Neumann takes Q1 of 4WD Buggy at Cactus

Joern Neumann has TQ’d the first round of 4WD Buggy Qualifying at the Pro-Line Cactus Classic at SRS Raceway in Scottsdale, Arizona.   The Team Durango driver topped the time by just shy of a second over Kyosho’s Jared Tebo with Associated’s Ryan Cavalieri 3rd.  For defending champion Ryan Maifield it wasn’t a good start as he managed only the 18th fastest time.  Chasing a fourth consecutive 4WD buggy title at the 28th running of prestigious event, he summed up his run as ‘hurting’.

The only front running European attending this year’s event, Neumann was happy to kick off qualifying with a TQ run.  Describing his Orion powered DEX410 as ‘easy to drive’, the German put in ‘a clean run with no mistakes’ setting the fastest lap in the process.  Running Pro-Line’s new Transistor front & Suburb VTR rear, unlike many of his rivals he said the tyres ‘worked good from the first lap’. For Q2, the European Champion said the only change he will make is to fit a fresh set of tyres adding that with his 4WD Buggy track conditions have been very consistent since the event began.

Tebo described his opening run as a ‘good start’ adding he felt comfortable over the full 5-minutes.  In terms of his prototype ZX6 he said the rear springs were a little too soft, the rear end laying down too much out of the corners, and for the day’s second qualifier he will fit a harder one.  Feeling he is losing time through the uphill section on the right side of the track he said he needs to ‘get his line sorted better’ there.

Last year’s Top Qualifier, Cavalieri said the run was ‘pretty good’ but found his B44.2 a little loose at the start until the tyres came in.  Having to wait for them to scrub in he said he lost too much time, his time 2-seconds of that of Neumann, but once they did come in the buggy felt ‘good’.  Planning no set-up changes, the former multiple World Champion said he will scrub a fresh set of tyres in more before the start of Q2.

Setting the fourth fastest time, Team Losi Racing’s Dakotah Phend said his buggy was ‘really good’ but he had one bad crash together with a few bobbles through the S-section near the timing loop.  Happy that his TLR22-4 has the speed, the 17-year-old recording the second fastest lap, he will leave his set-up and tyre choice, Pro-Line XT2 Scrub fronts & XT2 Suburb rears, the same for Q2.  Team-mate Dustin Evans said he is ‘struggling’ with the ‘so grippy’ track with him managing only 10th for the round.

Billy Fischer took his Associated B44.2 to the fifth fastest time.  The Team Novak driver said he ‘wasn’t the fastest on the track by any means’ but by keeping the run clean as others crashed he was able to post a ‘solid first run’.  Driving at ‘about 90%’ he said there is ‘more speed in the car but not without risk’.

Having topped yesterday’s controlled practice, Ty Tessmann could only manage the 6th fastest time. The HB driver said his tyres didn’t break in as quickly as he had expected.  Struggling for the first half of the run, which led to a number of crashes,  he said his D4-13 ended the run well.  Planning no set-up changes the US National Champion will work the tyres much harder during the Q2 warm-up laps.

13-year-old Damion Borkowicz put in an impressive first qualifier to set the 7th fastest time.  Running in the second fastest heat, the JConcepts team driver said his B44.2 was ‘super easy to drive’.  Taking off the front sawy bar for the qualifier he said he improved the buggy a lot over what it was like in controlled practice.  Running JConcepts red compund Dirt Web on the rear and orange compound Barcodes on the front, he said other than a fresh set of rubber he will run the same for Q2.  Behind the Florida driver, Associated designer Kody Numedahl and team driver Rob Gillespie and Evans completed the Top 10.

4WD Buggy Qualifying Round 1
1. Joern Neumann – Durango – 14/5:05.266
2. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 14/5:06.222
3. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 14/5:07.369
4. Dakotah Phend – TLR – 14/5:09.654
5. Billy Fischer – Associated – 14/5:13.708
6. Ty Tessmann – HB Racing – 14/5:14.661
7. Damion Borkowicz – Associated – 14/5:16.408
8. Kody Numedahl – Associated – 14/5:21.083
9. Rob Gillespie – Associated – 14/5:21.275
10.Dustin Evans – TLR – 14/5:21.700

View our event image gallery here.

Tebo & Cavalieri TQ opening truck qualifiers

Jared Tebo and Ryan Cavalieri TQ the opening round of truck qualifying at the Pro-Line Cactus Classic, Tebo taking his Kyosho to the fastest time in Mod Truck with Cavalieri topping the times in 2WD Short Course. Joern Neumann and Cavalieri completed the Top 3 in Mod Truck, while Ryan Maifield was second fastest in 2WD Short Course followed by TLR’s Chris Wheeler.

Describing the track as being ‘so edgy for truck’, he said he ‘was just hanging on for dear life’.  Able to keep the run clean he said he was ‘able to back to down a bit’ by the end as his rivals crashed.  Running his RT6 in mid motor configuration he said for Q2 he will most probably try a different tyre.

Neumann, who is running a prototype truck that features prototype parts based on their new 2WD buggy parts, said he made a mistake as he pushed to try and catch Tebo.  Setting the fastest lap of the round, he also suffered a tangle with Billy Fischer, but overall the German was pleased with his pace joking that ‘l beat Cavalieri, it must be good’.  Running 2-stage foam for the first qualifier he said on looking at his Pro-Line tyres after the run he will switch to closed cell for Q2.   Unfortunately for Fischer, having topped controlled practice yesterday, an ‘unexpected wheelie’ on the main straight caused him to pop a ball cup on his Associated Centro CT.4 putting him out at the 3-minute mark.

Defending 2WD Short Course Champion Cavalieri was pleased with his Short Course but admitted running rear motor in Mod Truck was a struggle.  Running AKA Grid Iron 2 fronts and Typo rear, both soft compound, he said this was a good choice making the truck ‘neutral to drive’.  Planning to leave his chassis & tyre set-up the same for Q2 he said he will increase the power output of his Orion Speedo.  Commenting on his T4.2, he said its too hard to drive with the rear motor on the sugared track making it hard to keep the front wheels on the ground.  He said they will work on trying to improve the track over the weekend adding that ‘maybe (they) will get lucky’.

Wheeler described his opening 2WD Short Course qualifier as ‘very good’.  Having switched to a gear diff in his 22SCT he said for Q2 he will go up in the oil as by the end of the 5-minutes it was starting to ‘diff out a little’.  Team-mate Dustin Evans took his example to the fourth fastest time with a run he said was just ‘OK’.  Suffering one crash he said overall he just ‘wasn’t quite fast enough’.

View our event image gallery here.

Chassis Focus – Dakotah Phend

Chassis: TLR 22 2.0
Motor: Team Orion 7.5T VST
Batteries: Team Orion Carbon Pro 5500 Saddle
ESC: Team Orion R10 Pro
Body: TLR 22 Cab Forward
Tires FR/RR: Pro-Line Scrubs X2 / Suburbs VTR X2
Radio/Servo: Spektrum DX4 Pro / Spektrum 6070

Chassis: TLR 22-4
Motor: Team Orion 5.5T VST
Batteries: Team Orion Carbon Pro 5500 Saddle
ESC: Team Orion R10 Pro
Body: TLR 22-4 Cab Forward
Tires FR/RR: Pro-Line Scrubs X2 / Suburbs X2
Radio/Servo: Spektrum DX4 Pro / Spektrum 6040

Chassis: TLR SCTE 2.0
Motor: Team Orion 4.0T VST
Batteries: Team Orion Carbon Pro 6500 Stick
ESC: Team Orion R10 Pro
Body: TLR High Performance SCT body
Tires FR/RR: Pro-Line Ions X2
Radio/Servo: Spektrum DX4 Pro / Spektrum 6090

Remarks – Dakotah has been working on making his cars easier to drive and more stable in the high speed corners by running thicker oils as well as stiffer shock springs. On his 22-4 4wd he also raised the top shock mounting position on the front shocks and he is running the regular Pro-Line Suburbs on the rear of the car as he felt the new VTR were too grippy and causing the car to be too twitchy at high speed.

View our event image gallery here.

‘From Race Control’ – Day 2, Qualifying

It is an overcast and slightly chilly start to Day 2 of the Pro-Line Cactus Classic at SRS Raceway in Scottsdale. On the schedule for the day is 2 of the 4 rounds of qualifying, drivers best 2 to count, with the faster of today’s runs being used to reseed the heats for tomorrow’s second day of qualifying. Having had 44 heats in controlled practice yesterday, the reseeding and elimination of no-shows has seen that number reduced to 37 for the 11 classes.

Phend top 2WD seed at Cactus Classic

Having posted the fastest time in the opening controlled practice for 2WD Buggy, Dakotah Phend is the top seed for qualifying at the Pro-Line Cactus Classic.  Running a time of 67.01 for his 3-consecutive fastest laps in the morning, the Team Losi Racing driver ran a 67.12 time in the night time run, to top the seeding time sheets from Billy Fischer and defending Champion Jared Tebo.  With the Top 13 drivers from CP1 unable to improve their 3-lap pace second time of asking the biggest improvement came from Serpent’s Mike Truhe who ended the day 14th fastest having improved his morning time by 1/2 a second.

‘Really happy’ to top practice, Phend said there was ‘a lot more traction’ in the cooler night time conditions but his Orion powered TLR22 had no issues handling it.  Running a fresh set of Pro-Line tyres, the US National Champion said they just got better & better as the run progressed and looking ahead to the morning’s opening qualifier he thinks he is in a strong position, his time 6/10ths fastest than that of No.2 seed Fischer.

Making changes to the diff on his Centro C4.2, Fischer said it was the wrong way to go.  Describing the track conditions of CP2 as ‘more edgy’, the Team Novak driver will for Q1 revert back to the same diff set-up he ran in the first controlled practice. Despite topping the times in Mod Truck ahead of Tebo and Joern Neumann’s prototype Durango, Fischer  is planning a significant change to his Centro T4.2.  Having posted his No.1 seed time with a CT4.2 front end for the opening qualifier he will run the truck with a T4.1 front end to stiffen it up and make it ‘more stable’ to drive.

Behind Tebo in 2WD Buggy, Team Associated’s Tanner Denney is the fourth seed followed by Neumann, Ryan Maifield and up coming talent Spencer Rivkin.  The top heat for qualifying is completed by TLR’s Dustin Evans and the Associated’s of Ryan Cavalieri and Kody Numedahl.  Just missing out on the Top 10, Schumacher’s Carson Werinmont heads the line-up for the B heat.

Elsewhere Maifield is top seed for 2WD Short Course, the defending champion setting the practice pace over team-mate Cavalieri and Durango’s Travis Amezcua. In 4WD Short Course Neumann topped the times from Phend and Lutz.

View our event image gallery here.