Maifield takes Q2 at ‘The Dirt’
Ryan Maifield has TQ’d the second round of Truggy qualifying at the Dirt Nitro Challenge, the TLR driver fastest from a much improved reigning champion David Ronnefalk. It was a somewhat lucky TQ for Maifield however as he would crash at the first attempt of running the heat but with the timing computer also crashing it forced the qualifier to be restarted. Given a second chance he would make sure he didn’t crash again, having crashed in the opening round of both Truggy and e-Buggy, to top the times by half a second. Completing the Top 3 would be Ryan Cavalieri followed by Q1 pace setter Ty Tessmann.
‘I got a little lucky’ was Maifield reaction to the qualifier. Having crashed on the last lap of the opening qualifier when in contention for the TQ with Tessmann, he said he couldn’t believe it when he crashed again but with the timing computer needing to be reset he said he got ‘super lucky’. On the restart he ‘started out a little tight after the crash’ but once he got into his rhythm the ‘truck was putting down fastest laps without much effort’. Again posting the fastest lap as the only driver to run in the 38-seconds, he said the truck was really good despite the ‘track (conditions) changing every run’. In contention for the overall TQ going into the third and final qualifier, he said he will leave his truck unchanged but ‘will change to a softer tyre for the weather’, Q3 set to run in much cooler & dark night time conditions.
‘Big changes, big improvement’ was how Ronnefalk summed up his second attempt having only been 15th in Q1. A rear end set-up change, a new Orion engine and different pipe plus softer compound AKA Grid Iron tyres had left the Swede a lot happier with his D8T. With the changes giving him ‘more grip, more steering’ resulting in the truck being ‘more stable’, he plans to keep it as for Q3 other than fit new tyres with the focus being on a solid run to allow him to drop his Q1 P15.
Cavalieri said other than ‘little rush hour traffic’ which he made it through with just one bobble, Q2 was ‘not too bad’. The Associated driver said his truck is ‘already there on race pace’ and with two good runs they would use the final qualifier as a ‘bench test’. The first race with everything production based on the new RC8T3, there are ‘a few little things’ he wants to try in preparation for the 45-minute final.
Tessmann said the qualifier ‘was going good’ until he had a bobble. Leaving him right behind Maifield, the HB driver would then suffer a roll over leaving him to finish 2.8-seconds off Maifield’s pace. While the ‘truck is fine’, the Canadian said he needs to ‘not push so hard’ and the aim for the final qualifier is to ‘just try to run the next one without crashes’.
Fifth fastest Ryan Lutz said while he ‘improved a little’ it was ‘hard to keep up with how much the track changes (each run)’. The factory Tekno driver continued ‘by the time you have mounted the tyres you plan to use the track has changed’. With the sun coming out for Q2 after a cloudy start to the day, Lutz said ‘everything got a little hotter’ leaving the truck ‘soft overall’ but the set-up ‘should be good for the last one’. Team-mate Joe Bornhorst, who was fifth in Q1, would take his TN48.3 to the 7th fastest time after he ‘again wrecked’ this time in the middle of the 7-minute run. He said he should have went up on the oil for the temperature as like Lutz the truck was a ‘little soft’ but added it ‘should be fine for tonight’.
Completing the Top 6, Jared Tebo said his truck ‘had about the same speed as Q1 but (he) had a pretty decent mistake early on’. Last year’s Top Qualifier but no match for the HBs in the Main, the 2011 champion said ‘I don’t have the raw speed’ which he said he thinks is in his diffs which he is running too light. He will go up in oil for the last qualifier.
View our complete image gallery here.
