‘From Race Control’ – Day 3, Qualifying

It’s the deciding day of qualifying at the Pro-Line Cactus Classic.  After yesterday’s two qualifiers, today sees another two rounds giving those who had a bad first day the opportunity to turn things another with the best 2 of 4 to count for the final qualifying order.  With 10 direct spots up for grabs in the A-Main, those who qualify in the B-Mains of both Modified Buggy classes will get an opportunity to take up the 11th spot, this ‘Last Chance Qualifier’ single race B-Main taking place this evening at SRS Raceway.

Maifield takes 2nd 2WD qualifier at Cactus Classic

After a rocky start to his home event, Ryan Maifield topped off Day 1 of qualifying at the Pro-Line Cactus Classic with a TQ run in 2WD Buggy. Having posted the fourth fastest time in Q1, Maifield would lead an Associated 1, 2, 3 in the second round of qualifying ahead of his young protege Spencer Rivkin and team-mate Ryan Cavalieri.  For Q1 pace setter Jared Tebo it was a tough round as he posted the 19th fastest time.

The only driver to run 14-laps for the round, Maifield said his B5M went better after ‘a lot of changes’.  Experiencing some ‘growing pains’ with the new car, he said the team have a lot of people here at the race and their work is ‘now luckily coming together’.  The 2012 Champion of the longest running American offroad event’s most sought after title, he said he hopes that they can make further steps forward over tomorrow’s remaining two qualifiers.

Making a shock position change right before going on track for the second qualifier, Rivkin was very happy with his performance having finished just outside the Top 10 in Q1.  With his JConcepts equipped B5M rolling better through the corners and able to carry more corner speed, the 15-year-old said he felt comfortable over the 5-minutes and the plan for now is to leave everything the same for Q3.

Another driver to finish outside the Top 10, Cavalieri said Q2 was ‘much better than the first one’.  Changing to a geardiff, the former World Champion said the switch gave his B5M more corner speed.  Also changing his camber links, admitting to having in error run the wrong set-up in controlled practice & Q1, he said while better the set-up still needs work and he will think overnight about what changes to make for Q3.

Posting the 4th fastest time Dustin Evans was a lot happier with his TLR22’s performance but said he ‘drove a little too conservative’ adding this cost him a Top 2 for the round.  Team-mate Dakotah Phend was fifth for the round despite 2 crashes.  Setting the fastest lap of the round, the US National Champion is having problems with the left hand section of the track, with both his crashes happening at the same corner.  Describing his TLR22 as being ‘awesome everywhere else on the track’, he believes the problem could be a combination of both set-up and his driving adding that he is probably straight lining the corner more than his rivals and just sometimes his buggy catches the pipping.

Completing the Top 6 was Kyosho’s Cody Turner .  While Turner had his best run his team-mate Tebo would get caught out by the weather conditions.  Despite TQ’ing Round 1, the defending Champion felt his RB6 was too soft and so went up in shock oil for Q2 but the temperature dropped resulting in his buggy having too much traction.  Running close to Phend on track he said he tried to run with the teenager when it would have been ‘smarter if he backed it down’. Instead he suffered a number of errors over the 5-minutes to finish 10-seconds off the TQ pace.

2WD Buggy Qualifying Round 2
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 14/5:22.285
2. Spencer Rivkin – Associated – 13/5:01.383
3. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 13/5:01.840
4. Dustin Evans – TLR – 13/5:01.926
5. Dakotah Phend – TLR – 13/5:02.835
6. Cody Turner – Kyosho – 13/5:03.296
7. Ryan Lutz – Durango – 13/5:03.720
8. Travis Amezcua – Durango – 13/5:04.663
9. Ty Tessmann – HB – 13/5:05.066
10.Carson Wernimont – Schumacher – 13/5:05.135

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Neumann stamps authority Day 1 of 4WD Buggy

Team Durango’s Joern Neumann stamped his authority on the first day of 4WD Buggy Qualifying at the 28th running of the Pro-Line Cactus Classic as he claimed the second of the days qualifiers by a massive 5.1 seconds over US National Champion Ty Tessmann.  Having had a bad start to the day posting only the 18th fastest time in Q1, defending champion Ryan Maifield turned things around to record a 3rd for the round.

Posting a new fastest lap of 21.205 around the SRS Raceway track,  Neumann said despite changing nothing on his Orion powered DEX410 other than fit a new set of Pro-Line tyres his buggy felt even better than in the morning when he topped Q1 from Jared Tebo.  Putting the improvement down to the hotter track conditions,  the World Championship Top Qualifier said he has no reason to make any changes for tomorrow’s third of four rounds of qualifying, another TQ run putting the overall TQ beyond the reach of his rivals.

Posting only the sixth fastest time in Q1, Tessmann said his HB D4-13 was much better second time round.  Changing back to the regular size front Proline rim having run VTR in the morning, he said the extra flex made the buggy easier to drive.  While easier to drive, the Canadian said it made him a little slower in the tight sections and so they will make a set-up adjustment to get the buggy to be a little more aggressive without making it edgy on the high speed corners in particular at the end of the straight.  They will use the morning’s 45 minute open free practice to test the change ahead of their Q3 run.   In terms of his time for Q2, Tessmann said he lost a bit of time after contact with Billy Fischer.

Having run gear diffs in Q1, Maifield switched to ball diffs in his B44.2 for the round which he said made the buggy easier to drive.  While now ‘more consistent’, the 3-time back to back champion said they are still off the pace but overall he is happy that they have now headed in the right direction in terms of set-up.  Team-mate Cavalieri posted the fourth fastest time, the former World Champion annoyed by a driver error. Describing the run as ‘going good till I rolled it’, he said his B44.2 ‘feels pretty good’ and all he plans to do is ‘freshen it up for the next one’.

‘Ok considering’ was how Dakotah Phend summed up his second qualifier.  Finding his TLR22-4 hard to drive from early on in the run, this was due to the front belt stripping making the buggy ‘3/4 four wheel drive’.  Despite this the 17-year-old managed the 5th fastest time.

Completing the Top 6 Tebo said his prototype Kyosho ZX6 was ‘really good’ but he just went for it a little too hard.  Crashing twice in the middle section of the track, he said for tomorrow the only change he would make would be to back down his driving a little.

‘Much better than the first one as the driver turned up’ was Carson Wernimont’s response to how Q2 went.  Setting the 7th fastest time, the factory Schumacher driver said his K1 Aero was easy to drive but he needs to make it a little faster.  To achieve this the 17-year-old plans to change the settings of his front camber links.

Behind Wernimont, 13-year-old Damion Borkowicz backed up his strong Q1 performance to post the 8th fastest time with his JConcepts sponsored Associated.  Behind him Team Durango’s Ryan Lutz and World Champion Steven Hartson completed the Top 10.

4WD Buggy Qualifying Round 2
1. Joern Neumann – Durango – 14/5:03.338
2. Ty Tessmann – HB – 14/5:08.481
3. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 14/5:09.128
4. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 14/5:09.298
5. Dakotah Phend – TLR – 14/5:09.991
6. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 14/5:13.306
7. Carson Wernimont – Schumacher – 14/5:14.299
8. Damion Borkowicz – Associated – 14/5:15.219
9. Ryan Lutz – Durango – 14/5:15.473
10.Steven Hartson – Associated – 14/5:16.106

View our event image gallery here.