Maifield bounces back in Q3 of 2WD Buggy

Having been forced to pull out of the second round of 2WD Buggy Qualifying at the JConcepts Winter Indoor Nationals after he couldn’t get a spot on the driver’s stand, Ryan Maifield bounced back in Q3 to head a Team Associated 1-2 ahead of series champion Steven Hartson who benefited from a mistake on lap 12 by Kyosho’s Cody Turner who went on to set the third fastest time of the round.

With the heats reseeded for the penultimate round of qualifying all the top contenders at the St.Louis event where now running together.  Leading away the field for the 5-minute qualifier was Maifield’s B4.2 followed by Tebo’s slightly faster RB6.  Closing in on his arch rival and on a TQ pace, Tebo would come undone on Lap 8 rolling at the end of the main straight and losing almost 3-seconds.  Maifield wasn’t phased by Tebo’s ability to close him in, saying it is ‘easier to go faster when your chasing someone’.  Admitting he would like a little more corner speed he plans to make some small changes for the morning’s final and deciding qualifier.  Comfortable with the feeling of his JConcepts equipped buggy he said with just one single 10-minute Main its important to have a safe rather than outright fast buggy especially on such a tight track as SmacTrac.

Hartson’s best points finish and also his fastest heat so far, the Californian driver said switching backed to JConcepts Rips on the front of his B4.2 was the correct choice but for the track conditions at the time of the night run he would have benefited from a larger pin on the rear tyres and should have went for a newer set of Barcodes.

Despite rolling away a potential second for the round, Turner said he was still happy with 3rd joking he was ‘pumped to beat Jared’.  Finding the track a little looser than the previous runs, something he has put down to a drier track, he said other than charging his battery for the final qualifier he wont be touching anything else on his RB6. Tebo said his buggy was ‘really good’ but he ‘just crashed’.  Recovering to take fourth for the round the Q2 pace setter said he will not make any changes for Q4 and ‘go after it (the TQ honours) tomorrow’.

In Mod Truck, Tebo secured pole position for tomorrow’s finals with a third TQ run of the day taking Q3 ahead of the Associated’s of defending Champion Brent Thielke and Maifield.  In 2WD Short Course JP Richards backed up his Q1 performance with a second TQ run in round 3 ahead of Hartson and Q2 pace setter Turner.

2WD Buggy Qualifying – Round 3
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 17/5:05.901
2. Steven Hartson – Associated – 17/5:08.408
3. Cody Turner – Kyosho – 17/5:08.747
4. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 17/5:09.274
5. JP Richards – TLR – 17/5:11.122
6. Aaron Breuer – Kyosho – 17/5:13.290
7. Brent Thielke – Associated – 17/5:13.444
8. Mitchel Gardner – Associated – 17/5:14.048
9. Cody Hollis – TLR – 17/5:14.139
10.Michael Paige – Associated – 17/5:15.716

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