Cavalieri wraps up Mod Truck TQ
Ryan Cavalieri is Top Qualifier for Mod Truck at the Pro-Line Cactus Classic, the defending champion wrapping up pole position for tomorrow’s A-Main with a third TQ run in the fourth & final round of qualifying at the Hobby Town Scottsdale R/C Speedway. The only driver who could deny Cavalieri the top spot was Associated team-mate Ryan Maifield, but switching to a different tyre for Q4 he could only manage third behind Dakotah Phend.
Cavalieri said today was the result of a lot of pre event testing with the T4.1 and this has resulted in them having the most consistent truck over the differing conditions between each of the qualifiers. One of the World’s greatest offroad racers, he said the truck is now at where he is just able to cruise around and he expects the outcome of tomorrow’s finals to be good.
Starting from the No.2 spot on the grid, Maifield said jokingly that he was going to jump over Cavalieri’s truck first time through the Quad tomorrow and sew up the win. Trying a different tyre Maifield said his Reedy powered example of the T4.1 was better but feeling very different to his earlier runs he failed to make the most of it but knowing how now how it feels he believes he is in good shape for the finals.
Driving his 22T, factory TLR driver Dakotah Phend said he was ‘real happy’ with third on the grid and the 15-year-old is not lacking confidence for the race. Aiming to drive a clean race behind the much more experienced AE duo that start ahead of him he said he will be there to pick up the pieces should they trip each other up. On outright pace Phend is quick with him setting the fastest lap of all four qualifiers in Q4. His more senior TLR team-mate Dustin Evans and Mike Truhe who will start 4th and 6th respectively think the race is more against the track rather than the other drivers and keeping mistakes to a minimum will be key to the outcome tomorrow.
In the final qualifier for 2WD Short Course Kyosho’s Jared Tebo set the pace ending defending Champion Maifield’s run at the top of the time sheets but the Arizona drivers domination of the opening three qualifiers meant he was already Top Qualifier for tomorrow. Evans enjoyed his best run in the class taking his XXX-SCT to third behind Maifield who in the run produced the fastest and only 24 second lap of the weekend.
Round 4 Qualification (Top 6)
Mod Truck
1. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 13/5:19.710
2. Dakotah Phend – TLR – 13/5:21.963
3. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 13/5:22.747
4. Dustin Evans – TLR – 12/5:00.482
5. Brent Thielke – Associated – 12/5:04.728
6. Andy DiBrino – Kyosho – 12/5:06.440Mod Truck A-finalists
1. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated
2. Ryan Maifield – Associated
3. Dakotah Phend – TLR
4. Dustin Evans – TLR
5. Brian Kinwald – Associated
6. Mike Truhe – TLR
7. Andy DiBrino – Kyosho
8. Kai Goff – Associated
9. Shaun Dunlap – Kyosho
10.Brent Thielke – Associated
Round 4 Qualification (Top 6)
2WD Short Course
1. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 12/5:06.071
2. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 12/5:07.184
3. Dustin Evans – TLR – 12/5:10.812
4. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 12/5:10.995
5. Brian Kimwald – Associated – 12/5:15.683
6. Max Flurer – Associated – 12/5:15.9712WD Short Course A-finalists
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated
2. Jared Tebo – Kyosh
3. Brian Kinwald – Associated
4. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated
5. Dustin Evans – Losi
6. Kody Numedahl – Associated
7. Cody Turner – Losi
8. Frank Root – Losi
9. Max Flurer – Associated
10.Andy DiBrino – Kyosho
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