‘From Race Control’ – Day 3, Qualifying

Another overcast morning at Thornhill Racing Circuit, Day 3 of the ROAR 1:8 Gas Offroad National Championships in Texas sees the start of qualifying. The day’s programme is made up of 2 of the 4 rounds of scheduled qualifying for the 17th running of the championship, with a driver’s fastest two of the four to count for the final qualification ranking. Each of the rounds will start with Truggy and conclude with Buggy with today the first time we get to see the main title contenders running on track at the same time following yesterday’s seeding practice.

Lutz No.1 for qualifying at US Nationals

Ryan Lutz will carry the No.1 racing number in the top heat of qualifying tomorrow at the US National Championship at Thornhill Racing Circuit in Hutto, Texas. The Team Durango driver topped today’s seeding with his 3-consecutive laps from the first of the day’s two 7-minute practice rounds with the track generally proving to be slower second time around. Team Losi Racing’s Dakotah Phend would top the evening run to end the day second fastest with Truggy top seed Ty Tessmann completing the Top 3, while defending champion Adam Drake ended the day 5th fastest.

Pleased to end Day 2 of the event at the front, having also set the 2nd fastest seeding time in Truggy, Lutz said for the second run he made changes to his DNX8 Prototype which he ‘didnt like’. Adjusting the anti squat as he looked to get it to square up as quickly as possible out of the corner so he could ‘punch’ his Alpha engine he said the change affected the buggy too much through the corners. Describing the steering as feeling like a series of square movements rather than one single fluid action he will revert back to his previous set-up in preparation for Q1. With two rounds of qualifying making up tomorrow’s schedule, the ‘Lutzinator’ said buggy, engine and tyres all look good for qualifying.

Topping the second seeding practice, knocking over a second off his opening time, Phend described his Orion powered 8ight as ‘super, super good’. Only getting in half a run in the first run after suffering a steering servo failure, the 17-year-old felt the traction was starting to come up as the track grooved up but added the surface was also starting to deteriorate a little. Planning to leave the buggy the same for Q1, he said at the moment the key factor was making the right call on tyre choice, and he would make that closer to the time of his first qualifier which will be the last run of the round.

Running a slightly slower time in the second practice, taking third for the round, Tessmann said ‘it’s so slick out there its hard work’. Running Pro-Line’s recently released Lockdown tyres in X2 compound on his OS Speed engined D812, the 2012 double Champion said the tyre was good on the rough section but loose on the smooth area of track. Happy with his buggy set-up the Canadian thinks from now on it will be all about tyre choice and making the right call at the right time. For qualifying he said they will see what the organisers do with the track adding hopefully any work they do changes the track as he is struggling with how loose it is right now.

Despite a difficult second run, Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield would end up 4th fastest with his opening time. Changing to the smaller pinned Hybrid tyre from JConcepts on his RC8.2, he said that was a bad choice for the conditions. The Arizona driver, who won his only US National title to date back in 2006 driving for Thunder Tiger, would also suffer an engine flame after a crash, the idle on his Novarossi engine having been set too low. Planning to revert back to the same way he ran his buggy in the first seeding practice, when he was third fastest, he said running in a heat of top drivers tomorrow should be beneficial especially when it comes to making tyre choices.

Drake declared himself ‘very happy’ with how his day went. Describing his Novarossi powered 8ight as ‘super easy to drive’ he said it has been consistent run after run. Expecting the track will continue to ‘change a bunch over the next few days’ he said he will try to make changes at the right time to keep up with what the track is doing.

Drake’s former long time team-mate Mike Truhe completed the Top 6. The now Serpent lead driver was one of the few top drivers to improve on their opening time. Changing the anti squat on his 811 Cobra 2.0, he said that was ‘a big improvement’ with the buggy rolling through the corners better. Hampered a little by a brief rain shower during his heat, for qualifying he will make a further adjustment to his buggy moving the rear hubs more forward.

Ending he day 8th fastest behind the TLR of Billy Fischer, Warm-up Race winner Cody King ran a new prototype small pin tyre from Pro-Line in the second practice. Kyosho’s former World Champion said on the clean areas of the track the tyre was ok but it struggled in the dust but feels in a softer compound it could work well. Having focused on letting the track come to his Reds Racing powered MP9 they are now ‘doubting if the track is ever going to come to the car’ and they are now looking at some possible set-up changes for tomorrow’s opening qualifier.

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Tessmann top Truggy seed at US Nationals

Ty Tessmann will be the top Truggy seed when qualifying for the US National Championships gets underway at Thornhill Racing Circuit in Texas tomorrow. The factory HB driver and defending champion ended the seeding day top of the time sheets thanks to his opening run, with the second only netting the Canadian a fourth. After a DQ in the first practice, Ryan Lutz took his Durango to the fastest 3-consecutive laps in the final practice to end the seeding second overall. Although he couldn’t improve on his morning pace having posted the second fastest time, Serpent’s Mike Truhe completed the final Top 3 of the seeding.

Chasing a hat trick of National Truggy titles this week, Tessmann described conditions as ‘loose but controllable’. Describing the increasingly polished track as ‘a little skatey’, he said he second time round he had to brake earlier and was unable to get on the power as early as in the morning. Running Proline Holeshot X2 tyres on his own version of the D8T he said for tomorrow he will play around with ‘tyre stuff’ adding a lot was going to depend on how much watering the track was going to get between now and the morning.

Having had his first time disallowed after being declared under weight, Lutz said he had ‘some fun chucking’ his truck around with him ‘drifting it like the old days’. Leaving the truck the same as he ran it in the morning, he said he felt really comfortable with drifting it around and the approach ‘worked for (him)’. Happy with where his truck’s performance is at, he said after ‘having a bit of fun’ with it he will refresh all the oils in preparation for Q1.

Running his set of Pro-Line Holeshot X2 tyres for a second time Truhe said that left him struggling but overall he feels he has a ‘solid’ truck for qualifying. Happy with the feel of the TOP powered 811T he said he has a few changes he would still like to try in his mind but for Q1 he will stick with what he has and wait to see where the pace is at, all the title contenders set to run in similar track conditions having been spread out across all the heats during practice.

Setting the second fastest time of the second practice, Mugen’s Carson Wernimont ended the seeding 4th overall. The 17-year-old described his latest run as ‘not too shabby’ saying having changed nothing from the morning he ‘just drove it better’. Suffering a little traffic early on he was ‘able to get couple of clear laps at the end.’ Feeling he has a good base line for qualifying he added that he didn’t feel on the edge with the truck implying there is still a bit more to be got from his AKA shod MBX7T.

Despite improving his pace in the second practice, setting the third fastest time, TLR’s Dakotah Phend would drop one place in the final seeding to 5th. The 17-year-old wasn’t too concerned saying the seeding was ‘not really too important’ and the main thing was that he was ‘comfortable’ with the feel of his Orion powered 8ight. With ‘everything working good’ he said for the opening qualifier he will leave all as is.

Making it six different brands of chassis in the Top 6, Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield was another to have his opening run time counted in the final seeding. With the ‘track slower’, Truggy’s most crowned champion said running the same set of JConcepts tyres for a second time was ‘not great’ and switching to a thicker rear sway bar he said he didn’t like it. While he believes he can’t compete with Tessmann he does feel he has a Top 5 car and for Q1 he will revert to the set-up he ran in the first seeding practice which netted him the 3rd fastest time.

Securing 7th in the seeding, Kyosho’s Jared Tebo was pleased with his first run on an unwatered track. Setting the fifth fastest time of the second practice, he said the truck is good and he just needs to drive it a little harder. In the square 180 corners he said he is making it into two corners rather than punching it and power sliding the truck around, something he said he will do tomorrow.

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