drivers in attendance! This year’s track featured an extremely technical, big air and overall difficult layout to challenge even the best drivers in attendance. The track this year was ran dry, like in the past, except this time the track surface blew out and became slick and choppy, with other portions of the track taking on a heavy groove. Between the big temperature swings and Jekyll-

Hyde traction levels, this was one challenging track. Thank you to Dirt Burner’s track crew and in-house track builders for the outstanding track layout. The Dirt Burners team takes pride in designing and building tracks with their unique style and high quality.

Next year, the Dirt Burners team plans for minor changes to the racing program, condensing and shortening our program in an effort to run a portion of lower mains on Saturday night. In addition to program changes, we plan to increase our water tank capacity, among other infrastructure improvements. For 2025, we made a slew of facility improvements: broadband internet and livestreaming capability, relocated light poles and added lighting capacity, upgraded PA system, more dirt, restored pit lane, and all new upgraded track watering equipment.

Expert 1/8 Electric Buggy

1 AUSTIN JEFFRIES (SWORKZ)

2 LARRY WRIGHT IV (TEKNO/PROTEK)

3 NATE JASKOT (XRAY)

4 DREW RUBENKING (AE) (TQ)

5 CONNOR JOHNSON (XRAY)

6 CHARLES DAY (AE)

7 KURT KELLUM (SWORKZ)

8 AARON MITCHELL (XRAY/HOBBYWING)

9 ANDREW THOMAS (SCHUMACHER)

10 KEVIN DAY (AE)

11 DEVAN LINKEY (TEKNO)

12 TIM WIECHENS (TEKNO)

B-MAIN WINNER: TIM WIECHENS (TEKNO)

Enjoy the exciting Expert 1/8 Electric Buggy A1 race footage here:

https://youtu.be/SPOyBDguyMk?si=wghlQ9QujVc2_beQ

Watch A2 of Expert 1/8 Electric Buggy here: https://youtu.be/j-CY0O5e0eM?si=qSFvUnrC_M2gWzc5

Expert 1/8 Nitro Buggy

The Expert Nitro Buggy A-Main was a wild race from tone to tone. This 45-minute showdown between Josh Wheeler and Jared Tebo was much anticipated, with Wheeler starting at the TQ position after a strong qualifying performance. The track conditions by the time the A-main rolled around were brutal, to put it lightly. After a rough start to the race as drivers came to terms with the racing surface, Wheeler emerged from chaos as a front runner. Tebo would find a clean line around the track about 10 minutes in, while Wheeler battled tune issues. Tebo would take the lead as he did not look back and finished out the champion, now 2 years in a row. Austin Jeffries was a force to be reckoned with and put in a clean drive to finish as the runner up.

1 JARED TEBO (TEKNO)

2 AUSTIN JEFFRIES (SWORKZ)

3 JOSH WHEELER (SWORKZ) (TQ)

4 DREW RUBENKING (AE)

5 NATE JASKOT (XRAY)

6 AARON MITCHELL (XRAY/HOBBYWING)

7 TROY WEBER (AE)

8 JAKE WILHELM (KYOSHO/HITEC)

9 LARRY WRIGHT IV (TEKNO/PROTEK)

10 CHRISTOPHER CRAIG (SWORKS)

11 CONNOR JOHNSON (XRAY)

12 ANDREW THOMAS (SCHUMACHER)

B-MAIN WINNER: LARRY WRIGHT IV (TEKNO/PROTEK)

Enjoy the thrilling 1/8 Expert Nitro Buggy A-Main here: https://youtu.be/p3fIVYjPblM?si=TEuYWrqFO3DPiWBw

Open 1/8 Nitro Truck

1 MALCOLM TOWNSEND (KYOSHO)

2 BRAD MEYER (XRAY/FX ENGINES)

3 JOSH DILL (TEKNO) (TQ)

4 NICK LEWIS (HB)

5 JERRY KLINGBEIL (TEKNO/PROTEK)

6 TONY RONEY (TEKNO)

7 BRANDON WEEKLEY (MAYAKO)

8 JEREMY STRAWN (TEKNO)

9 BRIAN GAEDKE

10 CHAD RUBENKING (AE)

11 ERIK HANNEMANN (KYOSHO/HITEC)

12 MARC GIROUARD (TEKNO)

Expert 1/8 Electric Truck

1 LARRY WRIGHT IV (TEKNO/PROTEK) (TQ)

2 CHARLES DAY (AE)

3 CHAD RUBENKING (AE)

4 TIM WIECHENS (TEKNO)

5 MIKE MARSHALL (TEKNO)

6 MARC GIROUARD (TEKNO)

7 KEVIN DAY (AE)

8 MATT KENNEDY (MAYAKO)

9 LOU COLMO (TEKNO)

10 LARRY STONE (TEKNO)

11 JACK DILLOW (TEKNO)

12 MALCOLM TOWNSEND (KYOSHO)

B-MAIN WINNER: LOU COLMO (TEKNO)

40+ 1/8 Nitro Buggy

1 JOSH WHEELER (SWORKZ) (TQ)

2 TROY WEBER (AE)

3 BUCKY BACHMAN (TEKNO)

4 JOSH DILL (TEKNO)

5 ERIK HANNEMANN (KYOSHO/HITEC)

6 NICK LEWIS (HB)

7 PAT DONOVAN (MAYAKO)

8 JJ TRUAX (KYOSHO/HITEC)

9 TONY RONEY (TEKNO)

10 LARRY STONE (TEKNO)

11 KURT KELLUM (SWORKZ)

12 JAKE WILHELM (KYOSHO)

B-MAIN WINNER: PAT DONOVAN (MAYAKO)

40+ 1/8 Electric Buggy

1 JOSH BROOKS (TLR)

2 JOSH DILL (TEKNO)

3 JOSH WIECHENS (TEKNO) (TQ)

4 MIKE MARSHALL (TEKNO)

5 JASON MAYER (TLR)

6 BUCKY BACHMAN (TEKNO)

7 TONY RONEY (TEKNO)

8 ERIK HANNEMANN (KYOSHO/HITEC)

9 ERNIE TAME (AE)

10 KEN SCHUELER (TEKNO)

11 SCOTT MCDONALD (MUGEN)

12 JJ TRUAX (KYOSHO/HITEC)

B-MAIN WINNER: TONY RONEY (TEKNO)

Sportsman 1/8 Nitro Buggy

1 BUCKY BACHMAN

2 KYLE KOSEK

3 JEREMY STRAWN

4 DAN JOHNSON

5 ANDY CORBETT

6 JERRY KLINGBEIL

7 ADAM RABER

8 JOSHUA LAVERGNE

9 COLIN KRIVITZ (TQ)

10 JEREMY SONNIER

11 ERIC CARLTON

12 DYLAN MICHAEL

B-MAIN WINNER: ANDY CORBETT

Sportsman 1/8 Electric Buggy

1 COLIN KRIVITZ (TQ)

2 BUCKY BACHMAN

3 FRANK KRIVITZ

4 DAN JOHNSON

5 PAXTON GAGE

6 DYLAN MICHAEL

7 JEREMY STRAWN

8 JEREMY SONNIER

9 KYLE KOSEK

10 NASH TEBO

11 BRYCE FERRELL

12 DEANO TULL

B-MAIN WINNER: DYLAN MICHAEL

Sportsman 1/8 Electric Truck

1 FRANK KRIVITZ (TQ)

2 JEREMY STRAWN

3 COLIN KRIVITZ

4 JEREMY SONNIER

5 DALTON CASTILLO

6 ERNIE TAME

7 KEN SCHUELER

8 DYLAN MICHAEL

9 MARK STRANGE

10 DAN JOHNSON

11 SAM WHITE

B-MAIN WINNER: MARK STRANGE

15-Under 1/8 Electric Buggy

1 NASH TEBO

2 ELLIOTT CASTILLO

3 GUNNER WEEKLEY

4 JACE HALLER

5 RHIVER WEBB

6 ANNA MAE WEBB

7 RYAN DOBSON (TQ)

8 BRADEN BROOKS

9 BEOWULF VOES

10 BRYCE FERRELL

11 MASON BRANDT

12 EZEKIEL VOES

13 HENRY SULLIVAN

B-MAIN WINNER: BRADEN BROOKS