Cavalieri wins exciting 2WD Short Course A2

Ryan Cavalieri won an exciting second A-Main of 2WD Short Course, the defending champion holding off an intense challenge from team-mate Ryan Maifield, the Associated pairing the class of the field.  Rubbing paint during the run swapping the lead between corners, Cavalieri would finally get some breathing space with 2 laps to go when Maifield rolled his SC10 at the end of the straight.  Rolling again on the last lap, this would allow Team Durango’s Travis Amecua to get by the US National Champion to take second at the finish line by 3/10th of a second.

In Mod Truck, US National Truck champion Jared Tebo took an easy 3-second win over A1 winner Joern Neumann, the pair the only drivers to go 14-laps.  Having had a bad opening leg, finishing 4th, the Top Qualifier kept his Kyosho RT6 out front from start to finish.  Driving a Centro CT4.2, Billy Fischer would complete the Top 3 after getting by the rear motored T4.2 of A1 runner-up Cavalieri who after two bad laps in the middle of the race would post the fastest lap.

Mod Truck A2 Result
1. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 14/5:19.429
2. Joern Neumann – Durango – 14/5:22.315
3. Billy Fischer – Team Associated – 13/5:03.804

2WD Short Course A2 Result
1. Ryan Cavalieri – Team Associated – 13/5:09.991
2. Travis Amezcua – Durango – 13/5:16.281
3. Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 13/5:16.585

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Video – 2wd & 4wd Buggy A-main Leg 1

A1 Buggy wins for Maifield & Phend

Ryan Maifield and Dakotah Phend took the opening round of A-Mains at the Pro-Line Cactus Classic this morning in Scottsdale, Arizona.   Maifield won the more interesting encounter, 4WD Buggy, which saw drama before the race even started as Jared Tebo broke a front and rear wishbone during his warm-up laps and was forced to miss the start having been set to start second. 2WD Buggy was a rather processionally affair with Phend cruising to an easy victory, the Top 4 finishing in the same order they finished.

Commenting on his 4WD win, defending Champion Maifield said he was able to capitalise on others’ mistakes and luckily avoided making any himself.  Going to the front on lap 5 when Top Qualifier Joern Neumann rolled over his Durango, Maifield would see off the attention of Dakotah Phend to take the win by 1.5-seconds with Ty Tessmann a further 4/10ths behind in third. Asked about the re-sugaring of the track last night, Maifield said if he had been blind folded on the rostrum he wouldn’t have noticed it had been done.

Phend said he drove his TLR22-4 ‘too hard’ as he tried to pull in Maifield leading him to make mistakes which in turn allowed the Associated driver to pull clear in the closing stages of the race. Commenting on the track re-sugaring the 17-year-old said it didn’t feel as good as yesterday.

Finishing third from 5th on the grid, Tessmann felt he could have battled for the lead had it not been for contact with Neumann.  Having got passed him for third, the German would land into the rear of the Canadian’s HB and while he waited for Tessmann to resume position this broke his charge to the front.

Expecting the track to have more grip following the re-sugaring, Neumann said it felt ‘more loose’ but he said it was simple driver error that cost him the race.  Finishing 5th, he said his DEX410 was really good, highlighted by him posting the fastest lap of the race.

Making 2WD look easy, US National Champion Phend did have one ‘scary’ moment late in the race when he was put off by the position of a marshal attending a crashed car at the jump after the drivers stand.  Suffering the moment which resulted in his TLR22 getting a little out of shape, once he got a gap on Maifield he just tried to maintain it adding that he ‘still drove hard’ for most of the 5-minute race.

Despite setting the fastest lap of 2WD, Maifield said the team’s new B5M is ‘still work in progress’.  Describing the car as feeling ‘OK’ he said they still have to iron out a few things with the set-up.

Finishing third over 5-seconds clear of defending champion Jared Tebo, Cavalieri described his buggy’s performance as ‘mediocre’ adding he was ‘just driving around’. Hoping to find some improvement for A2 he will adjust the front ball cups as well as moving the battery back in the chassis.  Asked about the re-sugared track conditions the former multiple World Champion said it ‘sucks’.  Saying it did not have the same feeling as it did through qualifying he added while it is the same for everyone he feels it was not a good idea to do it.

4WD Buggy A-Main Leg 1 Result
1.(4) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 14/5:03.407
2.(3) Dakotah Phend – TLR – 14/5:04.946
3.(5) Ty Tessmann – HB – 14/5:05.379
4.(10)Ryan Lutz – Durango – 14/5:12.462
5.(1) Joern Neumann – Durango – 14/5:12.674
6.(7) Billy Fischer – Associated – 14/5:14.344
7.(8) Carson Wernimont – Schumacher – 14/5:17.076
8.(6) Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 14/5:17.586
9.(11)Kody Numedahl – Associated – 13/5:00.820
10.(9)Daimon Borkowicz – Associated – 1/0:19.236
11.(2)Jared Tebo – Kyosho – DNS

2WD Buggy A-Main Leg 1 Result
1.(1) Dakotah Phend – TLR – 14/5:14.102
2.(2) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 14/5:15.554
3.(3) Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 14/5:17.718
4.(4) Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 14/5:22.984
5.(6) Travis Amezcua – Durango – 13/5:05.406
6.(10)Ty Tessmann – HB – 13/5:06.489
7.(9) Spencer Rivkin – Associated – 13/5:07.282
8.(8) Ryan Lutz – Durango – 13/5:09.565
9.(7) Dustin Evans – TLR – 13/5:09.907
10.(5)Billy Fischer – Associated – 13/5:12.714
11.(11)Joern Neumann – Durango – 13/5:21.031

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Video – 2wd SC & Truck A-main Leg 1

A1 Truck wins for Neumann & Maifield

Joern Nuemann and Ryan Maifield won the opening Truck A-Mains at the Pro-Line Cactus Classic, Neumann taking a convincing win in Mod Truck over Ryan Cavalieri while Maifield took a close win in 2WD Short Course over Top Qualifier Cavalieri.

Starting from the No.2 position, Neumann’s prototype Durango moved to the front on lap 2 as he got passed Top Qualifier Jared Tebo up the hill, a section that will be key to passes during the 5-minute encounter. Getting passed by Cavalieri, Tebo would come off worst from an error on lap 5 by the Associated driver coming off the hill onto the straight that would send the Kyosho tumbling and ending up on its roof.  This allowed Billy Fischer to third, the Team Novak driver posting the fastest lap of the race, and while Tebo would retake the Associated when Fischer had issues at the hill, Tebo would lose the place again 3-laps later the No.4 truck to finish 4th.

In the 2WD Short Course encounter the race started out rather processional with the Top 3 pulling clear of the field and maintaining order.  While Cavalieri would lead for the first 3-minutes, Maifield put on a late charge closing right up on his team-mates’ Associated.  Clipping the pipping in the middle section of the track this pushed Cavalieri just wide enough for Maifield to slip down the inside.  Cavalieri fought back, tagging the back of the No.2 truck up the hill causing it to spin round but the defending champion waited for Maifield to resume the lead, a position he would hold till the finish.  Chris Wheeler had a lonely race, the TLR driver coming home 3rd over 4-seconds behind the Top 2.

Mod Truck A1 Result
1. Joern Neumann – Durango – 13/5:01.195
2. Ryan Cavalieri – Team Associated – 13/5:04.472
3. Billy Fischer – Team Associated – 13/5:05.436
 

2WD Short Course A1 Result
1. Ryan Maifield – Team Associated – 13/5:14.058
2. Ryan Cavalieri – Team Associated – 13/5:14.063
3. Chris Wheeler – Team Losi Racing – 13/5:18.691
 

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‘From Race Control’ – Day 4, Finals

After a rather windy finish to yesterday’s action it is a beautiful clear blue sky morning in Scottsdale for the closing day of the final Pro-Line Cactus Classic to take place at SRS Raceway.  Today will see the crowning of the champions of the 28th running of the prestigious offroad event with triple mains to decide the winners of the key classes. One factor that could come into play today is that track was re-sugared last night, race organisers having originally planned no extra sugaring of the track once the event started.