This past weekend I headed out to The Dirt
Report from
TNR A-main Challenge 2024
This past weekend I headed out to The Dirt with the Arizona crew to the TNR Fuels A-Main Challenge. Getting to head out to The Dirt and camp with all my buddies while doing a little racing is always a great time and this weekend was no exception. Big shoutout to Mike Truhe for coming along and helping my program improve as he always does. Was great having the whole Tekno RC crew at the track with Daniel, Matt, and Matt coming up from the shop to race and help out! Shoutout also to Troy from A-Main for stopping by to support the event and the ProTek and A-main sponsored drivers. As always the JConcepts crew provided us with everything we needed tire, body, and accessory wise and the equipment looked top notch.
_______
Overall, I finished 1st in E-Buggy, 1st in Nitro Truggy, and 2nd in Nitro Buggy to take the overall championship.
_______
Thursday was open and seeding practice and with everything being controlled it allowed for a bit of a calmer pace with less waiting in line and more time to answer racer’s questions or focus on making setup changes. Seeding went well and I was able to grab top seed in Pro Buggy and Pro Truggy as well as 3rd in E-buggy. Ultimately seeding matters very little but it was nice to show some outright pace this early on in the event and everything felt really comfortable. Some of the newest tread patterns from JConcepts have stood out at recent events like SIC and this past weekend’s TNR. It was great giving the Dirt Bite and Falcon treads some more time on the track.
_______
Friday and Saturday had two rounds of qualifying each. I was able to grab the TQ in Nitro Buggy after taking the TQ in the 1st and 4th round and being the only driver with 2 round TQs. Shoutout to the young Frankie Contreras on qualifying 2nd and being quick all weekend. In E-buggy I was able to get 2 TQ runs to take the overall TQ. Last but not least, I was able to grab 3 round TQs in Truggy to take the overall. Definitely had a good amount of confidence going into the main events and it was nice to end the night with some cooking and Supercross with the crew in the pits.
_______
Main day would start with the first Pro E-buggy main, I would fall to 3rd early but able to climb back up to the lead and take the win. I was also able to take a win in A2 which would give me the overall for Pro E-buggy. Pro Truggy was in between the 2 E-buggy mains and for the majority of this one, I would be chasing down my young teammate Spencer Heckert, Spencer drove awesome leading until the final fuel stop and I was able to take the win from there. Congratulations to him on the 2nd place finish and a 1-2 for Tekno RC.
______
Finally we would end a late night with the Pro Buggy Main. It was a good but tough battle and we decided to be more conservative on fuel stop strategy and I needed to make up a little time on the track to stay ahead of Spencer Rivkin who was running well. Ultimately, I made a few extra mistakes and wasn’t in the position I wanted toward the end of the main. For the most part, we had a great main and I pushed to make up some lost time and didn’t quite have the race I was looking for. Congrats to Spencer on the win and Ryan Lutz in 3rd.
_______
Combining the overall finishes, I managed to get the overall win which felt good after a long but productive week. Thanks to Chris Nelson and TNR fuels for the great event, Jimmy Babcock on the race announcing, MOD live media for covering the event, and Anthony Westergaard for a quick and challenging track layout. It’s been great so far in 2024 getting to run some extra time on the track and dialing in the Tekno, JConcepts, Hobbywing, ProTek, and FlySky equipped vehicles. I hope to be able to continue to improve each time out.
_______
As always big thank you to everyone involved with my program as well as my family back home. It was a great weekend and after some rest and rebuilds we will be ready for the next one.
_______
Next event, Motorama 2024.
_______
Tekno RC
JConcepts
Hobbywing
FlySky
ProTek RC
VP Fuels
Flash Point
RM2
Hobby Action
A-Main Hobbies
Drakein
Stick-It 1
_______
Overall, I finished 1st in E-Buggy, 1st in Nitro Truggy, and 2nd in Nitro Buggy to take the overall championship.
_______
Thursday was open and seeding practice and with everything being controlled it allowed for a bit of a calmer pace with less waiting in line and more time to answer racer’s questions or focus on making setup changes. Seeding went well and I was able to grab top seed in Pro Buggy and Pro Truggy as well as 3rd in E-buggy. Ultimately seeding matters very little but it was nice to show some outright pace this early on in the event and everything felt really comfortable. Some of the newest tread patterns from JConcepts have stood out at recent events like SIC and this past weekend’s TNR. It was great giving the Dirt Bite and Falcon treads some more time on the track.
_______
Friday and Saturday had two rounds of qualifying each. I was able to grab the TQ in Nitro Buggy after taking the TQ in the 1st and 4th round and being the only driver with 2 round TQs. Shoutout to the young Frankie Contreras on qualifying 2nd and being quick all weekend. In E-buggy I was able to get 2 TQ runs to take the overall TQ. Last but not least, I was able to grab 3 round TQs in Truggy to take the overall. Definitely had a good amount of confidence going into the main events and it was nice to end the night with some cooking and Supercross with the crew in the pits.
_______
Main day would start with the first Pro E-buggy main, I would fall to 3rd early but able to climb back up to the lead and take the win. I was also able to take a win in A2 which would give me the overall for Pro E-buggy. Pro Truggy was in between the 2 E-buggy mains and for the majority of this one, I would be chasing down my young teammate Spencer Heckert, Spencer drove awesome leading until the final fuel stop and I was able to take the win from there. Congratulations to him on the 2nd place finish and a 1-2 for Tekno RC.
______
Finally we would end a late night with the Pro Buggy Main. It was a good but tough battle and we decided to be more conservative on fuel stop strategy and I needed to make up a little time on the track to stay ahead of Spencer Rivkin who was running well. Ultimately, I made a few extra mistakes and wasn’t in the position I wanted toward the end of the main. For the most part, we had a great main and I pushed to make up some lost time and didn’t quite have the race I was looking for. Congrats to Spencer on the win and Ryan Lutz in 3rd.
_______
Combining the overall finishes, I managed to get the overall win which felt good after a long but productive week. Thanks to Chris Nelson and TNR fuels for the great event, Jimmy Babcock on the race announcing, MOD live media for covering the event, and Anthony Westergaard for a quick and challenging track layout. It’s been great so far in 2024 getting to run some extra time on the track and dialing in the Tekno, JConcepts, Hobbywing, ProTek, and FlySky equipped vehicles. I hope to be able to continue to improve each time out.
_______
As always big thank you to everyone involved with my program as well as my family back home. It was a great weekend and after some rest and rebuilds we will be ready for the next one.
_______
Next event, Motorama 2024.
_______
Tekno RC
JConcepts
Hobbywing
FlySky
ProTek RC
VP Fuels
Flash Point
RM2
Hobby Action
A-Main Hobbies
Drakein
Stick-It 1