January 20, 2020

2020 RC Chili Bowl – Report

The 2020 RC Chili Bowl was held in Tulsa, Oklahoma this past weekend. With sign ups filling by the hundreds every minute, the entire race sold out in less than two hours with 400+ racers. Unusually warm weather welcomed drivers this year to the world’s biggest R/C oval race in the and with arguably the best-built and prepped dirt oval around, the racing was guaranteed to be as close and action packed as the full size Chili Bowl Midget Nationals happening next door. Racing-wise and in Outlaw Sprint, the fastest class at the RCCB Nathan Dean had dominated this class since the beginning of the week and looked unstoppable. Dean would quickly jump out to the lead at the sound of the tone and started to build his lead early on. No traffic is ever guaranteed as Dean would run right into a crash six laps in with two cars in turn one. Quick to recover he would lose a couple of positions. That’s all the break that Ryan Ralph and Justin Driemeier would need as the two battled the rest of the race. Driemeier would finish on top of that battle for the win with Ralph settling for second and Nathan Dean would round out the top three.

Outlaw Sprint top 5 results:
1. Justin Driemeier
2. Ryan Ralph
3. Nathan Dean
4. Max Flurer
5. Gary Guffey

In Late Model it wasn’t the day for good starts for TQ Nathan Dean as in the first lap he was swallowed by the traffic behind. He went from the front of the pack to the back as Chad Jones took full advantage of Dean’s misfortune to slip into the lead. For the next couple of laps the going got rough as it seamed the whole field was in disarray. When the dust had settled, Max Flurer would emerge victorious with Jones settling for second. Tyler Hooks would claim 3rd all the way from the 8th starting position.

Late Model top 5 results:
1. Max Flurer
2. Chad Jones
3. Tyler Hooks
4. Justin Driemeier
5. Eddie Hill

The Christmas came late them seemed to spill over into the Masters Sprint class as mid-pack hard chargers seemed to find their way to the front. This was the case with Shane Wheeler. You never know what’s going to happen in dirt oval racing and a major change up would come in a huge pile up in lap 11 as Wheeler would strike from the 6th starting position to a podium spot. It was then that he and Brian Laurent would set to battle for the top spot. Laurent would lost that battle yielding the spot to his peer. Jake Flurer would finish in the 3rd spot.

Master Sprint top 5 results:
1. Shane Wheeler
2. Brian Laurent
3. Jake Flurer
4. Mark Bryant
5. Darrin Ryder

In Midwest Modified Dustin Malicoat was the man to beat and starting from the TQ position was going to make him harder to claim the same position. The start would see the top five carry their same positions for the first few laps, but mishaps would immediately drop 3rd and 4th qualifiers David Wilson and Scott Butts straight to the back of the pack out of contention. Fifth qualifier Robert Chapman would challenge for a podium spot with his clean and skillful driving through traffic and would take advantage of a battling Malicoat and Max Flurer that would claim him an overall second finishing position. When the dust had settled, the final finishing order would be Flurer for the win, Chapman second and Malicoat third.

Midwest Modified top 5 results:
1. Max Flurer
2. Robert Chapman
3. Dustin Malicoat
4. Frank Deiny
5. Dustin Helsel

At the start of the Short Course B Mod race it was shaping up to be a two-man show between TQ Gary Langworthy Jr and Tracy Dixon. Both racers were battling with each other while at the same time seamlessly slicing and dicing their way through traffic and narrowly avoiding crashes happen all around them. The remaining podium spot was wide open for anyone to claim and was still undecided in the final closing seconds of the run. At the end tone, Langworthy Jr would keep his top spot and Dixon would keep his. The last podium spot would go to Ty Langworthy coming from way back in the six starting position.

Short Course B Mod top 5 results:
1. Gary Langworthy Jr
2. Tracy Dixon
3. Ty Langworthy
4. Paul Visage
5. RS Senter

In the Short Course Modified A-main it only took a couple of laps before the entire field basically inverted. The front runners crashed out and went to the back and vice versa. With the back of the field up to bat, it didn’t take long to see the talent ran deep in this class. Some talented driving was going on as drivers were collecting spots and working their way up the ladder while all along, TQ Chad Jones was running in the lead. While it looked like it was Jones that was going to take the overall win, getting just a little out of shape coming out of turn two was all Alex Fanning and Justin Driemeier needed to slide by in the closing laps to collect the first and second positions. Jones would have to settle for a third finishing position.

Short Course Modified top 5 results:
1. Alex Fanning
2. Justin Driemeier
3. Chad Jones
4. Ryan Ralph
5. Brian Laurent

One of the coolest looking classes around is definitely Street Stock with each car having its own unique look. With Top Qualifier Cody Preston lead the pack around at the start tone, this was underway. A second Preston wasn’t going to let Cody get away that easy. Colt Preston put up a challenge throughout the whole race with Gary Langworthy Jr also throw into the mix. These leaders swapped positions more times that one could count. At the end of the race, it would be Colt taking the win, Langworthy Jr second and Cody Preston rounding out the top three.

Street Stock top 5 results:
1. Colt Preston
2. Gary Langworthy Jr
3. Cody Preston
4. Jacob Carter
5. Michael Kressley

The Wingless Sprint class uses the handout Hobbywing 13.5 motor and was probably the hardest class to come out on top. It would all be left to driver ability and leading the pack in this A-Feature was Mike Perrier. Off to a great start position changes started almost immediately in the mid pack as the top three furthered themselves away from the main group. As it almost looked like Perrier was going to cruise in for the win, a disastrous spin out in lap 13 would drop him all the way to the back. Enter Zachary coming from way back from the 7th on the grid saying thank you very much for the lead. A couple laps later everyone witnessed the most dramatic crash of the weekend between Perrier and Shane Wheeler with cars being launched a few feet into the air on the back straight. Miraculously with no cars or mini scale drivers hurt, the race concluded with Freeman taking the win. Alex Fanning would claim second and Jeremy Cathlina taking third.

Wingless Sprint top 5 results:
1. Zachary Freeman
2. Alex Fanning
3. Jeremy Cathlina
4. Michael Brown
5. Travis Young

Source: RC Chili Bowl [rcchilibowl.com]



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