ROAR NATS: Tessmann wins final round of Truck qualifying, Phend earns overall TQ

0 June 21, 2014, 11:34 a.m.

6/20/2014

By Aaron Waldron

LiveRC

Two-time defending champion Ty Tessmann did all that he could to beat Dakotah Phend for the overall TQ, setting the fastest time in the final qualifying round, but finished just three-tenths of a second too slow to win the combined time tiebreaker. Even as Phend struggled to his worst finish in truck, which still wasn't bad at all, he completed the sweep as the fastest qualifier in both classes.

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Ty said his truck was good enough, but he slowed on the last lap to save fuel as he feared he might run out of gas if he drove all out, saying, "if I had known it was going to be that close I would've gone for it." Running X2 Holeshots, he didn't make any other changes to his Tessmann Edition D8T but "just tried to drive better and not crash." Tessmann added that he feels good for the main event, is confident that his truck will last, and is sure that it'll be a good race.

Cody King said his ST-RR Evo was "really good that time" and that they've been changing his setup a lot throughout the weekend. Now it's "as good as it's going to get," he said, having gone to a softer rear shock package for the final round. Now saying that it's "good to go" for the main event, he plans on trying X2 Blockades in tomorrow's warm-up as they'll last longer than the X2 Holeshots he has run throughout qualifying.

Josh Wheeler was elated, saying "had a really good run, now I've got a 5 and a 3!" Didn't make any changes to his truck all weekend other than running Medium-compound Grid Irons due to the heat, Wheeler said he "just tried to keep it on the wheels." Guaranteed a strong starting position, Wheeler thinks he has a good shot at the main while others seem to be struggling.

After his worst finish of the weekend, that being fourth, Dakotah Phend said the pace started slowly and that the track felt slower, but new Tessmann picked up the pace toward the end. At that point he wasn't confident that he'd still win the tiebreaker and pushed really hard, closing within one second of Tessmann, but collided with a slower vehicle and dropped off the pace. After finding out he won the overall, Phend said it "feels awesome" to sweep qualifying. He's looking forward to getting a clean start on a clean track, and is "hoping to put it all together after getting close in 2012 and having bad luck last year."

With another top ten run, Agama's Jeremy Kortz was "99.9% sure it was enough" to get him into the Truck class A-Main. Kortz blew a clutch bearing in the second round yesterday afternoon, and his third round this morning was just "mediocre," the 2003 Buggy Champion only made "a driver change" for the final qualifier. Jeremy's sure he'll run either X3 or X2 Blockades for the main event, depending on weather, and as far as his chances to win he's "just going to see what happens!