Tebo fastest in first 4WD practice

Jared Tebo has set the pace in the opening round of controlled practice at the Pro-Line Cactus Classic, the Kyosho driver doing three consecutive laps 26/1000ths fastest than TLR’s Dakotah Phend with Team Durango’s Joern Neumann just a further 11/1000ths off around the high grip SRS Raceway in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Despite doing a ‘nose wheelie’ off the track at the start of the run which popped a ball cup, Tebo said his buggy was ‘really good’.  Running a prototype chassis, he said he did a lot of his set-up wok over the past two days when the track was available for open practice.  Switching to a gear diff and going up in shock oil for the first of today’s controlled practice runs which will determine the seeding for tomorrow’s qualifying, he said the changes worked well.  Asked if he planned any change for his second run he said he would wait til after his 2WD run to decide what, if any, changes he will try.  With 44 heats, there is a considerable wait between rounds.

Describing the track as a lot different to previous years saying that with ‘so much traction and high speed corners it is challenging’, Dakotah Phend was pleased with his first run of the day.  Describing his TLR22-4 as ‘awesome’, the buggy fitted with Pro-Line Scrubs on the front and X2 Suburbs on the rear, for CP2 he plans to make a rear camber link adjustment just to make it a little more stable for the ‘onroad racing’ like conditions.

Neumann, who was running Pro-Line’s new front Transistor and a Surburb rear tyre on his DEX410, said it was easy to drive and overall he was pleased to be on pace.  Describing the track as being like high traction carpet common to indoor racing in European, the Euro Offroad Series Champion said having found it edgy in the open practice he was now used to it.  For CP2 the German said he has no plans to make any changes.

Posting the fourth fastest time, Ryan Cavalieri said he was ‘pretty happy’ with his Associated B44.2 adding that he ‘thought it drove well’.  Running Pro-Line Scrub front & X2 Suburb rears, he said despite the challenging high traction conditions the buggy had good pace.  Another driver that did most of his set-up work in the open practice, adding a front sway bar and gear diff, Cavalieri plans to run CP2 with the same set-up as the morning’s run.

US National Champion Ty Tessmann said he wasn’t the fastest but overall was happy with how his D4-13 felt, him running his race car for the first time having used his test car the previous two days.  Running Pro-Lines new Transistor front tyre and Suburb VTR rear, he said the first few laps of the run were used to break in the tyres.  Commenting on the track the Canadian said it is hard not to over drive.

Completing the Top 6 in the current reseed ranking, Schumacher’s Carson Wernimont said his car felt ‘pretty good’ adding it was ‘super easy to drive and (he) was able to easily put in clean laps’.  Running AKA’s new Pinstripe front and Deja Vu rear tyre, the 17-year-old said they work really good and he will stick with them for the second run.  In terms of his car set-up he will try harder arms on his K1 Aero along with fitting an alloy chassis to stiffen up the buggy and try to make it more consistent.

Defending champion Ryan Maifield was seventh fastest over 3-consecutive laps but playing around with front tyres he said he felt more comfortable yesterday with his B44.2.  The Arizona driver switched from running JConcepts Barcodes to Dirtwebs for CP1. His first time to run the tyre on his track he said he didn’t like them as much as the Barcodes and for the second controlled practice he will revert back leaving his chassis set-up as is.

Setting the 9th fastest time just behind Team Durango’s Ryan Lutz, Dustin Evans said his buggy was good but he was just overdriving it.  Running the same set-up on his TLR22-4 as his Team Losi Racing team-mate Phend, he said he just needs to ‘back it down’ in terms of his driving adding that running cleans lines are key to going fast on this track.

For World Champion Steven Hartson, his first run of the track in 4WD lasted just 5-laps as he broke his Associated B44.2.  Having focused on his 2WD buggy for the past two days, he said of the few laps in did this morning in 4WD the set-up seems good although he went with too soft a front tyre.  Fitted with JConcepts Dirtwebs all round, he said he ran to front too soft and he will switch from Red to Orange compound for CP2.

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Track Focus – SRS Raceway

Track Name – SRS Raceway
Country – USA
Location – Scottsdale, Arizona
Direction – Anti-Clockwise
Surface – Sugared Dirt

America’s longest running race and one of the most prestigious events on the international 1:10 Offroad racing calendar, this is the 28th running of the Pro-Line Cactus Classic.  Originally set to move indoor this year to host HobbyTown USA/SRS’s new Scottsdale RC Speedway facility, delays in the completion of the new building mean the event is again at the popular outdoor track, albeit regrettably most likely the last time the event will run at this location.

Speaking to Store Manager and track builder Ricky Gaynor the track was prepared for the race last week with rain a few days prior to that making the build a little more tricky than usual.  The moisture caused the dirt to want to clump together with Ricky saying it has created a ‘weird’ final surface.  Running two club races on the track, which was watered between runs, in preparation for Cactus Classic the track has undergone two sugar coatings.  A first coating of 300lbs of sugar was followed by a second 500lbs coating with Ricky planning no further treatment of the surface.  Last year the track as sugared nightly over the event.  Asking Ricky about the future of the track he said the reason for the moving of both the hobby store and the track is that the land owner has plans to build Condos on the site.

Reigning 2WD Buggy champion Jared Tebo said this year’s track, while not having as good a flow as last year, should be good to race on with the up hill section on the right side being the main separator as well as being a good passing spot.  Describing the racing line as tight he said the track is a little bumpy and even more grippy than last year.  Chasing a fourth consecutive 4WD buggy title, Ryan Maifield, for whom this is his home event, said the layout is fun with drivers availing of open practice the past two days, the Associated drivers added that the ‘surface is really consistent’.

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‘From Race Control’ – Day 1, Controlled Practice

As expected its a sunny morning in Scottsdale, Arizona, for Day 1 of our coverage of the Pro-Line Cactus Classic.  Technically the third day of the event for many drivers, the track having been available for open practice for the past two days, today’s scheduled sees the first formal action with Controlled Practice. Drivers will get 2 rounds of 5-minute practice per class, 12 classes making up the 44 heat entry, with the fastest 3-consecutive laps of each driver determining a reseed for qualifying which runs tomorrow & Friday.