March 16, 2013

Tebo & Cavalieri TQ opening Buggy Qualifiers

Tebo

Jared Tebo and Ryan Cavalieri have TQ’d the first round of qualifying for the blue ribbon buggy classes at the 27th Proline Cactus Classic. In 2WD Tebo took his Kyosho around the super high traction SRS Raceway in the fastest time ahead of Team Durango’s Joern Neumann and practice pace setter Naoto Matsukura while in 4WD Cavalieri put his Associated on top also ahead of Neumann with TLR’s Dakotah Phend third. For defending double champion Ryan Maifield the first of the four scheduled qualifiers saw the Arizona ace take both his Associated buggies to the fourth fastest time.

Jared Tebo Shells

Taking the opening 2WD Buggy qualifier by a massive 5.7 seconds, Tebo said his RB6 was ‘really good’ despite the traction being even higher than yesterday’s two practice rounds. While the sugaring of the track has left some drivers struggling to get a set-up for the unusually high traction Tebo said on the plus side for him it had made the track very consistent. Running AKA Handlebar rear tyres in medium compound and silver Losi Taper pins on the front of his buggy, Tebo said he was very comfortable with the set-up but with the timing of Q2 in mind, which will run later tonight, he will drop is shock oil accordingly. In 4WD, the former World Champion said his Lazer ZX5 didn’t feel that good. Setting the 7th fastest time, he will make front end suspension changes for Q2.

Cavalieri

Cavalieri was very happy with his TQ run in 4WD Buggy saying his Orion powered B44.2 was ‘very good’. Having complained of a lack of power in the final controlled practice, he said having changed the timing on his motor by two clicks rather than change the speedo profile had giving him a really good power band which made the buggy really precise to drive. Running red Taper pins on the front and AKA Handlebars on the rear he said he plans to run everything the same for Q2. Failing to make the Top 10 in 2WD, Cavalieri summed up the run by saying he ‘sucked’. Over driving his B4.2 he had a couple bobbles and only when he calmed down did he start to put good laps together but at that stage any chance of a solid opening run were gone.

Joern Neumann

European 4WD Champion Neumann was very happy to open the big two classes with Top 2 times. In 2WD the German ace acknowledged Tebo’s pace saying the American was ‘very fast’. Running JConcepts Barcodes all round on his DEX210 he said with the high traction he had trouble with understeer and so for Q2 he will run a different front compound which should allow him to push a little harder. In 4WD, in which he was just 8/10ths off the TQ pace, he said despite a broken sensor wire which caused him to loose some bottom end power, he was very happy with his DEX410. Team-mate Travis Amezcua had a good 4WD qualifier setting the fifth fastest time. Describing his Viper powered DEX410 as very consistent and easy to drive for the cooler conditions of Q2 he plans to change his shock location and springs.

Naoto

Having set the pace in both 2 & 4WD buggy yesterday Matsukura would set the 3rd and 6th fastest times in Q1 respectively. The Japanese National Champion, who set the fastest lap of 2WD in Q1, said his B-Max 2 MR was good but two driver errors cost him a chance at the TQ but he is confident a cleaner run in Q2 will give him a better result. In 4WD he said his buggy was too soft for the hot conditions and they will change the oils appropriate to the conditions at the time of Q2, which will be the last heat to run on today’s schedule.

Ryan Maifield

Looking to retain his run of titles in buggy at what is his home event, Maifield said both his buggies were good but he crashed too much. Crashing once in each qualifier he said it was ‘one time too many’ and his focus for Q2 is to tidy up his driving. It is worth nothing that Associated have a slight disadvantage at this year’s Cactus due to the high traction and their lack of having a mid motor configuration for the B4.2.

Dakotah Phend

Third fastest in 4WD, TLR’s young gun Dakotah Phend plans to leave his XXX-4 the same for Q2 and instead try to eliminate errors. The 16-year-old had one crash and a roll over at the double after the straight which he said is an area of the track he needs to better master. Following his crash he said he throttled back a bit with little effect to his lap times so he will try this approach from the start of Q2. Running Proline Scrubs on the front and Suburbs on the rear he said he was happy with that tyre combination so will run it again tonight. Team-mate Dustin Evans failed to finish his opening 2WD Buggy qualifying due to a speedo problem but in 4WD posted the 5th fastest time with TLR’s aging XXX-4 chassis. Evans said the buggy was very aggressive mainly due to his choice of front tyres which was too soft so he had to drive easy and the end result was decent. For Q2 he will switch to JConcept Barcodes both front and rear.

Tanner Denney

One of the big surprises of the opening round was Team Associated’s Tanner Denney. Having struggled yesterday leaving him in one of the lower heat groupings the 17-year-old posted the sixth fastest time in 2WD Buggy. Denney said his low heat listing might have benefited him a little but the main reason for his jump in performance was that he had a properly built diff having discovered that he ran yesterday without the top shaft outer bearing which was the reason he broke gears in both his practices.

2WD Mod Buggy Qualifying Round 1
1. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 14/5:03.881
2. Joern Neumann – Durango/Speed Passion – 14/5:09.582
3. Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo/Yokomo – 14/5:10.605
4. Ryan Maifield – Associated/Reedy – 14/5:12.130
5. Travis Amezcua – Durango/Viper – 14/5:12.903
6. Tanner Denney – Associated/Reedy – 14/5:14.253
7. Matt Castellano – TLR/Orion – 14/5:15.248
8. Lee Martin – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 14/5:17.496
9. Mike Truhe – TLR/Novak – 14/5:17.709
10.Steven Hartson – Associated/LRP – 14/5:18.059

4WD Mod Buggy Qualifying Round 1
1. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 15/5:15.123
2. Joern Neumann – Durango/Speed Passion – 15/5:15.917
3. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 15/5:19.172
4. Ryan Maifield – Associated/Reedy – 15/5:19.606
5. Dustin Evans – TLR/Orion – 14/5:01.598
6. Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo/Yokomo – 14/5:02.688
7. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 14/5:04.688
8. Carson Warnimont – Durango/ – 14/5:06.116
9. Steven Hartson – Associated/LRP – 14/5:06.666
10.Cory Crosley – Associated/Reedy – 14/5:07.821

View the event image gallery here.



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