Maifield tops opening 2WD qualifier in Chico

Having taken the opening round of 4WD Buggy, Ryan Maifield repeated the feat in the first of the three rounds of 2WD Buggy qualifying at the JConcepts Summer Indoor Nationals at Outback Raceway in Chico. The new Team Losi Racing signing topped Q1 by 2.3 seconds from Team Xray’s Tyler Vik with fellow TLR driver Mark Pavidis completing the Top 3, the trio being the only drivers to post 20-lap runs. Having topped seeding it was a difficult opening qualifier for Steven Hartson with the Team Associated driver ending up only 16th fastest.

‘The best my car has been so far here’ was how Maifield summed up the performance of his Orion powered TLR22 in the opening qualifier. Making changes since yesterday’s seeding practice based on recommendations from both TLR’s Frank Root and Team Orion’s Joe Pillars, he said his mid motored buggy now had speed while still being comfortable to drive. Last year’s 2WD winner at the A-Main Hobbies hosted event, Maifield said Q1 was the first time he got to run alongside all the fast drivers and this made it much easier to pace yourself in relation to the competition. Having changed the car every time he has gone out on track, Maifield said with the car working well he will leave it the same for Q2 as he tries to get more familiar with his new cars.

‘Way better than I thought’ was how Vik summed up his qualifier. Suffering one crash the San Francisco driver thought he would end up with a Top 10 not a Top 2 time. Running AKA Deja Vu rears and Typo fronts on his Associated B4.2 Centro, he said the car was really good and he had no intentions of changing anything for Q2.

Still running his TLR22 the same as how he arrived in Chico with it, him using Dustin Evan’s Reedy Race of Champions set-up, Pavidis was pleased with his qualifier. Saying the car was no different to practice, the former World Champion said at the end of yesterday he was pretty confident that while his 3-consecutive lap pace was not so fast over 5-minute he had a good form. Running AKA’s clay Typo tyre all round, in the front he is trying a new black foam insert. Designed for high bite tracks he said here he has found it to smooth out the front end. Finding the track a little more aggressive this morning than yesterday, he said he has only two sets of tyres ready for qualifying and for Q2 he will run the second of those with the aim of repeating a similar result which would allow him then to use Q3 to scrub tyres in for tomorrow’s A-Main.

Having led the Team Associated challenge in the first 4WD qualifier, Damion Borkowicz again was the teams top runner posting the 4th fastest time. The Florida youngster said his Reedy powered B5M struggled for the first 2 minutes with the car really hard to drive but there after he said it was really good. Feeling there is not much he can do to improve this particular problem, he said he will continue with the car as is. Suffering one flip over after the triple he said he was able to drive real smooth after that and his aim for the next qualifier is to try to keep himself in that right mindset.

Drew Moller posted the 5th fastest time also driving an Associated B5M. The LA driver said his car was good but he had ‘one long crash’ that cost him over 4-seconds. Getting stuck on the piping while running a Top 3 pace he said the ‘marshal was half asleep’. Happy with his pace he said he will not make any changes for Q2.

Spencer Rivkin completed the Top 6, the 15-year-old describing the run as ‘alright’. Suffering one mistake in which he flipped over his B5M, he said the car was too soft and he will now change to a harder spring.

Running second to Maifeld for a time Root said the run was ‘really good until I crashed’. TLR’s Senior Product Developer said as he does not race as much as he used to his nerves got the better of him and due to traffic the marshal had to wait before getting to his buggy. Having recommended a change to Maifield for Q1, he said that worked well and for Q2 he will now make the same droop adjustment to his own TLR22.

2WD Buggy Qualifying Round 1
1. Ryan Maifield – Team Losi Racing – 20/5:12.835
2. Tyler Vik – Team Xray – 20/5:15.147
3. Mark Pavidis – Team Losi Racing – 20/5:15.641
4. Damion Borkowicz – Team Associated – 19/5:00.426
5. Drew Moller – A-Main Hobbies (AE) – 19/5:00.551
6. Spencer Rivkin – Team Associated – 19/5:00.971
7. Frank Root – Team Losi Racing – 19/5:00.988
8. Justin Moon – Serpent – 19/5:02.517
9. Eddie Bernal – Team Associated – 19/5:02.915
10.Chris Bridgewater – Team Associated – 19/5:03.955

View the event image gallery here.