Gibson & Schoettler Kick Off the 2015 JConcepts Indoor Nationals Series With Big Wins

Wednesday, Feb 11, 2015 at 12:00am UTC

Now into its fifth season, the JConcepts Indoor National Series kicked off at SmacTrac in St. Louis, MO. With racers from across the country in attendance, the opening round of the five-race series has always been a popular stop. Jason Ruona of JConcepts and Brent Thielke of Team Associated both made the trip to support their respective teams and customers.

In the most popular class, 2WD Modified, it was Team Associated/Reedy driver Nick Gibson who took the overall TQ. With a third-place finish in A1, Gibson needed to rebound in A2 and A3 to have any shot at the title. And rebound is just what he did. With a dominant perchance in A2 the stage was set between Nick and teammate Michael Schoettler, who both entered A3 with a main event win. Just a few minutes into the main event, Gibson and Schoettler gapped the field to settle the battle for the title amongst themselves. Holding off a hard charge from Schoettler, the Kansas City-based Gibson crossed the line first to a roar from the crowd to take the overall championship with his Reedy-powered RC10B5M.

The second most popular class of the weekend was 4WD Modified and it was the Michael Schoettler show. TQing round 1 and 2 of qualifying, Schoettler took convincing wins in A1 and A2 to leave no doubt as to who the champion was. His Reedy-powered B44.3 Factory Team was consistently the fastest car on the track and Schoettler looked very comfortable each time on the track.

Also taking victories for Team Associated and Reedy were Allen and Ayden Horne. Al got the TQ and win in the 40+ 2WD Modified Buggy while his son patiently waited to snatch the last-minute victory in 17.5 2WD Buggy. With all three buggy titles, it was clear that the RC10B5M buggy was hooked up on the tight and twisty SmacTrac layout.

Another Team Associated victory went to Zach Edenburn in the new class of 13.5 4WD Buggy. This class has been added to the 2015 schedule in order to give those drivers who wish to compete in a 4WD class, but without the raw horsepower of Modified. It's a great stepping stone that benefits both the newer 4WD and veteran 4WD racers.

As always, the SmacTrac crew did a great job of hosting the event and with facility improvements continuing to be scheduled, look for more great racing to be held here. Special thanks goes out to all of the Team Associated and Reedy supporters and especially to JConcepts for presenting such a great series.