Evans TQs second 2WD Buggy Qualifier

Reigning US National Champion Dustin Evans has TQ’d the second round of 2WD Buggy qualifying for the Pro-Line Cactus Classic, the TLR driver driver setting a new overall fastest time for the largest of the classes at the 26th edition of the America’s longest running offroad event. Topping the time sheets ahead of Associated team-mates Ryan Maifield and Ryan Cavalieri the Top 3 all managed to pull off 13 laps this time round.

Running his JConcepts equipped TLR22, Evans said conditions were very tricky for the second round of qualifying. With the right side of the track breaking up he said the dust made it very loose while on the left side, which was more polished, the cooler conditions of the evening run meant there was a lot of grip. With so many variables over a lap, the 26-year-old said he just tried to drive as smooth as possible and he was really pleased with the overall result.

Setting a new fastest lap being the only driver to run 23-seconds, Maifield said his Reedy powered B4.1 had the pace for a TQ run but issues with traffic meant he ended up half-a-second shy of Evans. While they missed out on repeating their Q1 performance, in which Cavalieri TQ’d, the second round was a strong one for Associated with their cars filling 7 of the Top 10 spots on the time sheets. Behind Cavalieri, Steven Hartson pulled off the fourth fastest time just ahead of AE Race Team Manager Brent Thielke who was delighted with his run.

In 4WD Buggy Maifield set the pace taking Q2 by 7-seconds over Tamiya’s Lee Martin. Having replaced a number of worn parts on his B44.1 after Q1 in which he was 4th fastest, the defending Cactus Champion said the buggy was much improved but voiced concerns over how badly the track was starting to break-up. Thankfully following the completion of all 45 heats in Q2, the crew at Hobby Town Scottsdale R/C Speedway got to work on making repairs to the track in preparation for the final two rounds of qualifying that make up tomorrow’s timetable.

One of Europe’s top offroad racers Martin was very happy with second having turned around a bad start to the heat which saw his Speed Passion powered Tamiya needing marshalling twice. With a less than perfect opening to the 5-minute encounter the British ace said he opted for a ‘punch or die’ approach and this resulted in a really good final 3-minutes. In a touch of true luck for Martin as he crossed the timing loop to complete his run the spur gear stripped on his buggy.

Running an Associated chassis, Billy Fisher recorded the third fastest time despite crashing into a broken buggy on his final lap. The former factory Durango driver said the incident didn’t cost him a lot of time but was enough to allow Martin to finish ahead of him.

Having broke a rear hub in Q1, Joern Neumann said he tried to run a safe round. Two mistakes and some problems with traffic meant he lost around 5 seconds but with his DEX410 working much better in the cooler evening conditions the German was still able to record the fourth fastest time just ahead of Jared Tebo’s Kyosho. For team-mate Ryan Lutz a problem with a prototype Tekin speedo, which caused his buggy to shut down a number of times in the latter part of the run, cost him a potentially quick time. Setting the fastest lap for the round of 22.871 and ending up 7th overall, he said he was very happy with the speed and handling of his buggy and a software update by the Tekin staff at the track should ensure the issue is cured for tomorrow.

Following his receiver problem before the start of Q1, Tebo was helped out by fellow KO Propo sponsored driver Lutz who loaned him a reciever for his 4WD while he waits on a delivery of new receivers that are due to arrive at the track tomorrow. Increasing the front camber on his Lazer ZX5 the US National Champion said it made for a very twitchy buggy resulting in only fifth for the round.

Topping both buggy classes in Q1, Cavalieri was another to have his 4WD buggy shutdown intermittently. Afterwards it was discovered that both his receiver and speedo had come undone from the chassis and were just floating loose under the bodyshell which most likely resulted in the problem that left him down in 12th for the round. As a precaution they will change both the speedo and receiver for tomorrow.

In 4WD Short Course Lutz TQ’d Round 2 ahead of Mike Truhe. Having struggled for steering in Q1, Lutz who is running in the second fastest heat for the class said he was surprised to top the times as he had a lot of crashes in his run. TLR driver and defending champion Truhe said he also had a couple of stupid mistakes but overall he was very happy with the handling and power of his Orion powered Ten-SCTE. Team-mate Dakotah Phend who TQ’d round 1 was third.

Round 2 Qualification (Top 6)
2WD Buggy
1. Dustin Evans – TLR – 13/5:23.381
2. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 13/5:23.902
3. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 13/5:24.830
4. Steven Hartson – Associated – 12/5:00.378
5. Brent Thielke – Associated – 12/5:01.907
6. Billy Fisher – TLR – 12/5:04.799

4WD Buggy
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 13/5:05.301
2. Lee Martin – Tamiya – 13/5:12.384
3. Billy Fischer – Associated – 13/5:13.103
4. Joern Neumann – Durango – 13/5:13.670
5. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 13/5:14.003
6. Rob Gillespie – Associated – 13/5:16.560

4WD Short Course
1. Ryan Lutz – Durango – 13/5:22.659
2. Mike Truhe – TLR – 12/5:01.291
3. Dakotah Phend – TLR – 12/5:01.924
4. Frank Root – TLR – 12/5:02.531
5. Hupo Honigl – Durango – 12/5:04.231
6. Carson Wernimont – Durango – 12/5:11.879

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