Maifield wins big two at Pro-Line Cactus Classic
Ryan Maifield pulled off the big double at the Pro-Line Cactus Classic with the Team Associated driver successfully defending his 2WD & 4WD Buggy titles at the 26th edition of America’s longest running offroad meeting. Having made light work of 2WD Short Course title earlier in the day winning the opening two A-Main from pole position, the battle for the overall win in offroad racing’s premiere classes went down to the wire but the Arizona driver rose to the occassion in front of his home crowd to win both A3 Mains ahead of team-mate Ryan Cavalieri to claim back to back titles at the track that is just 10-minutes from his house.
Summing up his weekend Maifield said ‘it wasn’t the easier way but I got it done in the end’. Qualifying his Reedy powered B4.1 only fourth on the grid for 2WD he admitted that he thought the title had maybe slipped his grasp but he said a change of attitude for Sunday’s finals help turn things round. Holding back at the quad, the mammoth jump that caught out so many drivers this weekend, he finished second behind Cavalieri in A1 and Dakotah Phend in A2, but in A3 faultless drive by Maifield saw him take the lead half way through the all important 5-minute encounter. Eventually winning by 10 seconds this margin was the deciding factor in claiming the overall win as both drivers finished on 199 points.
Bringing the event to a close, the third and deciding 4WD Buggy Main was to be the highlight of this years Classic. With the title between Associated star Ryan’s the two World class drivers went for a thrilling climax to the race. Starting from the TQ spot Maifield lead from Cavalieri with the duo pulling clear of the international field. Hounded by the No.2 B44.1 three laps from home Maifield spun out at the end of the straight allowing the World Champion through but he recovered quickly and came right back at him to regain the lead to a huge cheer from the crowd. Pushing at 110% Cavalieri was the one to crack on the last lap as he got it wrong on to the main straight flipping his Orion powered buggy. Winning by 1.7 seconds it was clearly a huge weight lifted off Maifield’s shoulders who afterwards said racing in his home town in front of his parents and friends who came to the track to watch him race brought a lot of extra pressure but it also made winning that bit more special.
A good day for Team Associated as their drivers finished 1-2 in both buggy classes, rising young star Dakotah Phend completed the 2WD podium while Reedy Race Champion Joern Neumann claimed the third step of the 4WD Podium. While the Champions of the three other big classes at the Pro-Line Cactus Classic was decided in the second A-Main the third A-Mains would decide the rest of the podium. Joining Cavalieri on the Mod Truck podium was A3 winner Maifield and TLR’s Dustin Evans while in 2WD Short Course Kyosho’s Jared Tebo and Kody Numedahl, who won A3, completed the overall Top 3 behind Maifield. In the high flying 4WD Short Course class Hupo Honigl won the final A-Main to secure a Team Durango 1-2 behind Neumann with Top Qualifier Dakotah Phend ending up third overall.
Red RC would like to thank Pro-Line for making our first trip to cover the Cactus Classic possible and to Daniel Adams for once again providing us with a base in the pits for the weekend.
2WD Buggy Overall Result
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 199 pts
2. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 199
3. Dakotah Phend – TLR – 197
4. Dustin Evans – TLR – 195
5. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 194
6. Travis Amezcua – Durango – 191
6. Steven Hartson – Associated – 188
8. Brian Kinwald – Associated – 188
9. Billy Fischer – TLR – 185
10.Brent Thielke – Associated – 1844WD Buggy Overall Result
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 200 pts
2. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 199
3. Joern Neumann – Durango – 196
4. Lee Martin – Tamiya – 195
5. Travis Amezcua – Durango – 193
6. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 191
7. Steven Hartson – Associated – 188
8. Billy Fischer – Associated – 188
9. Chad Due – Associated – 187
10.Hupo Honigl – Durango – 187
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