Rivkin TQs final qualifiers

Spencer Rivkin will line up second on the grid for both buggy classes after he TQ’d the third & final round qualifying at the JConcepts Indoor National Series at Hobby Plex in Omaha.  Third fastest in each of the two opening 2WD Mod Buggy qualifiers, the World Champion went into Q3 vying for second overall with Jared Tebo behind Top Qualifier & Team Associated team-mate Ryan Cavalieri.  With his rival second fastest in Q1 & 2, Rivkin needed to TQ the round and the 17-year-old would deliver seeing off both Tebo and Ryan Maifield, both of whom would need to be marshalled over the entertaining 5-minute qualifier.  Again ending up second fastest, last year’s race winner Tebo will start tomorrow’s finals from 3rd while Maifield will make his dirt racing debut with the new TLR22 3.0 from 4th on the grid. Behind the four PRO drivers, Team Associated supported driver Austin Horne completes the top half of the A-Main grid.

In 4WD Buggy the position going into the final qualifier was the reverse of 2WD with Rivkin holding second and Tebo the only one who could deny him P2 on the grid – Maifield having already wrapped up the overall TQ after two rounds.  A closely contested climax to qualifying, once Maifield pulled over after a mistake while on TQ pace it was Rivkin who took command with a tangle between Tebo and Cavalieri giving him breathing space to TQ by 1.6 seconds from his team-mate with Tebo third.  P2 would be enough to secure Cavalieri third on the grid while last year’s Top Qualifier & winner Tebo starts 4th.  Young Associated driver and Hobby Plex Summer Series Champion Tom Rinderkneck completes the top half of the grid.  Completing a trio of TQ runs in Q3, Rivkin would secure the overall TQ in Mod Truck ahead of Cole Tollard, his fellow T5M driver topping Q2 to force the Top Qualifier to be decided in the last round.

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Maifield locks up 4WD TQ in Omaha

Ryan Maifield has locked up the overall TQ for 4WD Buggy at the Finals of the JConcepts Indoor National Series in Omaha.  The Team Losi Racing driver secured the top spot on the grid for tomorrow’s A-Main when he again set the pace in the second of the three rounds of qualifying.  Taking Q1 by a comfortable 5-seconds from Ryan Cavalieri, in Q2 the reigning series champion would face a much improved Jared Tebo, until a last lap mistake from the Kyosho driver.  With Tebo holding on for second 1.4 seconds off Maifield’s time, Team Associated’s Spencer Rivkin would complete the Top 3 ahead of Welch Kendall and Ryan Cavalieri.

Commenting on his Q2 run Maifield said, ‘Me & Jared had a good race. It was very close. I made mistakes in the middle of it and Jared made some at the end’.  Describing his Orion powered 22-4 as ‘really good’ he added ‘the pace is crazy’ and ‘you are driving so hard’ but still his car was ‘easy to drive’.  Feeling his ‘front tyres are getting shot’, looking to the finals he said while starting at the front is always the best place it was even more beneficial here due to the high speed and technical layout of the track.  With his main aim ‘no mistakes’, he added that due to the style of the track a 1/2 second lead would be comfortable.

‘My car was amazing but I totally blew it on the last lap’ was Tebo’s reaction to Q2.  Setting the fastest lap, he said he was too aggressive and turned in too early causing his ZX6 to hit the pipe.  Wanting to test a couple of things the former World Champion said he might make a change to the rear end for the final qualifier.  With the ‘grip getting really good’ he said his AKA tyres are still running good and he has no concerns about wear.

Rivkin said his B44.3 was really good but his driving is letting him down at the start of the qualifiers.  Describing his driving as ‘a little hazy for the first minute’,  the Arizona driver said he needs to run more laps in the warm-up so as to get into his rhythm quicker once the qualifier starts.

Running a longer wheelbase for Q2 along with higher roll centres, Kendall said the changes were an improvement.  A former TLR driver, he said he doesn’t have much time with his new cars with this his first big race running Kyosho.  With his ZX6 ‘very easy to drive’ and needing ‘minimal effort on (his) part to keep it on four wheels’, he said he would leave it unchanged for the final qualifier with the aim to ‘not push too hard and put in a clean run’.

Fifth for the round, qualifying top seed Cavalieri said ‘it wasn’t that good, I just crashed too many times’.  Feeling his car was not great in the opening qualifier, the 2WD Top Qualifier said running faster in Q2 the front end of his B44.3 was a little too soft making it harder to drive.  For tonight’s third & final qualifier he will fit a harder front spring.  Behind Cavalieri, Associated driver Cole Tollard would complete the Top 6.

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Video – 4wd Buggy Qualifying Rd2

Cavalieri Top Qualifier for JConcepts Finals

Ryan Cavalieri is the 2WD Mod Buggy Top Qualifier at the JConcepts Indoor National Series Finals in Omaha, Nebraska.  The Associated driver claimed an early pole position for the biggest class at the Hobby Plex hosted event when he backed up his Q1 topping performance with another TQ run ahead of Jared Tebo in the second of the three qualifying rounds.  The Top 4 for Q2 would be a repeat of Q1 with World Champion Spencer Rivkin again completing the Top 3 ahead of his mentor Ryan Maifield.

Happy to wrap up the overall TQ early, on what is his first race on the facilities’ indoor dirt track, Cavalieri said he ‘just drove the same (as Q1), made no mistakes, and got around traffic’.  The reigning US National Champion who was the only one to do 16-laps in Q1 admitted however he ‘was pushed a little more this time’ and referring to pressure from Tebo added ‘I worked for it this time’, Tebo managing a 16-lap pace the second time of asking even with a mistake on the final lap.  With the final qualifier effectively now a 5-minute test for Cavalieri, he said the only change he would make would be to switch tyres so as to save his current set of AKAs for tomorrow’s finals.  Asked about racing on the track he said with drivers throwing the cars around more than normal he is happy to be starting out front as its hard to follow when the car in front is sliding around.

Despite setting the fastest lap, Tebo said he was a little frustrated with his car in Q2.  With the grip coming up, he said the rear end of his RB6 was leaning too much as a result.  This in turn was causing the rear end to snap out, leading to his two mistakes over the 5-minutes and its a problem he said he ‘need(s) to figure out’ for Q3.  Although on target for second on the grid with his P2 runs, a TQ run from Rivkin in Q3 could push him back to third.

Commenting on his second qualifier a much happier Rivkin said ‘OK it wasn’t a TQ run but it went really well as I finally got a clean run with no wrecks’. Despite some ‘difficulty with traffic’,  the 17-year-old said ‘I’m driving better now so thats good’ and ‘if I TQ the next one I can get second (on the grid) so thats what I’ll be targeting’.

Having been unhappy with his Q1 performance Maifield said ‘it went better but I’m still trying to figure out everything with the new car’.  Racing the new TLR22 3.0 on dirt for the first time this weekend and having changed his set-up after suffering from no rear grip in Q1 he said he now ‘had way too much traction so the car can’t get around 180 corners’. He said he just needs more time to figure out getting the right balance with set-up changes and ‘what the new beast likes’ adding that its harder when your up against quys who know their cars better.

Wisconsin driver Brad Shearer would set the fifth fastest time.  The Associated driver said his improved pace came from ‘just getting the tyres right’.  Planning to go to a taller pin for Q3 due to it being later in the day he said ‘other than that its been all standard procedure’.  Suffering one little bobble in Q2 he said that was something he would work on cleaning up for the next one.  Behind Shearer, Kyosho driver Kendall Welch completed the Top 6 just ahead of TLR’s Taylor Larsen.

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