Jared Tebo sews up Buggy TQ
Continuing his domination at the ROAR Nationals, Jared Tebo has sewn up overall TQ honours for the Buggy class with one round of qualifying still left to run. The defending champion put the honour beyond his rivals reach when he backed up TQ runs in Q1 & 2 with another time sheet topping drive in round 3 heading home Ryan Cavalieri and Jesse Robbers.
Expecting cooler conditions for the round, Tebo softened his AKA Impact shod MP9 which he said afterwards was the wrong call. Describing the track as getting harder to drive, the 24-year-old said it was really edgy making it very easy to crash, something he did twice allowing Cavalieri to challenge, only for him to also have a moment. Tebo rates the Associated driver as his biggest threat right now for the final but said if Ryan Maifield, who was fourth in Q3, can run with less mistakes he too will be in the hunt in the 1-hour Main on Sunday.
Describing the track conditions as being ‘in between tyres’ Cavalieri said his Proline Holeshot equipped RC8B had a little too much grip but overall it felt good. Putting the slower times down to a hole which is developing on the step up the Californian said his focus for the final round will be on tweaking his tyre choice.
Third fastest, Hot Bodies’ Robbers said with the track getting bumpy and the traction being so high he took a very cautious approach which paid off in the end despite one mistake. Running HB Megabite tires on his prototype CR8 he will adjust the set-up to reduce the amount of steering which should make the buggy easy to drive.
The round marked a big improvement from Team Losi Racing’s lead drivers with Adam Drake and Mike Truhe, setting the 5th & 6th fastest times. Drake, who suffered with his engine flaming out in both classes yesterday, said his 8ight has been good every time but this was his first real clean run. Describing the track as ‘super grippy’ the 2009 Champion said he plans to make small changes to try and make his buggy a little more comfortable to drive.
Team-mate Truhe, who won the title the last time Thunder Alley host the Nationals, summed up his performance with ‘a new day, a new approach’. Having not featured yesterday the 2008 Champion totally changed direction with the set-up on his n-Vision powered example, which has made it more driveable and stable. Saying that ‘real qualifying’ starts tomorrow, when all drivers will have to bump up from a Semi to make the Main, he plans to try a few more changes for this evening’s fourth and final qualifier.
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