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 20, 2016

Pit Focus – Ryan Cavalieri

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Team: Associated
Neighbours: Spencer Rivkin (front), “Dyno” (left)
Charger: Orion Touch
Tools: MIP/Team Associated/Makita drill
Setup Tools: Upgrade RC buggy setup board, Tuning Haus truggy setup board, GHEA ride height gauges
Car Stand: Upgrade RC
Transport Bag: OGIO
Features: AKA mini pump bottle/CA Glue, Kicker wireless speaker, Mx fuel can, Simple Green spay bottle, iPhone6+, LV wallet, Prada sunglasses case, Starbuck’s iced coffee.

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February 20, 2016

Phend to start 2nd as TLR claim Buggy 1-2 in quali

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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.

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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.

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‘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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February 20, 2016

Maifield does TQ triple at ‘The Dirt’

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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.

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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’.

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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’.

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‘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.

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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.

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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’.

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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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February 20, 2016

Chassis Focus – Tanner Stees

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Chassis – HB D815
Engine – OS 2101B Tessmann Edition
Tyres – Pro-Line Holeshot X3
Fuel – VP
Radio/Servos – Airtronics/Protek
Body – Pro-Line Type-R

Remarks – The Fear Farm is the home track for Arizona native Tanner Stees, the young HB driver very familiar with the surface here, a track at which he does a lot of testing with his D815. Making only slight changes to his car for the different conditions using thicker oil during the warm temperatures, to settle the car on the bumpy surface he has gone to 5 hole 1.5mm shock pistons from his usual 6 hole 1.3mm pistons. In terms of tires he has stuck with Pro-Line Holeshot but played around between M3 and X3, the latter being the compound of choice so far.

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