Full event results and lap times here
30 DRIVERS AT RC SPORTS SEASON 3 ROAD COURSE OPENER
An RC Sports record 30 drivers came to RC Sports in Seymour for Season 3’s Road Course debut on February 2nd, 2024. We were excited have 10 drivers in the kids Mini Stock class including first-timer Griffin Siegmann. 12 Supercar drivers entered the premier class, and once again the Spec Slash reigned as the largest field with 14 entries. This event marked the road-course points racing debut for the Super Ten and Spec Buggy classes, which drew 9 and 6 entries respectively. The action was wild in the Supercar class with some new faces making the A-main, and heavy-hitters having to battle their way out of the B. Here’s how things went down.
In the mini stock kids class qualifier, Zach Stephenson led the first 5 laps of before turning the lead over to Grant Hasse. Grant led most of the race but a late-race pass by Auden Palm earned him the win and the top-qualifier (TQ) spot for the night. Auden was a man on a mission in the main, running 85.42% consistent laps en route to a wire-to-wire victory. Grant Hasse and Oliver Juliar battled it out for second place with Oliver finish in that spot and Grant rounding out the podium. 4th went to Maddix Uridil, 5th Hendrix Uridil, 6th Lennox Uridil, 7th Corbin Feldkamp, 8th Parker Hawley, and Griffin Seigmann gained some valuable track experience with his Losi Mini-T.
Mike Karl reigned supreme in the Mini Turbo class, running the only HBX 16889A in the field, sweeping the night with victories in the Qualifer and the Main. Defending Mini-Stock off-road champion Wesley Vande Voort had his best night yet racing with the adults, running in 2nd place for a time and qualifying third overall. In the main event, Arrma Granite Grom driver Shane Thomas topped Anatole Wiering for 2nd, and Anatole scored a podium finish with his brushed Volcano 16. Wesley finished 4th, followed by Tyler Nystrom 5th, Travis Riesenweber 6th, Charlie Reed 7th, and Jason Stephenson DNS.
Keith Juliar set the fast time early on in the Spec Slash category, but was topped by Mike Karl in qualifier #2 who earned the TQ spot. In the B-Main, Collin St. Amour led the whole race until some contact in the final seconds allowed Charlie Reed to pass him for the win. Race officials bumped both drivers to the A-Main due to the contact. In the A, Mike Karl gapped out to a big lead early as drivers duked it out behind him. Andrew Pfluger briefly led a few laps around halfway but Mike raced his way back to the front, and stayed there until he ran into some trouble with just a couple laps left, allowing Andrew to squeak by for the win. Mike finished second and Keith Juliar rounded out the podium. Charlie Reed raced his way from the B-Main to 4th place, Tyler Nystrom finished 5th, Shane Thomas 6th, Collin St. Amour 7th, Anatole Wiering 8th (DNF), Dean Juliar 9th, Bert Lauer 10th, Travis Riesenweber 11th, Ted Golanka/Hason Stephenson/Zach Stephenson DNS.
Super Ten’s Road Course racing debut saw some pretty rough races, as 9 trucks packed into the track in the new class. Shane Thomas took over the lead early in the qualifier with his new Team Associated Pro2 SC10, winning over Mike Karl and Tyler Nystrom. Mike Karl had his Losi 22S SCT dialed in the main and was running in first place, but realized late that he had the off-road tires on the truck and called himself out for disqualification. Shane Thomas would be declared the winner, followed by Anatole Wiering running a 4wd Slash, and Tyler Nystrom in third with an Arrma Senton Boost, in a podium that featured 3 different manufacturers. Dean Juliar took 4th with a Slash 4×4, Auden Palm 5th with a Slash 2wd LCG, Joey Baum 6th (Losi 22S SCT), Corbin Feldkamp/Jason Stephenson DNS, Mike Karl 9th (DQ).
The21.5T Spec Buggy class made its road course racing debut as well, with 6 drivers making the call for round one. Out of the 6 drivers, only Woody has an RC Sports buggy win under his belt. Woody and class rookie Keith Juliar put on a great show in the qualifier, but Keith was able to hang on and pilot his new B6.4 buggy to the TQ spot, keeping Woody at bay. In the feature race, Keith led early but was passed on lap 8 by Mike Karl who led for 5 laps before a tough crash dropped him to 4th. Keith Juliar regained the lead with Anatole Wiering in hot pursuit. Anatole kept him close for several straight laps, but Keith eventually pulled away and secured the sweep in his first buggy race night. Anatole Wiering grabbed another podium, finishing second and once again showing a real aptitude for the buggy class. Mike Karl finished 3rd, Woody 4th, Tyler Nystrom 5th and Shane Thomas tried out Mike Karl’s second car which is for sale as a race-ready RTR on the shelves at RC Sports now.
The premier Supercar class was split into two heats to accommodate another large field, and the first heat was loaded with new faces as the trio of Dan Wicker, Ryan Boguski, and Kevin Lund made their anticipated Road Course racing debuts alongside Riley Reinke and Andrew Pfluger. Andrew took the heat race win with his Kyosho Fazer ahead of Dan Wicker in 2nd. Ted Golanka returned to racing action as the only remaining Tamiya car in the field, and piloted it to victory in the 2nd heat ahead of some heavy hitters, including Shane Thomas who finished just 3 seconds behind. Defending champion Keith Juliar was in the drivers’ seat for the win but some contact with the wall broke his car and he had to retire from the race early. That dropped him to the B-Main, where he would have to start at the back and defeat some very experienced drivers in order to advance to the A-Main. He proved up to the challenge though, advancing to the front early on and keeping Anatole and Woody in the rearview mirror en route to a A-Main birth to save his points round. Top-qualifier Andrew Pfluger would not be denied in the main, getting a good start and staying up front through the finish. Ted Golanka was settled into second place until Keith Juliar caught him, working his way up through the field all race long and making the last-lap pass to salvage a 2nd-place overall finish in what could have been a disastrous night. Ted finished just .24 seconds behind him in 3rd, Shane Thomas 4th, Riley Reinke 5th, Dan Wicker 6th, Mike Karl 7th, Anatole Wiering 8th, Woody 9th, Dean Juliar 10th, Ryan Boguski 11th, Kevin Lund 12th.
Thank you to all who participated in Season 3’s Road Course racing debut! Special thanks to Mike, Keith, Shane and Anatole who all stayed to put the jumps on the track for next week’s off-road race. We are back in action next Friday for off-road round 2. Season 3 is off to a *huge* start, with all three opening rounds breaking records for attendance and entries, and tons of new friendly faces participating in the fun. Thank you all for being a part of this amazing community! Let’s keep it rolling and growing!
Watch the live stream replay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8NchMY8lvg
Join the on-road racers group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/151330167590928/
Full lap times and race results: https://rcsports.liverc.com/results/?p=view_event&id=426943
