First TQ run for champion Tessmann in Q3

Defending US National Truggy Champion Ty Tessmann claimed his first TQ run this morning at Thornhill Racing Circuit when he narrowly outpaced yesterday’s qualifying dominator Dakotah Phend in Q3.  With the two drivers running almost identical lap times, Tessmann with a 44.764 compared to Phend’s 44.778, the pair where separated by 1.2 second at the end of the 7-minute qualifier.  The championship’s most successful driver, Ryan Maifield, who has been Truggy Champion 3-times, enjoyed a good start to Day 2 of qualifying after a disappointing day yesterday as he completed the Top 3.

‘Didn’t make any mistakes this time’ was how Tessmann summed up his TQ run making reference to yesterday’s qualifying when he made more mistakes than usual.  Having had trouble with the tracks centre jump he said he was ‘getting the hang of it’ now.  Describing the pace of Q3 as ‘super close’, he said his OS Speed powered D8T and Pro-Line X2 Holeshot tyres worked well and he will run everything the same for the fourth & final qualifier. Set to decide whether he or Phend are the overall Top Qualifier, the Canadian said his plan is try to ‘do the same thing only in a faster time’.

‘Really close’, that was Phend’s reaction to the run.  Feeling the track was better than yesterday when he TQ’d both runs, he said it was down to who was more consistent between him & Tessmann as on outright pace there was nothing in it.  Running X3 Holeshots on his Orion powered 8ight T, he said the truck felt good and for the last one he will continue to run it as is.

Maifield called his run ‘not too bad’.  The factory Associated driver said while the ‘two guys are a lot faster, the rest of the field is really tight’.  Outpacing his team-mate Ryan Cavalieri by just a 1/10th of a second he said Tessmann & Phend have a distinct advantage from their trucks as the nature of the track layout means that the driver is less of an element.  Changing to a harder rim for Q3, he said this made the truck more precise to drive.  Also changing to a stiffer front shock along with making a roll centre adjustment he was much happier with how the truck was running today.  For the final qualifier the JConcepts driver will switch from the company’s Stacker tyre to the smaller pin Hybrid again fitted on a stiffer rim.

Exchanging banter with Maifield about their close times, Cavalieri, who was 4th fastest, said he ‘just left it and drove it’ and it was ‘pretty good’.  Missing his lines a couple of times, he said towards the end of the run he was able to run a number of consistent laps adding the track was starting to deteriorate a little.  For Q4, he will again leave his Orion powered RC8T CE the same unless the track changes significantly after the third round of Buggy qualifying.

Setting the fifth fastest time Ryan Lutz said the run was ‘a little better’, the Team Durango driver ending yesterday with a poor Q2 run.  A ‘decent’ result, he said he started the heat ahead of Jeremy Kotrtz with a good gap between them but a ”blistering’ first lap from the Agama driver meant he had to let him through.  Once he went passed Lutz said ‘it was like he forgot how to drive’ and he struggled behind him for three laps before Kortz had a big off.  Having changed to a lighter oil in the DNX8T’s front diff looking for more off power steering in the corners he said he maybe went a little to light and for Q4 he will ‘split the difference’.

‘Not as good as I had hoped’ was how Carson Wernimont summed up his run to the sixth fastest time.  The Mugen driver said he hit traffic and then at the end made a mistake that saw his OS Speed powered MBX7T get hooked up on the piping for a time.  Without that he said he had the pace for a Top 3 time.  For his final qualifier, the 17-year-old will make a number of changes with a view to working on a set-up for the Final.  Planning to change diff oils he will also try a different AKA tyre.

Q3 Truggy times – Top 10
1. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed – 10/7:32.289
2. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 10/7:33.483
3. Ryan Maifield – Associated/Novarossi – 10/7:39.231
4. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 10/7:39.355
5. Ryan Lutz – Durango/Alpha – 10/7:39.504
6. Carson Wernimont – Mugen/OS Speed – 10/7:39.728
7. Cody King – Kyosho/Reds Racing – 10/7:40.163
8. Michael Truhe – Serpent/TOP – 10/7:40.707
9. Josh Wheeler – Xray/OS Speed – 10/7:41.611
10.Billy Fischer – TLR/Novarossi – 10/7:41.969

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