CACTUS: Phend and Honigl join buggy finals as LCQs are complete

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By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Since it has been so exciting in the past, the Cactus Classic once again used the “Last Chance Qualifier” format to determine one final grid spot for the A-Mains in all five Modified classes. With so many lower mains still to run today, the LCQ B-Mains provided an espresso shot of excitement on Sunday morning that had the track perimeter lined with cheering fans.

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“I wasn’t able to get on the gas off the line, and Cody ran right into me,” said Taylor Larsen, who had to run his father’s paint job this weekend when his new painted bodies weren’t finished in time. “I only went back to fourth, but it just as easily could’ve been tenth,” said the 26-year-old Kansas native. When the cars ahead of him got together on the second lap, Larsen had the chance to move back up front and maintained the lead for the duration of the race. “I just tried to run smooth from there,” he said. His goal for the A-Main is simple - he said, “I just want to finish better than I start. And I can’t get worse!”

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Defending champion Dakotah Phend had some tough luck in qualifying, but the LCQ didn’t provide much of a challenge. “It went well,” said Phend, who tumbled over the triple in the closing minutes but never lost his lead. He added, “I just drove clean and only made one mistake, but they weren’t close enough to catch up so I took it easy after that.” Phend pointed out that the Modified heats have run at the end of the round all week, so the track was much different for the B-Main - it hadn’t dried out as much, so it had more grip. “To get to the front I’ll have to get through a lot more people,” said Phend, who didn’t seem too worried about starting eleventh. The two-time defending national champion predicted that he’s going to have the opportunity to capitalize on the mistakes of others in the opening laps to navigate his way through the field.

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Andrew Trask took over the lead through the five-pack on lap one of the 4x4 LCQ and never looked back, finishing over seven seconds up on the field. “It went well!” said Trask, who traveled all the way from Maine to this year’s race. “It was my first time really having that much of a lead, so I was pretty nervous for a while. I just tried to stay smooth, hit my marks, and ride it out,” said Trask. He said there aren’t any places to run on slicks back home, so he wasn’t sure what to expect when he got here. “The A-Main was my goal,” he said, “but I knew I had a long way to go.”

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“It was good,” said Tanner Stees after bumping into the 2WD Short Course main event after some really rough luck in qualifying. The Arizona native led from start to finish without much pressure, winning by over five and a half seconds. “It’s probably going to be tough trying to pass people,” said Stees about starting so far back.

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Without much experience with the car, Austrian veteran Hupo Hönigl drove his Serpent SRX-4 prototype into the A-Main. ”I just tried not to crash because the drivers behind me crashed a lot,” said Hönigl, who took the lead after a mistake from Ronnefalk on lap two. “It’s my first race with the car, and my first time ever driving it on dirt. I’m pretty happy so far. It’s far from 100%, but for the first race it’s pretty okay.”