Tessmann fuels his way to DNC Truggy win

Ty Tessmann has resumed his reign as Truggy Champion of the Dirt Nitro Challenge after an action filled 45-minute final in which both Ryan Maifield and Ryan Cavalieri both ran out of fuel while leading. Starting second behind Top Qualifier Maifield, the first lap was an indication of the intensity of the racing that was to come over the first half of the race, as Tessmann bumped his way passed for the lead in front of the drivers stand.  Taking the lead at the 25-minute mark, 2-minutes later Cavalieri would come to a halt leaving Maifield to lead from Tessmann and a very impressive Joe Bornhorst.  With Tessmann dropping back after collecting a back marker who was badly marshalled by spectators, Maifield then looked set to cruise to an easy win but with the final round of stops coming up the TLR driver would also come up short on fuel.  With Tessmann now clear of Bornhorst, the Canadian would go the extra lap to claim his 5th Truggy title but the action continued to the last lap where Spencer Rivkin forced his way passed Tekno’s Ryan Lutz to snatch the final podium placing.

‘The first 30-40 minutes went by like that but the last 5-minutes seemed to go on forever’, was how Tessmann summed up his 9th DNC title win.  The 23-year-old said ‘I remember Maifield got up on 2-wheels in front of the drivers stand and I bumped him to go into the lead but it was just a blur after as we fought back & forth’, the pair even making contact as they were released from one of the pit stops.  The Buggy World Champion said his race took a big set back when after the right side triple he collected a truck that had been marshalled by spectators into his path.  With his tyres going off, he said all he was doing then was ‘driving around waiting for a mistake from Maifield’.  On hearing Maifield had flamed out he said he just tried to make sure he didn’t ‘do anything stupid’ adding he knew going into the race fuel would be close and while he paced himself with that in mind he said his OS engine ran ‘faultlessly’.

Taking a hugely popular 2nd place, Bornhorst said ‘I don’t really know what to say right now’.  Gathering his thoughts, the 22-year-old added, ‘I knew I had the same pace as those guys and that if I could pace myself off them and stay with them for the first half of the race I would be there at the finish’.  While he was on shorter 7:30 fuel stops compared to his rival’s 9-minute stops, he said his safer tyre choice of tyre Pro-Line X3 Blockades came good at the end compared to the smaller pins used by his rivals.  Describing his NT48.3 as ‘perfect’ in the final he said his pit crew of Mick Egleberger and Sean Ramos were ‘awesome’, it clear that Bornhorst was still somewhat shocked at being able to run with the sport’s biggest names for the 45-minutes.

Giving Team Associated’s new RC8T3 truggy a podium finish on its debut, Rivkin said the race ‘started kind of slow’.  Bumping up from the B-Main to start 14th, the 17-year-old said a quick set-up change right before the start was ‘the icing on the cake’ with his ‘truck and tyres working awesome’.  Working his way through the field he said his pit crew kept him well informed and pushed him on.  Running on JConcepts Reflex in green compound, the right rear tyre would come undone from the wheel which his crew would change during his final stop on 9 minutes to go, with the 2WD World Champion informing his team-manager Brent Thielke afterwards ‘that was a blue compound you put on’. Commenting on his pass on Lutz he said ‘Ryan ran wide at the step up and I just went through on the inside’.

Going on to finish 5th after his flame out, Maifield said ‘we haven’t been close on fuel all weekend and I don’t why it ran out’.  Describing it as ‘a bitchen race with Ty and Ryan’, he said while his crew had told him to conserve fuel once he got his big break over Tessmann he was just cruising.  His first race with Reds Racing, he said ‘I did as much testing as I could in preparation for this race but apparently it wasn’t enough’.  He added his 8ight-T 4.0 is ‘the best truck I have had in a long time and we will work on getting mileage better’.  Feeling his ‘buggy is better’, the reigning DNC Champion said run time shouldn’t be an issue as everyone will be stoping at 7:30 and he is looking forward to a good day tomorrow.

Cavalieri was also at a loss as to why he ran out of fuel.  The former back to back Truggy Champion said I was pacing myself as my truck was getting better & better over the race and with the other stops going fine it ran out of fuel with half a lap to go’.  He said while he ‘took it a little easy at the start’ he is ‘not really sure how it happened’.  Dropping to 13th after the flame out he would end the race 8th in between Cody King (7th) and Tanner Denney (9th).

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Maifield does TQ triple at ‘The Dirt’

Ryan Maifield pulled off the TQ triple at The Dirt Nitro Challenge as he added the overall buggy TQ to yesterday’s Truggy and eBuggy haul.  Having topped the opening round of buggy qualifying at the Fear Farm, the reigning champion again led a TLR 1, 2 from Dakotah Phend to wrap up one round early the overall TQ for the blue ribbon class at the 17th running of the Joey Christensen event.  Again it would be HB that provided the closest challenger this time Ty Tessmann finishing third as David Ronnefalk, 3rd in Q1, ran out of fuel on his penultimate lap.

Having inherited the TQ in the opening round after a late error by Spencer Rivkin, in Q2 Maifield controlled the pace from start to finish over the 7-minutes.  Making ‘quite a few changes’ to his 8ight 4.0 having found it ”edgy’ in Q1, this made the buggy ‘super predictable’.  Also making changes to ‘smooth out’ the power of his Reds Racing engine he said this also ‘helped a lot’.  Sticking with Tessmann at the start of the run as his benchmark, he said when they called the Canadian second he ‘chilled’.  With no laps being called until the end, he said he didn’t know how he was on pace compared to team-mate Phend who ran a TQ pace the round earlier but ‘luckily (he) was going fast enough to beat Dakotah’. ‘Stoked to TQ all three (classes)’, he said ‘hopefully in the mains I’ll have good runs’ adding ‘the driver without mistakes is the one whose going to take the win’.

Making further changes to his Orion powered example of the 8ight, Phend said he ‘felt more comfortable’ with the car second time round.  The 19-year-old said the track was ‘more grooved up and a lot more slippery but overall he and his car are ‘getting better & better’ each run.  Suffering ‘one big mistake’, that cost him 3-seconds on the third lap, looking to make it a Team Losi Racing 1-2 on the grid for Sunday’s 45-minute Main, he said ‘I dont think I’ll change anything as the car is really good’.

‘It started good. I thought I was in the clear with Maifield behind me but then he was right there’, was how Tessmann summed up Q2.  Four laps in the 2-time DNC Buggy Champion would case the far right triple allowing Maifield past after which he said he followed him for the rest of the heat.  Considering his mistake which cost him over 2-seconds, the World Champion said he was happy with a 3rd.  Having struggled with his tyre choice in Q1 he said a switch to Pro-Line X3 Holeshots made his D815 ‘much better’.  With his main goal for the third & final qualifier ‘no mistakes’ he will ‘maybe run lighter shock oil and M3s (tyre compound)’ for the cooler night time conditions.

Despite a ‘first lap tumble’, Rivkin said the second heat went ‘really good’.  The Associated star said his RC8B3 was ‘so easy to drive (he) could drive it blind folded’.  Admitting to getting a little anxious towards the end, the 2WD Offroad World Champion said ‘Maifield put in a good run and deserved it (the overall TQ)’.  Confident in his car he said he would ‘go for it in the last round and see how it shapes out’.  His senior team-mate Ryan Cavalieri would have a bad run, transponder issues leaving him with no time for the round.

Making his first nitro race outing with Team Losi Racing, Tanner Denney posted the fifth fastest time.  Describing track conditions as ‘really hard’, changing to a softer tyre, going from X3 to M3 Holeshots, as well as a stiffer rear swaybar, he said his 8ight was a lot more stable and forgiving. Looking to the final qualifier the 20-year-old said, ‘hopefully I can keep it going for Q3’.

Completing the Top 6 Jared Tebo summed up the second round of qualifying as ‘a lot better than the first one’.  With all four tyres coming unglued on the first lap, in Q2 the Kyosho driver ‘had a good run’ except for a ‘really big mistake’.  Getting his MP9 up on two wheels he said as he corrected it it clipped the piping sending his buggy bouncing across the track and into a spin all of which resulted in the loss of almost 4-seconds. The 2011 Champion, that win coming at the Nitro Pit before the event moved to the Fear Farm, said as his buggy ‘felt OK’, he doesn’t plan to make any changes for the final qualifier needing a good run to book a direct spot in the A-Main.  Behind last year’s podium finisher his team-mate Cody King would post the 7th fastest time followed by TLR’s Cole Ogden and HB’s Tanner Stees, with Adam Drake rounding out the Top 10 for Mugen.

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