Tessmann top 4WD seed at Cactus Classic

Team HB’s Ty Tessmann is the top seed for 4WD Buggy qualifying at the 28th running of the Pro-Line Cactus Classic. The Canadian topped controlled practice on the sugared SRS Raceway track when he posted the fastest 3-consecutive laps in the second of the days two runs.  Behind the US National Champion, Dakotah Phend set the second fastest time as he also improved on his morning time while Kyosho’s Jared Tebo, who was fastest in the morning, completed the Top 3.

Making changes to his D4-13, Tessmann said they made for a ‘big improvement’ with him able to improve his 3-laps by 7/10ths of a second.  Adjusting the anti-squat and laying down the rear shock it made the buggy ‘easier through the bumps’.  Also changing his shock oil due to the temperature change between the first and second run, he said after the second run he is feeling confident going into qualifying, 2 of the 4 rounds on tomorrow’s schedule.  Planning to leave his set-up as is he said the only change would be to the shock oil depending on the weather at the time of the first qualifier.

Having adjusted the rear camber link on his TLR22-4, Phend said this made the buggy less ‘tippy’ allowing him to ‘drive it a little harder’.  Pleased with where his set-up is now at, the 17-year-old’s focus for Q1 is to ‘try and get a clean run’ adding that he will ‘just run at (his) own pace’.

Re-running the same tyres he used to top CP1, Tebo said while over three laps he was unable to improve, in terms of outright pace he was able to post a fastest lap time.  Describing the difference between new and used tyres as ‘quite a big difference’, he said his close to final production prototype ZX6 feels good and for the first qualifier all he plans to do is fit a fresh set of tyres.

Another driver to run his tyres again in the second practice, Joern Nuemann ends the days as the fourth seed.  The Team Durango driver said he ran the tyres to see what the difference was and while they started out good by the end of the 5-minutes his DEX410 began to get loose.  Describing his buggy as easy to drive but still ‘very fast’, the German is looking forward to the opening qualifier for which he will leave his set-up as is, just fitting a new set of Pro-Lines.

The fastest of the Team Associated drivers, Ryan Cavalieri will be the 5th seed for qualifying.  Despite running his tyres for a second time which he said weren’t as good, the former World Champion was able to better his morning time.  Saying that ‘overall the car is good’, he plans to go into the opening qualifier with the B44.2 as-is on a fresh set of rubber.

Completing the Top 6, Ryan Lutz said his Durango has been close to the pace all the time and he has been making minor tweaks to find that little bit he is missing.  Normally running his steering end point beyond the full lock to counteract for movement in the servo saver on his 1:8 buggy, he discovered he didn’t readjust for that on his DEX410 which doesn’t run a servo saver.  Causing the steering to bind, he reduced it for CP2 but this led to the buggy feeling ‘too mellow’.  For Q2 he will make a set-up change to get move steering back following the end point adjustment.

Having made his Schumacher stiffer for CP2, Carson Wernimont will revert back to his morning set-up.  Unable to improve on his CP1 time which seeds him seventh, he said the harder arms and alloy chassis made the K1 Aero difficult to drive.  With the previous set-up ‘a lot more forgiving’, he said he is confident that he can use that to good effect in Q1.

Defending champion Ryan Maifield finds himself only 8th fastest.  Asked what he was struggling with he joked ‘the corners, the jumps and the straight’.  With his B44.2 ‘hard to drive and not fast on lap times’, he plans to copy Cavalieri’s set-up.  Having watched his team-mate, he said his car looked a lot more comfortable to drive.  In addition to the set-up change, the Arizona driver will also switch to a softer JConcepts tyre.

Team Serpent’s Mike Truhe managed the 9th fastest time.  With Serpent not yet having a 4WD Buggy, Truhe is running a Durango this weekend which was built for him by its designer Gerd Strenge.  Pleased to put in a top 10 time, having focused his attention on his 2WD Serpent over the past two day of open practice, he said he still needs to do a little work on the shock set-up of the DEX410 ahead of Q1.  Team Novak’s Billy Fischer completed the Top 10 ahead of former TLR team-mate Dustin Evans, Kyosho’s Cody Turner and Durango’s Travis Amezcua.

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