Phend takes first eBuggy qualifier

With the 15th Annual Dirt Nitro Challenge attracting it most competitive 1:8 eBuggy entry to-date, it was Team Losi Racing’s Dakotah Phend who took the opening qualifier.  The US National Champion set the pace taking the 7-minute qualifier by over 6.5-seconds from the Kyosho of Jared Tebo.  Setting the fastest lap of the round (44.116), Mugen’s Drew Moller posted the third fastest time just 57/100ths ahead of the Serpent of Mike Truhe.  Last year’s runner-up, Team Durango’s Ryan Lutz set the fifth fastest time with Josh Wheeler’s Xray completing the Top 6.  Defending Champion Billy Fischer would only manage the 10th fastest time behind Ty Tessmann (7th), Carson Wernimont (8th) and Cody King (9th).

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Perfect start to DNC for Tessmann

Defending Dirt Nitro Challenge Truggy Champion Ty Tessmann got his quest for a third title in a row off to the perfect start as he took his HB to the fastest time in the opening round of qualifying at the Fear Farm in Phoenix, Arizona.  Driving his ‘Ty Tessmann’ edition D8T, the Canadian TQ’d the first of the three qualifiers by just .287 of a second from Team Losi Racing’s Dakotah Phend and Mugen’s Drew Moller.  Unfortunately for last year’s Top Qualifier Adam Drake, the event didn’t start well as he retired from Q1 after suffering a receiver battery failure.

Running 10-laps in a time of 7:20.778, Tessmann said his truck was good.  With the track getting a good watering before the top heat, he said in the beginning it was very loose but he was able to drive through it and once the track dried out in the Arizona sun both the track and his truck ‘came good’.  Running Pro-Line M3 Hole Shots, he said the tyre worked well and for qualifying he will stick with this option adding that due to the watering before runs a harder compound would make the truck very difficult to drive at the start of the run.  With Q2 set to run in hotter conditions the 21-year-old will changes his oils to suit along with making a swaybar change.

Describing the track at the start of the 7-minute qualifier as ‘so wet’, 17-year-old Phend said it just got faster and faster every lap.  Also running Pro-Line M3 Holeshots on his Orion powered TLR 8ight T, he said everything ran ‘really good’.  Having a ‘few small bobbles’ he said he had ‘no big’ mistakes describing the run as a ‘good start’ to the day.  For Q2 he plans to run everything as is.

New 2014 Mugen Seiki Racing recruit Moller was very pleased about his run to the third fastest time.  ‘Really confident’ going into Q1 the 17-year-old said he targeted a clean run and that ‘worked out.  Another driver running Pro-Line’s M3 Holeshots, he said for Q2 he will go again with what he has got in terms of set-up and tyre choice on his MBX6TR Truggy.

Setting the fourth fastest time, 2011 DNC double champion Jared Tebo declared his opening qualifier as ‘pretty good’.  The Kyosho driver said it was a ‘clean run’ and he ‘got through the woops’, a section which caused drivers so much difficulty in practice, but overall he needs to find more speed.  Looking for more steering from his Orion powered ST-RR Evo, he said he will try both a different tyre and a set-up change.  Having run a soft AKA Grid Iron he will try Impact in Q2.

Kyosho team-mate Cody King took his Reds Racing powered truggy to the fifth fastest time saying ‘considering how practice went yesterday it was a good start to Day 2’.  Having had some issues yesterday which they have got sorted for today he said he is now working on his driving and trying to ‘keep it smooth’ with his big focus being the rhythm section.  Running Pro-Line M3 Holeshots in Q1, for Q2 he said he is considering trying Blockades but will make that call closer to the time of the run.

Team Xray’s Josh Wheeler took his XT9 to sixth for the round but said a faster run would have been possible had he not backed off so much at the end of the heat.  Having had a few moments while leading his heat, him running in the 2nd fastest heat, he said he opted to play it safe but ultimately backed off just a little too much dropping him to fourth in his group.  Running soft AKA Grid Iron tyres he said they felt good and he will go with them again for Q2.  Looking to get his OS Speed powered truggy to turn in a bit better he will make a rear camber link change for his next run.

With a large European entry at the 15th running of the Dirt Nitro Challenge it was David Ronnefalk who was fastest taking his Kyosho to 7th.  The Swede said the run was pretty good and other than two small mistake early on in the tricky wet track conditions the rest of the run felt fast as he was able to keep station with Phend who was running behind him on track.  Struggling a little to get his truggy to turn in he will make a number of changes for Q2.  Planning to increase his rear brake and decrease his front brake he will also go up in oil in the centre diff to try and get it so he can slide it around the corners using the throttle.

Completing the Top 8 was another of Mugen’s new signings Carson Wernimont.  The 17-year-old said despite sliding around at the start of the run over the last 2-minutes his truggy felt great.  Hoping that the track gets a little less watering for Q2 he will leave everything on his OS Speed powered MBX6TR as is for the second qualifier.

Young Arizona driver Tanner Stees put in an impressive first run among the World class field to post the 9th fastest time just in front of fellow state resident Ryan Maifield.  Surprised that he actually made the Top 10, Maifield said he probably would have had a Top 5 run if it weren’t for a couple of late driver errors one being when he clipped the piping and another being a mistake in the 9-pack rythm section.  Happy with how his JConcepts shod truggy felt he said he is still learning his way with his new Novarossi engines.  Feeling he could do with a better tune to get better mid range power he added that this will probably come in naturally as the still very fresh engines get broken in more.  With his big focus being the defence of his Buggy title with Asoociated’s new RC8 prototype which him and Ryan Cavalieri are debuting this weekend he said running Truggy is testing for Buggy.

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Q1 Truggy Qualifying times (Top 12)

1. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed – 10/7:20.778
2. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 10/7:21.065
3. Drew Moller – Mugen/Novarossi – 10/7:22.953
4. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 10/7:25.676
5. Cody King – Kyosho/Reds Racing – 10/7:26.157
6. Josh Wheeler – Xray/OS Speed – 10/7:26.505
7. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 10/7:27.899
8. Carson Wernimont – Mugen/OS Speed – 10/7:29.577
9. Tanner Stees – HB/Reds Racing – 10/7:30.479
10.Ryan Maifield – Team Associated/Novarossi – 10/7:33.627
11.Mike Truhe – Serpent/TOP – 10/7:34.117
12.Chad Bradley – TLR/Werks – 10/7:34.198