The traveling Super Cup Championship Series made its way to the Coral Springs R/C Car Club for round 4 of the most prestigious off-road series in the state of Florida. Home to the 2008 and 2011 Clash events, the club always provides a great racing layout and surface condition making it one of the most desirable locations for racing. Some inclement weather rolled in on Thursday and Friday, soaking the track, creating a very muddy surface, forcing the racing series to postpone from the normally scheduled Saturday race to a Sunday event. As usual the club banded together on Saturday and cleaned and prepped the track for racing and with a little sunshine on Saturday afternoon drivers were ready to hit the track for a little prerace practice. Sunday morning registration wrapped up around 8:45am and racing started at 9:30 on the dot with 180+ entries stacking the pit area. Qualifying started with the 2wd stock class on the relatively loose / slick surface and then moved into the 2wd modified class. A light amount of sun started to peak out and the track gained grip immediately sending drivers throughout the pits searching for the perfect tire.
Qualifying wrapped up around 3:30pm with Billy Bruce taking TQ in the 2wd stock class with the JConcepts equipped Kyosho RB6 with Jason Venezia sitting in 2nd and Travis Adams in 3rd. Jason Ruona narrowly edged out Daimon Borkowicz for TQ in the 2wd modified class, Felix Law qualified 3rd, Paul Wynn 4th and Brent Kingsbury 5th. All 5 drivers relied on their JConcepts equipped B4.2 vehicles to take the top 5 positions. Tracy Carver took the top qualifying position in the Pro 2 Stock SCT class with Billy Bruce 2nd and Kevin Abbott in 3rd. The top 3 drivers dominated with the JConcepts equipped Team Associated, Kyosho and TLR vehicles respectively.
Daimon Borkowicz continued his dominance of the Modified Racing Truck class by taking another TQ run, padding his leading point standings. Mike Barone qualified 2nd and Dave “Double Dee” Duncan 3rd. All 3 drivers were racing the Team Associated T4 platform truck with Daimon and Dave on the all new T4.2. The Stock Racing Truck class was dominated in qualifying by Jonathan Paulk driving the JConcepts equipped Kyosho. Tracy Carver and Matt Bradford lined up 2nd and 3rd respectively with their Team Associated trucks equipped with JConcepts.
Chris Viesins with the TLR SCT-E 2.0 was on fire during qualifying in the 4×4 SCT class. Chris powered to a sizeable TQ over Randy Deppen 2nd and Daniel Paz in 3rd. Felix Law, normally one of the fastest drivers in the class was unable to finish a qualifying round which placed him at the bottom of the C-main. Felix was able to bump all the way to the A-main winning the bump-up king award of the day. 12 year old Daimon Borkowicz TQ’ed the 4wd modified class ahead of Jason Ruona 2nd, Felix Law 3rd, Brent Kingsbury 4th and Daniel Castaneda 5th.
Ryan Eckert placed his Kyosho SCT truck into the pole position in the Pro 2 Modified SCT class after narrowly edging Paul Wynn in round 2 of qualifying. Paul qualified 2nd and Chris Viesins in 3rd. A surprisingly popular class on the Super Cup this session is the 40+ modified buggy class. Bobby Horan placed his B4.2 in the TQ position with Walter Cruz 2nd and Tracy Carver in 3rd. 1/8th E-buggy completed qualifying with Team Associated/JConcepts driver Renato Tradardi taking TQ honors. Local drivers Felix Law qualified 2nd with the Hot Bodies and Randy Deppen 3rd with the Serpent.
The 2wd stock A-main was the first main event to hit the track. TQ Billy Bruce had a great start and maintained his momentum during the opening minutes. Jason Venezia, the 2nd qualifier, ran very strong while battling for the podium. Out front, Billy Bruce had built a sizeable lead and shifted into cruise mode to protect the position. Jason made up a little time at the end but time was not on his side. At the tone, Billy would take the victory, Jason Venezia finished 2nd and Matt Bradford in 3rd.
2wd modified A-main drivers lined the track for one of the feature events of the weekend. TQ Jason Ruona wasted little time jumping out to a great start with Daimon Borkowicz in the 2nd position. Daimon negotiated the slick groove track with precision but a few bobbles allowed Jason to pull a larger lead. Ryan Eckert moved from 6th on the grid to 3rd in the first several corners and had the Kyosho RB6 running very quickly. Ryan and Daimon battled briefly as Ryan overtook him for 2nd with his sights set on Ruona. Ryan put 3 very good laps together and gained a second on the leader and now the 2 drivers were on the same section of the track. Ruona powered down the Reedy powered B4.2, gripping the track with JConcepts tires and put together good laps of his own to give himself a generous lead heading into the last lap. Ever so precise, Ruona turned a very quick last lap smoothly crossing the finish line taking his first victory of the day. Ryan Eckert finished 2nd and Daimon Borkowicz in 3rd.
Pro 2 stock A-main started with a little mayhem. Tracy Carver who led briefly was shuffled to the middle of the pack and Kevin Abbott took a well deserved lead. 2nd qualifier Billy Bruce got into 2 crashes at the beginning of the main and was shuffled to the back of the pack in the early minutes. Up front Kevin Abbott made a small mistake tightening up the race. Billy Bruce was on the move and now up to the 2nd position and pressuring Abbott. Billy got by in a difficult section of the track and powered down on the JConcepts equipped Kyosho and stretched a lead. Kevin Abbott, Tracy Carver, Jeff Lynn and Bruce Bennett battled for 3rd throughout the rest of the race with Kevin taking the 2nd position and Jeff Lynn in 3rd.
Daimon Borkowicz left the grid during the Modified Racing Truck A-main like a rocket. The somewhat loose conditions were a factor up front as the top 3 drivers began to stretch away from the field. Daimon played it smooth and consistent with JC / AE teammate Dave Duncan in the 2nd position and with some cushion Daimon began working past lap traffic. Duncan was able to slightly catch Borkowicz during the closing minutes of the main making it a tighter race than many expected Daimon played it smart and finished off the A-main in style earning his 1st victory of the day for the young JConcepts/Team Associated driver. Dave Duncan finished 2nd and Renato Tradardi Sr. 3rd.
Jonathan Paulk the TQ driver in the Stock Racing Truck A-main led the field for the opening lap until 2nd qualifier Tracy Carver moved into the lead. The top 2 drivers relied on their consistency and the grip from their JConcepts tires to pull away from the rest of the field. Carver remained very clean putting together lap after lap without mistakes. Paul was the first to bobble allowing Carver to take the sizeable lead into the last several minutes of the race. Crossing the finish line, Tracy Carver took a big win in front of friends and family while Jonathan Paulk finished 2nd and Matt Bradford rounded out the top 3.
Pro 4 Modified SCT took the grid with JConcepts/TLR driver Chris Viesins pulling into TQ position. Chris got a fantastic start but the bump-up king of the day, Felix Law, was right on his heels and he also got a great start coming from 9th on the grid. Felix was in rhythm from all the race bump-ups and had Chris in his sights. Chris bobbled and Felix took the lead. The 2 drivers battled for many laps and a mistake by Chris dropped him several seconds behind. Felix powered down on the JConcepts equipped 4×4 SCT turning several quick laps on his way to a great 1st place victory. Chris Viesins finished 2nd and Randy Deppen 3rd.
The 4wd modified drivers took the track for the single 5 minute A-main. TQ Daimon Borkowicz took a great start with Jason Ruona 2nd and Felix Law 3rd. A bobble by Felix set him back a little while up front Daimon and Jason were having a great race. Jason shadowed Daimon and a small mistake by Daimon opened the door for Ruona to take the lead. Ruona, rocking the B44.2, put down the power, opening up a small lead on 2nd. Daimon and Felix maintained a great battle between them while Ruona stayed clean out front. At the finish it was Jason Ruona taking the win followed by Daimon Borkowicz in 2nd and Felix Law in 3rd.
Pro 2 modified A-main started with TQ Ryan Eckert racing extremely clean and working himself into a comfortable lead position. Paul Wynn made a small bobble allowing Ryan a comfortable gap but the race had just begun and Paul looked to close the gap with some crafty driving of his own. As the race was nearing the 2 minute point a noise came from the transmission of Paul’s vehicle forcing him out early. This allowed Eckert to take a huge lead which he never relinquished to the finish line. Chris Viesins finished 2nd and Dan Borkowicz 3rd.
The 40+ drivers had been battling all day and it was all settled in the last 1/10th race of the day. Bobby Horan took a clean start but Walter Cruz, Danny Wight and Tracy Carver were not far behind. Danny Wight looked to the inside early and had a moment at the front but a mistake led to Horan taking over once again. Tracy Carver looked extremely quick and caught Bobby on several laps only to fall behind again after a mistake. Bobby was out front cruising until some serious heat from Carver was applied and the race got interesting. Carver was unable to pass on several attempts and Bobby played it extremely safe keeping the gap manageable. Entering the last lap, Carver made his move, pulling within a few feet of Horan. Entering the last triple jump, Carver made a perfect jump inside of Horan and a clean pass straight past the finish line taking the victory on the last corner. The JConcepts equipped B4.2 was hooked up all weekend and especially on that last straight-away moves courtesy of the Hybrids in green compound. Excitement erupted in the Carver camp with the 1st place win. Bobby Horan finished 2nd and Walter Cruz 3rd.
With the beautiful Florida sun setting in the background, the last race of the day took the surface as the 1/8th E-buggy guys were ready to show their speed. TQ Renato Tradardi Jr. accelerated off the line getting the quick start ahead of Felix Law. Renato quickly checked out on the competition as the RC8e.2 looked untouchable. Mike Applegate, Felix Law and Randy Deppen had a great race for the podium and touched and bumped wheels throughout the race. Mike Applegate held on to the Kyosho MP9 on the last lap and avoided a crashing Law to seal 2nd place. Felix Law finished 3rd after an amazing comeback.
With the Spring Session complete, drivers in Florida can look ahead to the JConcepts Summer Tour events during the summer and later, the Fall Session of the Super Cup Championship series which resumes in August at Shiverville Raceway. Once again, thanks to all the supportive racers who make the Super Cup possible and a special shout-out to the Coral Springs R/C Car Club on building, maintaining and hosting an amazing round 4 event.
Source: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]
