Last year's ROAR Electric Off-Road Nationals at AMain's Silver Dollar R/C Raceway in Chico, CA was held on one of the most extreme off-road tracks we've ever seen - and the racers' equipment was pushed to the extreme. This year's indoor course at Space Coast R/C is a bit more traditionally sized, with plenty of elevation changes but only a few jumps. In fact, the biggest challenge throughout practice has been finding enough grip to get around the track quickly - and that places utmost importance on every last detail.
Racing Truck Modified
“An awesome start to the weekend!” was how Dakotah Phend described his TQ run in the first round of Modified Racing Truck. He said, “the traction came up way faster than the previous days, but it was still slick in a couple of places like after the triple before going up the hill. Sometimes it was fine and you could punch it, but I tried to back off, not make any mistakes, and just get through it.” Dakotah plans no further changes to his mid-motor 22T for the second round.
Though his Kyosho team manager and pit man Joe Pillars said, “it was good!” Jared Tebo had a different description of round one. “It was terrible. I just drove way too hard,” said the defending champion.
Team Associated’s Michael Schoettler said, “It went pretty well, my truck was just a little bit hard to drive so I had to go slower. I think my front tires were too worn out.” Michael’s planning on a pair of new front tires and thicker shock oil for Q2.
New Kyosho driver Matt Chambers, making his return to the ROAR Nationals, said, “my run was good, just trying to drive around easy and get a good first run. You know how the first round is, all nervous and stuff.” After going to thicker front shock oil after yesterday’s practice, he’ll leave his mid-motor RT6 the same for Q2.
1. Dakotah Phend - 19/6:12.470
2. Ryan Cavalieri - 19/6:15.187
3. Jared Tebo - 18/6:04.838
4. Tanner Denney - 18/6:05.153
5. Michael Schoettler - 18/6:07.730
6. Matt Chambers - 18/6:09.439
7. Justin Fales - 18/6:14.017
8. Cody Turner - 18/6:15.079
9. Leon McIntosh - 18/6:15.399
10. Brandon Marsh - 18/6:16.744
11. Adam Rayls - 18/6:17.567
12. Cody Hollis - 17/6:03.199
13. Ben Ellis - 17/6:03.543
14. Ryan Eckert - 17/6:08.165
15. Eric Clark - 17/6:09.088
16. Billy Fischer - 17/6:09.514
17. Landen Lewis - 17/6:11.911
18. Kory Ferguson - 17/6:18.288
19. Tylor Weaver - 16/6:14.954
20. Richard Crawford - 12/6:06.750
4WD Buggy Modified
“I got off to a good start and just put down solid laps,” said Dakotah Phend after setting the fastest time in the opening round of 4WD. He had a clean run except for one bad crash toward the end of the race, when he hit the pipe before the triple and needed a turn marshal. Phend described his 22-4 as being consistent and easy to drive, which is important when there’s this much grip - and that’s why he feels that so many other drivers made mistakes.
Defending champion Ty Tessmann finished second for the round, despite a problem with his Hot Bodies D413. “The car was pretty good, but I forgot to punch a hole in the left rear tire. It expanded and the car got bouncy.” Given that problem, however, he said he was pretty happy.
The third fastest driver for the round also had mechanical issues. “It wasn’t good,” said Ryan Maifield, after having discovered that crush tubes had not been installed in the rear hubs of his 22-4, which caused the rear suspension to be badly bound up. “The car was good, but used tires weren’t the best,” said Ryan, who crashed at the top of the hill and through the rolling chicane section. “It will be better next round,” said Ryan.
“It was very good. The car was smooth and easy to drive, so I just tried to be consistent,” said fourth-fastest driver Chad Due, joined only by Associated youngster Aydin Horne in the top ten. As there were only four B44.3 kits available for team drivers prior to this race, Due is using the Schelle shorty conversion - and only installed the chassis after the first day of practice.
1. Dakotah Phend - 20/6:12.334
2. Ty Tessmann - 20/6:16.204
3. Ryan Maifield - 20/6:17.851
4. Chad Due - 20/6:19.380
5. Travis Amezcua - 19/6:00.952
6. Drew Moller - 19/6:03.173
7. Jared Tebo - 19/6:03.274
8. Carson Wernimont - 19/6:04.591
9. Aydin Horne - 19/6:06.831
10. Dustin Evans - 19/6:07.163
11. JR Mitch - 19/6:07.538
12. Billy Fischer - 19/6:09.091
13. Alex Kosciuszek - 19/6:09.398
14. Steven Hartson - 19/6:10.309
15. Cody Hollis - 19/6:10.312
16. Tyler Vik - 19/6:10.889
17. Daimon Borkowicz - 19/6:11.091
18. Ryan Cavalieri - 19/6:13.127
19. Cole Tollard - 19/6:13.233
20. Austin Horne - 19/6:15.571
2WD Short Course Modified
On finishing about a second and a half behind his former teammate, Ryan Cavalieri said, “It just took me a few laps to get going, I guess. I brushed a couple of pipes here and there, nothing really serious.” The 2012 class champion hasn’t changed his SC10 this weekend, and will be mounting a new set of AKA Typos for the rear.
“My truck was awesome, I just did some dumb stuff,” said Dustin Evans after finishing fourth. “I overdrove a little bit, but the truck has the speed,” he continued. Dustin crashed at the end of the straight and the top of the hill, but won’t be making any changes for the second round. “I just need to pull my head out of my ass,” said Dustin.
Ty Tessmann finished sixth in round one, with a brand new TLR 22SCT 2.0 that he’s running for the first time this weekend simply to get more track time. “I’m running it because it’s got the mid-motor option, and I’ve got a good relationship with Adam Drake,” said Ty, who is still waiting for the mid-motor conversion parts to arrive today from California. “My run was going good until the last lap,” said Ty, who crashed over the roller 180 at the back of the track and then again at the top of the hill.
Max Flurer had a clean run, with only one wreck on the off-camber corner on the left side coming at the end of the race. “It was pretty good,” said Max of his TLR 22SCT 2.0, “a little edgy, but it’ll be all right for the second round.” Max may move the front shocks out on the tower, go to a stiffer spring, or both.
1. Ryan Maifield 18/6:01.278
2. Ryan Cavalieri 18/6:02.802
3. Jared Tebo 18/6:04.449
4. Dustin Evans 18/6:07.779
5. Chad Due 18/6:08.704
6. Ty Tessmann 18/6:09.473
7. Spencer Rivkin 18/6:09.891
8. Kody Numedahl 18/6:11.009
9. Max Flurer 18/6:13.619
10. Billy Easton 18/6:16.293
11. Kevin Motter 18/6:17.180
12. Mike Truhe 17/6:00.584
13. Chambers,Matt 17/6:05.062
14. Landen LEWIS 17/6:06.778
15. John Cravotta 17/6:14.987
16. Jeff Keeton 17/6:22.932
17. Cody Turner 16/6:05.547
18. Brian Mellow 16/6:11.903
19. Rob Arnold 15/6:08.485
20. Jerry Lewis 12/6:08.651
2WD Buggy Modified
“Pretty good” and “not bad” was how a smiling Ryan Cavalieri described his RC10B5M after taking the TQ in a tough first round. “It’s pretty challenging - the track is getting abrasive and cracking up in a few spots. Just can’t make mistakes - that’s my strong point.” Having run Blue Dirt Webs in the rear and Red Dirt Webs up front, he may switch to Barcode fronts to smooth it out.
Qualifying second from the ‘B’ heat, which was a blessing “because there was only one car ahead of me the whole time - it was clean except for finding someone stuffed in a pipe every once in a while,” Billy Easton turned the second fastest time of the first round with his Serpent Spyder mid-motor buggy. Running 100% production parts, rather than the modified front suspension parts some drivers have tried, Billy said his car was easy to drive. “I had a couple of incidents where I could’ve gone 1-2 seconds faster, but I just tried to play it safe out there.” He wasn’t sure if he’d change anything for the second round, but noted that the heats would be much later in the day and the track would likely be different.
Dakotah Phend said “it was okay” after finishing third for the round, and second in his heat. “I was up toward the front and had a mistake somewhere. Then I was pushing really hard, got back to the lead, got through traffic, and then hit the coming up to the double before the straightaway. I just got out of my groove trying to get through traffic.” Dakotah said his car was really good, though, so he wouldn’t be changing anything for the second round.
JR Mitch switched from Blue compound Dirt Webs to Red at the last minute and thought it was the right decision. “It was good, really good. The car had plenty of corner speed,” said the Floridian. He had one crash at the top of the hill, and traction rolled over the hole on the face roller at the end of the straightaway before spinning out. He’ll simply glue up a new set of tires for the second round.
Travis ‘Peanut’ Amezcua said his DEX210V4 was “okay, but easy to drive.” Having run a long pack in practice he switched to a shorty before the run and mounted it all the way toward the rear of the chassis, which he said made the car sit on the rear tires too much. Travis will go back to the long pack and and move the rear shocks out on the arm, which is where he had been running them prior to the first heat. Travis ran blue Barcode fronts and Dirt Webs rears, but will switch to Red Dirt Web fronts to get more steering.
Connecticut native Alex Koscuiszek, racing in his first ROAR Nationals was surprised to hear he finished tenth in the first round. “My car was really good, but it had too much traction so it was edgy. I think a stiffer front foam will fix all my problems.” The switch means going from the stock white foam in his Blue Barcode fronts to JConcepts’ gray foam, and he’ll stick with Blue Dirt Webs in the rear.
1. Ryan Cavalieri - 19/6:06.324
2. Billy Easton - 19/6:08.858
3. Dakotah Phend - 19/6:10.005
4. Spencer Rivkin - 19/6:12.458
5. Jared Tebo - 19/6:12.600
6. Tanner Denney - 19/6:13.213
7. JR Mitch - 19/6:14.827
8. Kody Numedahl - 19/6:15.994
9. Alex Kosciuszek - 19/6:17.654
10. Travis Amezcua - 19/6:17.783
11. Michael Schoettler - 19/6:18.197
12. Cody Turner - 19/6:18.439
13. Max Flurer - 19/6:18.526
14. Dustin Evans - 19/6:18.766
15. Daimon Borkowicz - 19/6:19.074
16. Ben Ellis - 18/6:00.689
17. Kevin Motter - 18/6:00.916
18. Ryan Maifield - 18/6:01.105
19. JP Richards - 18/6:01.507
20. Ryan Lutz - 18/6:01.524
8/22/2014
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