ROAR NATS: Tessmann sews up both TQ's in Q3 [VIDEO]

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By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

The third round of qualifying was yet another chance for the ROAR Fuel Off-Road Nationals field to beat Ty Tessmann, but the Canadian wonder was simply too strong - and by setting the fastest time in both classes in Q3, he locked up the overall TQ in each. The front row starting spot will be nice in Truck, but the bigger advantage is the only direct transfer spot into tomorrow’s Buggy final.

“The truck was good - the same as yesterday, basically,” said Ty Tessmann, who seemed unfazed after wrapping up the overall TQ in spectacular fashion with nearly a six-second gap except for a slightly wider smile. “I just had to wait for the tires to come in and then I got in the groove. I got by people, but there were no problems.” When asked about Drew Moller driving off the track to avoid him, Ty smiled. “He told me after the race that he knew his truck was breaking. I thought something was probably wrong,” he said. With TQ honors secured, Ty plans on using the fourth round to test for the final. “We’re going to try some tires for the main and see how it goes,” he said, suggesting that they’d run Blockades in either X1 or X2.

Maifield improved to second overall in points with one round two go as he finished second in Q3. “It was good,” said Maifield, “just not as fast as Ty, but faster than everyone else.” Running the same setup from yesterday, sticking with the new “Double Yellow” Reflex tires, the three-time former champ had a clean run on his way to the second place finish. “I was just kind of by myself the whole run. I made a couple of small bobbles on the left side of the track, maybe lost a half a second. We’re just at an extreme disadvantage since (the Tessmanns) came to the warm-up and we didn’t, but it’s all right. We still got a lot of racing left.”

“I wasn’t worried about it!” said Ryan Lutz in regards to getting disqualified in Q2. “My truck was really easy to drive and consistent. I had a clean run with no issues,” said Lutz, who raised the front inner camber link after last night to gain more initial steering and allow his NT48 to also finish the corners better. For Q4, he plans on installing two softer clutch springs to allow the shoes to engage sooner

Like he did in Truck, Ty Tessmann locked up the overall Buggy TQ with his third straight TQ run - even though his HB D815 Tessmann Worlds Edition wasn’t quite as perfect as before. “It felt a little soft, but I think if we freshen it up it’ll be fine again,” he said, explaining that the shock and diff oils hadn’t been changed since the start of practice. “It got a little bit hairy with traffic in some parts,” said Ty, “but Josh was behind me so I could judge how fast he was going.”

“It was great!” exclaimed Josh Wheeler after his best finish of the week. “My car was killer - I felt like I could drive 80% and still keep a good pace,” he said. Josh had a big crash in the middle of the race as he tried to get around traffic in the tight 180 preceding the jump-on-jump-off tabletop, as he fell off the right side of the lane. Now secured into the semifinal, Wheeler plans to use Q4 to test X2 compound Fugitives for the longer races.

Ryan Lutz was less enthusiastic than expected after finishing third in the round, but still excited about the result. “It was decent,” said Ryan, “but a clean run overall. I ran together with a other guys for a to of the race, but we kept it clean.” Lutz will also try a harder compound in Q4

Here are the points in both classes with one round left to go: