Another busy weekend for the JConcepts Team

Location: Ocala, Florida | Ocoee, Florida
Date: March 6-7th, 2009
Classes: 1/8th buggy, 1/8th truck and Monster Truck
Event Reporter: Jason Ruona

Friday, March 6th - Loading the truck Friday afternoon was quite the challenge. The weekend schedule was booked. Friday night included a Monster Truck show featuring an R/C stunt show. Saturday was Round 1 of the Ultimate Audio Series at Outtacontrol raceway and awards banquet from the previous season. Saturday evening was another Monster Truck show back in Ocala again featuring the R/C stunts.

Looking at the tasks at hand, how do you come prepared? What will I need? Not knowing what to expect I reached for my freshly “Simple Greened” and WD40’d RC8 buggy and headed off to Ocala for the Outlaw Monster Truck Spectacular. Allison and I met up with Fred Reep of R/C Monster Motorsports and Kirk Dabney right away. In the Pits, next to Reptoid, Undertaker and Clydesdale, Overkill was clearly the best looking, but maybe we are a little biased.

Fred had arranged for a great crew from Ft. Pierce to come up and participate in the stunt show, James Wilmott, Greg Lafferty, Louis Cross, and John Stefanacci were ready for anything and brought a complete arsenal of R/C vehicles.

A couple of familiar names, Tim Davis and Matt Mosieur were near Ocala and decided to stop by the event. Being “in the family” they were quickly given arm bands and VIP status with the rest of us. It did not take Tim and Matt long before they were asking; when are you jumping your car? Naturally Matt commented, “Let’s be honest, you know I could take your RC8 out there and have the crowd eating from my hand.”

Having done these events several times before Fred and crew quickly setup some pit tables and started wrenching on the stunt vehicles. Being a little cautious with my RC8 I was hesitant to participate and decided to hold off until after the racing event Saturday morning. Allison and I turned our attention to photos and video as Fred and the crew from Ft. Pierce thrilled the crowd with an assortment of ramp jumps and some major freestyle action. It was Showtime for the R/C crew as they followed Fred’s choreographed program for halftime entertainment. Fred driving his Tamiya TNX with replica Kirk Dabney Maximum Overkill body started things off but the rest of the crew really took over with no holds barred entertainment courtesy of their Monster Trucks and Monster Truggies.

The crowd was going crazy for the “little” cars. With the FMX dirt bike freestyle jump setup in the middle of the track the stunt crew attacked with reckless abandon. James Wilmott with a Jammin truggy was first to attempt the dirt bike jump. With the crowd behind him, James had no problems completely clearing the jump and landing on the downside ramp with relative ease. The FMX dirt bike crew was completely mind boggled at the potential of an R/C car. ~ And The Crowd Goes Wild ~

Kirk and Maximum Overkill rounded out the entertainment in the program for Friday night to close the show. Kirk came out and burned some crazy Cyclone Donuts for the crowd while coming within inches of the trackside barricades. A complete dust storm filled the arena and the only sight of the huge truck came from the trademark Kirk Dabney flashing red and blue lights. Fantastic performance considering the size of the arena and the fact Kirk did not have steering response from the front wheels and was completely driving with the rear wheels and a toggle switch. ~ And The Crowd Goes Wild ~

A toggle switch, are you kidding?

Saturday, March 7th - After a late night of stunts and Monster Truckin’, Saturday morning came early and luckily Outtacontrol raceway is roughly only a 20 minute drive. After a quick pit setup and practice session everyone was called out for the awards presentation for last season. Andy from Outtacontrol and Ultimate Audio brought a great presentation to the table and everyone was thrilled with the awards courtesy of the series sponsors. Anyone that is interested in being apart of a great off-road racing series in Central Florida I highly recommend Andy at Outtacontrol.

Once the awards presentation concluded it was time to hit the track with the RC8 for the first qualifier. Sporting Blue compound Crowbars the RC8 was dialed and with Fred in the pits things looked under control and I was off and on the clock. JR Mitch quickly moved to the top of the qualifier after only a few laps but I fought back with some consistency which gave me the race lead for most the race. Just when I thought I had quick time locked up JR threw down 2-3 laps which placed him back into the quick pace and with a blistering final lap re-took the lead and the qualifier win. After turn marshalling, JR and I were back in the pits while Chris Swagger put together a magnificent run which bettered JR’s previous TQ by 4 seconds. Good Run Chris!

At roughly 2:30pm Fred and I packed up the pit and JC tent and headed back to Ocala to meet up with Kirk and the other MT guys for Saturday nights show. Fred and I pulled into Ocala at roughly the same time as the rest of the stunt crew. Fred obviously knows how to schedule a get together, perfect timing. Not needing the RC8 for a race anymore on that day I quickly got out my pit table and got to work cleaning up the buggy once again. It has to look good for jumps too right? Fred and the rest of the crew were already ready and planning the next feat. I already had in the back of my mind that I was going straight for the big jump. Would the RC8 make it?

Kirk and Maximum Overkill again warmed up the crowd with some car crushing wheelies and Cyclone Donuts. This time around Kirk started the Cyclone at our end of the building which made for great footage. Still without front wheel steering Kirk got the truck to take a set and he was off once again with amazing speed and power donuts. Touching the brakes at the end makes for a nice touch, Good Run Kirk.

Fred responded by bringing out “mini” R/C Overkill. Mini Overkill is slightly underpowered compared to other guy’s trucks so Fred stayed clear of the freestyle ramps and concentrated on jumping the crushed cars, 4 at a time! Clearing the crushed cars was an easy task for the Tamiya TNX and the crowd loved it. The entire stunt crew really brought it on Saturday night. I think they just about destroyed everything they brought with them to the delight of the Ocala crowd. Great show guys!

Just about the time Fred and the guys were finishing up their performance Matt Mosieur rolled in. Matt asked, “When are we up?”
“Right now. Here is the video camera.”

I fired up the RC8 and drove it onto the floor of the Pavilion. Immediately I was greeted by the FMX dirt bike guys, “Are you going to jump the big jump they asked?”

The response – “ Going for the back flip, “ the guy looked at me like I was crazy and asked, “You can back flip an R/C car?”
Absolutely!

I first played with the ramps and made sure the transition was ok at the base of the ramp so the buggy would jump correctly. Doing quite a few run-ups to the ramp provided a little drama as the crowd was only focusing on my buggy. The plan was to first jump ramp to ramp to get a feel for the height and speed I would be jumping at. The first jump proved to be successful but as the video will show was kind of a rough landing because I really could not see the downside and was just feeling it out. Fred was on the other side of the ramp to give me some instructions as to where the buggy had landed. I lined up jump 2 with the intention of going for a perfect downside on the other side. Without being able to see the landing, I felt the landing came out quite well, the buggy came down at about the right angle and I accelerated on the downside and rushed it back toward me for another attempt.

The crowd was really on my side but they were looking for a little more so I thought, it’s time for the back flip. I did several more run-ups to the ramp to make sure the buggy would go as straight as possible so I wouldn’t be off target on the downside. The Blue Crowbars provided the traction as I hit full throttle on the way to the ramp. The buggy accelerated perfectly straight and once it hit the air I pulled full throttle and the buggy did the back flip with ease. The landing proved to be the impressive part as I got the downside just about perfect and drove away clean. ~ And The Crowd Goes Wild ~

Video Courtesy – Matt Mosieur productions.

While the crowd was on a high it was time to fire up the Monster Trucks once again for the finale. Kirk took Maximum Overkill to the limit with the most impressive Cyclone donut I have seen in person. Kirk once again without front steering had to get the truck to take a set and then rip the throttle to get the truck into a slide and later into a Cyclone. Once he had Overkill into motion it was clear he was there to put on the best show for the fans. Finishing with a near roll-over the crowd went absolutely crazy. As the dust settled Kirk popped out of the truck and showed his appreciation to the fans. Good Run Kirk!

All I can say is what a fun weekend. I really enjoyed the camaraderie at both events and had a blast with everyone involved. I’m looking forward to the next one.

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