JR Mitch triples at Region 4 Championships
The ROAR Region 4 1/8th scale championships were held at Triple Nickel in Bartow, Florida. A staple in the Florida racing scene for decades the facility put in one of the best layouts the state has seen. A very fun flowing circuit with well built jumps and elevation changes throughout the lap. The weather held up nicely allowing a good groove to form in the racing line however the threat of rain led to a little under-water issue on Sunday due to the forecasted rain that never came, let the track get a little dry and slick dust on main event day making set up and tyre selection crucial.
At the tone of the 45 minute Nitro Buggy main event JR Mitch would slowly inch away from the pack and be in control the entire run. With the competitors on a wide variety of tread and compounds, JR was on rails controlling the pace, and had almost everyone a lap down by the first fuel stop. Working his way up from bad qualifying results was Justin Fales, however when he got up to Brett Kingsbury the two began an epic battle. For the last half of the race, they were only separated on different fuel strategy with Kingsbury controlling 2nd place in the closing laps. Traffic was not kind, and an additional splash and go stop would relegate him to the 3rd position for the day while JR Mitch controlled the day on the difficult conditions.
In Nitro Truggy JR Mitch would control the start from his P1 grid spot. A spirited battle with Justin Fales held everyone’s attention for the first segment of the race. After the pit cycles worked their way into the race, Mitch had a comfortable lead and even a flame out in pit row with his ever quick pit man kept the race in hand. As time expired JR held for the win as Fales bringing in 2nd comfortably in front of Miguel Villalobos in 3rd.
In Electric 1/8th Buggy and after a rough first round of qualifying, JR Mitch worked out the gremlins to capture the TQ in the class. In the triple A mains, he used his spot to his advantage and slowly drove away to capture the win in the first two mains and let the rest of the field battle. In A3 Justin Fales, P2 and 2nd, would take the win after battling with Brett Kingsbury and claim the second step followed by ‘bump up boy’ Brett Kingsbury who only finished one round of qualifying taking the long and hard way of working his way into the A.
In Electric 1/8th Truggy John Bernard was in control of this class the entire weekend. With the TQ in qualifying his P1 grid position would not be denied as he took the victory in A1 and A2 to claim the overall Championship, and earning the cup trophy that he proclaimed “would look really good in his office”.
Source: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]
