Final Wrap-Up: 2011 Nitro Challenge!

0 Feb. 23, 2011, 6 a.m.

Wednesday, Feb 23, 10:05 a.m.

Hey everyone! LRC has made it to the Nitro Challenge and is in the process of setting up for the weekend! Check back often for updates and content as we will be working hard to provide as much stuff as possible for you folks out there that are itching to kick-off the official 2011 U.S. nitro season!

UPDATES:

Wednesday, Feb 23, 3:30 p.m.
Scoring and video are now running! You can check it out HERE.

Wednesday, Feb 23, 11:10 p.m.
Watch a lap around the Nitro Challenge track. As you can see, it is quite a unique track.

Thursday, Feb 24, 2:15 p.m.
All Access Passes are now available! Order yours to watch moving cameras for 90% of the races this weekend! (With the Arizona sun, our camera guys need a break from time to time)

The price will be $14.99 or $11.99 for Bonus Lap members.

Nitro Challenge DVD
Get the official DVD for $20 (plus S+H) if you pre-order now. Bundle the DVD with an All-Access Pass for $34.99 (3 dollars off if you are a Bonus Lap member) and you don't have to pay shipping!

Thursday, Feb 24, 5:00 p.m.
Truggy Qualifying

After two rounds of qualifying, Jared Tebo has secured the overall TQ!

Here is the top 10 after two rounds of qual points:

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1. JaredTebo

2. Cody King

3. TyTessmann

4. RyanCavalieri

5. RyanMaifield

6. MattCastellano

7. MikeTruhe

8. AdamDrake

9. JasonBranham

10. ChadBradley

11. JoshWheeler

12. MarkPavidis

Thursday, Feb 24, 8:30 p.m.
Qualifying for truggy is in the books. As we knew after round two, Jared Tebo will sit atop the pole come main time. Here is how the rest ended up:

1. JaredTebo

2. Cody King

3. TyTessmann

4. MattCastellano

5. Ryan Cavalieri

6. Mike Truhe

7. Dylan Rodriguez

8. Ryan Maifield

9. Adam Drake

10. ChadBradley

11. Mark Pavidis

12. Josh Wheeler

Friday, Feb 25, 1:05 a.m.
Photos from Thursday are up in the 2011 Nitro Challenge gallery!

Friday, Feb 25, 4:45 p.m.
Buggy Qualifying

Jared Tebo is simply the smoothest and fastest driver on the track this weekend, and it showed in his impressive, 10-lap run which gave him the zero in R2. Tebo also got a zero in R1, which gives him the overall TQ after only two rounds for the second time in as many days.

In round two, Tebo was battling Ryan Maifield for the top spot in the round and in their qualifier until Maifield ran out of gas on the last lap. Maifield was out on his 10th lap when his tank went dry, which still gives him a 3 for the round.

The only other driver to actually complete 10 laps was Ty Tessmann. You may remember, Tessmann won truggy here last year and he clearly looks hooked up again this year. Our question is this: How can a Canadian be so hooked up in a desert? That seems to defy logic.

Saturday, Feb 26, 12:35 p.m.
Qualifying is officially over here at the Nitro Challenge, and as we stated before: Jared Tebo will sit atop the pole for both truggy and buggy this weekend.

Here is how they'll line up on Sunday for the A-Final (minus the three bump-ups):

1. JaredTebo

2. Ryan Cavalieri

3. TyTessmann

4. Ryan Maifield

5. Mike Truhe

6. Cody King

7. Adam Drake

8. Taylor Petersen

9. Jeremy Kortz

10. Lee Martin

11. Joseph Quagraine

12. Jason Branham

Also, check our photo gallery for updated photos from buggy qualifying!

Saturday, Feb 26, 9:36 a.m.

Well, main day is finally here! And 'rain day' may finally be here as well. The skies are not filled with the typical orange Arizona sun. Instead, it looks as if rain is imminent, and the weather forecast seems to back up my 'street meteorology.'

So stay tuned! We may be in for a muddy day of truggy racing.

Saturday, Feb 26, 12:55 a.m.
Well, the rain has held off so far and we are actually seeing the sun peek through at times! Which is good, because with the hour or so delay to start the day, paired with the presence of rain, a long day was seemingly in the cards. The program has been running smoothly, though, and the race director even trimmed some time off of SCT mains and was able to combine a main or two as well to save time.

So all is looking well here on truggy main day! Don't forget, you can follow it live all day long on our broadcast page!

ALSO: The buggy qualifying mix tape is now up! Check it out here!

Saturday, Feb 26, 8:15 p.m.

After years of finishing second, Jared Tebo has finally notched another Nitro Challenge victory.

Tebo started on the pole on Saturday evening and drove his way through 45 minutes of ups, downs and upside downs on his way to victory in the pro truggy class.

Jared and his teammate Cody King sneaked away to an early lead and were soon followed by last year's NC truggy champ Ty Tessman. King soon had trouble and was off the track, which left Tebo and Tessmann out on their own. After a round of pit stops, a clearer picture of who would contend developed, and it was Tebo, Tessman and Ryan Maifield from there on out.

At numerous points in the race, Maifield drove his truggy so insanely strapped that the entire crowd could do nothing but hoot and holler in amazement. At one point, Maifield nicked a pipe while going full-bore over the gigantic mountain-corner and proceeded to get his truck completely rolled over in mid air. Much to the crowd's (and Maifield's) amazement, the truck corrected in mid-air and landed perfectly on the ground. Oh yeah, this happened with Tebo literally inches behind Maifield's wing-mounts.

Maifield's ballistic driving truly shined on his last lap. Trailing Tebo by a few car lengths, Ryan, like he had so many times in the race, decided approach the mountain-corner fully strapped and used it as a jump to propel him over the top of Tebo and into the lead. The crowd went wild, and with the speed Maifield was showing all race, it seemed as if everyone knew he would be tough to pass unless a mistake was made.

A mistake wasn't made. But like Maifield had also done for much of the race, he checked up and went for the double single coming out of the 7-pack rather than the triple. As the two drivers approached this section on the last lap, Tebo went for the triple (his normal line) while Maifield double-singled it, and the two got tangled up as their landing paths coincided with one another. Tebo ended up getting away clean; Maifield flipped over. Tebo cruised to the finish line to secure the 2011 Nitro Challenge truggy victory.

'I didn't know it was the last lap!" Maifield said after the race. "If I would have known it would be my last lap, I would have tripled! -- that was the most fun race I've ever had in my life."

The two will have another go at it tomorrow during the pro buggy A-main. Make sure you tune in to LiveRC.com to watch it LIVE!

Sunday, Feb 27, 11:10 a.m.
Buggy Main Day

Well, the rain fell steadily last night, and now the mud is flowing on the racing surface here at the Nitro Pit. We are now an hour into a rain (or mud) delay.

The good news is that the sun is out and The Dirt crew is working feverishly to get things cleaned up nicely and it looks like we'll be racing eventually.

The bad news is that the track is now completely different, and the groove that had developed over the course of the prior three days of being pummeled by toy cars is now mud. Granted, by the time the pro final rolls around it will have had another entire day of groove built up, but for the lower main guys it may be a whole different ballgame out there. The temperature is another thing to consider as well, as the forecast is calling for only 53 degrees in Surprise today. The cool temperatures, combined with the mud bog that is currently making up a majority of the racing surface, should make for an interesting day of racing, none-the-less.

Check out the pics below to see what the track looks like this morning.

Sunday, Feb 27, 10:30 p.m.

Jared Tebo has won pro buggy! He becomes the first driver in Nitro Challenge history to TQ and win both major classes!

We will have pics and details of the race coming soon!

Sunday, Feb 27, 11:55 p.m.
Buggy Final Recap

The dust has settled. The music has stopped. The lights have been turned off. We are still rocking into the night here at the Nitro Pit, though. As you can imagine, the LRC trailer and broadcast setup is quite expansive, and she takes a while to tear down.

But while we're here burning the midnight oil, Jared Tebo is likely somewhere celebrating. That's because Kyosho driver became the first person ever to TQ and win both premiere classes at a Nitro Challenge.

He completed the feat on Sunday night in a much-less exhilarating final event than what we had seen the night before (when Tebo battled Ryan Maifield all the way down to the wire).

Tebo started out strong from the top qualifying position, but quickly found trouble and was shuffled down the field. After a brutal lap, Tebo found himself near the bottom of the field with a seemingly insurmountable distance between himself and new leader Ryan Maifield.

But Tebo pressed on. And on. And on.

After a dozen or so laps, Tebo had picked off nearly an entire field's worth of drivers, and he found himself right back where he had been the night before: glued to Maifield's diff housing.

Tebo and Maifield battled briefly and, for a moment, it looked as if we would see another thrilling fight to the finish between the two drivers. But fate intervened, and Maifield was stricken by shock problem and was forced off the track.

By the time Maifield departed the race, he and Tebo had built a sizable cushion on then third place driver Mike Truhe. For the remainder of the race, Tebo ran clean out on his own, and thus faced no considerable challenge from Truhe who was too far back to catch him on speed alone.

Also victorious today, was Team Associated's Steven Hartson, who TQ'ed and won the pro electric buggy class. Hartson out-wheeled the likes of Adam Drake and Travis Amezcua en route to his 2011 Nitro Challenge win. The youngster has been a force on the So-Cal electric scene for years, and is getting faster and faster every time we see him, it seems.

Congrats to all the winners this weekend!

FINAL WORDS

Well, we better get back to packing up! The LRC crew would like to thank EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU who tuned in to our live broadcast and checked out our coverage page this weekend! We hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did!

Next up for us will be the Cactus Classic in the middle of March. We will be on hand again to provide LIVE coverage!

We will work on getting some videos from the NC up during the next week, so make sure you check back!

Thus concludes our coverage of the 2011 Nitro Challenge from The Nitro Pit! Later, everyone!

-Eric

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