The 2019 JConcepts Winter Indoor Shootout and Invitational was held at Fastlane Raceway in Blue Springs, Missouri last weekend. This special race showcases some of the best midwest racers from the area to compete in a Reedy style format that is all about racing. With five rounds of 2WD and five rounds of 4WD counting the best four of five rounds from each class to calculate the best overall driver of the event, the winner is crowned by driver consistency and speed. It’s not about one heat, qualifier, or single main performance, but the eventual winner is the complete package; the real deal. The “Shootout” portion of the race used the traditional four rounds of qualifying taking the best two rounds to sort the mains. Each A-Main also ran an extended single 8-minute main to decide it’s champions among the tradition popular classes.

Fastlane Raceway underwent an awesome transformation for the race to accommodate the traveling racers with the removal of the indoor carpet track to make room for extra pit space and the track was put in specifically for the WIS race, with zero laps counted by anyone to ensure no advantage to anyone competing in the weekend’s event. This year’s layout was designed and put in by experienced racer, Chad Parks, who delivered a challenging track that featured a very difficult double-double section that tested everyone in attendance. It’s was easy make, but to get the fast times you had to crosscut the last double just slightly to gain a time advantage. However, this was easy to say, but very hard to do during racing. Those who were able to clear the back section consistency were rewarded heavily with positions and lap time as many crashed giving up valuable seconds. Overall, the flow was excellent, until the back section, which caused everyone to pucker upon take-off of the first double. As always, the cream rises to the top and it definitely showed on this layout.

Defending WIS Champion, TLR’s Mason Fuller wanted nothing more than to defend his 2018 WIS title and put on quite the show while doing so. With some of the best in the Midwest on hand, Mason started the 2WD portion of the event with a flawless score of four wins. Only one point back after 2WD, TLR’s Tom Rinderknecht and Team Associated’s Nick Gibson both were tied with five points and both drivers only one point back from Mason. As 4WD started, Mason was racking up the wins and with the round 4 results being critical to the overall, Mason Fuller did what he needed to do and won his heat in round 4 giving him another perfect score in 4WD and thus locking up the overall once again. Unfortunately for Tom, he would finish 2nd to Mason two years in a row and lose the overall by just one point both times. As they say, steel sharpens steel and these guys are not just pushing themselves but they’re pushing the entire field of drivers to get faster and faster. With an awesome 2WD portion and a solid 4WD result, Nick Gibson took home 3rd place overall.

The overall results of the 2WD Modified class were much the same as the 4WD Mod class with HB Racing’s Hagen Stevenson quickest in qualifying and also during the extended 8-minute final securing the overall win. Team Associated’s Heath Lawson locked up 2nd place after battling it out with 3rd place finisher, Tim Davis.

It was a masterclass performance by HB Racing’s Hagen Stevenson in the 4WD class as he set the TQ and took a very convincing win in the 8-minute A-final. Team Associated’s Heath Lawson used his consistency to outshine the rest of the drivers and finished 2nd with Xray’s Brock Witmer taking the last podium spot in 3rd.

It was smooth sailing for TLR’s Mason Fuller in the Mod Truck class as Mason looked unstoppable from the moment he set his truck down. With Mason starting on pole, it was going to be nearly impossible to dethrone the talented Iowa speedster. After eight minutes of hot laps, Mason captured the truck title relatively uncontested. Taking the 2nd spot on the podium was Team Associated’s Drew Rubenking as 3rd place went to Team Associated’s Chad Parks.

It was James Loewen’s weekend as he showed massive speed in the 2WD Mod SCT class with a decisive win making it two wins for James over the weekend. Finishing 2nd to James was David Burlingame, who just edged out 3rd place finisher, Dutch Curry.

It was a great win by James Loewen in the 4×4 Mini Truggy class as he was able to set TQ and close out the win after some great battles with Travis Slover and Tim Wiechens. Travis showed great speed to finish 2nd with Wiechens 3rd.

Kenneth Nickle went on to TQ and win the 1st place in the 4×4 SCT class.

It was a true nailbiter in the 13.5 2WD class as Stevie Slover dropped back early because of a few uncharacteristic mistakes, but never gave up hope. Sliding down to 5th, Stevie kept his composure and worked his way back to 2nd. After a late charge on the final lap, Stevie seized the opportunity and used his momentum to pass Scott Simon for the win. Scott nearly held off the hard-charging Stevie and ultimately finished 2nd. Brett Nelson also had an exciting race as he started 5th on the grid and shuffled around a bit, but eventually found his way into 3rd place in the end.

The 13.5 4WD class saw another great battle between TLR’s Cole Henriksen and TLR’s Nate Sutherland as the two diced it out for the win for the entire eight minutes. With both drivers swapping lead changes, the closing seconds were what mattered most. With a bold move, Cole was made a late pass and crossed the line only .3 seconds in front of Nate as the two drag raced down the straightaway for the win. All the way from 7th on the grid, it was a tremendous effort by Matthew Pyle to jump up 4 spots to finish 3rd in a very competitive field of drivers.

Congrats to the super quick and very talented, Nate Sutherland, on his epic quest to conquer the 13.5 Stadium Truck class with a fantastic performance in qualifying and even better display of his skillset in the 8-minute A-main. After somewhat of a shaky start, Nate put it together and drove the last half of his race to perfection and came out on top. Putting a hard charge for the entire race, Stevie Slover demonstrated his awesome driving techniques to finish 2nd and finding the speed to take the last spot on the podium was Chad Rubenking.

It was a fun race to watch in the 13.5 SCT class as, Jaylen Wettengel, who came out on top to claim a wicked win. Momentarily losing the lead to Ryan Anderson, Jaylen had his back against the wall and pushed himself to his limits and tested his skills and it worked out in the end for Jaylen as he, Jaylen won the main comfortably. Ryan Anderson and Jim Martley battled it out with Ryan finishing less than 2 seconds apart to finish 2nd and 3rd.

The battle in the 17.5 2WD Stock buggy class was intense. The fast midwest stock drivers showed up and really put on a great show. Starting 2nd in the A-Main, TLR’s young Nate Sutherland focused up and drove masterfully to hold off class TQ, TLR’s Cole Henriksen. After capturing the lead after Cole, unfortunately, had a small incident with lap traffic, Nate was under pressure for nearly 6 minutes and never cracked. Crossing the line in a well-deserved win, Nate Sutherland captured the moment and 1st place. Cole finished in 2nd less than a second back. Pushing hard to make the podium, 5th place qualifier, Tim Davis really put his head down and made the charge that he needed to land himself 3rd on the box.

The 21.5 2WD class is growing in popularity around the country and at the WIS, featured a full class of enthusiastic drivers all targeting that top spot on the podium. With a solid effort in qualifying, Mike Fuller set the field on fire as he used his TQ spot to escape and led the race from tone to tone and crossed the line in 1st. Following Mike to the 2nd spot on the podium was Brandon Shrout, who was smooth and consistent almost edging out Mike for the fastest lap set in 21.5 2WD. The final spot on the podium went to Ryan Anderson, who showed great speed all weekend long.

It’s always great to see a novice class at a bigger race, as it is quite intimidating for new racers to participate. This year, Ryan Cox set the pace with a great TQ effort in qualifying. As the race started, Ryan focused on consistency and paid off as he finished 1st after eight minutes of intense racing. Cara Gannon, who is very new to racing, was able to slot herself 2nd on the podium and Eliana finished 3rd.

Source: JConcepts [jconcept.net]

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