Neumann stamps authority Day 1 of 4WD Buggy
Team Durango’s Joern Neumann stamped his authority on the first day of 4WD Buggy Qualifying at the 28th running of the Pro-Line Cactus Classic as he claimed the second of the days qualifiers by a massive 5.1 seconds over US National Champion Ty Tessmann. Having had a bad start to the day posting only the 18th fastest time in Q1, defending champion Ryan Maifield turned things around to record a 3rd for the round.
Posting a new fastest lap of 21.205 around the SRS Raceway track, Neumann said despite changing nothing on his Orion powered DEX410 other than fit a new set of Pro-Line tyres his buggy felt even better than in the morning when he topped Q1 from Jared Tebo. Putting the improvement down to the hotter track conditions, the World Championship Top Qualifier said he has no reason to make any changes for tomorrow’s third of four rounds of qualifying, another TQ run putting the overall TQ beyond the reach of his rivals.
Posting only the sixth fastest time in Q1, Tessmann said his HB D4-13 was much better second time round. Changing back to the regular size front Proline rim having run VTR in the morning, he said the extra flex made the buggy easier to drive. While easier to drive, the Canadian said it made him a little slower in the tight sections and so they will make a set-up adjustment to get the buggy to be a little more aggressive without making it edgy on the high speed corners in particular at the end of the straight. They will use the morning’s 45 minute open free practice to test the change ahead of their Q3 run. In terms of his time for Q2, Tessmann said he lost a bit of time after contact with Billy Fischer.
Having run gear diffs in Q1, Maifield switched to ball diffs in his B44.2 for the round which he said made the buggy easier to drive. While now ‘more consistent’, the 3-time back to back champion said they are still off the pace but overall he is happy that they have now headed in the right direction in terms of set-up. Team-mate Cavalieri posted the fourth fastest time, the former World Champion annoyed by a driver error. Describing the run as ‘going good till I rolled it’, he said his B44.2 ‘feels pretty good’ and all he plans to do is ‘freshen it up for the next one’.
‘Ok considering’ was how Dakotah Phend summed up his second qualifier. Finding his TLR22-4 hard to drive from early on in the run, this was due to the front belt stripping making the buggy ‘3/4 four wheel drive’. Despite this the 17-year-old managed the 5th fastest time.
Completing the Top 6 Tebo said his prototype Kyosho ZX6 was ‘really good’ but he just went for it a little too hard. Crashing twice in the middle section of the track, he said for tomorrow the only change he would make would be to back down his driving a little.
‘Much better than the first one as the driver turned up’ was Carson Wernimont’s response to how Q2 went. Setting the 7th fastest time, the factory Schumacher driver said his K1 Aero was easy to drive but he needs to make it a little faster. To achieve this the 17-year-old plans to change the settings of his front camber links.
Behind Wernimont, 13-year-old Damion Borkowicz backed up his strong Q1 performance to post the 8th fastest time with his JConcepts sponsored Associated. Behind him Team Durango’s Ryan Lutz and World Champion Steven Hartson completed the Top 10.
4WD Buggy Qualifying Round 2
1. Joern Neumann – Durango – 14/5:03.338
2. Ty Tessmann – HB – 14/5:08.481
3. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 14/5:09.128
4. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 14/5:09.298
5. Dakotah Phend – TLR – 14/5:09.991
6. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 14/5:13.306
7. Carson Wernimont – Schumacher – 14/5:14.299
8. Damion Borkowicz – Associated – 14/5:15.219
9. Ryan Lutz – Durango – 14/5:15.473
10.Steven Hartson – Associated – 14/5:16.106
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