Another TQ run for Phend

Dakotah Phend repeated his opening qualifying performance at the US National Championships making it two out of two in the truggy class as he again set the TQ pace. A slightly slower run than the morning, the second qualifier would be a repeat of the Q1 Top 3 with the Team Losi Racing driver again fastest from the HB of Ty Tessmann and the Mugen of Carson Wernimont. The biggest improvement of the round would come from Serpent’s Mike Truhe who having being 10th in Q1 would post the 4th fastest time.

‘Not too bad’ was Phend’s reaction to his second TQ run. The 17-year-old said overall the run was good but he had a couple of bobbles that cost him time.  Admitting to one being of his own doing, he said two of them were the result of him trying to avoid other trucks. Very happy with the performance of his Orion powered 8ight T, which was again fitted with Pro-Line X3 Holeshot tyre, he plans to leave everything the same for tomorrow’s concluding two qualifiers.

Setting the fastest lap of the round, bettering the one set by Phend in Q1, Tessmann said all his equipment was good but he just made ‘too many mistakes’.  While track conditions are ‘hard’, his father Gord complimenting the Thornhill Racing Circuit track team on how well they have maintained the track so far, the defending champion said the errors were simply down to the driver.  Hitting the piping causing his OS Speed powered D8T to spin out, he would also get it wrong at the track centre jump.  Having ran error free in the two days of practice, the Canadian hopes tomorrow he will return to that form.

Wernimont was happy to repeat his 3rd from Q1 saying now that he had two solid runs ‘now can have some fun’ – the Truggy qualifying being direct to final rather than using Semi-finals.  Having made a ‘couple tweaks’ to the front end of his OS Speed powered MBX7T, he said this allowed him to run with Phend & Tessmann on pace at the start of the heat but then he started to drop back.  For Q3, he said he plans to sleep on it first and then decide if he want to ‘try anything crazy’.

Having crashed in Q1 resulting in the loss of over 3-seconds, Truhe was happy with his second qualifier saying the field is ‘so close’.  Changing the front camber link on his TOP engined 811T, he said this ‘worked out well’ as it made the truck roll through the corners more. Looking ahead to tomorrow’s Q3, he said he had a few ideas he is considering trying but will wait to see how the track is first and whether or not there will be a round of untimed practice in the morning.

Changing to thicker shock oil all round in his Associated RC8T, Ryan Cavalieri said Q2 went a lot better.  Setting the 5th fastest time having failed to make the Top 10 in the morning, he said the change made the truck ‘a lot more balanced’.  Happy with how it felt, the multiple electric offroad World Champion said he will leave it as is for Q3.

Factory Team Associated team-mate Ryan Maifield, the most winning driver of the truggy class having held the title three times, completed the Top 6. Last winning the title in 2011, he said Q2 was better than the first one but having made a number of changes to his truck it was hard to get used to them and he had ‘a couple of bad laps’.  Able to run some decent laps at the end, he is hoping for further improvement tomorrow.

Q2 Truggy times – Top 10
1. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 10/7:35.721
2. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed – 10/7:37.245
3. Carson Wernimont – Mugen/OS Speed – 10/7:38.769
4. Michael Truhe – Serpent/TOP – 10/7:43.076
5. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 10/7:43.250
6. Ryan Maifield – Associated/Novarossi – 10/7:44.372
7. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 10/7:45.744
8. Josh Wheeler – Xray/OS Speed – 10/7:46.115
9. Curtis Door – Mugen/Orion – 9/7:00.459
10.Josh Glancy – TLR – 9/7:01.526

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