Lutz No.1 for qualifying at US Nationals

Ryan Lutz will carry the No.1 racing number in the top heat of qualifying tomorrow at the US National Championship at Thornhill Racing Circuit in Hutto, Texas. The Team Durango driver topped today’s seeding with his 3-consecutive laps from the first of the day’s two 7-minute practice rounds with the track generally proving to be slower second time around. Team Losi Racing’s Dakotah Phend would top the evening run to end the day second fastest with Truggy top seed Ty Tessmann completing the Top 3, while defending champion Adam Drake ended the day 5th fastest.

Pleased to end Day 2 of the event at the front, having also set the 2nd fastest seeding time in Truggy, Lutz said for the second run he made changes to his DNX8 Prototype which he ‘didnt like’. Adjusting the anti squat as he looked to get it to square up as quickly as possible out of the corner so he could ‘punch’ his Alpha engine he said the change affected the buggy too much through the corners. Describing the steering as feeling like a series of square movements rather than one single fluid action he will revert back to his previous set-up in preparation for Q1. With two rounds of qualifying making up tomorrow’s schedule, the ‘Lutzinator’ said buggy, engine and tyres all look good for qualifying.

Topping the second seeding practice, knocking over a second off his opening time, Phend described his Orion powered 8ight as ‘super, super good’. Only getting in half a run in the first run after suffering a steering servo failure, the 17-year-old felt the traction was starting to come up as the track grooved up but added the surface was also starting to deteriorate a little. Planning to leave the buggy the same for Q1, he said at the moment the key factor was making the right call on tyre choice, and he would make that closer to the time of his first qualifier which will be the last run of the round.

Running a slightly slower time in the second practice, taking third for the round, Tessmann said ‘it’s so slick out there its hard work’. Running Pro-Line’s recently released Lockdown tyres in X2 compound on his OS Speed engined D812, the 2012 double Champion said the tyre was good on the rough section but loose on the smooth area of track. Happy with his buggy set-up the Canadian thinks from now on it will be all about tyre choice and making the right call at the right time. For qualifying he said they will see what the organisers do with the track adding hopefully any work they do changes the track as he is struggling with how loose it is right now.

Despite a difficult second run, Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield would end up 4th fastest with his opening time. Changing to the smaller pinned Hybrid tyre from JConcepts on his RC8.2, he said that was a bad choice for the conditions. The Arizona driver, who won his only US National title to date back in 2006 driving for Thunder Tiger, would also suffer an engine flame after a crash, the idle on his Novarossi engine having been set too low. Planning to revert back to the same way he ran his buggy in the first seeding practice, when he was third fastest, he said running in a heat of top drivers tomorrow should be beneficial especially when it comes to making tyre choices.

Drake declared himself ‘very happy’ with how his day went. Describing his Novarossi powered 8ight as ‘super easy to drive’ he said it has been consistent run after run. Expecting the track will continue to ‘change a bunch over the next few days’ he said he will try to make changes at the right time to keep up with what the track is doing.

Drake’s former long time team-mate Mike Truhe completed the Top 6. The now Serpent lead driver was one of the few top drivers to improve on their opening time. Changing the anti squat on his 811 Cobra 2.0, he said that was ‘a big improvement’ with the buggy rolling through the corners better. Hampered a little by a brief rain shower during his heat, for qualifying he will make a further adjustment to his buggy moving the rear hubs more forward.

Ending he day 8th fastest behind the TLR of Billy Fischer, Warm-up Race winner Cody King ran a new prototype small pin tyre from Pro-Line in the second practice. Kyosho’s former World Champion said on the clean areas of the track the tyre was ok but it struggled in the dust but feels in a softer compound it could work well. Having focused on letting the track come to his Reds Racing powered MP9 they are now ‘doubting if the track is ever going to come to the car’ and they are now looking at some possible set-up changes for tomorrow’s opening qualifier.

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