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2010 THE DIRT NITRO CHALLENGE - DAY TWO (UPDATED WITH FINAL QUALIFYING RESULTS)
Feb 19, 2010 - 05:55 PM
R/C CAR STAFF
Kyosho/Orion’s Jared Tebo climbed to the top of the charts in Round One of Pro Buggy on Friday morning, driving his MP9 to a 9/7:10.244 to grab TQ by a very narrow margin. Tebo’s textbook conservative approach through the incredibly tough course paid off with consistent laps, and JT’s tire choice for the first round of buggy were AKA’s small-pinned Grid Iron tires.
Former winner Mike Truhe was all smiles after grinding out a second-place finish for round number one. His Orion-powered 8IGHT 2.0 seems to be an advantage through the track’s tricky 12-pack rhythm section, what many drivers are calling the “Dirty Dozen.” A good starting spot for Truhe could prove dangerous for the rest of the field come Sunday night. Hot Bodies’ Ty Tessman backed up his strong qualifying performance in truck with a solid 3rd Friday morning, along with usual suspects Adam Drake and Ryan Cavalieri who were 4th and 5th, respectively. Mugen’s new signing Travis Amezcua looks to make both main events on the weekend, grabbing 7th in the first round, while Matt Castellano proved that making the Truck final was no fluke by finishing 8th for the round. The final car in the top 12 after the morning runs was the RB-powered Serpent Cobra driven by the car’s designer, Billy Easton. Easton’s Serpent buggy
Round Two proved to be another nail-biter, with Losi/Novarossi’s Adam Drake besting Ryan Cavalieri by .8 seconds for the round TQ. Adam, along with many of the Losi drivers, found success with Losi’s Kingpin tire pattern as the second round was run in very dry and blue-groove conditions. A rough run by many of Adam’s teammates meant that only three 8IGHT 2.0 buggies finished in the top ten for the round. Adam’s 0 for round two, combined with a solid 4 from this morning’s qualifier, has him sitting second on the grid behind Jared Tebo, who finished third for the round.
Ryan Cavalieri’s consistency paid off once again on round two, netting a second for the round to put him third after two qualifiers. Like many Pro-Line teammates, Ryan reached for M2 compound Holeshots to cope with the blue groove conditions and only narrowly missed the fastest time for the round. A fifth in round one puts him third overall with one round to go.
Ohio native Jesse Robbers continues to thrive in the Arizona sunshine, posting a tenth place run in round number two with his Hot Bodies D8. A sixth in round one gives him 16 points, good for 6th overall with one round to go.
Robbers’ Hot Bodies teammate, Ty Tessman, impressed the crowd once again by leaping through the Dirty Dozen rhythm section and into the fifth spot for round two. Ty is locked into the A-main with 8 points, and currently sits fourth overall.
Kyosho/Orion’s Cody King joined his teammate Tebo in the top ten once again in round two, bettering his ninth place finish in round one by jumping up to the seventh spot in round two. King’s 16 points are good for the fifth starting spot, provisionally. King, along with many of AKA’s drivers, are foregoing the new Enduro tire pattern to run the smaller Grid Irons in qualifying while saving the larger-pinned tires for Sunday’s long main event.
Jammin’/Upgrade driver and 2001 ROAR National Champion Chad Bradley quietly notched another top-12 run in round two, adding a 9th place finish to his 11 from the first round. Bradley sits 7th going into the third round, though he feels like he must improve in the final race of the day in order to remain in the top 12. Bradley’s OFNA teammate, the Hyper 9 of Jeremy Kortz, leap-frogged into the provisional A-Main with an eighth place finish in the second round to be eighth, provisionally, after the second qualifier. Round Two results: Overall Qualifying order (after round 2 of 3):
Cody King dominated the third round of nighttime qualifying and grabbed the third round TQ by 3.2 seconds, the largest margin of the day. Orion teammate Ryan Cavalieri made a valiant effort to grab the overall top qualifying position but came up short, finishing second for the round ahead of Mugen’s Travis Amezcua. Levi Jackson and Matt Castellano, two young drivers running Losi 8IGHT 2.0 buggies, secured spots on the A-main grid by finishing 6th and 8th for the round, respectively, while Ryan Maifield did all he could to make the final by posting a 9 for the round, his best of the day. Billy Fischer’s 12 points from round three, when combined with his 6 from the previous round, could squeak him into the lower half of the A-Main grid. Round Three results:
Jared Tebo’s Orion-powered Kyosho MP9 will lead the field into the first corner of Sunday’s A-Main event. A previous winner of this event, the whole field is duly worried by Tebo’s consistency all through Friday’s qualifying. Final Starting Order for Sunday’s Main Event:
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