Kortz, Ronnefalk & Savoya progress to Truggy A-Main

R/C Bad Boy Jeremy Kortz won an action packed Truggy B-Main at the Dirt Nitro Challenge to progress to the Main event along with European’s David Ronnefalk and Renaud Savoya.  Starting from 12th on the grid, a position he said was ‘because I’m getting old’, Kortz benefited from problems for most of the front runners but once out front showed he still has it as he saw off the attention of Swedish young gun Ronnefalk, the pair separated by 0.973 of a second at the end of the 20-minute encounter.  Initially it was the No.1 Kyosho of Ronnefalk who lead away the field until a mistake at the woops dropped him to third behind Billy Fischer and Ryan Cavalieri.  A second more spectacular mistake by Ronnefalk would see him loose the front body clips but luckily with his bodyshell acting as a massive airbreak it happened just as he was about to come in for his first first stop meaning not too much time was lost and he was able to rejoin in 8th.  Next to hit trouble was Fischer as he broke a rear camber link screw, while his crew fitted a new one and he rejoined the race the time lost meant he would end up 13th.  Looking to have the win in the bag, Cavalieri would suffer two flame outs, getting going after the first one four laps later it would cut again at the exact same spot on the track.  Retiring at the 15-minute mark, afterwards the problem was traced to loose fuel tubing getting caught up and starving the engine of fuel.  Commenting  on his win, Kortz said he didn’t remember much of the race as his only focus was Ronnefalk adding that he knew if he could stick with the European Champion the result would be good.  Starting from 8th on the grid, Savoya almost didn’t make the start.  Loosing a servo horn off his Xray during his warm-up laps, the screw having come out, he can thank the rapid work of his mechanic Jérôme Treignier who sprinted back to the Xray cabin in the pits and got the steering working again.

Truggy A-Main Grid
1. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed
2. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion
3. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion
4. Drew Moller – Mugen/Novarossi
5. Cody King – Kyosho/Reds Racing
6. Carson Wernimont – Mugen/OS Speed
7. Mike Truhe – Serpent/TOP
8. Ryan Maifield – Team Associated/Novarossi
9. Barry Pettit – Mugen/Novarossi
10.Josh Wheeler – Xray/OS Speed
11.Ryan Lutz – Durango/Alpha
12.Adam Drake – TLR/Novarossi
13.Jeremy Kortz – Agama/Werks
14.David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion
15.Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion

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Blair wins to progress to eBuggy A-Main

Austin Blair will progress to the A-Main of eBuggy at the DNC after he took his Tekin powered Kyosho to an easy win in the 8-minute B-Main.  Starting from third on the grid, the A-Main Hobbies team driver benefitted from errors by pole sitter Joern Neumann and the No.2 Mugen of Barry Pettit.  Moving to the front after just three laps Blair would take a comfortable win 5.755 second ahead of Xray’s Martin Bayer and Pettit who will join him in tonight’s title deciding encounter.  Leading away the 15-car field Neumann would put his Durango on its roof on the opening lap with his error also delaying fellow European Renaud Savoya.  Neumann would work his way back up through the field from 14th position, setting the fastest lap of the race on the way, but finishing a fighting fifth right behind Savoya the result meant the end of the road for their eBuggy challenge at the Fear Farm.

eBuggy A-Main Grid
1. Drew Moller – Mugen/LRP
2. Ryan Lutz – Durango/Tekin
3. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion
4. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion
5. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion
6. Carson Wernimont – Mugen/Reedy
7. Ty Tessmann – HB/Orion
8. Josh Wheeler – Xray/Tekin
9. Cody King – Kyosho/Orion
10.Billy Fischer – TLR/Novak
11.Mike Truhe – Serpent/Novak
12.Adam Drake – TLR/Tekin
13.Austin Blair – Kyosho/Tekin
14.Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP
15.Barry Pettit – Mugen/Tekin

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‘From Race Control’ – Day 4 Truggy/eBuggy Mains

It is the penultimate day of action at the 15th Annual Dirt Nitro Challenge with today the day that the Truggy and eBuggy champions will be crowned. With 28 Mains on the schedule, the big races are Race 25, the 8-minute eBuggy A-Main, and Race 28, the 45-minute Truggy Main which will see Top Qualifier Ty Tessmann vie for three in a row at the Fear Farm. To allow the 12-direct qualifiers gauge the track conditions they can expect for tonight’s main event following Race 18, A-Main drivers will get a 10-minute warm-up.  15 cars will start the title deciding races with 3 drivers set to bump up from the 20-minute Truggy and 8-minute eBuggy B-Mains.

Tebo tops final qualifier at DNC

Last year’s Dirt Nitro Challenge Top Qualifier Jared Tebo finished off a long day of buggy qualifying with a TQ run, the Kyosho driver posting the fastest time of the day in Q3 to finish almost six seconds clear of Ty Tessmann who was in turn one second faster than Cody King. The result means Tebo lines up 3rd on the gird for the 45-minute final on Sunday behind Tessmann and Dakotah Phend who secured the overall TQ in the second round of qualifying. Having finished 1-2 in Q2, it was a troubled final heat for Phend and Carson Wernimont as both drivers suffered engine cuts.

In contention for a clean sweep of the heats setting the fastest lap of the round, coming up on the 4 minute-mark Phend rolled his TLR causing the engine to cut. While TLR team-manager Kevin Gahan tried to restart it, it failed to fire back up. Wernimont’s engine would also cut after a roll but the Mugen driver in this case was able to get the engine fired back up albeit just to finish out the run and use the track time to test tyres for the final which he will start 5th.

The biggest news of the third qualifier was that of defending champion Ryan Maifield. Running in the C heat, the Associated driver had a tough run with his prototype RC8 finishing behind Xray’s Tyler Vik with a time that was only good enough for 16th in the round. With a DNF in Q1, Maifield missed the cut by one spot ending up 13th overall meaning he will have to rely on working his way up from the B-Main.

Buggy A-Main Grid (3 to bump up from B-Main)
1. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 0 pts
2. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed – 6
3. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 7
4. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 7
5. Carson Wernimont – Mugen/OS Speed – 8
6. Cody King – Kyosho/Reds Racing – 9
7. Barry Pettit – Mugen/OS Speed – 11
8. Renaud Savoya – Xray/Orion – 13
9. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated/Orion – 15
10.Taylor Petersen – Mugen/Novarossi – 17
11.Austin Blair – Kyosho/RB – 17
12.Ryan Lutz – Durango/Alpha – 20

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