Much like Saturday night's Pro Truck final, the excitement of the 45 minutes of Pro Buggy racing under the lights on Sunday night was magnified by grueling track conditions that pushed the world's best off-road drivers to the limit. Mechanical issues claimed a front runner and left two rivals to duel it out in the final corners of the race. In a reversal of last year's Pro Buggy final, Ryan Cavalieri passed former teammate Ryan Maifield after time expired to win his first DNC championship since 2010.
LiveRC YouTube account -- RVA (Race Video Archive) recordings of all races available to All Access Pass members
Though a few mistakes early in the race relegated him to fourth around the 15:00 mark, where he stayed for ten laps, Ryan Cavalieri drove his Team Associated RC8B3 buggy into the battle for the lead by the end of the first half hour. He and former teammate Ryan Maifield traded the lead five times over the final two fuel stints before securing the win with just two minutes to go.
The win was sweet redemption for Cavalieri, after running out of fuel twice during last night's Pro Truck final. Cavalieri earned his second major championship with the Team Associated RC8B3 and his first since new engineer Dan "Dyno" Hissam joined the team.
Ryan Maifield seemed poised for redemption of his own when he took the lead with just over five minutes to go, but he was unable to defend against the unrelenting late-race pace of Cavalieri - nor could he successfully answer back after being passed. Maifield settled for a hard-earned second place after dominating qualifying on Friday.
It took just four minutes for Ty Tessmann to race from fourth on the grid into the lead, which he held past the halfway point of the race. He suffered a fluke issue when a rock locked up one of his rear wheels and needed to be freed in an emergency pit stop, which dropped him from contention and spoiled his 9-minute fuel strategy. Forced to make an extra pit stop than planned, Tessmann moved back into third with seven minutes to go and improved to within eight seconds of Maifield by the end of the race.
That's all for LiveRC's coverage of the 17th annual The Dirt Nitro Challenge from the Fear Farm R/C Raceway in Phoenix Arizona, sponsored by A Main Hobbies and Team Associated. We'll be streaming live from the ROAR Carpet Nationals on March 3-6 and the Cactus Classic from March 10-13.
![Main Photo: DNC: Cavalieri captured Pro Buggy title with late-race pass [VIDEO]](https://assets.liveracemedia.com/media/images/IMG_8506_leBvure.max-850x450.jpg)
Eng / Usd
Français
Deutsch
Italiano
Recent comments