ROAR Region 5 regionals – Report

The ROAR Region 5 regionals took place at the Summit RC Raceway in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. The race saw over 130 entries from Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Missouri. The track received a fresh layout from the man that’s responsible for the layouts at this year’s ROAR Nationals, and IFMAR World Championships in Chico, CA, Kevin Jelich. The one day event used rocket round qualifying to seed the main events, which resulted in some very close racing all day long into the night. Although lit by temporary lighting, the large shadows and now vague depth perception added an additional level of difficulty to the main events. With tight qualifying all day and 6 seconds separating the A-main field, several Modified Truck drivers felt poised to have a shot at the title. Team Associated driver’s occupied the top 4 spots on the starting grid with Kai Goff on the TQ spot, Ben Ellis starting 2nd, Adam Rayls 3rd, and Cole Tollard 4th. The long shadows on the night track seemed most prevalent at the beginning of the main event as Kai, Ben, and Cole traded the lead back and forth. Once the drivers had adjusted to the night conditions, it was Cole Tollard in 1st, Kai Goff 2nd, and Ben Ellis 3rd.

Modified Truck result
1. Cole Tollard
2. Kai Goff
3. Ben Ellis
4. Adam Rayls
5. Brian Mellow
6. Joel White
7. Ron Waugh
8. Eric Clark
9. Bryan Boucher
10.Brad Abtey

Thought 6 seconds separating 1st to 10th place was close? How about 2.8 seconds separating top to bottom? That was the case in the 2WD Buggy class. Three rounds of qualifying saw a new TQ each round. TLR’s JP Richards in round 1, AE/JC’s Cole Tollard in round 2, and JP Richards again in round 3 for the overall TQ. The night conditions once again played a big role as the order switched early on into the main event as drivers adjusted to the lighting. While everyone was adjusting though, JP Richards was able to run away with the win. AE’s Ben Ellis would end up 2nd, and AE’sAdam Rayls in 3rd.

2WD Buggy result
1. JP Richards
2. Ben Ellis
3. Adam Rayls
4. Luke Richards
5. Matt Gosch
6. Brad Abtey
7. Kai Goff
8. Cole Tollard
9. Colton Kruse
10.Dustin Richards

The 4WD class started with, and ended with AE’s Matt Gosch dominating qualifying, and the main event for a clean sweep of the class. Cole Tollard would end up 2nd, and Dustin Richards 3rd.

4WD result
1. Matt Gosch
2. Cole Tollard
3. Dustin Richards
4. Adam Rayls
5. Kai Goff
6. Colton Kruse
7. Mark Lengerich
8. Wayne Snyder
9. Rusty Whitaker

In Pro 2 SCT trading the TQ back and forth throughout the day, it was TLR’s JP Richards that grabbed the TQ, and eventually the win from AE driver Ben Ellis who finished in second.

Pro 2 result
1. JP Richards
2. Ben Ellis
3. Shane Snyder
4. Mason Perillo
5. Michael Mesiter
6. Fred B
7. Rusty Whitaker
8. David Perez
9. Tom Tanner
10.Mike Krisher

Source: JConcepts [jconceptes.net] | Images: R/C Pit Pass