Maifield is ‘Dirt’ Truggy Top Qualifier
Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield is the Truggy Top Qualifier at the Dirt Nitro Challenge backing up his Q2 performance with another TQ run in Q3 to claim pole position for Saturday’s 45-minute final. The final qualifier saw the US Champion set the pace from team-mate Ryan Cavalieri with TLR’s Adam Drake third.
Maifield said after making a decent start to the decisive round he ran a few less than perfect laps halfway into the 7-minutes but was able to get ‘back on it’ and get the job done. Very happy with his LRP powered RC8.2 T, the Arizona driver is confident that they are ‘all good’ for Saturday’s main event and other than maintenance work on the Truggy he doesn’t plan on making any set-up changes.
Starting second on the grid will be Hot Bodies’ Ty Tessman. Having TQ’d the opening round of qualifying, the Canadian was once again to be hampered when lapping traffic in Q3. Setting the fourth fastest time for the round, the 19-year-old who is a former Dirt Nitro Challenge Truggy Champion said when he ran clear laps his OS powered D8-T felt good and he believes they are in good shape to battle for the win. It was a good day for the relatively small factory Hot Bodies team as all three of the drivers are in the final with Jessie Robbers and Tyler Vik securing 11th & 12th, the final two direct qualilfying spots on the grid which will be boosted to 15 with three drivers getting to bump up from the B. The BQ went to AKA’s Mark Pavidis who finished 8th in last year’s event and will aiming to ensure he makes the main event again this year.
Drake, who will carry the start No.3 on his 8ight-T in the final, said he over drove his final qualifier leading to a few mistakes but feels in terms of overall pace he is right there with the two starting in front of him. Having watched his opposition Drake feels his package gives him a great number of options in the rhythm section of the track which can play to his advantage in the final.
Lining up fourth on the grid will be Cavalieri. After a bad start to the day with 11th in Q1 the electric buggy World Champion’s day has improved each run. Less than a second of Maifield’s time in Q3, he said a softer shock set-up combined with a change to his steering ackerman had made his Orion powered RC8.2 T really comfortable to drive and he is confident he can easily push it harder in the final.
Setting the fifth fastest time in Q3, that is the position Team Durango’s Ryan Lutz will start the main event in front of defending champion and 2011 Top Qualifier Jared Tebo. Tebo suffered a flame out in the final qualifier but Kyosho team manager Joe Pillars said its nothing to worry about and starting sixth is no big deal.
His first appearance at the Dirt Nitro Challenge, recently turned 15-year-old Dakota Phend will start 7th for TLR. The other three to make the cut and secure a starting spot in the A-Main are 2011 finalists, TLR pairing Matt Castellano & Mike Truhe and A-Main Hobbies team driver Dylan Rodriguez who will line-up 8th, 10th and 9th respectively. With the truggy grid now decided, tomorrow sees the focus switch to buggy qualifying with a massive 25 groups to get through.
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