Truck Champions top first Cactus qualifier
Defending truck champions Ryan Cavalieri and Ryan Lutz got their Proline Cactus Classic campaigns off to the perfect start as they TQ’d the opening round of qualifying in Mod Truck and 2WD Short Course respectively this morning at SRS Raceway in Scottsdale, Arizona. For 4WD Short Course Champion Joern Neumann and Team Durango there was some controversy in the opening qualifier as the entire team with the exception of Ryan Lutz were disqualified from the top heat for running rear spoilers on their trucks but ultimately it was Team Losi Racing’s Billy Fischer who set the pace.
Driving his Orion powered T4.2, Cavalieri was pleased to put in a strong opening qualifier but said following the re-sugaring of the track after controlled practice last night conditions were a little tricky. Driving a safe round, the US National Champion said as there was ‘so much traction’ he did not push too much and that approach paid off. Second fastest in 2WD Short Course, he said the run was ok but he had a little understeer due to running different front & rear tyres and so for Q2 will run the same tyre pattern all around.
Setting the second fastest time, 1.8 seconds behind Cavalieri, Dustin Evans said after an early mistake at the triple he just tried to keep his Orion powered TLR 22T on all four wheels. The Team Losi Racing driver said traction was even higher today which makes for tricky driving conditions and even though the second qualifier will run at night he will change to a thicker oil in his shocks. Third fastest in 2WD Short Course, Evans said his truck was the best it has been yet but the run featured too many mistakes. For Q2 the Colorado driver said he will make some small set-up changes in an attempt to make it a little more stable in the high speed corners.
Neumann took his Durango to the third fastest time in Mod Truck, the German declaring it a ‘good’ first run. Running JConcepts Barcodes on the rear and Pressure Points on the front of his Speed Passion powered DEST210 he said he had a little understeer and so for Q2 will run Barcodes all round.
Having topped yesterday’s controlled practice in both 2WD truck classes, Maifield was not happy with his own performance in the Mod Truck. Describing his Reedy powered T4.2 as really good, the Arizona driver who is one of the most straight talking drivers in the sport said he was a ‘retard’ and ‘crashed like a dip shit’. At the end of the 5-minute qualifier he would post the fourth fastest time. In 2WD Short Course there was no such issues as he cruised to the fastest time 3.8 seconds ahead of Associated team-mate Cavalieri.
In 4WD Short Course Pro-Line equipped Fischer lead a TLR 1-2 from his young team-mate Dakotah Phend with Lutz, who retired from his 2WD Short Course qualifier when he popped a rear dog bone, completing the Top 3. An issue that also surfaced last year, the rules on the use of spoilers/wings in Short Course appears not to be very clear but as race director Scotty Ernst announced throughout yesterday’s practice that spoilers were not permitted he had no choice but to exclude the offending drivers.
View the event image gallery here.