Tebo tops final qualifier at DNC

Last year’s Dirt Nitro Challenge Top Qualifier Jared Tebo finished off a long day of buggy qualifying with a TQ run, the Kyosho driver posting the fastest time of the day in Q3 to finish almost six seconds clear of Ty Tessmann who was in turn one second faster than Cody King. The result means Tebo lines up 3rd on the gird for the 45-minute final on Sunday behind Tessmann and Dakotah Phend who secured the overall TQ in the second round of qualifying. Having finished 1-2 in Q2, it was a troubled final heat for Phend and Carson Wernimont as both drivers suffered engine cuts.

In contention for a clean sweep of the heats setting the fastest lap of the round, coming up on the 4 minute-mark Phend rolled his TLR causing the engine to cut. While TLR team-manager Kevin Gahan tried to restart it, it failed to fire back up. Wernimont’s engine would also cut after a roll but the Mugen driver in this case was able to get the engine fired back up albeit just to finish out the run and use the track time to test tyres for the final which he will start 5th.

The biggest news of the third qualifier was that of defending champion Ryan Maifield. Running in the C heat, the Associated driver had a tough run with his prototype RC8 finishing behind Xray’s Tyler Vik with a time that was only good enough for 16th in the round. With a DNF in Q1, Maifield missed the cut by one spot ending up 13th overall meaning he will have to rely on working his way up from the B-Main.

Buggy A-Main Grid (3 to bump up from B-Main)
1. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 0 pts
2. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed – 6
3. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 7
4. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 7
5. Carson Wernimont – Mugen/OS Speed – 8
6. Cody King – Kyosho/Reds Racing – 9
7. Barry Pettit – Mugen/OS Speed – 11
8. Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion – 13
9. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 15
10.Taylor Petersen – Mugen/Novarossi – 17
11.Austin Blair – Kyosho/RB – 17
12.Ryan Lutz – Durango/Alpha – 20

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