February 23, 2014

Blair wins to progress to eBuggy A-Main

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Austin Blair will progress to the A-Main of eBuggy at the DNC after he took his Tekin powered Kyosho to an easy win in the 8-minute B-Main.  Starting from third on the grid, the A-Main Hobbies team driver benefitted from errors by pole sitter Joern Neumann and the No.2 Mugen of Barry Pettit.  Moving to the front after just three laps Blair would take a comfortable win 5.755 second ahead of Xray’s Martin Bayer and Pettit who will join him in tonight’s title deciding encounter.  Leading away the 15-car field Neumann would put his Durango on its roof on the opening lap with his error also delaying fellow European Renaud Savoya.  Neumann would work his way back up through the field from 14th position, setting the fastest lap of the race on the way, but finishing a fighting fifth right behind Savoya the result meant the end of the road for their eBuggy challenge at the Fear Farm.

eBuggy A-Main Grid
1. Drew Moller – Mugen/LRP
2. Ryan Lutz – Durango/Tekin
3. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion
4. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion
5. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion
6. Carson Wernimont – Mugen/Reedy
7. Ty Tessmann – HB/Orion
8. Josh Wheeler – Xray/Tekin
9. Cody King – Kyosho/Orion
10.Billy Fischer – TLR/Novak
11.Mike Truhe – Serpent/Novak
12.Adam Drake – TLR/Tekin
13.Austin Blair – Kyosho/Tekin
14.Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP
15.Barry Pettit – Mugen/Tekin

View our event image gallery here.

February 23, 2014

Chassis Focus – Dakotah Phend

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Chassis: TLR 8ight-T 3.0
Engine: Orion CRF 722 Truggy
Tires: Pro-Line
Radio/Servos: Spektrum
Remarks – Team Losi Racing’s 17-years old talent declared himself pretty satisfied with the performance of his 8ight T 3.0 truck. Sticking with Drake’s standard setup, he said he has mostly been focusing on his driving since the beginning of practice. Performing well during qualifying on Holeshots in M3 compound, he will give the Blockades a try for the main event in which  he will line up third.

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February 22, 2014

Chassis Focus – Drew Moller

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Chassis: Mugen MBX7 Eco
Tires: Pro-Line
Motor/ESC: LRP
Batteries: Protek RC
Radio/Servo: KO Propo
Remarks – TQ’ing the Pro E-Buggy class the Mugen USA driver showed notable speed and consistency throughout qualifying, driving a completely stock MBX7 Eco with his standard setup. Without needing to dial-in the car for the track he instead focussed on his driving, refining his lines. Planning to stick with the same setup for the A-main, the tire of choice remains his trusty Blockade M3, he will start from pole position in the eight minute long final.

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February 22, 2014

‘From Race Control’ – Day 4 Truggy/eBuggy Mains

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It is the penultimate day of action at the 15th Annual Dirt Nitro Challenge with today the day that the Truggy and eBuggy champions will be crowned. With 28 Mains on the schedule, the big races are Race 25, the 8-minute eBuggy A-Main, and Race 28, the 45-minute Truggy Main which will see Top Qualifier Ty Tessmann vie for three in a row at the Fear Farm. To allow the 12-direct qualifiers gauge the track conditions they can expect for tonight’s main event following Race 18, A-Main drivers will get a 10-minute warm-up.  15 cars will start the title deciding races with 3 drivers set to bump up from the 20-minute Truggy and 8-minute eBuggy B-Mains.

February 22, 2014

Tebo tops final qualifier at DNC

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Last year’s Dirt Nitro Challenge Top Qualifier Jared Tebo finished off a long day of buggy qualifying with a TQ run, the Kyosho driver posting the fastest time of the day in Q3 to finish almost six seconds clear of Ty Tessmann who was in turn one second faster than Cody King. The result means Tebo lines up 3rd on the gird for the 45-minute final on Sunday behind Tessmann and Dakotah Phend who secured the overall TQ in the second round of qualifying. Having finished 1-2 in Q2, it was a troubled final heat for Phend and Carson Wernimont as both drivers suffered engine cuts.

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In contention for a clean sweep of the heats setting the fastest lap of the round, coming up on the 4 minute-mark Phend rolled his TLR causing the engine to cut. While TLR team-manager Kevin Gahan tried to restart it, it failed to fire back up. Wernimont’s engine would also cut after a roll but the Mugen driver in this case was able to get the engine fired back up albeit just to finish out the run and use the track time to test tyres for the final which he will start 5th.

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The biggest news of the third qualifier was that of defending champion Ryan Maifield. Running in the C heat, the Associated driver had a tough run with his prototype RC8 finishing behind Xray’s Tyler Vik with a time that was only good enough for 16th in the round. With a DNF in Q1, Maifield missed the cut by one spot ending up 13th overall meaning he will have to rely on working his way up from the B-Main.

Buggy A-Main Grid (3 to bump up from B-Main)
1. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 0 pts
2. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed – 6
3. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 7
4. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 7
5. Carson Wernimont – Mugen/OS Speed – 8
6. Cody King – Kyosho/Reds Racing – 9
7. Barry Pettit – Mugen/OS Speed – 11
8. Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion – 13
9. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 15
10.Taylor Petersen – Mugen/Novarossi – 17
11.Austin Blair – Kyosho/RB – 17
12.Ryan Lutz – Durango/Alpha – 20

View our event image gallery here.

February 22, 2014

Q3 Buggy Qualifying times (Top 12)

1. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 10/7:33.897
2. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed – 10/7:39.789
3. Cody King – Kyosho/Reds Racing – 10/7:40.754
4. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 10/7:43.211
5. Austin Blair – Kyosho/RB – 10/7:50.036
6. Ryan Lutz – Durango/Alpha – 10/7:54.214
7. Barry Pettit – Mugen/OS Speed – 9/7:00.867
8. Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion – 9/7:01.840
9. Mark Pavidis – TLR/OS Speed – 9/7:02.247
10.Drew Moller – Mugen/Novarossi – 9/7:02.962
11.Tyler Vik – Xray/FX – 9/7:03.220
12.Josh Wheeler – Xray/OS Speed – 9/7:03.664