Castellano fastest in Truggy Q3
Matt Castellano topped the time sheets for the third & final round of Truggy qualifying at the ‘The Dirt’ Nitro Challenge finishing 2-seconds clear of defending buggy champion Ryan Cavalieri. The Team Losi driver who was seventh fastest in the opening two qualifiers at the Arizona event put his TQ run down simply to better driving having made no changes to the set-up on his N-Vision powered 8ight-T throughout the day.
After reporting throttle response issues with his Orion engine in Q2, Cavalieri ran a different transmitter for the last qualifier and afterwards was much happier with his Associated RC8-T. Complaining of the track being too wet for the start of his run following the hosing of the track he said that by the end both he and the truggy were going well. Having run closed cell inserts in his Pro-Line tyres throughout qualifying, Cavalieri plans to switch to molded inserts for the final which he thinks will suit the track here better. While Cavalieri turned his qualifying around Associated team-mate Ryan Maifield’s day got worse. Suffering a switch problem his truggy went out of control during the warm-up for his final qualifier and crashed so heavily it broke the rear chassis brace and bent the chassis.
Having suffered an engine cut in Q2 following a competitive 5th in the opening heat, Mugen’s Dylan Rodriguez put in a great final qualifier to set the third fastest time. Team-mate Taylor Peterson also enjoyed his best round setting the 7th fastest time. The 21-year-old changed the servo saver on his MBX6-T for Q3 along with switching from AKA Grid Iron super soft to soft compound resulting in a much better feeling with the truggy. Running Alpha engines he said the one in his truggy is still very tight and he expects it should be just coming into its peak for the final.
Setting the fourth fastest time Mike Truhe said he found conditions for the final qualifier a little tough. Run under spot lights the Losi driver said it was hard to see in the low light conditions but overall he is really confident that he has a good solid truggy for the Mains. Team-mate Adam Drake had suffered an unusual incident that lost him 15 seconds. A mistake at the drop off section saw his truggy need marshaling but unfortunately as the marshall ran towards it he was unable to get stopped in time and collided with the wooden frame, leaving him momentarily stunned and Drake’s car still stuck.
Having dominated Q1 & 2 with their drivers taking first and second in both, Team Kyosho could only manage 5th fastest with Cody King, while team-mate Jared Tebo lasted only four laps before the battery lead came undone after the clip fell out causing his truggy to come to a halt out on track. With second secured on the grid behind team-mate Tebo, King said he used the round to find the limits of the Inferno ST-RR on the track and having over stepped the mark a few times he is confident their package is strong enough for the win in Saturday’s Truggy A-Main.
Completing the top 6 was defending champion Ty Tessmann. The 18-year-old factory Hot Bodies driver was another to complain of radio trouble after his D8T lost steering control twice during the 7-minute qualifier. The Canadian’s father & pitman said they will change everything in the radio box for the final in the hope of stopping the problem reoccurring.
With Truggy qualifying complete the attention now turns to Buggy with 1:8 Nitro and 1:8 Electric each getting three rounds of qualifying tomorrow (Friday). Our coverage from the Nitro Pit, which is supported by Team Durango, continues then.
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