Tebo is Truggy Top Qualifier at DNC
Kyosho’s Jared Tebo is the overall Top Qualifier for Truggy at the Dirt Nitro Challenge taking pole position for Saturday’s 45-minute Main on a tie break from defending champion Ty Tessmann. Having TQ’d the second round of qualifying, the battle looked set to be between Tebo and David Ronnefalk who topped the opening qualifier. Initially Ronnefalk again set the pace just like in Q2, only this time it was a mistake of his own and not traffic, the Swede would give up the lead as the run entered the second half. Losing over 3-seconds, this would leave Tebo and Tessmann to battle it out with the pair finishing up separated by just 0.015 of a second thanks to a blistering fastest final lap of 35.545 from Tessmann who fired his HB truggy across the finishing loop. In the end though it was Tebo’s Q2 pace that gave him the tie break for his first Truggy TQ at the Fear Farm, his last TQ of the class coming in 2011 when he did the DNC double when the race was held at the Nitro Pit.
‘Pretty good’ was Tebo’s reaction to his Q3 performance. Happy at securing the overall TQ, the same couldn’t be said for how he was starting the race. With the track being watered while the cars ran their warm-up laps, one centre section clearly over watered, Tebo left his position on the driver stand twice to air his frustrations with the race director. While the drivers were given more time for their warm-up, commenting afterwards Tebo said the watering is not being done consistently. In terms of his Inferno ST-RR Evo he said having made a change to the front shock location he would go back a little to something inbetween this and what he ran in Q2 for the final practice. Looking to the final he said he is feeling pretty confident adding he is really happy with his new engines, this being his first race with new engine sponsor Mx.
Having struggled to only the 12th fastest time in Q2, Tessmann described the final qualifier as ‘a lot better’. Describing the run as a ‘little hairy at the start’ he said it was a clean run but still his tyres where not perfect. Having struggled for traction yesterday, the set of Pro-Line Holeshot tyres he ran in the second qualifier left him struggling for traction and steering with Tessmann noticing that set of tyres didn’t balloon as they would normally do. With a new set on the D8T this morning, he said the fronts acted normal giving him better steering but still the rears didn’t balloon. Putting it down to a bad batch of tyres, the Canadian said while they will switch to Blockades for the final they will bench run the truggy to ensure all four tyres balloon. Asked about his blistering final lap time, the World Champion said he knew it was close between himself and Tebo so coming off the last jump he ‘punched it over the line, the truck glancing off the outside piping.
Frustrated at knowing he could have wrapped up his first overall TQ at the DNC yesterday only for traffic to put him on his roof, Ronnefalk was even more frustrated by his Q3 error which was all his own doing. Running too close on the inside of the uphill triple the Swede hit he piping which put his D8T on its roof, a moment of the race he said ‘sucked’. Despite this he said starting the long Main in the Top 3 was ‘ok’ and he knows in terms of pace he can run with both Tessmann and Tebo so he is confident for Saturday.
Fourth fastest in Q3 and securing that same position on the grid, the surprise of the event Joe Bornhorst said he was ‘speechless’. The start of his first full season with Tekno, having signed with the team last September, the 20-year-old said ‘everyone stepped it up that time and I tried my hardest’ and ‘I am more than happy with 4th’. Describing the track as being ‘really wet’ at the beginning, adding he isn’t in agreement with how they are watering the track, he said despite this his NT48 was ‘awesome’ and he is really looking forward to the final.
Despite having his worst run in Q3, a couple of mistakes and changes to his engine hampering his performance, Adam Drake will line-up fifth on the grid. One of the all time legends of 1:8 Offroad, he said ‘all things considered I’m happy to be fifth’ pausing for a moment before adding ‘I’m happy to be here racing period’. Putting together a late deal with Mugen to contest the DNC, he said rather than change the clutch as planned for Q3 he opted to change ‘some stuff’ on his Novarossi engine but it was the wrong way to go. Asked about the final he said will revert back to the engine set he ran in Q2 and having found better steering in his MBX7T and with some small set-up changes he should be good again for the Main.
Setting the 8th fastest time in Q3 to secure 6th on the grid, Ryan Maifield said his run was ‘not awesome but it got me the points to be in the Main’. Feeling under the weather, he said ‘starting 6th is fine’. In terms of his truggy, the TLR driver said he went with too soft a JConcepts tyre for the final qualifier and his Orion engine could have done with a better tune but they’re both things that can be easily rectified for the final.
Starting behind Maifield will be his former team-mate Ryan Cavalieri. The longtime Associated driver said his Q3 ‘started off a tick slow’ but but he put together ‘a good consistent run’ to posted the 6th fastest time behind Ryan Lutz. Looking to make his modified RC8T ‘a little quicker’, he will make ‘a couple of changes for the warm-up’ in the hope of finding some speed for the final.
Lining up 8th on the grid, Ryan Lutz was overall frustrated by how qualifying had gone. Not happy with his own driving so far, he said in terms of his truggy, gearing is an issue with the options he has available leaving him inbetween where he wants to be. With the gearing he is running too tall he said switching to a 13-bell would leave him too short. He said he has ‘a lot of things to work on for the final’ but ‘if (he) can nail it, it should be good’. Behind Lutz, Mugen’s Barry Pettit, Xray’s Josh Wheeler, HB’s Tanner Stees and Associated Carson Wernimont, who pulled the rear wing off his RC8T in Q3, complete the Top 12 direct A-Main qualifiers with a further 3 drivers set to bump up from the B-Main.
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