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Check out the official USCOC race report from last weekend’s 2022 US Carpet Off-Road Championships.
2022 USCOC – 2wd Pro Mod presented by JConcepts
Some of the closest racing of the weekend came from the Pro 2wd Modified class. There’s just something of putting major horsepower onto the track through only two wheels. Michal Orlowski showed his speed early in the weekend during qualifying throwing down flawless runs earning him the overall TQ. This precision driving carried into the Triple A-mains with consistent tight lines holding off the the biggest threats coming from Dakotah Phend and Brandon Foote. Orlowski would go onto win the A1 and A2 mains giving him the overall win and would sit out the A3 main. With the last two podium spots up for grabs, Dakotah Phend would capture the second overall with Brandon Foote rounding out the top three.
1 Michal Orlowski
2 Dakotah Phend
3 Brandon Foote
4 Joe Bornhorst
5 Tater Sontag
6 Aydin Horne
7 Lee Setser
8 Aaron Kothman
9 Brent Thielke
10 Dustin Fox
2022 USCOC – 4wd Pro Modified Buggy presented by Schumacher
If there was a hot ticket in the Pro 4wd Modified class, it was breaking into the 12-second lap times. This meant you were in the running for the overall win. Consistency is king though and just like in the Pro 2wd Modified class, Michal Orlowski was cool as ice driving mistake-free runs. Dakotah Phend was in the hunt all during the mains showing phenomenal speed, but got bit by the traction roll bug a few random times. This only let Orlowski to lengthen his lead allowing him to cruise to the win in both the A1 and A2 mains with almost identical race times! Phend would score three second place finishes grabbing him the overall second place with Aydin Horne finishing third overall.
1 Michal Orlowski
2 Dakotah Phend
3 Aydin Horne
4 Aaron Kothman
5 Lee Setser
6 Joe Bornhorst
7 Brandon Foote
8 Tater Sontag
9 Brent Sianez
10 Dustin Fox
2022 USCOC – Pro 2wd Stock Buggy presented by Whitz
Our biggest class of the weekend was the Pro 2wd Stock Buggy class and the climb to get to the top spot was a tough one with the tightest qualifying imaginable. Dustin Fox would go on to claim the coveted TQ and lead them out in the mains. The A1 main started off with a slight entanglement involving second qualifier Kyle Holmberg, which open the floodgates for the rest of the top five to challenge Fox. While the leader extended his gap, third qualifier Tyler Hooks and fourth qualifier Nate Sutherland were locked in a fierce battle to finish in the top three. Fox would win the A1 with a five-second lead. The A2 main would almost be a repeat for Dustin Fox as he would claim the win again and secure him the overall win in the class. The rest of the podium spots would be claimed by Nate Sutherland second and Tyler Hooks rounding out the top three.
1 Dustin Fox
2 Nate Sutherland
3 Tyler Hooks
4 Kyle Holmberg
5 Jeff Statkiewicz
6 Ben Moisio
7 John Cravotta
8 Cole Chura
9 Matthew Sousa
10 Brayden Nelson
2022 USCOC – Pro 4wd 13.5 Buggy presented by Hobbywing
The Pro 4wd 13.5 Buggy class ran deep all the way down to the G-main! They say in poker that As long as you’ve got ‘a chip and a chair’, there’s still hope. Well it may have been the case of many to play the bump-up game, it was Brennan Schimmel to TQ one of the biggest classes of the weekend, an extraordinary feat! At the sound of the tone, Schimmel was all business right out of the gate with strong pace laying down the fastest lap times backed up with running tight lines. Second qualifier Jeff Statkiewicz wasn’t going to make it easy for Schimmel as he was always a turn or two behind waiting for a mistake or an opportunity to strike. Both drivers showed off their professionalism to everyone spectating as the two showed great patience not to take each other out. By the end of the first and second final Schimmel and Statkiewicz would finish like they started with Schimmel taking the over all win and Statkiewicz second. The big surprise would be Dustin Fox putting in the work coming all the way from the sixth qualifying position to take the over all third and final podium spot. Well done!
1 Brennan Schimmel
2 Jeff Statkiewicz
3 Dustin Fox
4 Kyle Holmberg
5 Brandon Marsh
6 Cole Chura
7 Nate Surtherland
8 Andrew Kothman
9 Kaiden Voss
10 Brayden Nelson
2022 USCOC – 40+ Masters 2wd Mod presented by AMain
It was a great turnout for the 40+ Masters class this year with almost thirty entries, with many juuust shy of the age cut off for the class wanting to enter this class. While they will have to wait until next year, Associated team manager Brent Thielke was here again this year to defend his title he won at last years inaugural event. Having set the TQ, it was a perfect start for Thielke at the sound of the start tone jumping out to the early lead. Just as it seemed Brent would cruise in for the easy win, he would get tangled up with traffic right before the back straight knocking him back a few spots. Second qualifier Matt Brienzo said thank you very much as he inherited the lead with third qualifier John Cravotta in tow. Not one to quit, Thielke started a charge to the front of the pack and would claw his way back to the lead, but not before some dive-bombing outside passes would happen on the fast sweeper after the back straight. Thielke would squeeze out the win in the end with the rest of the top five finishing how they started. Awesome race!
1 Brent Thielke
2 Matt Brienzo
3 John Cravotta
4 Eddie Rogers
5 Jim Bronson
6 Steve Hanson
7 Paul Ciccarello
8 Matthew Poirier
9 Charles Foote
10 Doy Schultz
2022 USCOC – Stadium Truck 13.5 presented by Team Scream
TQ Kyle Holmberg from the start of the Stadium Truck main was on a mission for a win and nothing was going to stop him. By the end of the race, he would build up a ten second lead to score the overall win. The other big story in this main was the battle for second between second qualifier Cameron Shaw and third qualifier Eric Bresnahan. The two would traded paint time after time during the race and it would all climax on the last lap in the front drivers stand table top where Bresnahan went for an inside pass on Shaw, breaking the front arm of his truck. It was now desperation time as Bresnahan was doing everything possible to wheel his crippled ride across the finish line to finish third. Lucky for Bresnahan had a fellow racer use his truck to push his truck across the line. The finishing order would be Holmberg first, Shaw second and Bresnahan third.
1 Kyle Holmberg
2 Cameron Shaw
3 Eric Bresnahan
4 Ryan Hovis
5 Terry Steffensen
6 Shawn Franklin
7 Rocco Moretti
8 Brady Carrico
9 Troy Lecoyer
10 Darren Gimblin
2022 USCOC – Short Course 13.5 presented by Gravity RC
The Short Course final is always one of the highlights of the weekend due to all the fender rubbing that goes on. Sure it’s always best to have clean racing, but whats the fun in that? In this class it was Eric Bresnahan on the point leading the pack out for their first lap when it didn’t take long for fireworks to happen his in rearview mirror. The battle mid-pack heated up as everyone was jockeying for position. This allowed Bresnahan to open up a huge lead and began to ride off into the sunset. Chris Garay was the nearest contender nearly one lap behind the leader at the sound of the end tone with third place running Josh Cavaliere one lap behind Garay. In the end, Bresnahan would take the win, Garay second and Cavaliere third.
1 Eric Bresnahan
2 Chris Garay
3 Josh Cavaliere
4 Jeremy Perisho
5 Rocco Moretti
6 Ryan Hovis
7 Jose Garay
8 Logan Kulza
9 Thomas Drouin
10 Mychal Toombs
2022 USCOC – 2wd Modified Buggy presented by R1 Wurks
It was 7-minutes of racing action in the 2wd Mod Buggy main. In the opening laps of the final, the drivers couldn’t decide who wanted to be out front as the lead changed four time! When everyone settled into a rhythm, it would be Doy Schultz to the point. Not so fast said Cole Heemstra, who was right on Schultz’s bumper. The two were like a freight train steaming through traffic. With both drivers running identical times lap after lap, the only defense was consistency. Schultz would hold his line and go on to take the win one second ahead of Heemstra. Rob Kulza would round out the top three.
1 Doy Schultz
2 Cole Heemstra
3 Rob Kulza
4 David Hart
5 John Johnson
6 Justin Carey
7 Todd Rappert
2022 USCOC – 17.5 Buggy presented by Protek RC
It was elbows out racing in the 17.5 Buggy class as the win was really up for grabs for anyone that wanted it bad enough. With the top five so evenly matched, Cole Heemstra was edged out the rest starting from the front TQ spot. As the first few laps got under way, we would already see early fireworks with racing lanes going sometimes three cars wide with the lead changing almost every other lap. With half the field still on the lead lap and with time winding down, Second qualifier Bo Zerrien would manage to cross the line right before the end tone to earn him a victory lap. Cole Heemstra would finish second with Luke Siela third.
1 Bo Zerrien
2 Cole Heemstra
3 Luke Siela
4 Evan Cook
5 Rocco Moretti
6 Christopher Bagley
7 Matthew Hudak
8 Dan Marino
9 Bill Catenacci
10 Ryan Hovis
2022 USCOC – 4wd 13.5 Buggy presented by TLR
Going all the way down the D-main so as you could imagine, it was a long climb to get to the A-main, let alone the TQ. Cole Chura scored the TQ spot and well deserved as he put in flawless runs during qualifying. Hard work pays off as Chura dominated in the main where he would go on to build up a two lap lead over the rest of the field. Third qualifier Colten Brienzo was Chura’s closest competition as he had second qualifier David Hart on his bumper. This battle would go on for most of the race with Brienzo coming out on top finishing only a few car lengths to claim the second place finish.
1 Cole Chura
2 Colten Brienzo
3 David Hart
4 Ryan Hovis
5 Cole Meemstra
6 Troy Lecoyer
7 John Johnson
8 Lawson Drinkwater
9 Luke Siela
10 Matthew Hudak
2022 USCOC – 21.5 Stock Buggy presented by Motiv
2021 was the birth of this class and it’s great to see that it’s grown to be one of the biggest classes of the weekend. This main was all a question of who wanted to lead it! In the first lap of the race, a big pile up in the step up/step down before the back straight knocking TQ Shawn Franklin from the lead and all the way to the mid pack. Josh Cavaliere would emerge from that mess to inherit the lead only to have Ken Brunelle right on his wing all the way from the fifth qualifying position. This battle would go on for a handful of laps before a mistake would knock Josh more than a few positions back. It was all Brunelle for the rest of the race as he checked out and ultimately took the win. TQ Shawn Franklin would make a come back to finish in the second spot. Michael Kerr would round out the top 3.
1 Ken Brunelle
2 Shawn Franklin
3 Michael Kerr
4 Josh Cavaliere
5 Daniel Fitzgerald
6 Ben Easler
7 Jackson Neer
8 Bill Catenacci
9 Chris Garay
10 Ronald Waugh