SILVER STATE: Tessmann and Maifield top seeds heading into opening qualifying round

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By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Drivers at this year’s Silver State were limited to just one day of practice, which began with a few hours of controlled open practice - drivers were given tickets, ensuring everyone got an equal number of chances to hit the track, and the stand was cleared every seven minutes with drivers being required to turn marshal for the following session. At 2:00, one round of seeding practice was run with each driver’s fastest three consecutive laps determining the heat order for Saturday morning.

The names at the top of the charts were certainly no surprise.

HB/HPI Racing frontman Ty Tessmann set the fastest seeding time in the top Nitro Truck division by over half a second. Running the same setup he used at the Dirt Nitro Challenge, as he said his D8T Tessmann Edition is “pretty much the same as always,” Tessmann was happy with his truck and how the run went. “It’s fun,” said Ty of the track layout, “and really nice to be on a loamy surface again. It’s something different.”

Open Nitro Truck - Top ten seeds

1. Ty Tessmann - 1:21.741
2. Ryan Lutz - 1:22.384
3. Ryan Cavalieri - 1:22.897
4. Drew Moller - 1:23.402
5. Josh Wheeler - 1:23.440
6. Carson Wernimont - 1:23.503
7. Josh Glancy - 1:23.546
8. Cody King - 1:23.673
9. Kyle McBride - 1:23.685
10. Adam Drake - 1:24.016

Dirt Nitro Challenge champ Ryan Maifield was almost eight-tenths of a second faster than anyone in Pro Buggy seeding. His TLR 8IGHT 3.0 is fitted with new parts for the weekend, which team manager Kevin Gahan asked me not to photograph. “It was dialed,” said Maifield, who said he’s running lower ride height and a Lexan wing. Maifield said, “I’ve been testing at home and trying different clutch setups, learning all of the different things I can do with the car.

Expert Nitro Buggy - Top ten seeds

1. Ryan Maifield - 1:22.700
2. Kyle McBride - 1:23.455
3. Cody King - 1:23.554
4. Adam Drake - 1:23.601
5. Kyle Johnson - 1:23.711
6. Robert Batlle - 1:23.817
7. Drew Moller - 1:23.820
8. Darren Bloomfield - 1:23.911
9. Dylan Rodriguez - 1:24.126
10. Ryan Cavalieri - 1:24.150

For the full heat listing of tomorrow’s opening round of qualifying, CLICK HERE.