Panther Tires Johnny LoGiudice Tq’d and won in dominate fashion on his Panther Clay SC Rattlers with the new orange inserts. Johnny  was almost a full half second faster than the closest driver and nearly lapped the field twice to take down the victory. With nearly 100 entries for Round# 4 Michigan State Championship Series @ Proving Grounds ,Jenison, MI. The remainder of the series races are shaping up to be even more action packed!

Panther Tires would like to welcome Doug “Casper” Nielsen to our racing team. Doug is a long time TLR team driver and has been known to be one of the most helpful guys at the track. Doug regularly places his cars in the top 3 spots at the JRBL Series and other large races all around the SoCal area.

Doug had this to say “I was really impressed with Panther Tires latest tire tread designs and rubber compounds. I tested my regular “go to” tire in comparison to the Panther Tires and it was just ok. The Panther Tires allowed me to run some of my fastest times on that layout. Balance felt good, great forwardd bite and good side bite which allowed the car to rotate but not get out of control.”

East West Shootout has become a classic in MI in the past 5 years. With Easter weekend, the attendance was a little lower than expected, but top drivers from each side of the states were there to represent. Panther Team driver Mike Champ started the day on a good note while the track was tacky and required slicks. Mike would  Tq the first round of Mod SC by 3 seconds on Panther SC Rattlers and orange inserts. The Panther clay compound was definitely the best asset for traction. His Kyosho team mate Jason Jakubczyk TQ’d the 2nd and 3rd round and took overall TQ. By the end of the day, full pins were required and Mike would choose Rattler SC with Panther Orange inserts saying ” Rattlers are definitely the best combo to get traction everywhere on the track on this technical layout.” Mikes  Truck was glued to the track while other showed limited traction in a couple of spots… Mike would start the main in 2nd position, and stayed a couple of seconds behind Jason for the whole race but could never catch him, finishing just under 6sec behind at the end of the race, while the rest of the field ended up about a half a lap behind.

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On March 30-April 1 2012, ARCS Hobbies & Raceway near Ashtabula, Ohio held their annual Lake Erie Shootout. With nearly 130 entries this year, this race has historically been one of the largest and most competitive off-road races in the Midwest region. Panther driver Matt Stoltz put forth a strong showing all weekend, qualifying and finishing 2nd overall in the Short Course Pro-2 class with his Panther Tire equipped Kyosho Ultima SCR SP. Matt used Panther Clay Slicks mounted on DE Racing’s Trinidad SC wheels from the first practice all the way through the main. ”The surface at ARCS was absolutely perfect for the Panther Slicks,” said Stoltz. “While everyone was busy trying to grind tires to adapt to the track conditions, I was able to come in knowing that I had the right combination.”

Matt also had a great weekend in the Modified Stadium Truck class, taking his Ultima RT5 to second overall on the qualifying grid using Panther’s Clay Switch 2.0 tires.

Nitro Toys and Hobbies in Flowood Mississippi had the NTH Spring Shootout this past weekend. With over 100 entries the race format would be three qualifiers and a single main. In mod stadium truck Panther Tires team driver Kevin Hawkinson would set TQ early in the first round with his Panther shotd TLR 22T.  Kevin was able to better his run every round locking up the overall TQ position. Kevin ran Clay Switches 2.0s front and rear during the qualifying runs. For the Truck main an early mistake put him in third but Kevin was able to come back and move into the 1st position. Kevin never looked back and cruised to the win with a lap on the field. The tire of choice for truck in the main was Raptors and V-ribs as the track loosened up a bit with a dusty layer on top.

The second heat of Mod 2wd Buggy Kevin Hawkinson would bounce back from technical issues in Rd1 and take TQ overall by .5 seconds with his Panther shod TLR22 buggy. Through the heats in mod buggy the tire of choice was clay Switch 2.0′s and Lynx II’s. In the buggy main Kevin got a great start and never looked back leading buzzer to buzzer.

“My TLR22 was .2 faster than the next guy and felt great with my Panther Switch 2.0′s and Bobcats. I feel that my tire combo gave me a huge advantage, nobody had the forward bite that I had and the steering that the Bobcat provided was the deciding factor. I would like to thank Nitro Toys and Hobbies for putting on a great event, in addition, Team Panther, and  TLR for the great support.” Kevin Hawkinson

Panther Tires Chris Peterson also Tq’d and won the 1/8 Electric Buggy division rolling on Panther Raptors in clay compound with orange inserts.

TLR Shootout hosted at Dirtburners in Livonia, Michigan was held over the weekend. Panther Team driver Johnny LoGuidice was ready for some stiff competition at his home track.

Pro Mod 2wd Buggy Johnny qualified 3rd and took the win by almost 4 seconds. Johnny was using the new TQ Racing platform, using Panthers new Rattlers 2.0s (clay)and Bobcat fronts.  Johnny had a great race against TLR’s Dakota Phend and Associated’s Dan Griffin. Tight clean racing was the norm for the weekend and Johnny’s choice in tires proved to be a major part of his winning combination.

In 2wd Mod SCT, Johnny TQ’d and won on Panther Rattlers (clay) with the new orange inserts on his TQ Racing Chassis.

Round 2 held at Hemet Competition Raceway Panthers own Jeremy Hase took down the wins in Expert Stock Pro 2 SC running Panther soft Rattlers in the front and super soft Raptors in the rear. Expert Mod Pro2 SC Jeremy again took down the win running Panther soft Rattlers in the front and super soft Raptors in the rear.

Round 3 held at Thunder Alley Raceway in Beaumont Jeremy Hase again was the man to beat. Taking 1st in Expert Stock SC running Panther soft Rattlers in the front and super soft Raptors in the rear. Jeremy would dominate the ExpertMod Pro2 SC running Panther soft Rattlers in the front and super soft Raptors in the rear.

Jeremy is proving that Panther Tires are simply the fastest SC tire in the Grass Roots series. Great job Jeremy!

Panther Tires own Brian Strange wraps up the LSR Speedway Thursday Night Nats Series. Brian was running the new Rattler 2.0 and orange inserts along with Bobcat fronts on his TLR22. BMiller teammates Eddie Bernal and Justin Moon were also on Panther Tires, Rattler 2.0/Bobcats for Bernal, Switch 2.0/Bobcats for Moon. As you can see in the results the 3 drivers were very close with the title coming down to the final round. Congratulations to Brian Strange for taking the overall!

Eddie Bernal(Left),Brian Strange(center),Justin Moon(Right)