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By Mike Garrison
LiveRC.com
Six years ago, I promoted and hosted my first ever formal R/C racing event known as the Offroad JAM. The JAM is a 1/10-scale indoor race that calls Fastlane Raceway in Blue Springs, Missouri it’s home. Held every January, the event that started with a little over 100 entries has grown to see 370+ entries in recent years. Fastlane Raceway offers an outdoor 1/8-scale off-road track in addition to the indoor 1/10-scale track. With no major races scheduled for last summer, my wife and I organized the Offroad JAM’s larger scale counterpart; the Summer 1/8-scale Off-Road RIOT. The first year was a success, however, this past weekend was an even bigger success as the 2nd Annual Summer Off-Road RIOT provided even closer racing, exciting twists and turns, racer raffle, unique track layout, and even more racers gathering from around the Midwest.
This year’s track layout was created and built by Tony Burton, who traveled down from Iowa to do the dirt work. A week of heavy rain led up to the event, but with hard work and hot weather, the Fastlane Raceway crew had the track ready for practice with little delay to the originally scheduled start time on Friday.
Friday saw many racers and families coming in to camp and stay overnight, but with our race program running three hours of practice Saturday (to allow for those who couldn’t take off work Friday) the entries doubled with hours before the start of qualifying.
The 2017 Summer Off-Road RIOT was sponsored by BOOMrc Graphics, JConcepts, Pro-Line Racing, Tekno RC, Triton RC, RCRenew.com, Reedy Powered, and VRP. The event sponsors all provided an overwhelming amount of support and products which left a smile on everyone’s face during the racer raffle.
On the track, this year’s event saw arguably some of the most exciting, adrenaline pumping, and mind-blowing racing action we’ve seen in a long time.
1/8-scale Electric Truggy
The E-Truggy class saw an increased number of entries this year, which was a pleasant surprise as this is not typically a class supported by many of the racers on a local basis. Tekno RC’s Lou Colmo would dominate the class by taking TQ in all three rounds of qualifying. Colmo carried on to take an easy win in A1 and A2 for the overall, and would make an appearance in A3 – but as a volunteer turn marshall as opposed to a racer. Matt McAdams would win A3 to take 2nd overall with Kevin Moyer finishing third.
4wd Open SCT
There is no question that 4wd short course truck racing is no easy task outside on a track designed for 1/8-scale buggies and trucks. The racers all tackled the track banging bumpers for the overall win. Roc Lee set the pace in qualifying, and taking the overall TQ spot. A1 started off in Roc’s favor with a win, but A2 didn’t go quite as planned. Instead it was David Johnson who would capture the A2 win. All the marbles came down to A3, and Roc Lee was back on his game. Roc would take a start to finish win, leading every lap, to take the overall win. David Johnson ended up second place for the weekend, and Adam Wietrick third.
1/8-scale Sportsman Electric Buggy
Sportsman E-Buggy was a one man show as Lucas Fischer didn’t hesitate to sweep all three rounds of qualifying, and both A1 and A2 for the overall win. Tanner Slover would finish up second overall with a win in A3, and Anthony Dallen would finish out the podium in third.
1/8-scale Sportsman Nitro Buggy
The Sportsman Nitro Buggy class was perhaps the most exciting class of the weekend. Adam Wietrick would take TQ, and start off the main by building a significant lead early on. Disaster struck as Adam flamed out in the early stages of the race, putting him a lap down. As the race was on for the lead, Wietrick began to sneak his way back up into the running. With less than two minutes left to go, Wietrick stunned the competition by regaining the lost time from the flameout and making the pass back into the lead! Adam crossed the line .5 seconds ahead of Anthony Dallen for the win, with mid-race leader Trent Plumberg finishing out the podium in third.
1/8-scale Nitro Truggy
Nitro Truggy is another class that local racing turnouts have all but gone extinct, however, some of the top racers in attendance dusted off their trucks to join in the action. It was SOAR Seiki’s Chris Marrant who would take the TQ spot after qualifying, and despite a bit of a bumpy start, he would come back to take the A-Main win. Tekno RC regional team manager, Eric Fletcher, put together a solid performance to finish second on the day, with young Kyosho driver Charley Evans finishing up third.
1/8-scale Expert Electric Buggy
The Expert E-Buggy class saw a list of very talented drivers, including that of 2007 ROAR National Champion Taylor James. James, now an engineer at Castle Creations, put his Castle powered Mugen on pole with TQ in qualifying. A1 was all Taylor, until a puffed battery back died mere feet from the finish line. Instead it was Kyosho young gun Noah Garner who would bring home the win. A2 saw Team Associated’s Chad Parks (who bumped from the B-Main), take the win by nearly eight seconds over the feud for second between Taylor James and SOAR Seiki’s Chris Marrant. James would capture second for A2, leading Marrant across the line in third by only .4 seconds. It all came down to A3. Taylor James would prove the old saying “Third times a charm” by taking a 4 second win over Chad Parks and Chris Marrant. James and Parks were tied for overall points, and the tiebreaker came down to their best finish run time. In the end, Chad Parks bumped from the B-Main to the A-Mains, and would walk away the Expert E-Buggy winner. Taylor James would settle for second, and Chris Marrant third.
1/8-scale Expert Nitro Buggy
After an exciting weekend of racing, it all came to a close with the 30-minute Expert Nitro Buggy A-Main. E-Buggy winner, Chad Parks started from first on the grid, but a first lap crash handed the lead to Mugen Seiki’s Joe Duffy. From there it was 67 more laps of twists and turns for everyone but Duffy. Joe would take the win with two laps ahead of the field. Chad Parks who flamed out on lap 11 dropped to 12th, however, Parks fought back to catch Duffy and return to second place by mid-race. ANOTHER flame out dropped him down the ranks once again in the final stages, but with a never say die attitude, Parks re-fired and would once again make his way through the field for a second-place finish. Third-place was an equally stunning performance as SOAR Seiki’s Chris Marrant suffered electrical issues throughout qualifying, but would bump from the C-Main to the B-Main, from the B-Main to the A-Main, and from last on the grid to third overall.
The 2017 Summer Off-Road RIOT was a HUGE success, and all thanks to this year’s sponsors, the Fastlane facility and crew, my partner in crime/wife, and most importantly all of the amazing racers who joined in the fun. 2018 is already in the works…so get ready to mark your calendars!
Full event results are available HERE.
For additional event photos and videos visit the event Facebook page by CLICKING HERE.
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