- The full article was originally published on JConcepts (Racing) -
The 2022 Florida Carpet Championship race is in the books! Each year we make the short trip from the JConcepts office over to Beachline Raceway in Cocoa, Fl. The Beachline and FCC crew have put a copious amount of effort into expanding and enhancing the event each year! The tougher competition and improved facilities definitely demonstrate this. Drivers of all calibers and various countries travel in to win the overall Florida Carpet Championship Title! This year they decided to go with controlled practice by heats on Thursday. Additionally, they added two rounds of seeding on Friday along with completing the first qualifier.
For tires, drivers went back and forth between the Fuzzbite and the unreleased Pin Swag Tires. When it came to the podium, drivers were sporting both. It came down to personal preference. Keep your eyes open for a tire guide coming soon from the various winners! After qualifying was complete, both of the Modified Buggy A-Main drivers had to participate in the super pole. Drivers who qualified 2nd-5th had to compete in essentially a hot lap challenge. They each took turns going 4 laps. They were placed into the main from fastest lap time to slowest lap time. This really switched things up! Check out the video below!
Seeding:
2wd Modified Buggy: Broc Champlin (1), Dakotah Phend (2)
4wd Modified Buggy: Dakotah Phend (1), Joona Haatanen (2)
13.5 4wd Buggy: Jovy Levin (1), Matthew Gonzales (3)
17.5 2wd Buggy: Matthew Gonzales (3)
40+ 2wd Buggy: Brent Thielke (1), Paul Wynn (2), Rhett McNair (3)
Qualifying:
2wd Modified Buggy: Dakotah Phend (1), Spencer Rivkin (2)
4wd Modified Buggy: Dakotah Phend (1), Spencer Rivkin (2), Broc Champlin (3)
13.5 4wd Buggy: Matthew Gonzales (1), Doug Lariviere (2)
17.5 2wd Buggy: Tyler Hooks (1), Jovy Levin (2)
40+ 2wd Buggy: Paul Wynn (1), Brent Thielke (2), Rhett McNair (3)
Final Results:
2wd Modified Buggy: Dakotah Phend (1), Michal Orlowski (2), Spencer Rivkin (3)
A1: The first A-Main of 2wd Modified Buggy saw Dakotah Phend take a tone to tone win, managing the lead and ending with a 2-second gap on Spencer Rivkin. Spencer would grab the 2nd place finish after a mid-race pass on Michal Orlowski who would ultimately finish up 3rd.
A2: A2 was much like A1 for the Phenom, Dakotah hammered down ending with a 4-second gap over Spencer Rivkin, giving himself the overall title after 2 mains. Broc Champlin would charge along in 2nd for over half the race before falling with a mistake. Michal Orlowski made a mid-race bobble promoting Spencer Rivkin and Tommy Hall up to the 2nd and 3rd place spots, but ultimately Orlowski would pass Hall back late in the race to grab 3rd behind Rivkin.
A3: With the title wrapped up for Phend, A3 was the Schumacher battle with Michal and Broc battling early in the race before Orlowski was able to pull a slim gap to take the win. Champlin would settle in for 2nd with Rivkin making a last-lap pass on Hall for 3rd.
Overall: Dakotah Phend would take the commanding win after A1 and A2 with Michal Orlowski in 2nd and Spencer Rivkin in 3rd.
4wd Modified Buggy: Michal Orlowski (1), Broc Champlin (2), Dakotah Phend (3)
A1: Dakotah Phend would complete his A1 domination by winning both the 2wd and 4wd classes with tone to tone wins. Michal Orlowski and Spencer Rivkin would end up 2nd and 3rd with no position changes for the top 4 drivers.
A2: Chaos ensued from the first lap in A2 with Phend crashing on lap one, a few laps later Orlowski and Rivkin would tangle dropping them both out of contention for this leg of the competition. When the dust settled Broc Champlin would take the win with Daniel Kobbevik in 2nd, and Dakotah Phend 3rd after recovering from his lap one mishap.
A3: An early race mistake would strike once again for Dakotah causing him to drop out of the title fight for 4wd in A3. Michal Orlowski would take advantage and take the win in A3 over Spencer Rivkin in 2nd. Broc Champlin would finish 3rd.
Overall: Michal Orlowski would emerge victorious after the 3 mains with Broc Champlin ending up 2nd and Dakotah Phend in 3rd. This ultimately would also give Michal the overall Florida Carpet Championships Modified Championship title.
13.5 4wd Buggy: Matthew Gonzales (1), Jovy Levin (3)
A1: A1 of 13.5 4wd would see early pace setters Matthew Gonzales and Doug Lariviere tangle knocking them out of contention and promoting Jovy Levin to the win after a last corner pass for the lead over Brennan Schimmel. Tyler Hooks would end up 3rd, a good 4 seconds back.
A2: Issues at the start of A2 would knock out Levin and Hooks, and Gonzales would cruise to an easy victory over Schimmel and Lariviere.
A3: Brennan Schimmel would make some epic passes to take the A3 win over the field with Matthew Gonzales in 2nd, and after mistakes from Levin and Lariviere, Tyler Hooks would finish 3rd.
Overall: Matthew Gonzales would tie with Brennan Schimmel for the win with Matthew getting the tiebreaker. Jovy Levin would end up 3rd rounding out the podium.
17.5 2wd Buggy: Tyler Hooks (1), Jovy Levin (3)
A1: A1 would see a tone to tone win for TQ Tyler Hooks. Brennan Schimmel would pass Jovy Levin on the first lap and never look back to finish 2nd. Jovy ended up 3rd.
A2: A2 would see Hooks make a mid-race mistake flinching at the end of the straight after a marshal fell and hit the boards. Jovy would lead briefly before a mistake of his own would give Schimmel the win. Matthew Gonzales would battle up for a 2nd place finish with Levin settling in for 3rd.
A3: A3 would be another tone to tone win for Hooks giving him the overall win. Jovy Levin would take 2nd with Gonzales once again charging hard for 3rd.
Overall: Tyler Hooks would take the win with 2 first-place finishes, Brennan Schimmel would finish up 2nd and Jovy Levin would take another podium in 3rd.
40+ 2wd Buggy: Rhett McNair (1), Brent Thielke (2), Paul Wynn (3)
A1: TQ Paul Wynn would lead for 2/3rds of the race before a mistake would drop him to 3rd. This would promote Brent Thielke to a 1st place finish with reigning champ Rhett McNair in 2nd.
A2: Paul would lead all the way until the last lap with heavy heat from Rhett, and would make an unfortunate mistake on the final lap giving Rhett the A2 win. Paul would settle for 2nd, and with A1 winner Brent bobbling, David Alberico would finish 3rd.
A3: A3 saw early mistakes from Thielke and Wynn allowing McNair to cruise to an easy victory. Thielke would recover for a 2nd place finish with Markus Streuli rounding out the podium in 3rd.
Overall: Rhett’s 2 wins would give him the overall ahead of Brent in 2nd and Paul in 3rd.
Dakotah Phend 2wd: Front: Pin Swag, Rear Fuzz Bite
Tyler Hooks 2wd: Front Pin Swag, Rear Fuzz Bite
Rhett McNair 2wd: Front Fuzz Bite, Rear Fuzz Bite
Michal Orlowski 4wd: Front Fuzz Bite, Rear Fuzz Bite
Matthew Gonzales 4wd: Front Fuzz Bite, Rear Fuzz Bite
Overall, the weekend was filled with exciting battles and an intense effort from the team! Congratulations to all of the winners and podium finishers! As we near the end of the year we’re spending time reflecting on the success the team has achieved together in 2022. We are extremely grateful for everyone’s hard work and dedication. We have one more race weekend left in 2022. We’ll be heading out to Hobby Action for the INS12 finals on December 1st!
