Interview with Chad Bradley / Jammin HongNor

Do you race electric?
I raced electric for associated for five years, from 95-2000. I prefer the 8th scale because you get more track time.

What has been your favourite event so far this year?
this race hasn't finished yet but so far it's going pretty good. probably so far this year was the nitro challenge in Arizona.

How many different cars do you race?
Just 8th scale buggy and 8th scale truck.

What is your favourite drink?
Absynth!, haha, no it's Heineken.

What racing achievement are you the most proud of, and what do you aim to achieve in the coming year?
2001 I won the ROAR 8th scale nationals in the US, and I'm the only driver to have made the a main for the last 3 years in a row, and i hope to win the worlds. I'd like to be competitive when I get older.

Who here would you most like to beat?
You've gotta beat everyone to win, but when i go to major events i just like to have flawless runs. I want the weekend to go perfect and my driving to be perfect. the Losi drivers are going to be tough to beat, and my team mate Taylor James.

What are your favourite features of the neo08 track?
The corners with the big mounds are giving me the most trouble right now, they're challenging.

What is the strangest question you have ever been asked in an interview?
What's my favourite drink.

Do you like pie? (I think that's an even stranger question myself - jimmy)
Of course

Which r/c driver inspires you the most?
Oh man, a lot of different guys help me out with a lot of different things, so its hard to say a single person.

Have you raced in England before, and would you like to come back for future races?
No, I've raced in Europe many times but this is my first time in england. I'd like to come back to race at the proline event in May at Slough.

Stu's guest question- What would the weather normally be like back home right now?
Back home in LA it's usually pretty nice around now, I've only ever seen snow once in 10 years living there.

What tyres are you running?
Proline hole shots.

Which is your favourite airline?
United, I get airmiles with them. Also what's the really cool airplane in that film, ahh, Soulplane! That looks pretty good.

Do you believe that facial hair makes you drive faster?
Oh yeah, definitely. Take a photo of my facial hair on Sunday! I never shave, so I'll be getting faster all weekend.

Ryan Maifield with his AE RC8 took the first round of qualifying on 14/10m 6.82, with Adam Drake only a second further back in second and Mike Truhe in third a further couple of seconds down. With Richard Saxton in fourth and Taylor James in fifth to round out an all USA top five :(

The UK assault team was next up headed by Neil Cragg in 6th overall, with Darren Bloomfield, Graham Alsop & Lee Martin right behind. Dani Vega from Spain driving the MBX5R rounded out the top ten of round one.

Darren Bloomfield driving his Losi Eight is the only driver so far to dip below 42 second laps - gaining 7th in round in the process.

oOple have a little rogue danceteam together for the neo - Stu Evans, Tom Cockerill, James Helliwell, Graham North and Jim Dixon. All the guys except James Helliwell are running the Losi car - With James choosing the HongNor.

The guys are also 'doing their bit' for the report where they can, with Stu Evans supplying some photos and helping interview people, Graham North chasing up some information etc.

Tom Cockerill was the top placed oOple driver in round one in 76th place - with James Helliwell right behind in 77th. Graham North is doing well in 99th whilst Jim is 'steady away' with 128th. Stu Evans had some problems (his car fell apart) but still managed 183rd. Stu is a professional driver and backed this point up by not plugging his PT in for the whole of practice day - awesome.

Jay Mills recently won a huge trophy for being the nitro cross truggy champion, he kindly posed for some photos to promote one of the sponsors for this report.

What's your favourite flavour pie?
Steak and Kidney.

What about fruit pie?
Man, I work with cake, ask me about cake.

What about Jaffa cakes, are they a cake or a biscuit?
I'm not sure, is that a real cake?

Do you prefer cake with cream filling or jam filling?
Jam.

Do you like pie with gravy or without?
With gravy!

What about fruit pies, do you like those with gravy?
No, I prefer custard with fruit pies.

Mike Truhe from the USA driving for Losi took the second round of qualifying on 14 laps /10m 5.54, with Englands Darren Bloomfield less than a second behind coming in 2nd in round. Adam Drake took third just a couple of seconds further back. All the top three were using the Losi 8ight.

The weather during round two was still crazy - ranging from sunny skies to heavy rain and snow. It's not really making a difference to the racing though it seems and the big doors are partially closed for the worst of it.

Richard Saxton - RC8

John Hazlewood was driving his new Losi

Jammin Jay Halsey Interview

What are your most valued r/c achievements?
I won the first ever IFMAR world championships in 1984/85 with the associated RC10 gold tub, that was in Delmark california. I also won the first ever ROAR offroad nationals, in Vineland, New Jersey. Stu says - what a legend.
I'm most proud of those achievements because they were the early ones.

I've known Jamie Booth for 25 years, and he distributes our products over here.
In the US, racing cars is part of a lifestyle, everyone makes rc cars and it's a really big thing.

As well as my success as a racer I'm proud of my business success, I started up the business when I was young.

Are you still racing, and do you race 1/10th electric still? If not when did you give up, and why?
I don't get that much time to, I'd love to still be racing but I put my time into the business instead, running a business take up a lot of time.

Would you say that even though you don't race, you still spend most weekends supporting your team drivers?
Oh yeah, we have big races pretty much every weekend, from the end of January until like the end of summer, we have something like two weekends when we're not racing.

On weekends when you are not supporting racing, what do you do?
I like to spend time with my family, I have a daughter who is seven, and my wife. We like to go to the desert, I like motorcycles, real off road cars, family stuff.
I'm going to be racing the real big car soon, check out corracing.com, i'm going to be racing pro buggy which I have just finished buiding.

How much practice do you feel that drivers need to remain competitive?
Oh every week to be at the top, preferably several times a week,

How old were you when you first started racing?
I was 12 when I got my first r/c car, and I started racing competitively at age 14.

Jaffa cakes - are they a biscuit or a cake?
What's a Jaffa Cake? It sounds like a cookie to me, like a soft cookie?

What is the best track that you have ever raced on?
Detroit, Michigan. I loved the dirt and the whole atmosphere, it was in a big park. They held some world championships there, and other big events.

How many different classes have you been involved in, and which do you enjoy the most?
Electric buggy, gas buggy, truggy, truck. If I was racing then I'd prefer truck, it looks easier to drive.

If you could be any animal, what would you choose to be?
Man, that's a tough one. I guess a lion - king of the jungle right!

What are your aims and ambitions for the next two years, both personally and professionally?
Personally I'd like to spend more time with my family, and I think also personally is to develop my skills with real race cars. Professionally just to help build our sport and take it to the next level, and also build our business and strengthen our brand name.

What do you feel is the best way to keep hobby alive?
Have more mainstream events, at mainstream venues. The big events draw attention to the hobby and get new people interested. There should be plenty of club races to get new drivers involved in the hobby.

Stu evans gets in on the action with his hero Jammin Jay Halsey	Following the interview we were kindly provided with some sample jaffa cakes by Viv Dixon. Jay tasted his first ever Jaffa Cake and concluded that they are 'soft cookies' because cakes are big. Jay thought Jaffa Cakes are ace.

How many different languages can you speak, and if you could learn any language what would it be?
Just English, I can barely speak one. I'd probably like to learn spanish because living in California is so close to Mexico.

What valuable advice can you offer to racers who would like to achieve what you have?
Never burn your bridges, and put out 110 % all the time. By never burning your bridges I mean it is important to keep goood relations with people all the time, keep your options open. I'm a believer in bad karma and that if you say bad things then people will say bad things about you.

What is the maddest thing that you've ever done that you want to tell us about, and don't mind being published on the internet?
I had a crazy childhood, my parents were both busy working and I did some mad things. Getting involved with r/c racing gave me something to focus on and chance to settle down a bit. I've done lots of crazy things but I'm older and wiser now.

How did you get your nickname / company name?
When I was a kid I raced BMX bikes and my nickname was Jammin Jay, I guess it just kinda stuck.

Will you be releasing any new Jammin products in the near future?
Yeah we'll have our X2 CRT out within the next few months. That's the same truck that we won the nationals with last year. The car is a development of the old one but it has changed a lot.

Have you ever tried proper english ale?
To be honest I don't drink. It sounds crazy but I just don't like to taste alcohol. I prefer to drink coke - full fat. I used to drink diet coke but I read bad things about the artificial sweetners on the internet, so just drank water for about 6 months. Now I'm back on the full fat coke, but I don't need it to keep me awake. I'm a bit of a night owl, I'm alright at staying awake at night, it is just in the morning sometimes I need some coffee from starbucks.

Andy Moore - he loves off road madness

Darren Bloomfield

Stu Evans

Darren Bloomfield is 'THE MAN' and took the third and final round of qualifying today (with the last two rounds tomorrow, sunday.) with his Losi 8ight on 14lap / 10m 6.01, with Lee Martins AE RC8 coming in three seconds later and Borja Hernandez a further 2 seconds back.

Taylor James set the fastest lap time on 41.01

Qualifying results will eventually be from the best three scores from the 5 rounds of qualifying but on this first day of qualifying with only three rounds completed it's the best two - which gives an idea but things could well change on sunday.

The scores are 210 points for a round win - so the score above 203:7 (for example) means 203 points and the '7' shows clearly where they finished in the round to gain those points - 7th.

Darren Bloomfield takes the overnight TQ with one round win and a second place. Things can change tomorrow but well done Darren.

The oOple dance team (as we like to call them - nothing to do with dancing at all funnily enough) of Graham North, James Helliwell, Stu Evans, Tom Cockerill and Jim Dixon - were plugging away still getting those all important results. Tom got his engine a 'little hot' in round two and ran out of fuel to boot, so was down to 141st in round, but bounced right back to 70th in round three.

Meanwhile James Helliwell got a 97th in round two and a best position so-far of 64th in round three. Graham North put in a flyer to go 80th in round two but a bent shock shaft in warmup put him down to 153rd in round three. oops!

Jim Dixon put in a right poor effort to come 184th in round two but a swift slap across the face saw a 107th in round three - much better. Lastly Stu Evans has been the most consistent-ly poor, with 128th in round two and 135 in round three, slow but steady, give it some more Stu! (this is a joke, just in case anyone thinks I hate Stu, I actually love him :) )