Matsukura rules Q2 at Cactus

Having notched up his first TQ run at the Proline Cactus Classic in 2WD Buggy, Naoto Matsukura appears to relish the night time conditions at SRS Raceway in Scottsdale, Arizona, with the factory Yokomo driver completing a buggy double by taking his B-Max 4 to the fastest time in 4WD ahead of Kyosho’s Jared Tebo and Q1 Top Qualifier Ryan Cavalieri. A much closer affair than 2WD, the Top 3 were separated by just 1.2 seconds with the 19-year-old Japanese ace running a time for the 5-minute qualifier that was just 3/10ths slower than Cavalieri’s Q1 time.

Having set the pace early in the run before Matsukura took to the top of the timing screens, Cavalieri ran a very close qualifier with his great rival Tebo who managed to pass him for second in the last lap. The closeness of the two greats of electric offroad racing was highlighted by their fastest lap times which were separated by just 1/1000th of a second, Cavalieri running a 20.570 compared with Tebo’s 20.571.

The only other driver to turn 15 laps for the round, Joern Neumann was the top international visitor taking his Durango to the fourth fastest time ahead of his 16-year-old team-mate Carson Wernimont. After a very impressive second 2WD Buggy qualifier a series of mistakes for fellow European Lee Martin saw the Tamiya driver record the 10th fastest time.

What can be best described as a difficult day for defending champion Ryan Maifield the second 4WD qualifier would see the Associated driver record only the sixth fastest time which for the race’s most winning driver is well below par especially as this is his home race.

4WD Mod Buggy Qualifying Round 2
1. Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo/Yokomo – 15/5:15.426
2. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 15/5:16.174
3. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 15/5:16.697
4. Joern Neumann – Durango/Speed Passion – 15/5:19.385
5. Carson Wernimont – Durango/Reedy – 14/5:00.288
6. Ryan Maifield – Associated/Reedy – 15/5:01.048
7. Travis Amezcua – Durango/Viper – 14/5:01.180
8. Dustin Evans – TLR/Orion – 14/5:02.250
9. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 15/5:03.683
10.Lee Martin – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 14/5:03.997

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Matsukura TQs second 2WD Buggy Qualifier

Team Yokomo’s Naoto Matsukura has TQ’d the second round of 2WD Buggy qualifying at the 27th Proline Cactus Classic in Arizona, the Japanese driver topping the timesheets with a 4.9-seconds advantage over Tamiya’s Lee Martin who in turn was almost 2-seconds faster than TLR’s Dustin Evans who claimed a third for the round. A student of English and Communications the 3-time 1:12 World Champion certainly prefers to focus his attentions on his driving rather than his studies when at races having little more to say after his TQ run than ‘perfect’.

Running his B-Max 2 MR in mid motor configuration, the same configuration he used when he gave the new buggy its debut international win when he won Round 2 of the Euro Offroad Series in Germany in January, the Japanese National champion looked considerably faster than his rivals on track as he set the fastest lap of the race which was 3/10ths faster than that of the second fastest lap of the round which was set by Q1 top qualifier Jared Tebo.

Having added a total of 56 grams to his Tamiya for Q2, Martin said his Speed Passion powered mid motor converted buggy was a lot more nimble to drive with the extra weight. Featuring a Vega gearbox and a Red Workshop Chassis kit, the chassis made from carbon fibre, the European Champion said along with lowering the ride height the extra weight made the buggy very easy to drive and he didn’t have to push hard to go fast. Changing to a softer insert in his Proline tyres, Suburbs on the rear and Scrubs on the front, he said this made it a little aggressive and he will revert to the tyre combo he used in Q1. Planning to rebuild his diff for tomorrow’s third qualifier he said he will use a thicker grease to help with traction.

Having broken in Q1, Evans said he ran a conservative second qualifier. With the high traction causing a lot more crashes than normal the lead Team Losi Racing driver said he knew if he kept his TLR22 on track he could get a decent result. Needing to be marshalled once he said getting third for the round was better than he expected. Planning to go for another safe run tomorrow which he hopes will lock him into the all important A-Main, the former US National Champion & Reedy Race winner said he will leave his buggy set-up as is for Q3.

Another driver who was out to put in a safe run was Ryan Cavalieri. Having suffered a number of mistakes in the opening qualifier on the left side of the track where the rear motored Associated B4.2 is at a disadvantage this weekend, he said he took it easy in that section to minimise mistakes and the end result was a solid run to take 4th for the round. A former 2-time winner of the Cactus in 2WD, his last being back in 2010, he said he had the pace to run faster so with one good run in on the board he will push a little harder in the morning. The B4 has ruled 2WD at this race for the last decade but the sugaring of the track this year, which as a positive has really helped the track stand up extremely well to the huge almost 500 entries, has put it at a disadvantage against its mid motored rivals.

Having changed his set-up to what he thought would adapt his Orion powered RB6 to the cooler conditions of the night time run second qualifier, Kyosho star Tebo said his buggy was not that good. Suffering a number of crashes at the double section after the main straight he eventually took 5th for the round. A double winner of the event and having the advantage of a mid motor car over his two biggest rivals Cavalieri and Ryan Maifield, who is going for a hat trick of Cactus buggy titles this year, he will be looking to put his buggy back on top of the time sheets in tomorrow’s remaining two qualifiers.

Team Durango’s Joern Neumann who was second fastest in Q1 completed the Top 6 ahead of Kyosho’s Cody Turner, who said following the number of crashes he had he was happy to take a 7th, with Travis Amezcua and Carson Wernimont making it three Durango’s in the Top 10 which was rounded out by TLR’s Dakotah Phend.

2WD Mod Buggy Qualifying Round 2
1. Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo/Yokomo – 14/5:07.266
2. Lee Martin – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 14/5:12.227
3. Dustin Evans – TLR/Orion – 14/5:14.160
4. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 14/5:14.509
5. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 14/5:15.529
6. Joern Neumann – Durango/Speed Passion – 14/5:16.346
7. Cody Turner – Kyosho/Orion – 14/5:17.373
8. Travis Amezcua – Durango/Viper – 14/5:17.411
9. Carson Wernimont – Durango/Reedy – 14/5:18.572
10.Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 14/5:18.696

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Q2 Truck Update

Team Associated’s Ryan Cavalieri backed up his TQ run in the opening qualifier at the Proline Cactus Classic when he again took his Orion powered T4.2 around SRS Raceway in the fastest time ahead of Kyosho’s Jared Tebo and TLR’s Mike Truhe. In Short Course the second round of qualifying belonged to Team Durango’s Ryan Lutz. In 2WD he was 4.7-seconds quicker than Cavalieri and Kyosho’s Cody Turner while in 4WD his Tekin powered DESC410 TQ’d ahead of the TLR’s of Dakotah Phend and Billy Fischer. Having been fastest in Q1, Fischer looked like he was on for a second TQ run but on the last lap the Team Losi Racing driver made a mistake allowing both Lutz & Phend, who posted the fastest lap, to finish ahead of him.

For defending Short Course Champions Ryan Maifield (2WD) and Joern Neumann (4WD) the second qualifier proved fruitless. Having got his title defense off to the best possible start this morning by TQ’ing the opening qualifier, Maifield would pull up his SC10.2 early in Q2, the factory Associated driver clearly not happy with something. Having been disqualified from the Q1 results for running a spoiler on his DESC410, Neumann didn’t even make the start of his second qualifier after the wires from the speedo to motor fell out during the single warm-up lap! Having set the third fastest time in Mod Truck in the morning, the evening’s round of qualifying hasn’t started well for the German as he failed to finish Q2 after breaking a rear arm on his DEST210.

Mod Truck Q2 Top 6
1. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 14/5:09.170
2. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 14/5:12.261
3. Mike Truhe – TLR/Novak – 14/5:17.925
4. Ryan Maifield – Associated/Reedy – 14/5:19.752
5. Steven Hartson – Associated/LRP – 14/5:20.215
6. Billy Fischer – TLR/Novak – 14/5:21.651

2WD Short Course Q2 Top 6
1. Ryan Lutz – Durango/Tekin – 13/5:02.683
2. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 13/5:07.413
3. Cody Turner – Kyosho/Orion – 13/5:09.334
4. Charles Hicks – TLR/Novak – 13/5:11.912
5. Briain Kinwald – Associated/Icon – 13/5:12.384
6. Matt Castellano – TLR/Orion – 13/5:15.918

4WD Short Course Q2 Top 6
1. Ryan Lutz – Durango/Tekin – 14/5:13.943
2. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 14/5:16.288
3. Billy Fischer – TLR/Novak – 14/5:16.874
4. Briain Kinwald – Associated/Icon – 13/5:02.263
5. Hupo Honigl – Durango/DualSky – 13/5:02.849
6. Travis Amezcua – Durango/Viper – 13/5:05.236

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