Matsukura Top Qualifier, Maifield TQs Q4

Naoto Matsukura is the Top Qualifier in 2WD Buggy at the 27th Proline Cactus Classic, the Japanese driver securing the honour thanks to his TQ runs in Q2 & 3 at SRS Raceway. Going into the fourth and final qualifier only Q1 pace setter Jared Tebo could deny the young Japanese star pole for tomorrow’s final but the Kyosho driver could only manage 5th as defending Champion Ryan Maifield posted his first TQ run finishing 2.7 seconds up on Matsukura.

Only his third time racing offroad in the US, his previous two outings being the 2009 & 2011 Cactus Classic, the Team Yokomo star said he was ‘more than happy to TQ in the US, American racers widely recognized as the best offroad drivers in the world. Matsukura said his B-Max 2 MR, which was fitted with a new motor from Yokomo for Q4, was again very good but ‘the driver’ just made too many mistakes the first of which came just as he completed his second lap. Asked for his thoughts on the finals, the 19-year-old said having run with the main contenders throughout qualifying he feels ‘comfortable’ going into the A-Main as he has had the opportunity to see where his mid motor mounted buggy is better around the SRS Raceway track. Hoping to stay out front for the 5-minute finals he said the layout and high traction would make overtaking hard so his focus would be to try and run two error free Mains.

A much happier Maifield, whose TQ run got a big cheer from onlookers, summed up his qualifier by saying ‘the doors are not open yet but they are getting ready to open’. Trying a different set-up he said his B4.2 was a lot better for Q4 and he is confident he has the ability to go faster tomorrow. Commenting on the finals the Associated driver said it was hard enough to run on your own in qualifying without getting out of shape so he expects the racing to be crazy with the end of the straight set to be a particular flash point.

Cavalieri, who took third in the final qualifier, said his buggy was really good and he was pretty happy with his own driving but his arch enemy, the step up to the sweeper before the main straight, again caught him out. Expecting passing to be difficult the World Champion said running rear motor, a fact that disadvantaged them in qualifying, could play to their advantage in the finals. While the mid motored buggies are good for cruising around in qualifying, Cavalieri believes the rear motored B4.2 will be better in a dice in what he says is going to be some ‘very interesting’ racing.

Having got qualifying off to the best possible start with a TQ run in the opening round, the rest of qualifying proved tough for Tebo. A two time previous winner of the event, the factory Kyosho driver summed up today as ‘crappy’ although a second in Q3 helped secure him second on the grid. Running a mid motor mounted RB6, he said tomorrow is a new day and planning to revert to the set-up he used in Q1 he is pretty confident he will be alright starting from second adding that the winner is going to be the driver who crashes the least.

Having changed his rear camber link and rebuilt the diff on his TLR22, Dustin Evans showed great pace in the final qualifier. Setting the fastest lap, he looked on target to TQ the round but with 2 laps to go he rolled coming off the straight loosing a massive 4-seconds as his buggy got marshaled. Ending up fourth fastest for the round, the incident cost him 3rd on the grid with the former US National Champion now set to start 6th behind Tamiya Racing Factory’s Lee Martin. Evans said his buggy was really good in Q4 and he wasn’t even pushing when he was running the TQ pace but getting up on two wheels coming of the straight he said he tried to save it but it was too late. Confident he now has the pace to win he said unfortunately his starting position is going to make any challenge really difficult.

2WD Mod Buggy Qualifying Round 4
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated/Reedy – 14/5:06.346
2. Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo/Yokomo – 14/5:08.970
3. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 14/5:09.065
4. Dustin Evans – TLR/Orion – 14/5:10.390
5. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 14/5:11.351
6. Joern Neumann – Durango/Speed Passion – 14/5:11.395
7. Cody King – Kyosho/Speed Passion – 14/5:14.588
8. Cody Turner – Kyosho/Orion – 14/5:15.606
9. Travis Amezcua – Durango/Viper – 14/5:15.607
10.Billy Fischer – TLR/Novak – 14/5:15.897

2WD Mod Buggy A-Main Grid
1. Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo/Yokomo – 0 pts
2. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 2
3. Ryan Maifield – Associated/Reedy – 4
4. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 6
5. Lee Martin – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 7
6. Dustin Evans – TLR/Orion – 7
7. Joern Neumann – Durango/Speed Passion – 8
8. Travis Amezcua – Durango/Viper – 13
9. Cody Turner – Kyosho/Orion – 14
10.Steven Hartson – Associated/LRP – 19

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Cavalieri & Maifield Truck Top Qualifiers

Reigning 2WD Truck champions Ryan Cavalieri and Ryan Maifield will start their title defenses tomorrow from the best position possible after the Team Associated duo TQ’d the final round of qualifying at the Proline Cactus Classic to become the Mod Truck and 2wd Short Course Top Qualifiers. In 4WD Short Course Team Losi Racing’s Billy Fischer repeated his heat 1 performance to top the fourth & final round to secure the honour of Top Qualifier at the 27th running of America’s world famous race.

Having missed out on securing the overall TQ honours in Q3 when a rear tyre came unglued on his truck Cavalieri picked up from where he left off yesterday when he dominated qualifying. Setting the pace from start to finish the US National Champion of the class took the final qualifier by 5.4-seconds over TLR’s Dustin Evans and Durango’s Joern Neumann who were separated by just 5/100ths of a second, Neumann posting the fastest lap of the round.

In 2WD Short Course, the start of the final qualifier saw a wind blowing right into the path of the triple causing most of the drivers trouble as it got in under the large truck bodyshells. Eventually adapting to the conditions it was Cavalieri who was setting the pace but a huge push by Maifield over the final four laps saw the defending champion take the round. Setting the fastest lap of the round on the 10th lap, the Arizona ace was the only driver to go 14 laps. Behind the two SC10.2s Ryan Lutz who TQ’d Q3 recorded the 3rd quickest time.

Setting the fastest lap of Q4, Fischer took his Novak powered Ten-SCTE to a popular TQ for the round 2.7-second ahead of Team Durango’s Hupo Honigl to claim the pole for tomorrow triple A-Main. Defending champion of the class Neumann, who after a difficult day yesterday was reseeded in the B-heat for today, took his Speed Passion powered Durango to third for the round. Q3 top qualifier Dakotah Phend claimed fifth behind Q2 pace setter Lutz.

Mod Truck Q4 Top 6
1. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 14/5:07.541
2. Dustin Evans – TLR/Orion – 13/5:13.023
3. Joern Neumann – Durango/Speed Passion – 14/5:13.073
4. Ryan Maifield – Associated/Reedy – 14/5:18.096
5. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 14/5:18.974
6. Nolan Anderson – Associated/Reedy – 14/5:21.686

2WD Short Course Q4 Top 6
1. Ryan Maifield – Associated/Reedy – 14/5:22.711
2. Ryan Cavalieri – Associatetd/Orion – 13/5:01.443
3. Ryan Lutz – Durango/Tekin – 13/5:03.634
4. Dustin Evans – TLR/Orion – 13/5:06.807
5. Chris Wheeler – TLR/Orion – 13/5:12.769
6. Matt Castellano – TLR/Orion – 13/5:14.085

4WD Short Course Q4 Top 6
1. Billy Fischer – TLR/Novak – 14/5:11.043
2. Hupo Honigl – Durango/DualSky – 14/5:13.821
3. Joern Neumann – Durango/Speed Passion – 14/5:14.271
4. Ryan Lutz – Durango/Tekin – 14/5:18.203
5. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 14/5:19.095
6. Travis Amezcua – Durango/Viper – 13/5:19.885

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Another TQ run for Matsukura

The star of last night’s second round of buggy qualifying at the Proline Cactus Classic, Team Yokomo’s Naoto Matsukura backed up that performance with another TQ run in 2WD Buggy today topping the penultimate round of heats by 3-seconds from Q1 pace setter Jared Tebo and Ryan Cavalieri. In 4WD Buggy Cavalieri headed an Associated 1-2 ahead of defending champion Ryan Maifield with TLR’s Dakotah Phend completing the Top 3.

Running the fastest 2WD qualifier of the event so far, Matsukura said while traction for Q3 was a little higher compared to last night his unchanged B-Max 2 MR worked well and he was able to put in another strong run. Also fastest in 4WD last night, the 19-year-old was not able to back up that performance failing to post a Top 10 time. Rolling his B-Max 4 a number of times over the 5-minutes around the SRS Raceway track he said the buggy was difficult to drive and they are ‘searching for a better set-up’ for the final qualifier which will decide between him & Cavalieri who is the Top Qualifier for the 27th running of the world famous American event.

Setting the second fastest time in 2WD but failing to post a Top 10 time in 4WD for the round, former event winner Tebo was not happy with either of his buggies. The Kyosho ace said he went the wrong way with his set-ups. With the first qualifier of the day run under the hot Arizona sun and the second at night under flood lights, the multiple winner of the event said trying to change the set-up based on your last run is hard as conditions for the next run are different and for Q3 he tried something based on how the car was in Q2 and ‘it didn’t work’.

Commenting on his 4WD TQ run, Cavalieri said he just drove a ‘smooth’ round. Also the fastest qualifier we have seen yet for 4WD, the US National Champion had to pull off a couple of saves at the end of the straight where he said it feels like the track, which has so far stood up extremely well to the nearly 500 entries, is starting to get a little rough. Commenting on his run to the third fastest time in 2WD, he said it was a good run and probably the best he can expect considering the advantage the mid motor cars have over the B4.2.

Setting the fourth fastest time in 2WD, TLR’s Dustin Evans was very happy with how his TLR22 ran but was frustrated at a mistake that he said cost him a chance of 2nd for the round. Admitting to not having the pace of Naoto, the 2011 US National Champion said with two solid runs to his credit he will try something very different with his set-up for the final qualifier to see if the can respond to the speed of the Yokomo. Going the wrong way with his set-up on his 2WD, Dakotah Phend was pleased with his run to third in 4WD saying for an 11-year-old buggy it was a great result. The teenager had a moment on his last lap when coming off the straight he collected the crashed Kyosho of Tebo which cost him some time as both buggies needed to be marshaled.

Sixth fastest in 2WD, Maifield said his B4.2 was good but having to push so hard to compete with the mid motor buggies he made 2 mistakes. With a new speedo in his 4WD, last year’s double buggy winner said it took a few laps to get used to the settings, drivers get only a single warm-up lap before the start of their heats, and while set-up changes had improved his B44.2 he still needed to improve it further to find more overall speed. His best lap being 3/10ths off the fastest lap which was set by Joern Neumann who posted the 6th fastest run.

Fifth in both 2WD & 4WD, Tamiya Racing Factory’s Lee Martin said his 2WD was ‘OK’ the change to thicker grease in the diff, which felt better, taking a while to get used to. Also going to a thicker grease in his 511 which didn’t have the same effect as in 2WD, he said the run itself was ‘shitty’ with too many crashes the result was ‘OK’.

16-year-old Carson Wernimont put in a strong 4WD performance taking his DEX410 to the fourth fastest time of Q3 while in 2WD the best placed Durango was that of Travis Amezcua who recorded the 8th fastest time.

2WD Mod Buggy Qualifying Round 3
1. Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo/Yokomo – 14/5:02.172
2. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 14/5:05.208
3. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 14/5:07.023
4. Dustin Evans – TLR/Orion – 14/5:07.289
5. Lee Martin – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 14/5:08.182
6. Ryan Maifield – Associated/Reedy – 14/5:10.353
7. Cody Turner – Kyosho/Orion – 14/5:11.240
8. Travis Amezcua – Durango/Viper – 14/5:12.317
9. Steven Hartson – Associated/LRP – 14/5:12.924
10.Ryan Lutz – Durango/Tekin – 14/5:13.593

4WD Mod Buggy Qualifying Round 3
1. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 15/5:13.492
2. Ryan Maifield – Associated/Reedy – 15/5:15.843
3. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 15/5:18.955
4. Carson Wernimont – Durango/Reedy – 15/5:20.148
5. Lee Martin – Tamiya/Speed Passion – 14/5:01.427
6. Joern Neumann – Durango/Speed Passion – 14/5:01.473
7. Travis Amezcua – Durango/Viper – 14/5:02.651
8. Hupo Honigl – Durango/DualSky – 14/5:03.337
9. Dustin Evans – TLR/Orion – 14/5:03.484
10.Mitchel Gardner – Associated/LRP – 14/5:03.629

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