Cavalieri TQs penultimate qualifier
Having said he was ‘very close’ when he posted the second fastest time on Q3, defending World Champion Ryan Cavalieri finally hit the top in the penultimate round of qualifying taking it by a mere 0.062 from Joern Neumann. Q3 pace setter Ty Tessman completed the Top 3 ahead of Lee Martin’s Tamiya and the Associated’s of Steven Hartson and Neil Cragg. The result means that the final qualifier will see the Top 2 finishers at the 2011 World Championship will battle it out for the honour of becoming Top Qualifier for the 15th IFMAR 4WD Electric Buggy World Championships.
Almost copying team-mate Ryan Maifield who threw away a TQ run in Q3 on the last lap, Cavalieri said he got lucky when he got out of shape at the banking before the start of the main straight adding he doesn’t know how his B44.2 didn’t roll. Aware the times would be very close he said he gave a little extra and pushing just a little too hard on the last lap. Moving the steering rack position forward for the round he said he liked the change. Also trying a swaybar on the single warm-up lap he said he opted to disconnect that before the start of the qualifier.
A bad opening lap from Neumann, which left him running 5th in the A-Heat with Durango team-mate Ryan Lutz top of the timing screens, meant the German had to push hard to recover. Running a rebuilt buggy, having bent his prototype chassis in Q3, Neumann said he ‘pushed very hard’ adding he was surprised at how comfortable the buggy was to drive on the limit. Making a second mistake he said he still knew it would be close for a TQ run. Posting the fastest lap of the round, a 27.333, with 3-laps to go it would end up being very close for the Euro Offroad Series Champion hundred’s shy of Cavalieri. Happy with his Orion powered DEX410 Neumann said other than a fresh set of the controlled Proline tyres he will run the buggy as is in the final pole position deciding qualifier.
Tessman was happy with his 3rd. The HB driver said after his two poor runs in the opening qualifiers he said he needed a clean run to back up his Q3 TQ run. Taking a cautious approach which resulted in a mistake free 5-minutes, the US Champion felt he maybe drove a little too carefully as he was not as fast as he would have liked to have been but he got the result he needed.
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