Neumann stamps authority Day 1 of 4WD Buggy

Team Durango’s Joern Neumann stamped his authority on the first day of 4WD Buggy Qualifying at the 28th running of the Pro-Line Cactus Classic as he claimed the second of the days qualifiers by a massive 5.1 seconds over US National Champion Ty Tessmann.  Having had a bad start to the day posting only the 18th fastest time in Q1, defending champion Ryan Maifield turned things around to record a 3rd for the round.

Posting a new fastest lap of 21.205 around the SRS Raceway track,  Neumann said despite changing nothing on his Orion powered DEX410 other than fit a new set of Pro-Line tyres his buggy felt even better than in the morning when he topped Q1 from Jared Tebo.  Putting the improvement down to the hotter track conditions,  the World Championship Top Qualifier said he has no reason to make any changes for tomorrow’s third of four rounds of qualifying, another TQ run putting the overall TQ beyond the reach of his rivals.

Posting only the sixth fastest time in Q1, Tessmann said his HB D4-13 was much better second time round.  Changing back to the regular size front Proline rim having run VTR in the morning, he said the extra flex made the buggy easier to drive.  While easier to drive, the Canadian said it made him a little slower in the tight sections and so they will make a set-up adjustment to get the buggy to be a little more aggressive without making it edgy on the high speed corners in particular at the end of the straight.  They will use the morning’s 45 minute open free practice to test the change ahead of their Q3 run.   In terms of his time for Q2, Tessmann said he lost a bit of time after contact with Billy Fischer.

Having run gear diffs in Q1, Maifield switched to ball diffs in his B44.2 for the round which he said made the buggy easier to drive.  While now ‘more consistent’, the 3-time back to back champion said they are still off the pace but overall he is happy that they have now headed in the right direction in terms of set-up.  Team-mate Cavalieri posted the fourth fastest time, the former World Champion annoyed by a driver error. Describing the run as ‘going good till I rolled it’, he said his B44.2 ‘feels pretty good’ and all he plans to do is ‘freshen it up for the next one’.

‘Ok considering’ was how Dakotah Phend summed up his second qualifier.  Finding his TLR22-4 hard to drive from early on in the run, this was due to the front belt stripping making the buggy ‘3/4 four wheel drive’.  Despite this the 17-year-old managed the 5th fastest time.

Completing the Top 6 Tebo said his prototype Kyosho ZX6 was ‘really good’ but he just went for it a little too hard.  Crashing twice in the middle section of the track, he said for tomorrow the only change he would make would be to back down his driving a little.

‘Much better than the first one as the driver turned up’ was Carson Wernimont’s response to how Q2 went.  Setting the 7th fastest time, the factory Schumacher driver said his K1 Aero was easy to drive but he needs to make it a little faster.  To achieve this the 17-year-old plans to change the settings of his front camber links.

Behind Wernimont, 13-year-old Damion Borkowicz backed up his strong Q1 performance to post the 8th fastest time with his JConcepts sponsored Associated.  Behind him Team Durango’s Ryan Lutz and World Champion Steven Hartson completed the Top 10.

4WD Buggy Qualifying Round 2
1. Joern Neumann – Durango – 14/5:03.338
2. Ty Tessmann – HB – 14/5:08.481
3. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 14/5:09.128
4. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 14/5:09.298
5. Dakotah Phend – TLR – 14/5:09.991
6. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 14/5:13.306
7. Carson Wernimont – Schumacher – 14/5:14.299
8. Damion Borkowicz – Associated – 14/5:15.219
9. Ryan Lutz – Durango – 14/5:15.473
10.Steven Hartson – Associated – 14/5:16.106

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Q2 Truck Update – Tebo & Maifield fastest

The second round of truck qualifying saw Jared Tebo double up while Ryan Maifield claimed his first TQ of his home event.  Having TQ’d the opening round of Mod Truck, the US National Champion backed it up by going 2.3 seconds fasters to take Q2 ahead of Team Novak’s Billy Fischer who was just .788 behind.  2012 Cactus Classic Champion Ryan Cavalieri would complete the Top 3, the Associated driver almost 6-seconds off the TQ time.

In 2WD Short Course, US National Campion Maifield topped the times by a convincing 4.5-second margin over TLR’s Chris Wheeler.  Posting the fastest lap, the Associated driver bettered the morning TQ pace, set by team-mate Cavalieri, by over 3 and a half seconds.   The defending champion, Cavalieri would complete the Top 3 ahead of Team Durango’s Travis Amezcua.

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TQ run for Tebo in 2WD Buggy Q1

Last year’s 2WD Buggy winner Jared Tebo got his quest to retain his Pro-Line Cactus Classic title off to the perfect start as he TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at SRS Raceway.  The Kyosho driver took the round ahead of TLR’s Dakotah Phend but only after the US National Champion crashed on his final lap.  Only four drivers managed 14-lap runs with Billy Fischer posting the third fastest time followed by Ryan Maifield.

Admitting he got a little lucky with Phend’s late error, Tebo was none the less happy to take the TQ for the first of the four scheduled qualifiers.  Describing his RB6 as being a little soft, the World Champion had changed to a harder spring for qualifying which improved the buggy but leaving the oil the same as controlled practice it was too soft.  Causing the buggy to get ‘a little squirmy’ when he pushed hard he said he was happy with his driving as he managed a ‘couple of good saves’ when it got out of shape.  Planning to stiffen up the buggy he said this could give him a better balance for Q2.

Phend said his TLR22 was really good and it was just that one mistake that cost him the TQ run.  Commenting on the error, the 17-year-old said he ‘turned the wheel a little too much’ through the high speed corner and wasn’t able to save it.  Posting the 5th fastest time, team-mate Dustin Evans said his buggy was too safe due to his choice of front tyre and for Q2 he plans to run a more aggressive front.

Posting the fastest lap of the round on his way to third, Fischer said his run included two mistakes, one of which require his Centro C4.2 to be marshalled.  Wanting to make a change to his set-up for the day’s second qualifier, he said he is ‘afraid to’ in case he ends up going in the wrong direction.

‘OK’ was how Maifield summed up his run.  Winner of 2WD here at his home race two years again before the track became a sugared surface, the Associated driver said there a few things different between their old and new buggy in terms of set-up and he hasn’t ‘picked it up yet’.  Needing more steering from his B5M, he said that is hard to get and keep the buggy somewhat easy to drive.

Schumacher’s Carson Wernimont took his Cougar KF to the sixth fastest time, the 17-year-old saying it is ‘super easy to drive’ allowing him to ‘safely put in laps’.   Sticking with the same set-up he came to during the two days of open practice ahead of the event he said all he has been doing with the buggy is making ride height tweaks.

On finding out he was seventh fastest, Team Durango’s Ryan Lutz described his DEX210’s Q1 performance as ‘excellent’.  Making one mistake, he was otherwise ‘pleased’ with the run adding that the only change he plans for Q2 is to the driver!  Team-mate Joern Neumann, who TQ’d the opening round of 4WD qualifying, didn’t have a good 2WD encounter as he struggled with his slipper, after the heat a bad nut was found to be the issue.

2WD Buggy Qualifying Round 1
1. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 14/5:19.077
2. Dakotah Phend – TLR – 14/5:19.683
3. Billy Fischer – Associated – 14/5:22.066
4. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 14/5:22.380
5. Dustin Evans – TLR – 13/5:01.379
6. Carson Wernimont – Schumacher – 13/5:04.513
7. Ryan Lutz – Durango – 13/5:04.569
8. Kody Numedahl – Associated – 13/5:04.875
9. Ty Tessmann – TLR – 13/5:05.266
10.Travis Amezcua – Durango – 13/5:05.526

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