Race Report: Blais Racing, JBRL Round 2!

Coyote Hobbies RC Raceway
4-19-2014

JBRL heads up to the high desert to a new venue at Coyote Hobbies Raceway. I drove up after working a half day Friday and was to arrive to a not to packed building. I got a lot of practice in with my Pro-Line PRO-2 truck and my 4×4 SC. I decided to jump the quad “step on step off” and found one of two poles in the track destroying the front of my Tekno buggy. Good thing my brother decided to run his friends Losi buggy or I would of not had the parts to fix mine.

Qualifying went pretty smooth for me. Running Pro-Line ION MC on everything I had my vehicles hooked up. I was able to put together a great run in 1/8 scale and have the TQ after the first round. Everyone went a little faster the second round putting me in 4th for the main. With my Pro-Line PRO-2 truck I was able to stay smooth in my races and my first round would stick me in a 6th place starting spot. Pro 4 I was to haul the mail and it was good enough for the 4th place starting position.

Pro 4 A Main at Coyote Hobbies Raceway Round 2 2014 JBRL Electric Series

Race 33 1/8 scale was to come right about the time I was ready for bed! I took it mellow the first lap as always and Ryan Dunford was to make a quick sweet inside pass on me and then the race broke out. I was to get a little to close off the straight and took us both out, sorry. He got going first but he was to make a mistake shortly after and I snuck by clean. I got going smoothly and caught the spots for the podium but I just couldn’t get by Rudy. I soon got hung up with my brother and then made another mistake all by myself. By that time Barry was already coming up behind us. I guess I have to look at the bright side as my Venom/ Tekin powered 1/8 scale buggy would still make it to the finish line.

Race 38 Pro 2 My Pro-Line PRO-2 truck was hooked up all day. I felt like I was going to do real good in this class! Off we went and I put a pass on 5th place right away and I was feeling good until it all started going bad a few seconds later as a red truck drove right into me. Then as I was spun around and Cody ran into me and then held his gas wide open as he was already mad that he was the last qualifier. It was ok though because it pushed me and himself right over the pipe giving him an instant 5 car pass. It only got worse for me but I was just trying to keep my cool at this point. I was to put the Pro-Line PRO-2 truck up to a 5th after all that crashing, mainly because the truck can take a beating and the others were to all break. Congratulations to Turner for winning the race after that sweet line early on.

Race 42 Pro 4 off to a smooth start, I was able to put an inside move on Casper off the triple as he was to drift a little wide. After that everything was smooth sailing. I was to battle it out with David Jenson the whole rest of the race. We would never even touch each other, just pushing faster and faster to catch Rudy. Rudy would never make a mistake but David and I would just make big enough ones for one of us to slip by each other. It was a fun race to say the least. My Pro-Line IONs were so hooked up at coyote hobbies my truck was doing nose wheelies everywhere. I would end up with my first podium of the night and I was pretty happy about that.

I had a ton of fun and I will be prepared for Bakersfield. I would like to thank Coyote Hobbies Raceway, Pro-Line, Venom, Airtronics , Tekin and Blais Racing Services for all the support. It wouldn’t be possible without all the great sponsors out there! See you all at the next race!

By: Chris Blais

My home track Coyote Hobbies RC Raceway in Victorville, CA would be the location for the second race of the 2014 JBRL Series. Thanks to Jimmy Babcock for the fun and competitive series and coming to our home track for this round.. We got there on Friday for some practice and the place was packed within an hour. There would be 330 entries at JBRL Round 2 with some heavy hitters present.

My first race would be 1/8 Scale E-Buggy which is a handful on our tight and technical Coyote Hobbies track layout. This would be my first race with a borrowed Losi Eight 3.0 buggy. I made some small changes during the day and just ran it. I would have a rough first heat but would be able to step it up in the second heat and qualify 6th in the A-Main. In the main event I was battling in the middle of the pack the entire race. After the 10 minute main I would finish up in 5th place with my Coyote Hobbies, Venom, Pro-Line, Tekin, Airtronics sponsored Losi Eight 3.0 buggy.

My second race of the day would be 4×4 Buggy. I had a great first run with just some small mistakes placing me mid pack in the A-Main out of the 35 driver field. This class has exploded since the release of the new Losi buggy and I look forward to the competition this year in this class. In my second heat I felt faster but ended up improving my time by just a half a second. My new Pro-Line Suburb VTR tires were absolutely hooked up! In the main event I got tangled up on the first lap sending me back to last place. I made it all the way back up to the front of the pack and had a great battle for 3rd the second half of the race. I would end up in 4th with my Coyote Hobbies, Venom, Pro-Line, Tekin, Airtronics sponsored Associated B44.2.

Modified 4wd Buggy A Main at Coyote Hobbies Raceway Round 2 2014 JBRL Electric Series

Pro 4 would be the last on the list for the day. This would be one of the most competitive classes of the day. My qualifying runs would be good and similar to club racing but just not enough with the talent in this class. The guys were railing in Pro 4. I would barely qualify for the A-Main in this class with 6th. In the main event I would have a really clean run just off the pace of some of the other drivers. I was able to drive my own race and finish 6th in the Main event. Thanks to all our sponsors for their support: Coyote Hobbies, Venom, Pro-Line, Venom, Airtronics and Tekin. We couldn’t do it without you guys!

By: Blais Racing’s Kyle Carpenter

As the second round of the JBRL series approached to Coyote Hobbies in Victorville, CA. With a large turnout of 330 entries, it was going to be a long day of racing at my home track.

As Friday practiced was upon us, I would get some good laps in with my Pro-Line PRO-2 short course and Kyosho RB6 . My Pro-Line PRO-2 in practice was very good with my Coyote Hobbies set up on it. My RB6 was on rails with my new Pro-Line Suburbs VTR.

Come Saturday morning short course was up first, round one went well with a 4th place finish and sitting 6th overall. Buggy was up next, I had a very good run with zero mistakes and took 1st place in my race. After round one of qualifying I was sitting second behind Ryan Cavalieri. I was very surprised by my run with buggy. Round 2 didn’t go well for me in either classes with too many mistakes trying to push my cars to hard. All the mod buggy classes stepped it up big time and I was put from 2nd to 10th qualifier in the B main. Pro-2 went decent with a qualifying position of 8th place in the A main.

As the A mains approached I was very anxious to try to transfer the to A-main in buggy. As there was a very stacked field I knew if I where to make any mistakes I would drop out of it. As the race started I got off to a great start, I was staying in second place for about 4 mins of the race. With one mistake I would drop back to third place and tried to fight hard back but was unable to finish in a bump up position taking 3rd in the B main. Pro-2 A main was up next next, I got off to a great start, passing some of the competition until getting taking out many times by other drivers. After the carnage of the short course class I was able to take a 7th place finish.

All in all I had a great time at the second round of the JBRL electric series and can’t wait for the next one. Thanks to my sponsors for keeping me going, Coyote Hobbies, Blais Racing, DA Designs and Venom.

Martin Blais would finish up the weekend with a 3rd place finish in Sportsman 4wd Short Course A Main, 7th in Super Stock Short Course A Main, and 3rd in 1/8 Scale B-Main.