Maifield heads TLR 1-2 in opening ‘Dirt’ buggy qualifier

Ryan Maifield headed a 1-2 for Team Losi Racing in the opening round of buggy qualifying at the Dirt Nitro Challenge, the Arizona driver the only one to complete 12 laps of the Fear Farm track. Behind him last year’s triple podium finisher Dakotah Phend would set the fastest 11-lap run over the 7-minutes in a marked improvement from the 17-year-old who ended up only 27th overall in Truggy qualifying. Behind the TLR pairing it was defending champion Ty Tessmann that would complete the Top 3 despite losing over 4-second when he rolled his HB while on target for a TQ pace.

Asked about his qualifier, Maifield running in the X group of the 6 unseeded heats, said he ‘went for it’ and while he had a few bobbles it was fast with his Orion powered 8ight having ‘a lot of power’ something he said was a nice complaint. Having used eBuggy qualifying to work out his tyre choice, all drivers having only had one 6-minute practice on the track on Wednesday, he said his choice of JConcepts Chaser tyres in blue compound worked really well. Suffering a little with his brakes fading towards the end of the qualifier he said he will make a small engine adjustment to cure this for Q2.

Having come into the event feeling under the weather and suffering ‘a bunch of stupid stuff’ in Truggy, Phend said he managed to take on a new mindset for the change over to buggy qualifying and it worked out well. Last year’s Buggy Top Qualifier, he said despite the track getting rougher and it harder to get around without mistakes he was happy with how ‘super easier’ his 8ight was to drive. Running Pro-Line’s M3 Holeshot tyre, he said they were a safer choice for his style of driving and his big focus for Q2 was to keep his new found form going.

‘Was going pretty good until I crashed’, that was how Tessmann summed up his opening qualifier. The World Champion said everything in terms of his D815 and Pro-line M3 Blockade’s ran pretty much as expected although he will rebuild his shocks for Q2, his father Gord joking ‘we should have enough time’. With approximately 4-hours between rounds, this year’s DNC attracting over 800 entries for the 1:8 classes, Tessmann said changes would depend on how the track is looking nearer to the time of the day’s second of three scheduled qualifiers.

Setting the fourth fastest time Ryan Lutz seemed a little happier than he was with his truggy qualifying describing his first buggy qualifier as ‘pretty good’. The Tekno RC driver said ‘luckily 80% of the track is right turns’ as he had less left turn steering feeling something must have been binding on the buggy’s steering. Running AKA’s new Chain Link tyre he said they ‘seemed good’ and are ‘very forgiving’. Asked about any changes for Q2, he said it all depended on how the track was going to be and whether they were going to water or not jokingly referring to the event as the ‘Dirt Nitro we leave you guessing challenge’.

Former European Champion Darren Bloomfield was delighted with his opening run as he took his Agama to the fifth fastest time. Saying the result takes a lot of weight off him as he targets his first A-Main appearance at the DNC, the British driver said the run ended up a lot better than he thought. Running early on side by side with former finalist Elliott Boots and then towards the end of the run with Tessmann who he had to open up for twice after the champion made his mistake right in front of the him, he felt his driving was slightly compromised by this. Just 4-weeks on the market, Bloomfield said his new A215 ‘felt really good although a touch edgy’. still trying to learn how American tracks evolves over an event he said they used eBuggy to get a set-up for Q1. Happy with how that ran in the final qualifier, he said taking the weight of the electric buggy, which is heavier, into account they reduced the oil weight in the nitro buggy, adding they ‘guessed well’. Running Beta’s Vmax tyre he said he is tempted to try their small pin style Cube for Q2 but will wait to make that call.

Despite suffering two crashes on his way to posting the sixth fastest time, Barry Pettit described Q1 as ‘a decent opening round’. The Mugen driver said while the run started out a little slick due to the watering of the track his MBX7R ran good getting better & better over the heat. Running Pro-Line’s M3 Holeshot tyre he said while he would have to ‘wait & see’ what happens to the track over the remainder of the round, the Pro heats running first, he didn’t plan on making any changes being happy with how everything is performing.

With a few mistakes, Cody King said he wasn’t going to complain about getting points for 7th. The former World Champion said the track is changing quite a lot add he got lucky with the timing of his heat as the sun came out for the heats up after him. Planning to ‘make a few adjustments’ to his Kyosho for Q2 he said the track might turn out looser and so he might end up holding off.

Posting the 8th fastest time, Serpent’s Mike Truhe said he ‘went safe and it worked out good’. Describing it as being ‘as clean as can be’, he said the front shocks were too thick causing his S811 to be loose on-power although it was ‘not terrible’. Set to make a few minor set-up adjustments for Q2, the former double champion said he would take it from there and see how it goes. His first big race using Picco engines, Serpent’s US distributor taking on the distribution of the Italian manufacturer with both Alberto and Edo Picco on hand at the DNC for support, he said everything in that department was working out well.

Behind Truhe, new HB pairing Drew Moller and David Ronnefalk completed the Top 10. Moller would set the fastest lap of the round with a 37.173 while the run was effectively Ronnefalk’s first run in nitro buggy after he managed one lap in practice as his engine moved. The Swede said his D812 felt pretty good but compared to eBuggy the whoops section was a lot harder and by the end of the 7-minutes he had started to get it figured out and he feels good he can improve in Q2.

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Tebo is Truggy Top Qualifier at DNC

Kyosho’s Jared Tebo is the overall Top Qualifier for Truggy at the Dirt Nitro Challenge taking pole position for Saturday’s 45-minute Main on a tie break from defending champion Ty Tessmann.  Having TQ’d the second round of qualifying, the battle looked set to be between Tebo and David Ronnefalk who topped the opening qualifier.  Initially Ronnefalk again set the pace just like in Q2, only this time it was a mistake of his own and not traffic, the Swede would give up the lead as the run entered the second half.  Losing over 3-seconds, this would leave Tebo and Tessmann to battle it out with the pair finishing up separated by just 0.015 of a second thanks to a blistering fastest final lap of 35.545 from Tessmann who fired his HB truggy across the finishing loop.  In the end though it was Tebo’s Q2 pace that gave him the tie break for his first Truggy TQ at the Fear Farm, his last TQ of the class coming in 2011 when he did the DNC double when the race was held at the Nitro Pit.

‘Pretty good’ was Tebo’s reaction to his Q3 performance.  Happy at securing the overall TQ, the same couldn’t be said for how he was starting the race.  With the track being watered while the cars ran their warm-up laps, one centre section clearly over watered, Tebo left his position on the driver stand twice to air his frustrations with the race director.  While the drivers were given more time for their warm-up, commenting afterwards Tebo said the watering is not being done consistently.  In terms of his Inferno ST-RR Evo he said having made a change to the front shock location he would go back a little to something inbetween this and what he ran in Q2 for the final practice.  Looking to the final he said he is feeling pretty confident adding he is really happy with his new engines, this being his first race with new engine sponsor Mx.

Having struggled to only the 12th fastest time in Q2, Tessmann described the final qualifier as ‘a lot better’.  Describing the run as a ‘little hairy at the start’ he said it was a clean run but still his tyres where not perfect.  Having struggled for traction yesterday, the set of Pro-Line Holeshot tyres he ran in the second qualifier left him struggling for traction and steering with Tessmann noticing that set of tyres didn’t balloon as they would normally do.  With a new set on the D8T this morning, he said the fronts acted normal giving him better steering but still the rears didn’t balloon.  Putting it down to a bad batch of tyres, the Canadian said while they will switch to Blockades for the final they will bench run the truggy to ensure all four tyres balloon.  Asked about his blistering final lap time, the World Champion said he knew it was close between himself and Tebo so coming off  the last jump he ‘punched it over the line, the truck glancing off the outside piping.

Frustrated at knowing he could have wrapped up his first overall TQ at the DNC yesterday only for traffic to put him on his roof, Ronnefalk was even more frustrated by his Q3 error which was all his own doing. Running too close on the inside of the uphill triple the Swede hit he piping which put his D8T on its roof, a moment of the race he said ‘sucked’. Despite this he said starting the long Main in the Top 3 was ‘ok’ and he knows in terms of pace he can run with both Tessmann and Tebo so he is confident for Saturday.

Fourth fastest in Q3 and securing that same position on the grid, the surprise of the event Joe Bornhorst said he was ‘speechless’.  The start of his first full season with Tekno, having signed with the team last September, the 20-year-old said ‘everyone stepped it up that time and I tried my hardest’ and ‘I am more than happy with 4th’.   Describing the track as being ‘really wet’ at the beginning, adding he isn’t in agreement with how they are watering the track, he said despite this his NT48 was ‘awesome’ and he is really looking forward to the final.

Despite having his worst run in Q3, a couple of mistakes and changes to his engine hampering his performance, Adam Drake will line-up fifth on the grid.  One of the all time legends of 1:8 Offroad, he said ‘all things considered I’m happy to be fifth’ pausing for a moment before adding ‘I’m happy to be here racing period’.  Putting together a late deal with Mugen to contest the DNC,  he said rather than change the clutch as planned for Q3 he opted to change ‘some stuff’ on his Novarossi engine but it was the wrong way to go.  Asked about the final he said will revert back to the engine set he ran in Q2 and having found better steering in his MBX7T and with some small set-up changes he should be good again for the Main.

Setting the 8th fastest time in Q3 to secure 6th on the grid, Ryan Maifield said his run was ‘not awesome but it got me the points to be in the Main’. Feeling under the weather, he said ‘starting 6th is fine’. In terms of his truggy, the TLR driver said he went with too soft a JConcepts tyre for the final qualifier and his Orion engine could have done with a better tune but they’re both things that can be easily rectified for the final.

Starting behind Maifield will be his former team-mate Ryan Cavalieri.  The longtime Associated driver said his Q3 ‘started off a tick slow’ but but he put together ‘a good consistent run’ to posted the 6th fastest time behind Ryan Lutz.  Looking to make his modified RC8T ‘a little quicker’, he will make ‘a couple of changes for the warm-up’ in the hope of finding some speed for the final.

Lining up 8th on the grid, Ryan Lutz was overall frustrated by how qualifying had gone.  Not happy with his own driving so far, he said in terms of his truggy, gearing is an issue with the options he has available leaving him inbetween where he wants to be.  With the gearing he is running too tall he said switching to a 13-bell would leave him too short.  He said he has ‘a lot of things to work on for the final’ but ‘if (he) can nail it, it should be good’.  Behind Lutz, Mugen’s Barry Pettit, Xray’s Josh Wheeler, HB’s Tanner Stees and Associated Carson Wernimont, who pulled the rear wing off his RC8T in Q3, complete the Top 12 direct A-Main qualifiers with a further 3 drivers set to bump up from the B-Main.

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Video – Truggy Qualifying Rd2

Tebo takes 2nd ‘Dirt’ Truggy qualifier

Jared Tebo claimed the second round of truggy qualifying at the Dirt Nitro Challenge with the Kyosho setting the pace from Tekno RC’s Joe Bornhorst and Team Associated’s Carson Wernimont.  What would become the final qualifier of Day 2 of Joey ‘The Dirt’ Christensen’s signature event after delays forced round three to be moved to tomorrow morning, for the first half of the 7-minute qualifier it looked as though Q1 pace setter David Ronnefalk would sew up the overall TQ earlier.  Coming up on traffic however in the whoops section on lap 7 of 12 the Swede would end up on his roof after contact and eventually finish fourth fastest.  It was a tough round for defending champion Ty Tessmann as the HB driver struggled with ‘no grip’ and he ended up 12th.  Another Q1 Top 3 finisher to have issues in the second round was Ryan Maifield.  Thinking due to a delayed start he was not yet on the clock he cut the track but his time was already started and with the ‘damage done’ he would pull up early.

Having been frustrated by ‘terrible’ driving in Q1, Tebo was delighted to turn things around for his second qualifier.  Making ‘quite a few changes to his Mx powered Inferno ST-RR Evo’s rear end between runs he said the truggy was the best it have even been.  Running AKA Grid Iron in super soft compound, he said he started out a little slow before getting fully up to speed and while he had a couple of tangles with other cars he said it was nothing too crazy.  Feeling the truggy was ‘a little off balance’ for the deciding qualifier in the morning he will make a front shock location change.

‘Awesome’ was Bornhorst reaction to his impressive time.  Having been fifth fastest in Q1 and been very happy with both his NT48 and choice of AKA tyre, the 21-year-old said originally he was set on running the car unchanged but at the last minute made the call to go to a super soft Impact tyre.  Calling it the ‘right decision’, he said he ‘could drive it as hard as I could and it just took it’.

After a poor first round managing only the 15th fastest time, new AE signing Wernimont was much happier with his RC8T after a complete change of direction in terms of set-up.  Describing the run as ‘much better than the first one’, the 18-year-old continued ‘I took the gun out and shot from the hip and I think I hit the target’.  Having been too soft & wallowy in Q1, he said the set-up now was pretty close and he drove it for the amount of speed it had.  Looking to throw out his Q1 result he said the aim for Q3 is to put in a similar solid run as Q2.

Ronnefalk said he had the car to get the job done but after having a clean track ahead of him for the opening laps suddenly he found himself up on a load of traffic in of all places the track key element, the whoops.  Feeling he lost too much time after his incident in the whoops, almost 5-seconds lost, he said he pushed too hard to make up the time leading to a further error, this time of his own doing dropping another 4 seconds to his rivals.   The 17-year-old said if he had been smarter and drove safe even with the first incident he could still have challenged for the TQ of the round.  Describing his super soft AKA Grid Iron equipped D8T as ‘really good’ he said if he can just keep it on its wheels he should be ok for Q3.

Having just become a dad for a second time 2-weeks ago, Josh Wheeler would take his Xray to the fifth fastest time.  Having last raced a truggy a month before last September’s World Championships, Wheeler said he was still ‘knocking off the rust which wasn’t helped by the fact drivers got just 6-minutes of practice before qualifying. In Q1 he would suffer radio glitches caused by him being unaware his Futaba radio software needed updating.  With that rectified for Q2 he said the XT8 was easy to drive although ‘not Ronnefalk fast’.  Looking to get more speed he will discuss with the car’s designer Jurai Hudy some set-up options for the morning.

Setting the 6th fastest time Adam Drake said he ‘rolled the dice on tyres’ and it probably wasn’t the best move.  While most of the other Pro-Line runners went for M3 compound he went with X3 and while it was still good he said the M3 would have been better.  Having felt his driving in Q1 was to conservative, the new Mugen signing said the reseeding after Q1 which put him in the top heat had helped him to be more focused on his driving.  With the clutch on his Novarossi engine still not exactly where he wants it to be he will once again adjust this for Q3.

Coming in for a strong exchange of words from Kyosho’s Cody King over his driving, both drivers running in the second fastest heat, Ryan Cavalieri posted the 7th fastest time.  The Team Associated driver said while the run ‘started off a little rocky’ he then started to find his lines and he ended pretty well. Running a different diff set-up from Q1, he said this improved his truggy and the run was something to build on for tomorrow.  Running a soft AKA Grid Iron tyre he said he will probably go to Super Soft due to the early run time of Q3 as well as adjusting the truggy’s braking so as to have stronger braking.

Posting the 8th fastest time Barry Pettit said his truggy was awesome but he threw away a good run with a late driver error.  Running 2nd behind Tebo, on lap 10 of 12 he would get it wrong on the step-up leading onto the back straight and riding the piping he would lose over 3-seconds.  Describing the set-up on his MBX7T as ‘perfect’, the 22-year-old will run it unchanged for the final qualifier. Behing Pettit, AKA frontman Mark Pavidis and Billy Fischer both driving TLRs completed the Top 10.

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