Phend to start 2nd as TLR claim Buggy 1-2 in quali
With Ryan Maifield having wrapped up the overall Buggy TQ at the Dirt Nitro Challenge in the second qualifier, the third & final round was all about determining the starting order behind the defending champion. Despite a poor concluding heat it would be Dakotah Phend who gets second on the grid for a TLR 1-2 as their rivals failed to deliver. With a P3 each, only Ty Tessmann and David Ronnefalk could demote Phend from the second he held all day behind his team-mate but needing a TQ to separate the two TLR driver at the front of the grid they could only manage 5th and 8th respectively in Q3. Maifield, showing no signs of letting up despite having bagged his third class TQ of the Fear Farm event earlier in the day, would make it a clean sweep as he again put his 8ight 4.0 at the top of the times. The slowest of Maifield’s three TQ runs in buggy, it would be the closest of the qualifiers with long standing rival Ryan Cavalieri getting to within half a second while an impressive drive from TLR’s Cole Ogden gave him a P3 for the round. Cavalieri’s P2 time would secure the Associated driver 3rd on the grid with Tessmann set to start 4th and Ronnefalk 7th in front of Ogden.
Pleased to get second overall, Phend said for Q3 he ‘just tried some tyres for the final and they didn’t work’ leaving his 8ight ‘way too edgy’. Struggling to the 10th fastest time, the 19-year-old said he would ‘rather try now and know they (the tyres) don’t work rather than find out in the final’ adding the poor result was ‘no big problem’. Planning to run different tyres in the Sunday A-Main practice, he said with the track ‘not super abrasive’ it gives all drivers more tyres options for the 45-minute encounter and overall he is pretty confident he can fight for his first DNC title.
‘The transponder counted’ joked Cavalieri as he put in his best showing the day, the former champion adding ‘we had that speed all day’. Suffering transponder issues in Q2 which left him with no time, he changed both his receiver and transponder leaving him with no issues over the final 7-minute qualifier. Needing a result from Q3, he said ‘I could have pushed harder but needed a result. I’m happy to be right there (in terms of pace)’. ‘Pumped with third’ on the grid, the Californian feels his complete package is ‘looking good for the final’. Cavalieri’s team-mate Spencer Rivkin managed only a 7th in Q3 but his earlier P6 & 4 run means the 2WD World Champion starts 5th with Jared Tebo, who ended qualifying with a P4 run, completing the Top 6 line-up.
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