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.

Lutz No.1 for qualifying at US Nationals

Ryan Lutz will carry the No.1 racing number in the top heat of qualifying tomorrow at the US National Championship at Thornhill Racing Circuit in Hutto, Texas. The Team Durango driver topped today’s seeding with his 3-consecutive laps from the first of the day’s two 7-minute practice rounds with the track generally proving to be slower second time around. Team Losi Racing’s Dakotah Phend would top the evening run to end the day second fastest with Truggy top seed Ty Tessmann completing the Top 3, while defending champion Adam Drake ended the day 5th fastest.

Pleased to end Day 2 of the event at the front, having also set the 2nd fastest seeding time in Truggy, Lutz said for the second run he made changes to his DNX8 Prototype which he ‘didnt like’. Adjusting the anti squat as he looked to get it to square up as quickly as possible out of the corner so he could ‘punch’ his Alpha engine he said the change affected the buggy too much through the corners. Describing the steering as feeling like a series of square movements rather than one single fluid action he will revert back to his previous set-up in preparation for Q1. With two rounds of qualifying making up tomorrow’s schedule, the ‘Lutzinator’ said buggy, engine and tyres all look good for qualifying.

Topping the second seeding practice, knocking over a second off his opening time, Phend described his Orion powered 8ight as ‘super, super good’. Only getting in half a run in the first run after suffering a steering servo failure, the 17-year-old felt the traction was starting to come up as the track grooved up but added the surface was also starting to deteriorate a little. Planning to leave the buggy the same for Q1, he said at the moment the key factor was making the right call on tyre choice, and he would make that closer to the time of his first qualifier which will be the last run of the round.

Running a slightly slower time in the second practice, taking third for the round, Tessmann said ‘it’s so slick out there its hard work’. Running Pro-Line’s recently released Lockdown tyres in X2 compound on his OS Speed engined D812, the 2012 double Champion said the tyre was good on the rough section but loose on the smooth area of track. Happy with his buggy set-up the Canadian thinks from now on it will be all about tyre choice and making the right call at the right time. For qualifying he said they will see what the organisers do with the track adding hopefully any work they do changes the track as he is struggling with how loose it is right now.

Despite a difficult second run, Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield would end up 4th fastest with his opening time. Changing to the smaller pinned Hybrid tyre from JConcepts on his RC8.2, he said that was a bad choice for the conditions. The Arizona driver, who won his only US National title to date back in 2006 driving for Thunder Tiger, would also suffer an engine flame after a crash, the idle on his Novarossi engine having been set too low. Planning to revert back to the same way he ran his buggy in the first seeding practice, when he was third fastest, he said running in a heat of top drivers tomorrow should be beneficial especially when it comes to making tyre choices.

Drake declared himself ‘very happy’ with how his day went. Describing his Novarossi powered 8ight as ‘super easy to drive’ he said it has been consistent run after run. Expecting the track will continue to ‘change a bunch over the next few days’ he said he will try to make changes at the right time to keep up with what the track is doing.

Drake’s former long time team-mate Mike Truhe completed the Top 6. The now Serpent lead driver was one of the few top drivers to improve on their opening time. Changing the anti squat on his 811 Cobra 2.0, he said that was ‘a big improvement’ with the buggy rolling through the corners better. Hampered a little by a brief rain shower during his heat, for qualifying he will make a further adjustment to his buggy moving the rear hubs more forward.

Ending he day 8th fastest behind the TLR of Billy Fischer, Warm-up Race winner Cody King ran a new prototype small pin tyre from Pro-Line in the second practice. Kyosho’s former World Champion said on the clean areas of the track the tyre was ok but it struggled in the dust but feels in a softer compound it could work well. Having focused on letting the track come to his Reds Racing powered MP9 they are now ‘doubting if the track is ever going to come to the car’ and they are now looking at some possible set-up changes for tomorrow’s opening qualifier.

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