Gainesville Delivers a Weekend of Thrilling Racing, Impressive Comebacks, and Breakthrough Victories
The 2026 Wicked Weekend brought 763 entries and 352 drivers to Gainesville, Georgia, for four days of off-road racing that built steadily from open practice to a full Sunday of championship mains.
The event opened with practice on Thursday, giving racers their first opportunity to learn the layout and establish a starting setup. Friday combined another day of practice with the opening round of qualifying. The pressure increased on Saturday with qualifying rounds two and three, followed by the first 14 lower mains that evening. The remaining lower mains and every A-main were contested on Sunday, completing a program that produced 33,683 total race laps.
The track started smooth and fast, but as it became rougher, the changing conditions kept every driver on their toes.
Fast Laps, Big Smiles, and an Unforgettable Weekend of Racing!
Race Facts
Driver Entries: 763 entries
Total Race Laps: 33,683
Fastest Main Lap: Mason Fuller, 31.238 seconds in Pro Nitro Truggy
Fastest Pit Stop : Dakotah Phend 3.472
Most Wins: Dakotah Phend and Donato Tradardi two each
Most Podium Appearances : Mad Maddy Long
Track Sectors
For the first time, the Elite RC team tested a timing system that captured more than just the finishing order. Still in beta testing, it tracked pit-lane times and three sectors around the track, revealing where each driver found speed. The test went extremely well, made the racing more exciting, and received a great response from the racers.
Top Qualifiers
Saturday’s Lower Mains Start the Climb
Lower mains belonged to the racers trying to keep their Wicked Weekend alive.
Shaun Morrow began the longest bump-up campaign of the opening night. He dominated the four-car Sportsman Electric Buggy J-main, opening an advantage of roughly 30 seconds over Bentley Raper. Morrow then returned in the I-main and won again, with Douglas Blount taking the second transfer. Two starts, two victories, and two steps up the ladder gave Morrow one of Saturday’s clearest momentum stories.
Open Electric Truggy’s C-main was even more decisive. Donnie Williams steadily stretched his advantage over Corey McElveen, growing the gap from 20 seconds to 27 seconds. Williams nearly lapped the field before he and McElveen secured the transfer spots. Behind them, Cade Williams made a late outside pass after Greg Smith hit the pipe and rolled, but the top two had already locked in their advancement.
Sportsman Electric Truggy’s E-main changed shape several times. Paul Kennedy led early, David Everett later reached the front, and Tony Chandler eventually closed the race as the winner. Trey Anderson earned the second transfer.
In Intermediate Electric Buggy, Cameron Schaeffer survived a changing E-main. Brayden Payton and Drake Boyd fought over the early lead before Payton made a mistake. Schaeffer moved forward, endured two late errors of his own, and still recovered to win ahead of Boyd.
Sportsman Nitro Buggy introduced the first real taste of nitro attrition. William Miller won the E-main over Taylor Foskey, while a late flameout in the five-pack showed how quickly a lower-main run could disappear.
The ladder continued through Sportsman Electric Buggy. Matthew Hobbs won the H-main, with Brad Corley taking the second transfer. Corley immediately appeared in the top five of the G-main, but Joe Wells and Kasen Dobinson ultimately claimed those two advancement spots. Wells moved to the front and opened a double-digit lead, while Dobinson had to recover the final transfer after briefly falling behind Nicole White.
Talon Henley turned around the Intermediate Electric Buggy D-main. Lance Parker led early, but Henley took over with a little more than six minutes remaining and stretched the advantage to approximately 10 seconds. The fight behind him stayed open until late. Ryan Pacheco briefly moved into second, but Donnie Williams was credited with the final transfer.
Teddy Davis controlled Sportsman Electric Truggy’s D-main. Michael Elrod worked his way into second and built enough of a cushion to make both transfer positions secure.
Intermediate Nitro Buggy’s D-main featured three drivers at the front and a mechanical turning point. Brayden Payton, Ronald Kimball, and Toot Hollingsworth all led or challenged for the lead. Hollingsworth’s late flameout removed him from the transfer fight, leaving Payton and Kimball to advance.
The most strategic race Saturday was the 15-minute 40+ Nitro Buggy C-main. Chris Figueroa led much of the race and delayed his fuel stop as the rest of the field cycled through pit lane. Joe Vietro closed the gap after service and moved ahead with roughly 80 seconds remaining. Vietro won, Figueroa took second, and both advanced to Sunday’s B-main.
Kaeden Weidenhammer closed Saturday with one of the night’s biggest drives. Starting 14th in the Sportsman Electric Buggy F-main, he reached second in the opening minutes and then took control. AJ Peeling moved into the final transfer late and survived contact with a stopped car near the finish. Weidenhammer and Peeling advanced, while Wells’ attempt at another bump ended one position short.
Saturday did exactly what lower mains are supposed to do: it created momentum, heartbreak, and new stories that carried directly into Sunday.
Sunday’s Lower Mains Complete the A-main Field
Sunday began at 7:00 a.m. with race 15, and the lower-main ladder immediately resumed. The program worked upward through the remaining C-, D-, and B-mains, with two transfer positions available in each race. Several drivers used those opportunities to turn a long Sunday into one of the defining stories of their weekend.
No driver climbed farther on Sunday than Atha Stathopoulos in Sportsman Electric Buggy. Stathopoulos won the E-main, returned to win the D-main, finished second in the C-main, and then took second again in the B-main. Four consecutive transfers carried him all the way into the A-main, where he finished sixth – one position short of the final top five.
Zack Milner produced the other major ladder run. He won the Sportsman Nitro Buggy D-main, then won the C-main, and completed the three-race sweep by winning the B-main. Milner advanced into the 30-minute A-main and finished ninth after starting at the rear of the field.
The Pro B-mains also created immediate A-main storylines. Mason Fuller won Pro Nitro Buggy’s B-main and then charged from 17th to fourth in the A-main. Lee Setser and Aydin Horne advanced from Pro Nitro Truggy’s B-main, while Julien Oliveras and Cole Kasten earned the Pro Electric Buggy transfers.
In 40+ competition, Santos Rodriguez and Ofir Komerian advanced from the Electric Buggy B-main. Komerian then won the 40+ Nitro Buggy B-main ahead of Brandon Greenwell, placing him into both 40+ A-main fields.
Intermediate competition stayed equally active. Cooper Johnson and Trent Walker transferred from the Electric Buggy B-main. Renato Tradardi Jr. and Eddy Cordoba moved forward in Nitro Buggy, while Wilson Cowart and Santos Rodriguez claimed the Nitro Truggy B-main transfers.
Pro Nitro Truggy Opens the A-main Show
Pro Nitro Truggy was the first A-main of Sunday and immediately established the standard for the feature races.
Ryan Maifield started first, but the race did not stay straightforward. Dakotah Phend moved to the lead early before Maifield answered. Mason Fuller then took his turn at the front during the middle phase. Maifield reclaimed the position before halfway and never let the race come back to him.
Maifield and Phend were the only drivers to complete 56 laps. Maifield’s 30:19.038 gave him an 11.706-second win over Phend. Fuller finished third and recorded the fastest lap of the entire A-main program at 31.238 seconds.
Seth VanDalen produced the recovery drive, climbing from 16th to fourth. Jonah Wilson completed the top five.
It was a race won through response. Phend challenged, Fuller challenged, and each time Maifield found a way back to the lead.
Dakotah Phend Sweeps the Pro Buggy Classes
If Pro Nitro Truggy belonged to Maifield, both Pro Buggy divisions belonged to Dakotah Phend.
In Pro Nitro Buggy, Phend led throughout the recorded running phase and became the only driver to complete 55 laps. His 30:14.543 put him a lap ahead of the rest of the podium.
Brandon Rose finished second, with Seth VanDalen third. The biggest movement came from B-main winner Mason Fuller. Starting 17th, Fuller worked through the field to finish fourth on 54 laps, only 5.824 seconds behind VanDalen. Jonah Wilson took fifth.
Ryan Maifield set the fastest lap at 31.714, but the result belonged to Phend’s repeatable pace and control across the full 30 minutes.
Pro Electric Buggy followed the same broad pattern. Phend started first and led nearly the entire final, apart from a brief early appearance by Jonah Wilson at the top of the timing. Once Phend settled into rhythm, the race opened behind him.
Phend completed 19 laps in 10:04.610 and won by 11.718 seconds over Spencer Rivkin. Brandon Rose charged from 11th to third and finished only 1.500 seconds behind Rivkin. Ryan Maifield placed fourth, and Phi Long Nguyen completed the top five.
Seth VanDalen recorded the fastest lap at 31.278 despite finishing 10th, another reminder that one perfect lap and ten minutes of race management are different challenges.
Phend left the weekend with two victories and one runner-up finish across the three Pro classes. No driver produced a stronger top-level body of work.
Donato Tradardi Completes the Intermediate Nitro Double
Donato Tradardi’s weekend was built on patience, pit execution, and an ability to be in control when the race reached its decisive phase.
Intermediate Nitro Truggy was the more active of his two victories. Benny Komerian and Tradardi repeatedly exchanged the lead throughout the 30-minute final. Komerian led early, Tradardi took over, and the position continued to change as the fuel windows and traffic reshaped the order.
Tradardi made the final move count. He completed 53 laps in 30:33.419, one more than Komerian. Gabriel Santiago finished third, while Mad Maddy Long beat Aidan Ridgeway to fourth by 1.587 seconds. Komerian set the fastest lap at 32.241.
The win gave Tradardi the opportunity to complete the double in Intermediate Nitro Buggy, but that final presented a different challenge.
Colton Furnari led the opening stage with Santiago, Tradardi, Benjamin Decker, and Evan Vail in pursuit. Tradardi closed the margin to half a second before making the decisive pass during the first third of the race.
Long became the main challenger as the pit cycles unfolded and briefly appeared at the front during the service sequence. Tradardi’s fuel strategy returned him to the lead. Komerian moved into podium contention but suffered a flameout in pit lane and had to recover.
The track was at its most punishing by then. The usable line had narrowed to roughly one vehicle width in several sections. Drivers needed to alternate between inside and outside approaches to avoid the holes, and a small miss could cost several seconds. Tradardi’s line selection became the model for how to negotiate the surface.
With 11 minutes remaining, he led by approximately seven seconds. By the finish, the margin over Furnari was 15.254 seconds. Long placed third, Komerian recovered to fourth, and Santiago completed the top five.
Tradardi’s two nitro victories, combined with third in Intermediate Electric Buggy, tied him for the most podium appearances of the event.
Benjamin Decker Charges from 12th in Intermediate Electric Buggy
Intermediate Electric Buggy produced one of the strongest short-main comebacks.
Mad Maddy Long and Benny Komerian appeared at the front early, but Benjamin Decker kept climbing from 12th on the grid. Decker moved into the lead late and immediately created separation.
He finished 18 laps in 10:13.300, beating Patrick Rossiter by 10.456 seconds. Donato Tradardi took third, only 0.946 second ahead of Long. Enzo Albertoni climbed from 14th to fifth.
Antonio Caputo recorded the 32.601 fastest lap, but Decker’s combination of recovery speed and a controlled closing run produced the victory.
Decker’s 11-position gain was the largest winning charge in an electric A-main.
Benny Komerian Wins the Weekend’s Closest A-main
Open Electric Truggy delivered the closest fight for a victory.
Benny Komerian started first, but Sean Kochik made an early move to the lead and forced Komerian to respond. Komerian reclaimed the position and spent the rest of the final trying to create enough breathing room.
It never became comfortable.
Komerian completed 18 laps in 10:05.193. Kochik crossed only 2.017 seconds later. Mad Maddy Long finished third, Trent Walker advanced from 11th to fourth, and Peyton Puckett charged from 15th to fifth.
Benjamin Decker set the fastest lap at 31.957 despite finishing 12th.
Komerian’s win came down to answering the only direct challenge and then surviving ten minutes with Kochik close enough to punish a mistake.
John Bernard Jr. Recovers the Lead in 40+ Electric Buggy
John Bernard Jr. converted the top starting position into the 40+ Electric Buggy victory, but not without an early fight.
Billy Easton briefly displaced Bernard at the front. Bernard took the lead back and steadily opened the margin from there, completing 17 laps in 10:05.400.
Mark Moon finished 9.652 seconds behind in second. Dustin Loden took third and set the class’s fastest lap at 33.334. Randy Enger supplied the biggest charge, climbing from 16th to fourth. Chris Hatch completed the top five from ninth.
Bernard’s recovery from the early lead change settled the win. Enger’s 12-position climb supplied the supporting story.
Billy Easton Controls 40+ Nitro Buggy
Billy Easton turned an early exchange with Reggie Tongue into the most decisive win of the weekend.
Easton moved to the front, briefly lost the position to Tongue, and then reclaimed it for good. From there, the rest of the field could not match his combination of speed and long-run consistency.
Easton completed 51 laps in 30:32.193 and was the only driver to reach that total. Brent Thielke and Tongue finished two laps behind, with Thielke taking second by 3.079 seconds. Timothy Hobbs placed fourth, and Santos Rodriguez finished fifth.
Easton also set the fastest lap at 33.223, giving him both the best single-lap speed and the strongest sustained race pace in the class.
Sportsman Electric Classes Reward Recovery and Control
Breck Burns had to win the Sportsman Electric Buggy A-main twice.
Alex Dillingham appeared at the front immediately after the start before Burns moved into control. Gene Shrout Jr. then took the lead during the middle phase. Burns stayed close, reclaimed the position, and opened enough of a gap to finish 5.530 seconds clear.
Burns completed 16 laps in 10:15.110. Shrout took second, Don Hovde finished third, and Talan Abbott climbed from 15th to fourth. Will Taylor completed the top five. Dillingham’s 35.110 was the fastest lap.
Sportsman Electric Truggy was more controlled. Zack Milner started first and led most of the final, although Shaun Morrow briefly took the top position near the middle of the race. Milner answered and stretched the margin to 14.725 seconds over Chris Harris.
Ian Campbell finished third, Morrow placed fourth, and Derek Boddy charged from 16th to fifth. Morrow set the fastest lap at 34.175.
Burns won by taking the lead back. Milner won by answering the only major challenge and then putting the race out of reach.
Carter Bright Breaks Through in Sportsman Nitro Truggy
Sportsman Nitro Truggy began as a wide-open fight and ended with the first major victory of Carter Bright’s career.
Chris Harris started on pole. Bright, Harris, and Mason Montminy each appeared at the front during the opening minutes. Montminy took the lead after Bright struck the pipe, but a flameout around the seven-minute mark dropped him to the rear. A second flameout ended any realistic chance of recovery.
Bright regained control and protected the lead through the first fuel cycle. His first stop took approximately 6.2 seconds, and he retained the top position. By 12 minutes, the lead had grown to 18.6 seconds. Near halfway, the reported gap reached 21.5 seconds.
The truck became increasingly difficult to drive as the tires and grip changed. Bright made several mistakes and had one slower 9.9-second stop, but the earlier cushion gave him room to manage the final stint.
Behind him, Burns passed Atha Stathopoulos for third at the end of the straight and then took second from Bradly Major. Major reclaimed position during the final cycle, but Burns closed once more and beat him to the line by only 0.261 second.
Bright won by 5.715 seconds. Burns finished second, Major third, Harris fourth, and Adam Raber fifth.
After the race, Bright confirmed it was his first major victory. The emotion showed how much the result meant. He had driven fast enough to build the lead and smart enough to preserve it when the truck became edgy.
Mason Montminy Turns Mechanical Heartbreak into a Career Win
The final race of the weekend delivered its biggest comeback and most dramatic reversal.
The Sportsman Nitro Buggy opening lap scrambled the field. Breck Burns briefly moved near the front before falling from second to 12th. Max Mejia established control, while Carter Bright climbed into second and began cutting into the gap. Mason Montminy started 14th and steadily worked his way toward the leaders.
Mejia remained in command through the first half. Bright stayed close enough to apply pressure but lost time through a rough lap and the pit sequence. Montminy continued moving forward and placed himself in position to capitalize if the race changed.
That change came just after halfway.
Mejia suddenly lost forward power. The exact cause was never confirmed, but he chose to continue, nursing the damaged car rather than retiring.
Montminy inherited the lead with roughly 11 minutes remaining.
From there, the 16-year-old drove exactly the race he needed. He completed the final fuel stop, avoided the holes that had punished the field, and built a lead large enough to nearly lap the battle for second.
Burns recovered from his opening-lap setback to finish runner-up. Mejia somehow preserved third despite the loss of performance, followed by Jacob Reid and Bright.
Montminy completed 46 laps, one more than the rest of the podium. He had gone from 14th to first to claim his first major victory.
After the race, Montminy admitted he was shaking near the finish. Mejia’s mechanical issue created the final opportunity, but Montminy had already done the work to climb from the seventh row and put himself in position when it mattered most.
Wicked Weekend Finals Jconcepts Winner's Circle
