Cav, Maifield & Neumann lift Cactus truck titles

All three truck titles at the 26th running of the Pro-Line Cactus Classic were sewn up in the second round of A-Mains after the winners of the opening A-Mains doubled up to secure the overall win. Starting from the TQ position Cavalieri claimed the first title of the event successfully defending his Mod Truck crown with ease winning ahead of Associated team-mate Ryan Maifield while Leg 1 runner-up Dustin Evans took third having briefly run in front of Maifield early in the 5-minute encounter.

The next title to be decided was 2WD Short Course and again it was the Top Qualifier and defending Champion that took the honours, but Maifield was forced to work hard for the win. One lap 2 the No.2 Kyosho of Tebo muscled his way passed the US National Champion and on the same lap as the trucks came off the straight Maifield rolled off the track, resuming back in fifth. Cheered on by his home crowd Maifield recovered back to second and shadowing Tebo finally found his way through on lap 7 when Tebo, who set the fastest lap of the race, got hooked up on a corner pipe.

Providing the most exciting action at Scottsdale R/C Speedway, the 4WD Short Course title will be leaving the USA with Joern Neumann, the first European to defeat the American’s elite offroad racers at the world famous Reedy Race, took a very close victory ahead of Dakotah Phend. 15-year-old Phend looked like he might convert his TQ starting position this time round but a mistake on lap seven let Leg 1 winner Neumann, who started fifth, to take to the front of the pack. Holding a comfortable lead mother nature came close to robbing the German ace the win as a gust of wind caught the DESC410 while in the air at the quad section sending it out of the track perimeters. All this and another moment for Neumann allowed Phend, who set the fastest lap, to close right in as the pair made a dash for the line, Neumann holding on to secure Durango’s first major US Short Course win by 1/10th of a second.

In the second of the Buggy Mains the result means it is still all to play for in Arizona. In 2WD Phend put in a stunning drive to take the win from fifth on the grid with his Pro-Line backed TLR22 taking the win ahead of Associated’s star Ryans, Cavalieri and Maifield. Once again Top Qualifier Tebo had a rough race. Holding the lead for three laps Leg 1 winner Cavalieri got by him on Lap 4 with things going downhill from there, the former World Champion eventually crossing the finish in 6th

In 4WD, Top Qualifier and defending Champion Maifield managed this time round to hold off his World Champion team-mate Cavalieri who had to deal with Joern Neumann. On lap nine Neumann split the Associated drivers but a mistake three laps from home let Cav back to second meaning the title will be going to one of the Ryans. Third in Leg 1, Tamiya’s Lee Martin was an early retirement in A2 after he clashed with Tebo in the air resulting in a hard landing that caused the TRF502 to shutdown.

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Video – Modified A-Mains Leg 1

Cavalieri dominates opening Cactus A-Mains

It was a very successful morning for Ryan Cavalieri at the Pro-Line Cactus Classic as the Team Associated driver notched up victory in three of the four A-Mains he contested, the other winners of the opening action being Ryan Maifield and Joern Neumann.

In the blue ribboned buggy classes the World Champion took victory in both 2WD and 4WD ahead of team-mate & defending Cactus Champion Maifield while in Mod Truck, the class of which he his the 2011 Champion, Cavalieri converted his TQ starting position into a win ahead of TLR’s Dustin Evans. Starting second on the grid in 2WD Buggy Cavalieri took the lead on lap 8 when Top Qualifier Jared Tebo made a mistake leading the Kyosho driver to get caught up in the chasing pack eventually finishing 5th. The 4WD encounter saw Cavalieri find a way passed Top Qualifier Maifield at the start of the second lap. Making a charge in the latter half of the race reduced the almost three second gap to under a second setting a blistering fastest lap of 22.324 but a mistake on lap 11 of 14 gave the No.2 buggy the buffer to cruise to the win.

In 2WD Short Course, the only class being contested by Cavalieri that he didn’t win with him ending the encounter in 3rd, Maifield took his Associated SC10 to a controlled tone to tone win over Tebo’s Kyosho Ultima SCR-SP. One notable retirement from the race was Losi driver Evans whose XXX-SCT came to a stop when the battery lead came undone on lap 4.

In 4WD Short Course, which put on a spectacular airshow as the ten trucks came across the quad for the first time, Top Qualifier Dakotah Phend came up short on the double before the straight, causing second place Lutz to run off the track, allowing defending champion Mike Truhe to take up the lead. Starting from 5th on the grid German ace Neumann made a great mid air pass on the American at the quad as the race reached the mid point and the Durango driver never looked back. Truhe’s race went downhill from there with Lutz recovering to take second followed by Austrian Hupo Honigl for an all Durango Top 3. Phend eventually finish 4th ahead of Truhe. After the race a Losi made a complaint to race officials regarding Durango running a rear wing on their trucks which under ROAR rules are not permitted however as this is not a ROAR event Team Durango had not breached any rules. Following a team managers meeting the Durango drivers agreed under a gentleman’s ruling to remove the wing for A-Main 2.

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Maifield & Phend 4WD Top Qualifiers

Ryan Maifield and Dakotah Phend completed the line up of Top Qualifiers in the main classes of the Pro-Line Cactus Classic with defending champion Maifield taking the honour in 4WD Buggy and Phend in 4WD Short Course after the pair each TQ’d the final qualifier of their respective classes tonight at Scottsdale R/C Speedway.

Looking to defend three titles this weekend, Maifield was pleased to secure his second overall TQ having earlier wrapped up 2WD Short Course with a round to spare. Happy with how his Reedy powered B44.1 worked in Q4, the factory Associated driver said starting on pole in the blue ribboned class his plan will be to control the race from the front.

Starting behind Maifield, making it an Associated 1-2 on the grid, will be team-mate Ryan Cavalieri. Having TQ’d Round 1, the World Champion Cavalieri was the only driver capable of denying Maifield from carrying No.1 on his buggy at his home race but he came up short finishing second, just under 2-seconds adrift.

Finishing on the podium in 4WD Buggy at last year’s Cactus Classic, third in the final heat leaves British ace Lee Martin in a strong position to repeat or better his 2011 performance with his Tamiya TRF502 carrying No.3 in the 5-minute triple A-Mains.

Reducing the ride height by 1mm on his Losi Ten-SCTE to suit the higher traction caused by the cooler night conditions, Phend said his Short Course truck was really good allowing him to take his third TQ run and secure the No.1 spot on the grid for his first attempt at the class at this event. Having shown last year he has an abundance of raw talent when he made his Short Course race debut at the ROAR Nationals to go on to became Champion, he is confident he can repeat that feat in tomorrow’s Mains.

Starting behind Phend will be Ryan Lutz who was able to back up his Q2 topping run last night with second in tonight’s closing qualifier. The Durango driver set the fastest lap once again and is sure to give the 15-year-old a good run for his money in the finals.

Defending Champion Mike Truhe will carry the No.3 on his truck and, as a stronger racer than qualifier, will be looking to find away passed both Phend and Lutz so as to retain his Pro-Line Cactus Classic crown.

Round 4 Qualification (Top 6)
4WD Buggy
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 13/5:01.408
2. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 13/5:03.363
3. Lee Martin – Tamiya – 13/5:06.070
4. Joern Neumann – Durango – 13/5:09.353
5. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 13/5:11.903
6. Hupo Honigl – Durango – 13/5:15.533

4WD Buggy A-finalists
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated
2. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated
3. Lee Martin – Tamiya
4. Jared Tebo – Kyosho
5. Travis Amezcua – Durango
6. Joern Neumann – Durango
7. Billy Fischer – Associated
8. Hupo Honigl – Durango
9. Steven Hartson – Associated
10.Chad Due – Associated

Round 4 Qualification (Top 6)
4WD Short Course
1. Dakotah Phend – Losi – 13/5:19.422
2. Ryan Lutz – Durango – 13/5:23.190
3. Mike Truhe – Losi – 13/5:00.885
4. Carson Wernimont – Durango – 12/5:00.187
5. Kody Numedahl – Associated – 12/5:08.009
6. Max Flurer – Associated – 12/5:12.861

4WD Short Course A-finalists
1. Dakotah Phend – Losi
2. Ryan Lutz – Durango
3. Mike Truhe – Losi
4. Hupo Honigl – Durango
5. Joern Neumann – Durango
6. Carson Wernimont – Durango
7. Travis Amezcua – Durango
8. Kody Numedahl – Associated
9. Frank Root – Losi
10.Max Flurer – Associated

View the complete final qualifying results here (PDF).

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Tebo is Top Qualifier in 2WD Buggy

Jared Tebo repeated his turn around Q3 topping performance to take the final 2WD Buggy qualifier to become Top Qualifier of the 26th edition of the Pro-Line Cactus Classic. The former 2 time winner of America’s longest running offroad meeting, his last win being in 2008, the factory Kyosho driver topped Q4 ahead of Q1 and Q2 pace setters Ryan Cavalieri and Dustin Evans while defending champion Ryan Maifield was fourth, the position he will start tomorrow’s triple A-Mains in Arizona.

After a troubled day yesterday in which he failed to break into the Top 10 in either of his heats, Tebo was delighted to end up Top Qualifier for the biggest class at the famous international event. After taking the final round, run under flood lights, a very happy looking Tebo said his Orion powered Ultima RB5 felt really good and he is now ‘ready to race tomorrow’. Expecting the racing to be ‘interesting’ his plan is just to keep hitting his marks and try to claim his first Cactus title with Kyosho.

Cavalieri, who away from the track is a close friend of Tebo, starts second and is equally confident that he has the buggy to retake the title he last held in 2010. Describing his B4.1 as very comfortable to drive, the World Champion is looking forward to the finals, expecting a lot of passing particularly at the quad section where it is very difficult to pull of the perfect landing every lap.

In contention for the overall TQ honours, a bad landing at the quad on his last lap cost Evans the chance of topping the round and taking pole position for the finals. The US National Champion, whose TLR22 will line up third, said the order of the grid is not going to make much difference to the racing. Planning to just drive his own race he said at he end of the five minutes he believes he can be there for the win.

Putting the question to Maifield if he could retain his title from fourth on the grid he replied ‘Scott Brown won this race from 7th before, so anything can happen’. Setting the second fastest time in three of the four qualifiers Maifield said ending up fourth on the grid proves how close things are between the top four drivers.

Round 4 Qualification (Top 6)
2WD Buggy
1. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 13/5:19.736
2. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 13/5:20.096
3. Dustin Evans – TLR – 13/5:20.329
4. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 13/5:22.160
5. Dakotah Phend – TLR – 12/5:04.113
6. Steven Hartson – Associated – 12/5:04.286

2WD Buggy A-finalists
1. Jared Tebo – Kyosho
2. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated
3. Dustin Evans – TLR
4. Ryan Maifield – Associated
5. Dakotah Phend – TLR
6. Steven Hartson – Associated
7. Brian Kinwald – Associated
8. Billy Fischer – TLR
9. Travis Amezcua – Durango
10.Brent Thielke – Associated

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Cavalieri wraps up Mod Truck TQ

Ryan Cavalieri is Top Qualifier for Mod Truck at the Pro-Line Cactus Classic, the defending champion wrapping up pole position for tomorrow’s A-Main with a third TQ run in the fourth & final round of qualifying at the Hobby Town Scottsdale R/C Speedway. The only driver who could deny Cavalieri the top spot was Associated team-mate Ryan Maifield, but switching to a different tyre for Q4 he could only manage third behind Dakotah Phend.

Cavalieri said today was the result of a lot of pre event testing with the T4.1 and this has resulted in them having the most consistent truck over the differing conditions between each of the qualifiers. One of the World’s greatest offroad racers, he said the truck is now at where he is just able to cruise around and he expects the outcome of tomorrow’s finals to be good.

Starting from the No.2 spot on the grid, Maifield said jokingly that he was going to jump over Cavalieri’s truck first time through the Quad tomorrow and sew up the win. Trying a different tyre Maifield said his Reedy powered example of the T4.1 was better but feeling very different to his earlier runs he failed to make the most of it but knowing how now how it feels he believes he is in good shape for the finals.

Driving his 22T, factory TLR driver Dakotah Phend said he was ‘real happy’ with third on the grid and the 15-year-old is not lacking confidence for the race. Aiming to drive a clean race behind the much more experienced AE duo that start ahead of him he said he will be there to pick up the pieces should they trip each other up. On outright pace Phend is quick with him setting the fastest lap of all four qualifiers in Q4. His more senior TLR team-mate Dustin Evans and Mike Truhe who will start 4th and 6th respectively think the race is more against the track rather than the other drivers and keeping mistakes to a minimum will be key to the outcome tomorrow.

In the final qualifier for 2WD Short Course Kyosho’s Jared Tebo set the pace ending defending Champion Maifield’s run at the top of the time sheets but the Arizona drivers domination of the opening three qualifiers meant he was already Top Qualifier for tomorrow. Evans enjoyed his best run in the class taking his XXX-SCT to third behind Maifield who in the run produced the fastest and only 24 second lap of the weekend.

Round 4 Qualification (Top 6)
Mod Truck
1. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 13/5:19.710
2. Dakotah Phend – TLR – 13/5:21.963
3. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 13/5:22.747
4. Dustin Evans – TLR – 12/5:00.482
5. Brent Thielke – Associated – 12/5:04.728
6. Andy DiBrino – Kyosho – 12/5:06.440

Mod Truck A-finalists
1. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated
2. Ryan Maifield – Associated
3. Dakotah Phend – TLR
4. Dustin Evans – TLR
5. Brian Kinwald – Associated
6. Mike Truhe – TLR
7. Andy DiBrino – Kyosho
8. Kai Goff – Associated
9. Shaun Dunlap – Kyosho
10.Brent Thielke – Associated

Round 4 Qualification (Top 6)
2WD Short Course
1. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 12/5:06.071
2. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 12/5:07.184
3. Dustin Evans – TLR – 12/5:10.812
4. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 12/5:10.995
5. Brian Kimwald – Associated – 12/5:15.683
6. Max Flurer – Associated – 12/5:15.971

2WD Short Course A-finalists
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated
2. Jared Tebo – Kyosh
3. Brian Kinwald – Associated
4. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated
5. Dustin Evans – Losi
6. Kody Numedahl – Associated
7. Cody Turner – Losi
8. Frank Root – Losi
9. Max Flurer – Associated
10.Andy DiBrino – Kyosho

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