Tebo again in Buggy Q2
Defending ROAR Champion Jared Tebo backed up his opening qualifying run with a second TQ run in Buggy to leave him top of the qualification standings at the end of Day 3 of the US Offroad Nationals. Tebo’s Kyosho topped the time sheets for the final run of the day from the Associated of Ryan Maifield and World Champion Cody King.
The only driver to make 15-laps in Q2, Tebo said conditions were very edgy compared to the morning and he was not sure if that was down to change in temperature or the track being more bumpy. Having changed the front shock oil on his AKA equipped MP9 the 24-year-old from Kansas City said his buggy was really good and other than some real minor adjustments his focus for tomorrow is to test tyres for Sunday’s finals.
Despite making changes to the down travel on the front end, which he said made his RC8B too aggressive, Maifield looked like he might challenge Tebo for the round. Setting the fastest lap for Q2, his chances of a TQ run ended when he got caught up in an incident which happened ahead of him on the track costing him around 2 seconds. The pace setter in practice, Maifield summed up the first day of qualifying as ‘not bad but not as good as yesterday’.
Only 12th fastest in Q1 King was pleased with 3rd showing he could run the same pace as the top guys. With his Kyosho working well after changes, the 24-year-old Californian said he had a really good opening part to the run but then made a couple of bobbles but overall it was good to end the day on a ‘good note’.
Taking his Hot Bodies to fourth Ty Tessmann described the run as ‘pretty good’. Choosing Proline’s new long pin Blockade he said they worked well for the conditions but the set-up on his D8 still needs work. With 22 groups to run before him tomorrow the 18-year-old plans to wait to see how conditions pan out before deciding what changes are required.
Behind Tessmann Team Durango’s Ryan Lutz took his Alpha powered DNX408 to the fifth fastest time just ahead of Ryan Cavalieri who said his Associated was good but maybe the driver needed to calm down a little. Team-mate Steve Hartson enjoyed a good run with the eight fastest time behind Jesse Robbers’ Hot Bodies CR8. Rounding out the Top 10 Adam Drake was the fastest Losi in 9th and while Taylor Peterson was the lead Mugen in 10th ahead of Billy Easton’s Serpent.
Qualifying resumes in the morning with drivers having two more opportunities to make their mark. Our coverage which is supported by Team Durango continues with news from Q3 for truggy.
View our event image gallery here.