Ronnefalk heads HB 1-2 in first DNC Truggy qualifier

New HB signing David Ronnefalk headed a HB 1-2 in the opening round of qualifying at the Dirt Nitro Challenge in Arizona, the Swede taking his D8T truggy to the fastest time around the Fear Farm track from defending champion & team-mate Ty Tessmann.  Just 2/10ths off Tessmann, TLR’s Ryan Maifield completed the Top 3 with former team-mate & Mugen debutant Adam Drake setting the fourth fastest time, the Top 4 the only drivers to complete 12 laps over the 7-minutes.

His first nitro outing with his new team, Ronnefalk was pleased to kick off proceedings with a TQ run.  Describing it as a clean run he was particular happy with the fact that the run contained ‘no stupid mistakes’.  Running soft compound AKA Grid Iron tyres on his D8T he said his shocks where a little soft but the rest of the set-up was fine. Suffering a bobble on his penultimate lap he said this resulted in the cars steering dying momentarily before coming back.  With everything checking out ok when they got the truggy back to the pits, for Q2 he will fit a new power switch.

Having set the pace in practice and chasing a fourth consecutive DNC Truggy title, Tessman described his first qualifier as ‘alright’.  The Canadian lost time with a crash in the whoops and also felt he lost time early on in the run due to how much they watered the track.  Running Pro-Line X3 Holehots on his D8T he said the truck set-up felt good and the only change for Q2 would be deciding in the right tyre for the conditions of the track, a round taking over 5-hours to complete so plenty of time for the conditions to change.

Maifield said he started off the run a little too conservative but overall described it as an ‘ok’ opening round.  Happier with how he drove over the last few laps, he said his choice of JConcepts Green compound Chaser tyre was a little hard for the conditions and for Q2 the plan for now to go with a softer compound but the biggest improvement would come from ‘not driving like at pussy at the start’.

A driver whose every movements have been the centre of the rc world’s attention since his shock split from TLR, Drake said he just drove ‘super cautious’ as he ‘felt like all eyes where on him’ to see how he would perform at the controls of the Mugen.  While happy to get a fourth for the round, he said he was lacking confidence in his driving leading to a super timid drive.  Suffering one get together with another car he also ‘screwed up’ on his own on the last lap’.  Running Pro-Line X3 Holeshots on his MBX7T, for Q2 he plans to again make a clutch change as well as changing the cars wheel hexes so as to make it more narrow.

Setting the fifth fastest time, Joe Bornhorst ‘played it safe’ and was pleased to put in ‘a clean first round’.  The Tekno driver said the track was a little wet starting out but his AKA Impact tyres came in over the run.  Happy to stick with his tyre choice he said he would obviously have to keep an eye on how the track is looking ahead of Q2.  In terms of his truggy he said he would make a clutch change so as to get better bottom end power from is Alpha engine.

Behind Bornhorst, Tanner Stees made it three HBs in the Top 6 for a team that went from being the smallest team in the pits last year now having a huge presence with a cluster of fresh new tents to house all their new signings.  The 16-year-old said it was a pretty clean run with just one mistake at the end of the back straight.  Running Pro-Line M3 Holeshots on his D8T he intends the run everything as is for Q2.

‘Terrible’ was how Jared Tebo summed up his Q1 run to the 7th fastest time.  The Kyosho driver said his Inferno ST-RR Evo was good but he just ‘drove terrible’.  While he has ‘got to improve (his) driving’, Tebo said with a better bottom end tune on his new Mx engine he had a lot of extra power and he now plans to make a number of chassis set-up changes so as to maximise the potential of the increased power.

‘Make do I guess’ was how Ryan Lutz described posting the 8th fastest time.   Running AKA Impacts on his on Tekno he said they ‘watered the track a little’ and the tyres were the ‘wrong choice for the water’ with it taking 4-minutes for them to come in  Having a little issue with the truggy wanting to come around on the exit of the corner he will make a rear end set-up change for Q2.

Posting the 9th fastest time ahead of last year’s podium double finisher Dakotah Phend, new HB recruit Drew Moller said the run was ‘alright’.  With his D8T pushing at the beginning, he said considering this he was happy that he kept the run clean. For Q2 he will go up in the front diff oil to try to improve steering.

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Video – Buggy Practice Rd1