Tessmann on pole in Vegas
Ty Tessmann is on pole position for the 1:8 Offroad World Championship decider. The reigning World Champion will start his title defence from the front of the grid after a time penalty dropped Semi Final winner Ryan Cavalieri to second. The Associated driver looked to have snatched the top spot on the grid after a thrilling win over Ty Tessmann in the second and faster of the Semi Finals. The 2014 Runner up driver took the win on the last corner by a margin of 4/10ths of a second but contact with Tessmann would later result in the American being demoted to second which promoted Tessmann to the win and pole for the 16th running of the World Championships. Winning the first of the Semis ahead of young star David Ongaro, David Ronnefalk will start 3rd with the very impressive Ongaro next up. For Top Qualifier Jared Tebo, his quest for a first nitro World title will begin from 6th on the grid after he finished 3rd in the same Semi as Ronnefalk, him giving away the race lead on the first lap with a mistake. The same Semi would also bring an end to 2010 World Champion Cody King’s run of World Final appearances since his title, the Kyosho driver finishing 8th.
Looking to become the first ever drive to successfully defend his World title, Tessmann said ‘it was a good race, my car felt good and at the end I was able to slow down’. He continued, ‘I also had good gas mileage and for the final its just down to deciding which tyre to run’. Using Pro-Lines older Fugitive tyres, he said it will be between that again and the newer Fugitive light. On the track conditions, he said, ‘it getting even more rough out there so its really hard to be consistent now’. Asked his approach for the final, most of which will run under flood lights, he replied, ‘I’m just going to drive around and try not to fly of the track’.
Starting from second on the grid, Cavalieri said, ‘once I got passed Elliott (Boots) I just paced myself’. He continued, ‘the car got better as the race went on and I got more comfortable with it. Out the back and on the right side of the track I could gain time and caught Ty’. Commenting on his contact with Tessmann, the multiple electric offroad World Champion said, ‘I was a little tense and had a bobble on the last lap and cased the jump and we were both just going for it’. On the subsequent time penalty he said, ‘ to me it was just a racing incident. I didn’t do it intentionally’. Also coming through from Cavalieri’s Semi would be Boots with third followed by 2012 World Champion Robert Batlle and Ryan Maifield, the TLR driver posting the fastest lap of the the Semis. McBride got through on the fastest time outside the Top 5.
Ronnefalk said, ‘I just drove to survive out there’. The Swede, who last time missed out on the final in Italy after problems in his Semi, continued, ‘Once I passed Jared and then got out front I didn’t push too hard. The car and tyres were really good’. Coming under pressure from Ongaro at the end he added, ‘Ongaro started to catch me and if he had of raced me hard I would have let him go’. Using AKA Double Down tyres on his Orion powered MP9, he said ‘Top 3 is a good starting position and for the final the aim is to get a clean first few laps’, concluding, ‘It’s going to be hard work getting to the end’.
Finding himself last after contact with Dakotah Phend on the first lap, 15-year-old Ongaro said, ‘I kept calm and just drove. I knew I had a fast car’. Changing to thicker oils for the race after the Semi practice run, he said his LRP powered Mugen was ‘just perfect’. Catching leader Ronnefalk he said, ‘I was a bit faster but I knew I didn’t need to pass him so I didn’t push for this’. Delighted to make his first Worlds final, he said while that was a ‘great achievement’ he is hoping for ‘more’ in the race. Behind Ongaro was Tebo with the others to go into the main show from the Semi being Ryan Lutz, long time race leader Phend and Savoya who scraped the last spot on the grid with the second fastest non Top 5 race time.
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