Phend holds overnight TQ at US Nationals

Dakotah Phend leaves the Thornhill Racing Circuit as the overnight provisional TQ holder of both Truggy and Buggy after concluding the opening day of qualifying with his first TQ run in buggy. Having topped both Truggy qualifiers, the 17-year-old would transfer that form to buggy topping the day’s final heat as he became the first driver to run a 10-lap pace in the championship’s premiere class. Third fastest in Q1, Phend topped the Q2 timesheets from another of the country’s young guns with Carson Wernimont taking his Mugen to the second fastest time. Having struggled in the opening qualifier, former Champion Ryan Maifield would take his Associated to the third fastest time while for defending Champion Adam Drake it was again a slow run as he posted only the 15th fastest time.

‘It’s been a really good day’ was how Phend summed up the first day of qualifying. Top Qualifier at last year’s championship but retiring in the Semi Finals, he said the track was really rough second time round. Realising during his warm-up laps how tricky conditions had become, he said he took the approach to ‘stay smooth’ so as to avoid any mistakes adding that for the entire 7-minutes he was just ‘trying to hold on to it’. Happy with how his 8ight handled the conditions, he said the 180 corners had become particularly difficult as the surface had ‘chunks missing out of it’ which he said when you hit them would ‘grab’ and unsettle the buggy. Setting a new fastest lap in Q2, the Michigan driver said for tomorrow he will leave the buggy unchanged with tyre compound the only thing he needs to consider.

Making some small changes to the front suspension on his MBX7, Wernimont said it made the buggy really smooth and easy to drive. Running a bodyshell of his own design which he will be releasing for general sale shortly, he said his buggy is setting up to be ‘a good main car’. Running soft AKA Enduro for Q2 he will switch his attentions tomorrow to working on a tyre for the Semi finals.  Planning to try a medium compound Impact, he said he wants to check for wear as well as seeing if the buggy is ‘happy on the tire’.

Maifield said his improved performance came from simply reverting back to the tyre he did all his testing for the race with and used at the Warm-up race. Running Q2 on JConcept’s blue compound Crossbow tyre with his Novarossi powered RC8.2, he said while they took a minute to come in, after that the ‘felt pretty good’. With ‘no real mistakes’ over the run, the 2006 Champion said it was a decent run and hopes to build on that tomorrow in the remaining two qualifiers.

Fourth fastest, Tebo said his Kyosho MP9 was really good but he threw away a potential P2 10-lap run with a late mistake. Admitting ‘Dakotah (was) a little faster’, on his penultimate lap he jumped too much to the outside on the back straight leading to a crash that would cost him in the region of 3-seconds. Describing the track as ‘just nearly out there’ the 2010 champion said his buggy ‘feels really good’ adding it would be ‘silly to make changes’. Instead he said he wants to grow his confidence with how the car is now as the finals are going to be tough going if you’re not.

Fastest in the opening qualifier, Ty Tessmann said they took a gamble and tried something others didn’t but it wasn’t good. Having run Pro-Line’s X2 Blockade, for Q2 they tried M3 compound which the Canadian said for the first few laps worked well, but the performance of its slightly softer compound went down really fast. Planning to leave his D812 set-up the same for tomorrow, the 2012 Champion said they will just try to choose a better tyre adding what that will be they will decide nearer the time of the run.

Team Associated’s Ryan Cavalieri would complete the Top 6. Changing the front springs on his RC8.2, the 2011 Champion said the feeling it gave was ‘not what (he) was expecting’. Pleased though that he is headed in the right direction in terms of the set-up, for Q3 he will go for an even stiffer spring.

Having impressed yesterday with his pace topping seeding practice, it wasn’t a good day for Team Durango’s Ryan Lutz. 10th in Q1 after issues with the traffic, he would suffer a DNF in the second round. Running a Top 5 pace, trying to save a mistake into the corner leading onto the front straight, he ‘gunned the throttle’ but with his DNX8 Prototype landing on its roof the engine sucked in air causing the engine to flame out as it was placed back on its wheels. Happy with how the buggy was running, Lutz will be hoping for better luck tomorrow.

Q2 Buggy times – Top 10
1. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 10/7:44.783
2. Carson Wernimont – Mugen/OS Speed – 9/7:01.576
3. Ryan Maifield – Associated/Novarossi – 9/7:01.661
4. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 9/7:05.601
5. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed – 9/7:07.504
6. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 9/7:07.560
7. Billy Fischer – TLR/Novarossi – 9/7:07.851
8. Michael Truhe – Serpent/TOP – 9/7:08.658
9. Jeremy Kortz – Agama/Werks – 9/7:09.281
10.Barry Pettit – Mugen/OS Speed – 9/7:09.848

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Another TQ run for Phend

Dakotah Phend repeated his opening qualifying performance at the US National Championships making it two out of two in the truggy class as he again set the TQ pace. A slightly slower run than the morning, the second qualifier would be a repeat of the Q1 Top 3 with the Team Losi Racing driver again fastest from the HB of Ty Tessmann and the Mugen of Carson Wernimont. The biggest improvement of the round would come from Serpent’s Mike Truhe who having being 10th in Q1 would post the 4th fastest time.

‘Not too bad’ was Phend’s reaction to his second TQ run. The 17-year-old said overall the run was good but he had a couple of bobbles that cost him time.  Admitting to one being of his own doing, he said two of them were the result of him trying to avoid other trucks. Very happy with the performance of his Orion powered 8ight T, which was again fitted with Pro-Line X3 Holeshot tyre, he plans to leave everything the same for tomorrow’s concluding two qualifiers.

Setting the fastest lap of the round, bettering the one set by Phend in Q1, Tessmann said all his equipment was good but he just made ‘too many mistakes’.  While track conditions are ‘hard’, his father Gord complimenting the Thornhill Racing Circuit track team on how well they have maintained the track so far, the defending champion said the errors were simply down to the driver.  Hitting the piping causing his OS Speed powered D8T to spin out, he would also get it wrong at the track centre jump.  Having ran error free in the two days of practice, the Canadian hopes tomorrow he will return to that form.

Wernimont was happy to repeat his 3rd from Q1 saying now that he had two solid runs ‘now can have some fun’ – the Truggy qualifying being direct to final rather than using Semi-finals.  Having made a ‘couple tweaks’ to the front end of his OS Speed powered MBX7T, he said this allowed him to run with Phend & Tessmann on pace at the start of the heat but then he started to drop back.  For Q3, he said he plans to sleep on it first and then decide if he want to ‘try anything crazy’.

Having crashed in Q1 resulting in the loss of over 3-seconds, Truhe was happy with his second qualifier saying the field is ‘so close’.  Changing the front camber link on his TOP engined 811T, he said this ‘worked out well’ as it made the truck roll through the corners more. Looking ahead to tomorrow’s Q3, he said he had a few ideas he is considering trying but will wait to see how the track is first and whether or not there will be a round of untimed practice in the morning.

Changing to thicker shock oil all round in his Associated RC8T, Ryan Cavalieri said Q2 went a lot better.  Setting the 5th fastest time having failed to make the Top 10 in the morning, he said the change made the truck ‘a lot more balanced’.  Happy with how it felt, the multiple electric offroad World Champion said he will leave it as is for Q3.

Factory Team Associated team-mate Ryan Maifield, the most winning driver of the truggy class having held the title three times, completed the Top 6. Last winning the title in 2011, he said Q2 was better than the first one but having made a number of changes to his truck it was hard to get used to them and he had ‘a couple of bad laps’.  Able to run some decent laps at the end, he is hoping for further improvement tomorrow.

Q2 Truggy times – Top 10
1. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 10/7:35.721
2. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed – 10/7:37.245
3. Carson Wernimont – Mugen/OS Speed – 10/7:38.769
4. Michael Truhe – Serpent/TOP – 10/7:43.076
5. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 10/7:43.250
6. Ryan Maifield – Associated/Novarossi – 10/7:44.372
7. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 10/7:45.744
8. Josh Wheeler – Xray/OS Speed – 10/7:46.115
9. Curtis Door – Mugen/Orion – 9/7:00.459
10.Josh Glancy – TLR – 9/7:01.526

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Tessmann runs out of fuel but still takes Q1

Despite running out of fuel on his final lap, Ty Tessmann took the first round of buggy qualifying at the US National Championships in Hutto, Texas.  On target for the only 10 lap run of the first of the four qualifiers,  the HB driver would run dry just after completing the fastest lap of the round but would still top the timesheets with a 9/6:57.187 run.  Behind the 2012 Champion, Kyosho’s Jared Tebo would set the second fastest time 1.2 seconds up on last year’s overall Top Qualifier Dakotah Phend.  Defending champion Adam Drake would only post the 20th fastest time, the TLR driver saying he just didn’t drive very well.

At a loss as to why he ran out of fuel, mileage being an issue for a number of drivers with Phend, Ryan Lutz and Ryan Maifield all having problems after crossing the finish line, Tessmann said while he was happy to TQ he was now a little worried about mileage.  Able to get 8:30 from his OS Speed engine yesterday, he said it could be simply down to today’s warmer temperature as over the run the engine ‘didn’t feel weird’ to drive.  Describing the track as ‘loose but the same for everybody’ he said his D812 and Pro-Line X2 Blockade tyres both worked well for the conditions and he will most likely stay with the same set-up & tyre combo for Q2.

‘Definitely what I need for my confidence’ was Tebo’s reaction to his P2 run.  Having been somewhat lacking compared to his rivals in practice yesterday, the 2010 Champion said an engine switch and change of shock position on his Orion powered MP9 had resulted in a big improvement. Describing the track as getting looser and looser, he said he will for Q2 change the set-up to try and find just a little more overall grip.

Describing conditions as ‘hard’, Phend said he had to work hard not  to overdrive on the ‘dry and dusty’ track as it was so easy to end up out in the dust.  Suffering one crash which required his Orion powered 8ight to be marshalled costing him up to 4-seconds he said the rest of the run was ok with the buggy working ‘really good’.  Planning to leave it the same for Q2, he said his focus will be on driving smoother and making no mistakes.

‘A solid safe run’ was how Carson Wernimont summed up his run to the fourth fastest time.  The Mugen driver said he tried nothing crazy and just drove it.  Running AKA soft Enduro tyres on his MBX7 he said they coped well for the track conditions.  Describing the track as getting ‘pretty greasy’ he expects a lot of drivers are going to struggle in Q2 for forward drive and key to a good run is going to be to roll the car around the corner and keep up as much momentum as possible.  The 17-year-old said he might make a small tweak to the buggy’s set-up.

Like in Truggy Josh Wheeler would set the fifth fastest time.  Running in the second fastest heat, the Xray driver had issues with a lapped buggy on his last lap, which cost him time, but was still happy with the run saying ‘I’ll take a 5’.  Having found his XB8 really easy to drive in the seeding practice yesterday but lacking when it came to his position on the timesheets for qualifying he removed the front hub weights.  Making the buggy a little harder to drive he said it was faster and for Q2 he will continue with the same set-up.

Completing the Top 6 was Kyosho’s Cody King.  The former World Champion said the position was as good as he could have got as he was fighting his MP9 a little.  Running softer compound tyres to his rivals, the buggy fitted with X3 Blockade, he said it was ‘squirmy’ out of the corners.  Making a similar change to that he made to his truggy, he said the set-up change did improve it and with a better tyre choice for Q2 things should be better.

Behind King, former champion Ryan Cavalieri was the best placed Associated driver in 7th followed by team-mate and reigning 4WD Electric buggy World Champion Steven Hartson.  Having set the pace in practice yesterday, Ryan Lutz would manage only the tenth fastest time.  The Team Durango driver said he had a Top 3 pace but traffic issues, namely Drake, held him up.

Q1 Buggy times – Top 10
1. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed – 9/6:57.187
2. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 9/7:00.249
3. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 9/7:01.506
4. Carson Wernimont – Mugen/OS Speed – 9/7:03.478
5. Josh Wheeler – Xray/OS Speed – 9/7:03.687
6. Cody King – Kyosho/Reds Racing – 9/7:04.041
7. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 9/7:04.368
8. Steven Hartson – Associated/LRP – 9/7:05.375
9. Josh Glancy – TLR – 9/7:05.375
10.Ryan Lutz – Durango/Alpha – 9/7:08.127

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Phend TQ’s opening Truggy qualifier

Dakotah Phend has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the US National Championships in Hutto, Texas.  The Team Losi Racing driver took his Truggy around the large Thornhill Racing Circuit in a time of 10/7:33.918 to outpace defending champion Ty Tessmann by 1.74 seconds.  Behind last year’s Top Qualifier, a further 4.86-seconds off the TQ pace, Mugen’s Carson Wernimont completed the Top 3 narrowly out pacing the Team Durango of Ryan Lutz.

‘Really good’ was how Phend summed up the qualifier. Posting the fastest lap of the round being the only driver to do a 44-second lap, the Michigan teenager said it was a good clean run with no major bobbles.  Running Pro-Line X3 Holeshot tyres on his 8ight T, he said due to the overcast conditions the track was a little slower to come around but overall it ‘felt pretty similar’ to yesterday.  Very happy with his truck he said for Q2 he will leave everything the same including his tyre choice.

Tessmann said he was ‘over driving a little’ but in terms of the track he felt there was more traction today.  Running the same tyre choice as Phend, he said while the track is still loose it wasn’t as polished as yesterday.  Having ‘bumped the piping a couple of time’ and had traffic issues losing a bit of time with one truck in particular he said overall it was a ‘good’ first run.  For Q2, the Canadian has no plans to change anything.

After making ‘a slow start’, Wernimont was very happy to kick of proceedings with a third. Describing his MBX-7T as ‘really, really good’, he said due to his slow start he got caught up by Tessmann and having to let him through cost him a little time.  Other than this and a couple of really small bobbles he said it was a clean run. Running AKA soft Grid Iron tyres he said they ‘hooked up really good’ and he will go for the same option again in Q2 and look to the driver for an improved run.

‘Safe’ was the response from Lutz when asked about his qualifying run.  Running the same tyre as Wernimont on his Alpha powered DNX408T, he said ‘everything was good’ so he would continue with it as is for Q2. Aiming for ‘another safe run’, he said if he can get another solid run through that approach he will then ramp things up for tomorrow’s concluding day of qualifying.

RC America team driver Josh Wheeler was another who went for a safe first run taking his Xray to the fifth fastest time.  Going easy at the start of the run to ‘see where he stacked up’ he said he was a little too cautious with keeping his XT9 in the middle of the track and early on he was running 11 in the heat.  Quickening things up he was overall pleased wth the end result and for Q2 said he the aim is to ‘run a better pace at the start’ and ‘tighten up a little’ on his lines.

Completing the Top 6 was Kyosho’s Cody King.  Making a change to his truck for the qualifier as he looked for more rear grip he said this changed the steering and he had a slow start as he got used to it.  Running Pro-Line Holeshots, he said the wide open track makes it hard to make back up time but planning to run everything the same for Q2 he is hopeful of a better run.

Running in the second fastest heat, Agama team driver Jeremy Kortz would take his A8T to the 7th fastest time ahead of the Associated of Ryan Maifeld.  Crashing on the opening lap, losing almost 5 seconds, he said considering this he got lucky with the result but the rest of the run was ‘pretty good’.  Planning to leave the truck set-up as is, the former Buggy Champion said all he has to worry about for Q2 is tyre choice having run X3 Holeshots in the first one.

Q1 Truggy times – Top 10
1. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 10/7:33.918
2. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed – 10/7:35.658
3. Carson Wernimont – Mugen/OS Speed – 10/7:40.342
4. Ryan Lutz – Durango/Alpha – 10/7:40.751
5. Josh Wheeler – Xray/OS Speed – 10/7:41.946
6. Cody King – Kyosho/Reds Racing – 10/7:42.764
7. Jeremy Kortz – Agama/Werks – 10/7:43.167
8. Ryan Maifield – Associated/Novarossi – 10/7:43.359
9. Billy Fischer – TLR/Novarossi – 10/7:43.632
10.Michael Truhe – Serpent/TOP – 10/7:43.699

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‘From Race Control’ – Day 3, Qualifying

Another overcast morning at Thornhill Racing Circuit, Day 3 of the ROAR 1:8 Gas Offroad National Championships in Texas sees the start of qualifying. The day’s programme is made up of 2 of the 4 rounds of scheduled qualifying for the 17th running of the championship, with a driver’s fastest two of the four to count for the final qualification ranking. Each of the rounds will start with Truggy and conclude with Buggy with today the first time we get to see the main title contenders running on track at the same time following yesterday’s seeding practice.