First Buggy TQ for Phend in Q3 of 2WD
Team Losi Racing’s young star Dakotah Phend took his first TQ of buggy at the Pro-Line Cactus Classic, the US National Champion taking Q3 of 2WD to become the third different driver to top a round at the Scottsdale event. The 17-year-old headed the times by almost 1-second benefiting from a coming together between Q1 and Q2 pace setters Jared Tebo and Ryan Maifield. Maifield would recover to take second for the round ahead of team-mate Ryan Cavalieri while defending champion Tebo ended up 9th fastest.
Almost throwing away the run on the last lap, Phend was happy to finally top a round having been the top seed for qualifying after topping Thursday’s controlled practice. Having handed Q1 to Tebo in the last lap, Phend nearly repeated that when got his Orion powered TLR22 up on two wheels through the same left hand section in which he crashed twice in yesterday’s 2nd qualifier. Having backed off for the final lap he said he got caught out by his slower speed through the corner and turned ‘a bit too early’, saying in future he will just take the corner at the normal higher speed. Happy with his Pro-Line equipped buggy, he said he plans to leave everything the same for the final qualifier when he goes head to head with Tebo & Maifield for the overall TQ honours.
Maifield was happy to get another good points finish for the round to go with last night’s TQ run saying the run ‘went alright’. Leading away the top heat following the reseeding after yesterday’s two qualifiers, the Arizona driver said he was forced to drive tight lines as he was lacking a little steering which left him not very comfortable with his driving.
‘It’s OK’ was how Cavalieri summed up his run. The former World Champion said he ‘really (hasn’t) been happy with his buggy’ but getting a second solid run was a positive. Lacking pace he said he will try a few changes for the final qualifier as he looks to ‘get more speed out of it’.
Making a big improvement in Q3 to recorded his best time and position finish of qualifying with fourth, Ryan Lutz was very happy with his first run of the day. Changing to a geardiff in his Durango DEX210 along with going up in shock oil, he said this gave more predictable rotation through the corners. Running AKA’s new Pinstripe front and Deja Vu rear, he said for Q4 he needs to scrub the tyres more before the start. He also plans to raise his rear camber link by half a millimetre to try to get the buggy to ‘not dump as much on power’.
Also recording his best run was team-mate Travis Amezcua. Changing nothing on his car over Q2 he said the main improvement came from him putting in his first clean round. Running Panther tyres on his DEX210, he said for the final qualifier he will fit a new gear diff. Running the same oil as Lutz ran, he said after the run when he compared the two his was a lot tighter as if it was running twice the weight oil.
Completing the Top 6 was another Durango, this time that of European Champion Joern Neumann. The German said he needed a good run so he just drove safe and the result for 2WD was ok. Running Pro-Line’s VTR wheel/tyre combo he said for Q4 he will consider reverting to the regular option but he needs first to see how the weather is, there being over 4-hours between runs.
Posting the seventh fastest time was a very disheartened Dustin Evans. The TLR driver crashed in the run saying he is ‘struggling’ most probably with the track. Not feeling comfortable with any of his cars this weekend he said its proving ‘very frustrating’.
2WD Buggy Qualifying Round 3
1. Dakotah Phend – TLR – 14/5:20.542
2. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 14/5:21.514
3. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 13/5:00.453
4. Ryan Lutz – Durango – 13/5:02.960
5. Travis Amezcua – Durango – 13/5:03.652
6. Joern Neumann – Durango – 13/5:03.783
7. Dustin Evans – TLR – 13/5:04.858
8. Steven Hartson – Associated – 13/5:05.091
9. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 13/5:05.194
10.Tanner Dennehy – Associated – 13/5:05.408
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