Hartson doubles up to top Q1 of 4WD

Having kicked off qualifying at the JConcepts Winter Indoor Nationals in St.Louis with a TQ in the opening round of 2WD qualifying, Steven Hartson doubled up by topping Q1 of 4WD Buggy.  Driving his Reedy powered B44.2, the World Champion set the pace at the small SmacTrac by a comfortable 3-seconds over TLR’s JR Mitch who was in turn 1.3 seconds faster than Xray’s Josh Wheeler.

Setting the fastest lap with a 13.356, Hartson said he had a few bobbles at the start which set him back a bit but after he found his rhythm it was a clean run and he was able to claw back the time.  Describing his buggy as ‘fast’ he plans to leave it as is for Q2.

Driving his TLR22-4 Mitch said the buggy was ‘probably right there’ to be able to stay with Hartson but ‘a few mistakes’ cost him time.  Running JConcepts Barcodes on the front and Dirt Webs on the rear, the Florida driver said the tyres were getting better every run not just due to wear but also due to the continuous saucing, the sauce becoming more effective with each run.

Debuting a new race trailer he has just had built for the 2014 season, allowing him to pit outside away from the high smelling tyre additive being used by some drivers, Wheeler said compared to yesterday the track was really loose.  Only racing 4WD Buggy, he said at the start of the qualifier he tried sliding his XB4 around to try and heat up his AKA Slingshots but all it did was result in him over driving the 5-minutes.   Hoping the track gets better for Q2, the organisers now blowing off the track after each class,  he said he will not change anything in terms of tyres & set-up for the moment.

Backing up his strong opening performance in 2WD, Daimon Borkowicz again set the 4th fastest time with his Associated B44.2 being the only other driver to run 22 laps.  Behind the 15-year-old was Will Cushing with TLR Taylor Larsen completing the Top 6.

For Tanner Denney and his Associated team manager Brent Thielke they will be hoping Q1 turns out to be their dropped round.  Starting the top heat ahead of Wheeler & Denney, Thielke hit the roof supporting pole in the centre of the track.  Landing back out on the racing line, he was first hit by Wheeler who in turn was hit by Denney.  While Wheeler survived the double impact, Denney popped a ball cup ending his opening qualifier.  BT managed to finish the run but ended up only 31st.

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