Tebo tells his Dirt Nitro Challenge experience

Finally it was Race Time! Up first was Electric Buggy A-main….single 10 minute race. I started 4th and got a great start, moving into second pretty fast. My car was feeling very good early, especially in the whoops, as I had the flow in there, and was catching Tessman. A few laps in I was glued to the back of his car and really felt like the race was mine, I just needed to be patient. unfortunately I would catch a rut coming onto the back straight and go flipping. I got back going and was still in 2nd, but now Maifield was all over me. That crash seemed to get me out of my groove and I would crash two more times dropping me back to 4th. I regained focus and moved passed Phend to get back into 3rd, but the top two were long gone. I finished off strong and actually caught up to within a second or so of Maifield at the finish. Happy with a podium and my speed was great, I am happy when I feel I had a chance to win.

 

 

 

 

A few hours later and it was Pro Truggy A-Main time! I was worried about tire wear in the 45 minute main, as Super Soft rubber was the choice compound to have with the cold slick track. All week I have run AKA Gridiron, but I wasn’t sure if they would last during the main as I assumed the track would be dry. I decided to change my tread for the main and run AKA Super Soft Impact’s instead. In the few laps we get during warm ups, my truck felt pretty good, I was thinking my tire choice was right. I started from the TQ spot and had a great start, even pulling away by two seconds in the first few laps. The pack would tighten up and it was an all out duel between me and Tessman early. Ty made a pretty aggressive pass on me, but after the next jump, he went wide and I shot to the inside. We came together as he hit the back-end of my truck before the double double, but luckily I didn’t crash and only fell to 2nd. The top 6 trucks were all close and fighting really hard till around the 15 minute mark. I had got shuffled back to 3rd, and the my pace wasn’t fast enough to stay with the Ty and David. My MX engine and Fuel ran great and I was able to pit at 9 minutes during the 45 minute final. I made a very costly mistake racing with Phend around 20 minutes into the race and that dropped me back a few positions and I lost touch of the podium positions. I finished up 4th. I was really happy with TQ and leading some laps and fighting hard to hold the lead early. My tire choice hurt me, as I should have run Gridirons like David did, I didn’t have the raw speed that he had with the smaller tire.

 

 

Sunday is the premier class, the Nitro Buggy main day. I made some small setup changes to my MP9e on Saturday and they worked great, so I was excited to do those same changes to my MP9 and see how it felt in A-Main warm up. Just like Saturday, our practice is in the daytime, and racing will be under the lights. I also learned from my truggy main and was going to choose the tire that would give me the best lap times. In the warm up I went out on AKA Super Soft Gridiron 2 and my car felt awesome. Me and Cav battled for most of the practice and we were racing each other pretty hard and having a blast. That was a nice change from the normal stressed out and serious warm up session to see if I’m fast enough to win. My changes to my car felt good, my tires felt good, my engine was running perfect, and my driving felt good too…..it was game time!

 

Starting from 9th on the grid, the start was going to be key. The first lap was one of the craziest laps I have ever had in my 15 year RC career. It was like everyone was racing for their lives. I got passed a few cars right off the start, then I cased the big triple and got passed back by a few….entered the whoops like 6 cars wide and pure chaos broke out. People were just loosing their minds for some reason, I was so shocked I made it out of that, when I went into the next off camber section, I went so slow to catch my breath that I got swallowed up by four cars and we went 4 deep into the berm. Somehow I made it out of the craziest lap of my life and I was around 5th. A few laps in and I was finding my groove and clicking laps off. I made some passes and was up to 3rd and feeling strong. I never really got into the lead battle, but I raced hard around the 3rd position for most of the main. Me and Maifield raced hard for 35 of the 30 minutes it seemed like. Towards the end, the wind really picked up and I had a really long crash off the front double double. That crash got me out of the battle with Maifield. I was running 4th towards the end, but then Phend started to crash and I got around him, but he battled me hard for the last podium spot all the way to the end. I finished 3rd by less than a second over Phend. Another good race, close to getting the win, but a few mistakes away. I would say I am keeping my positive vibes going in 2015 and I’m still building. My new nitro program seems to be rock solid and what a great start for MX….finishing 2nd and 3rd in the debut race.