February 21, 2016

Denney, Rivkin & Savoya complete DNC Truggy grid

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The 15 drivers who will battle it out to become the Truggy Champion at the 17th running of the Dirt Nitro Challenge tonight is complete.  With the B-Main offering the Top 3 a place on the back of the A-Main grid, it was pole sitter Tanner Denney who controlled the 30-minute encounter from start to finish, the new TLR signing winning by 6.5-seconds from former team-mate Spencer Rivkin and TLR’s other new recruit Renaud Savoya.  Finishing 4th, the 2013 Top Qualifier Adam Drake will for the first time since the DNC moved to the Fear Farm not be on the grid for the main event.  It was a disappointing race too for Drake’s Mugen team-mate Barry Pettit, running a competitive 3rd just after the 10-minute mark last year’s direct A-Main qualifier would suffer a plug failure.

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Booking his first DNC Truggy A-Main start, Denney said ‘I started 1st, drove smooth and didn’t make any mistake other than just one bobble so it was a good race’.  Running Pro-Line X3 Holeshots on his 8ight-T 4.0, he said ‘it got sketchy towards the end allowing Spencer to catch me but I was putting around’.  His first race with Reds Racing and fitting a new engine for the final, the 20-year-old said it ran great despite having only two tanks on it before the race.

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Not happy with his own performance over the race, Team Associated’s Rivkin said ‘I made a few driver errors and didn’t drive very well but I still bumped up which was the main thing and now I have a chance to win the A-Main’.  Running blue compound JConcepts Reflex tyres on his RC8T3, the 17-year-old said his truck ‘was good’ but he plans to make a few changes ‘right before the Main’ for the cooler conditions, the B-Main running in what are distinctly much hotter conditions than those experienced in qualifying.

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Finishing just 3/10ths off Rivkin, Savoya described his race as ‘great’.  The Frenchman, who was a buggy podium finisher in 2014, started from 8th on the grid said he found his race form after switching to a JConcepts Silencer body for the final.  Struggling with a lack of steering in qualifying, he said his RC Concept powered 8ight-T 4.0 now had extra steering in the 180 corners which allowed him to be competitive.  It was ‘the best feeling (he had) with the truck’ but due to his starting position he struggled to get the full benefit of the new found pace saying ‘driving in the middle of the pack was tough’.  Getting some clear track he would close on the leaders over the final 10-minutes but with Drake 15-seconds behind and it being ‘fricking fast at the front’ he settled for the final bump position on what he added were difficult conditions due to the track and the heat.

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In the eBuggy B-Main, Drake would win the 10-minute encounter comfortably ahead of pole starter Steven Harris who had a close battle with Mark Sousa with all three Mugens progressing to the Main event.  While he would set the fastest lap of the final, new Mugen signing Mike Truhe, who qualified directly for the Truggy A-Main, would miss the cut finishing fourth 2.7-seconds back on Sousa.

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February 19, 2016

Maifield completes clean sweep of eBuggy

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Having wrapped up the overall TQ in eBuggy in the second round of qualifying at the DNC, Ryan Maifield completed a clean sweep of the electric class when he made it three of out three in the third & final qualifier.  Heading a TLR 1,2 in Q3, Maifield would top the times by a massive 6.3-seconds from team-mate Dakotah Phend with Tekno’s star of the day Joe Bornhorst completing the Top 3.  In terms of the grid line-up, behind Maifield it will be reigning champion Ty Tessmann who will start second followed by Ryan Cavalieri, Bornhorst and Phend.  The DNC’s first ever European winner David Ronnefalk, who claimed the eBuggy title in 2014 will start 7th behind Spencer Rivkin and ahead of Ryan Lutz.

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February 19, 2016

Maifield e-Buggy Top Qualifier at DNC

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Ryan Maifield is the e-Buggy Top Qualifier at the Dirt Nitro Challenge, the Team Losi Racing ace backing up his Q1 performance with another TQ in the second qualifier to wrap things up early at the Phoenix, Arizona, event.  Again setting the pace from reigning champion & last year’s Top Qualifier Ty Tessmann, the gap this time round was a reduced 2-seconds.  Fifth in the opening qualifier, Team Associated’s Ryan Cavalieri would set the third fastest time followed by former champion David Ronnefalk, Joe Bornhorst and Spencer Rivkin, the latter losing time with a big mistake over the 7-minutes.

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Pleased to notch up his first TQ of what is a home race for the Arizona driver, Maifield said ‘(he) got a little tight at the end (of the qualifier)’ adding ‘leading a race is different as you can see where you’re at compared to the other drivers.  In terms of his Orion powered buggy, he described it as ‘easy to drive’ adding ‘it floats over the bumps really well’ with the ‘power band also really nice’. Having been using eBuggy to gather tyre data for tomorrow’s nitro buggy qualifying, the defending Buggy Champion said he knows already from the two qualifiers what tyre he will use and so while he will run the final qualifier he doesn’t really have any changes or different tyres he needs to test.

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Tessmann said a set-up change on his D815 left him with a better car but opting for a softer compound Pro-Line tyre this was not as good.  For Q3 the World Champion said unless track conditions get worse he doesn’t need to do anything to the car and it would be just down to selecting the right tyre compound, it set to be much cooler than in the first two rounds.

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Describing his P3 as ‘a solid run for eBuggy’, Cavalieri said his second qualifier ‘went great’.  Making a rear sway-bar change on his RC8B3e, he said this made it ‘a lot better to drive’ with the buggy having ‘good speed’.  Suffering ‘one little mistake at the beginning that lost him around a second he said he was able to ‘bounce back’ from that and planning a few more set-up changes for Q3 he is confident there is more to come.

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February 19, 2016

Maifield take Q1 of eBuggy

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Ryan Maifield topped the opening round of eBuggy qualifying at the Dirt Nitro Challenge, the TLR driver heading the times from reigning champion Ty Tessmann.  Behind them 2WD Buggy World Champion Spencer Rivkin, who found himself in the C heat after a troubled practice yesterday, would complete the Top 3 followed by Ryan Lutz, Ryan Cavalieri and 2014 Champion David Ronnefalk.

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Runner-up last year to Tessmann having started the final from 10th on the grid, Maifield said ‘overall the car is good’ but added he made things a little more difficult for himself immediately after taking the start when he crashed on the step down.  Having to ‘buckle down’ after the error he said while he ‘had to push a little’ he was able to recover from the lost time and open with a TQ run.  While eBuggy is one DNC title he hasn’t held before, it is clear that the Arizona drivers main focus is on defending his Nitro Buggy title with him saying for Q2 he ‘might play around with tyres to learn for tomorrow’, tomorrow’s action being qualifying for nitro Buggy.

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Finishing 3.483 seconds off Maifield’s pace, HB’s Tessmann said his D815 was ‘better than yesterday’ but added in terms of the set-up he was ‘still working on it’.  Suffering one spin out over the 7-minutes, the only driver who has been crowned champion in all three DNC classes said he is looking to ‘make (the buggy) more stable at high speed’.

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‘Better than expected’ was how Rivkin summed up his opening qualifier which was just 1/10th off Tessmann.  The Team Associated driver said ‘yesterday the car wasn’t my friend but we made a few changes this morning and it seems the right way to go’.  Seeded in the 3rd fastest heat due to his bad set-up yesterday, the 17-year-old said running in such a heat he didn’t know how well he was going but planning to leave the car unchanged he will ‘try to do the same again in the next one’.

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January 25, 2016

Phend is Reedy Race Champion

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Dakotah Phend is the champion of the 22nd running of the world famous Reedy Race of Champions.  With three drivers in contention going into the deciding round of heads up racing at OCRC Raceway in California, Phend would pull off the biggest win of his career with a copy book final race. Starting from 5th on the grid and with a DNF from the first round of 4WD to drop, the 18-year-old kept his nose clean at the start and helped by a pile up at the first run through the JConcepts kicker came out of the first lap with a lead he wouldn’t relinquish. Running in Race 2 of the final round, Ryan Maifield and Spencer Rivkin lining up in Race 3, the result sealed the title for Phend with the Michigan driver becoming the 16th name to be added to Mike Reedy Heritage Trophy.  With Maifield taking the win in the final race, Rivkin ending up fourth, the outgoing champion would secure second overall with Rivkin completing the podium.

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‘Crazy, it hasn’t sunk in yet’, was Phend’s initial reaction to beating 29 of the best drivers in the World.  Having never been in contention for the overall win at the Reedy Race before he said, ‘there are so many ups and downs to deal with. In 2WD I broke in the second round and in 4WD I broke in the first meaning every round then counted. It’s the most mentally draining race I’ve ever driven’.  Asked about the final race, he said ‘I got a clean start and then there was a big pile up which I managed to get through clean. After that I just focussed on making no mistakes to put in only the third 18-lap run of the event. Asked about his impressive performance this weekend, he said ‘I have been going to the track a lot more to be better prepared both racing and equipment wise. It paid off today as I’m feeling more comfortable with my cars and my driving’.

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Reflecting on the event, Maifield said ‘Unfortunately I had the opportunity to win taken away from me in the other one (Round 5) and I’m not happy to lose out in that way but I’m happy that I could come back and be right in the mix to defend what I did last year.  I didn’t win but we did win as a team’.  He continued ‘we all showed our cars are very good and what we are capable of as a team. Dakotah did a great job to win and Dustin was brilliant in 2WD and we are going to keep that momentum going for all of the year’.  Ending up with the same number of wins as Phend it was his clash with Spencer Rivkin in the penultimate round that ultimately ended his chance to become only the second driver to successful defend his Reedy Race title.

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Putting up a good battle with Maifield in the final race, having pulled off one of the best passes of the weekend when he temporarily took the lead from Ryan Cavalieri, Rivkin said ‘I’m pretty happy with a podium’.  He added, ‘It’s my second year in invite and I ran with the big boys, my cars were perfect. Well done to Dakotah for winning and to Maifield for getting second’.

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In the Open class, the winners getting a spot in the prestigious invite class next year, young Finnish talent Joona Haatanen converted the TQ in victory over Wisconsin teenager Cole Tollard and Alex Koscluszek. Tollard would TQ 4WD but winning both A-Main encounters Koscluszek took the win over Brad Shearer and Haatanen.

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