RACE COVERAGE: 2012 ROAR 1:8 Fuel Off-Road Nationals

  

 

BROADCAST (Live Video)

PHOTO ALBUM (Presented by AKA) 

 

 

  

 

Welcome to the 2012 ROAR 1:8 Fuel Off-Road Nationals race blog! (That is quite the mouthful...if I just say "nats" from here on out, let it be known that I am referring to the 1:8 fuel off-road variety) 

 

This space will eventually be filled with all of the latest news and info regarding the nats and our broadcast. Speaking of which, LiveRC's full broadcast presentation will begin this Thursday the 21st of June, which is day one of practice at the nationals. Make sure you tune in!

 

This year's nats will be held at LCRC Raceway in Oakland Mills, PA. for more info on the track and the event, you can visit their website by clicking this link.

 

If you are attending the nats, we wish you safe travels! To all who plan on following the race on LiveRC- see you Thursday!

 

 

 

 

Ahh, set-up day. A day when everyone sets up a table or two, hangs around, chats for a bit and calls it a day before the sun even remotely starts to head toward the horizon. Not us, though. Set-up day is long and busy! In fact, this is day two of set-up for us. As an added bonus for those setting up today (and for us yesterday) a scorching hot sun has been provided to keep everyone wet and sunburnt. Today, temperatures crept toward the century mark as most everyone on-site sweated through any piece of fabric that came within a foot of their skin. 

 

Yes, it is hot. That is the dominant theme thus far at the 2012 nats. But we will soon start racing and quickly forget about the constant state of misery our bodies are in.

 

Today race teams and privateers alike setup their "living space" for the next handful of days. We even got word that there was a golf tournament comprised of R/C racers at the set of links that neighbors the track. Speaking of the track, here is what it looks like:

 

From the driver's stand.


From the left side. 

 
The elevation change is more extreme than it originally appears.

 

 

The R/C track at Lost Creek Cycles is fairly new, from my understanding. The owners have a long and storied history in the ATV racing scene and are now setting out to make their mark on R/C racing. From the looks of things, they are doing a very good job. The facility appears to be primed and ready to go for an event of this caliber.

 

Tomorrow (Thursday) marks the official start of the nationals and of our broadcast. Two rounds of practice will be held and used to seed the qualifying heats (I presume). From there, we have two rounds of qualifiers scheduled for Friday, two on Saturday followed by lower mains, and then upper mains on Sunday.  The heat sheet indicates there are 285 (or so) entrants scheduled to compete this weekend. 

 

 

 
The early scene. Huge ATV shop on the left.


More scene. Note the golf course in back. 


The driver's stand doing its best not to melt into a pool of liquid hot magma under the Pennsylvania sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The relentless onslaught of meaningless practice may have ended, but the heat continues to inflict its spiteful will upon everyone in the state of Pennsylvania.  We are just two and a half days into our time here at LCRC and the heat has made it seem like weeks. We are kind of living out a scene from the movie Inception, in a way. Two days have past, but it feels like a week. By Saturday, the heat will have caused us to age five years. By the time we leave, we will be old men who have washed up on the shores of our own subconsciousness, except those shores will be comprised of sweat and humidity.

 

OK, enough drama about the heat.

 

Today in practice...people practiced. Like usual, I'm not going to go into a deep analysis of lap times to break down everyone's first run on the track. Instead, I will give you three names of people (aside from the usual four or five suspects as of late) whom I believe are poised to have a good weekend based on a hunch...and also on a few laps I saw today.

 

1. Billy Easton. Billy's Serpent buggy looked amazing for the two laps I watched. (I implied I was shooting from the hip here, remember?) While many cars I saw today had trouble gaining momentum on non-straight sections of the track, Billy's car appeared to launch hard and straight toward jumps, rather than flailing about like so many others. 

 

2. Ryan Lutz. I know, Ryan is always in the mix at whatever race he goes to, but usually there is something that keeps him from running out front at the end of the weekend. We all know that his style of driving lends itself well to the "three-best-consecutive-lap" style of seeding used at most races these days,  but if he can ever get in a rhythm somewhere and is able to fire on all cylinders for 60 minutes, he will be tough to beat. I'd say he is due. 

 

3. Josh Wheeler. I'll be honest, I didn't watch a second of Josh Wheeler's laps today. But he is seeded 5th in buggy and 3rd in truggy after practice. We'll see if a very strong day of practice can translate into good qualifying results.  OK, so I guess I did analyze lap times to formulate an opinion. Oops!

 

 

 

Team Associated seems to be testing out some new steering blocks and spindles. No word yet on what exactly the intended changes are, but my guess is that if asked, the guys under the AE tent would say: "to make the car better."

 

Hot Bodies seems to be in a constant state of development for their next generation of cars. At the focal point of this development is the Tessmann family. Ty and Gord are known for fabricating various aspects of their race car, and Ty's latest iteration of what they are still calling a "D8" appears to be quite different than anything the company sells at your local hobby shop. At a quick glance (all that is allowed) it appears than basically everything on the car is different than the D8. But, that isn't exactly news. Their cars have been that way for quite a while. Scroll down for the best "spy" pics we could get today.

 

Rumor has it that the Team Durango guys are running some new configurations underneath the hoods of their 1:8 buggies.  

 

In the AKA camp, the "Gridiron" tire appears to have gotten a makeover, complete with a new carcass and chamfered pins on the outer edges.

 

 

 

Ty Tessmann's Hot Bodies something-or-other. The rear arms almost have a casing on them or something. Super fancy!


Maifield's new knuckles. Compared to the stock pieces, these are trick. Perhaps we will see them as a Factory Team option? Also, note the front bumper and shock caps. 


There are apparently some new things going on with the Durango platform as well. We hear it has to do with weight placement, so this picture of Carson Wernimont's car may not serve much use to you sleuthing types.

 
AKA's new rendition of the Gridiron


Baker baking in the sun.


I heard there will be a cannonball contest at Gunnar Rieck's pool. Barry wins. 

 

See more pictures in the AKA Photo Album!

 

That's it for today! Tune in tomorrow for the debut of the Scotty, Charlie, and David show! They all had flight delays today. Let's hope they make it in safe and sound tonight so they can do their thing tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halfway through qualifying and already we know quite a bit about whom will occupy P1 and P2 on the main listings that will be posted Saturday night. It's like we can see into the future!

 

Jared Tebo and Ryan Maifield need not look into a crystal ball to see if they will qualify well. The two drivers secured a share TQ after only two rounds -- Tebo in truck and Maifield in buggy.

 

There isn't much to report on how they did it. I mean, they are Tebo and Maifield. I've ran out of adjectives and literary devices to describe how one can TQ a round of qualifying. They went faster than everyone else. The end. The real stories of interest come when looking further down the results page. Guys like Mike Truhe, Ryan Lutz, and Josh Wheeler had a fantastic day of qualifying. It will be interesting to watch how they finish up their qualifying efforts tomorrow and how things play out on Sunday. If any of you are like me, you will be rooting for the underdogs come main time. So far this weekend, it seems there are a lot of "different" faces that are running fast. Not guys we haven't seen run fast before, but guys that haven't run fast in awhile. Also, young guns like Dylan Rodriguez, Matt Castellano, and even Gunnar Rieck have positioned themselves in a spot where they could easily jump up into important spots tomorrow. These story lines are the ones you will want to pay attention to for the remainder of the weekend...along with who will win, of course.

 

 

For those of you that are wondering why my seemingly routine complaints about the heat are absent in the first paragraph of today's blog entry, I'm happy to tell you that things have made a turn for the better! The sun even managed to stay behind the clouds for the first portion of the day much to everyone's delight. Make no mistake though, things are still swampy and no human beings should be exposed to such conditions.

 

 

Those of you who missed today's action missed out on some tedious track conditions that frustrated many and thrilled few. Traction seems to be just beyond the grasps of anyone coming in contact with the dusty East-Coast dirt. 

 

Some drivers speculated that the track isn't responding to traffic like it has in the past due to the drought the local soil has been in in recent weeks. It is evident that there is some truth to that as soon as you look at the track -- that is, if you can see it through the dust cloud that seems to be ever-present.  Most drivers we talked to seem to be expecting it to break up even further, causing what could be a mad scramble to find the correct tires come Sunday. The general consensus in the pits is that as the track crumbles apart a bigger pin will be required. Rocket science, I know -- but I'm just telling you what I heard...

 

The track crew has been working feverishly to keep everything in good shape, but unfortunately there doesn't appear to be anything man can do to make dust into dirt if it wants to be that way. The track crew has done an excellent job keeping the jumps together, though. Once those go, things won't be pretty. 
 

 

 

 
Tebo's Kyosho truck warming up before his eventual TQ run.


Josh Wheeler sharing an awkward moment with Taylor Petersen.


The "Pitcher's Mound" is a popular place to go sliding out of the racing line. Here, Tessmann hangs on for dear life.


Former national champion Mike Truhe had an excellent day today. 


A-Main's Derek Threatt showing off one of his many cameras to some ladies. 


Current national champion Ryan Cavalieri hasn't made much noise this week, but is hanging in there right in the middle of the top ten. Sounds exactly like how all of his major victories go...


I thought the Midwest had bugs...wow. Watch out for these suckers.


Charlie doesn't like bugs. Or anything on planet Earth, for that matter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's 9pm and we have officially switched from qualifying to the main events! Q3 and Q4 went off earlier today and weren't without their share of controversy -- most of which focused upon technical inspection and subsequent disqualifications. Most notably, original round three TQ Ryan Maifield had his run thrown out after failing post-race tech. Maifield's RC8T came in too light, which he insisted couldn't have been possible since he hadn't changed anything on his truck for today. Some questions arose regarding the scale used in tech and whether or not it met the requirements for this particular usage, but in the end it was deemed to be correct and Maifield's truck was, indeed, too light. 

 

A handful of other drivers had runs thrown out today as well, such as Adam Drake and Jeremy Kortz. Kortz posted a top-ten run that was much needed after failing to complete any laps in Q1 and Q2. We will watch his situation carefully to see if he can bump his way into contention. Obviously he has the truck for it.

 

Adam Drake's TLR buggy failed tech in Q3 leaving him with only one good run going into Q4. Drake scored a very impressive two in the final round jump all the way back into the top ten overall. 

 

Elsewhere, 2WD modified off-road national champion Dustin Evans has quietly put himself 7th overall in both classes. It appears he is getting more comfortable just yanking the throttle recklessly all over the track as opposed to what he is used to dealing with. It's only a matter of time before he jumps up to the next level, in my opinion. 

 

As I've alluded to already in the race blog, Ryan Lutz is having a great weekend. He is 2nd in truck and 5th in buggy which is the third highest combined qualifying position behind Ty Tessmann (3rd in both) and Ryan Maifield (1st, 4th).

 

Ryan Maifield and Ryan Cavalieri comprise the Associated that sandwich sits atop the buggy class. They are out to prove that last year's win for the re-tooled RC8.2 wasn't a fluke and that the platform is just as capable as anything else on the market. So far, so good. 

 

Full qualifying results can be found on the live broadcast screen.

 

 

 

 
Erik Jensen's 'coptering skills in action! In case you're wondering, he looks nothing like "T.C." from Magnum, P.I.


Hollie and Paul make a good team!


Ryan Lutz showing off his eyewear. I want to see an R/C racer use those glasses Horace Grant used back in the day with the Chicago Bulls. 


Dustin Evans is learning to make use of those extra two driven wheels.


Maifield's RC8.2 warming up before Q4. He would go on to wrap-up the overall TQ.


If you know anything about Losi, you know that they always travel in overpacked white vans. The team must be loving the extra space they are getting with this hog as opposed to the 'ol Chevy Astro. 

 

 

 

 

I've always thought the title "ROAR Nationals" was kind of weird. They are the championships for ROAR - the sanctioning body for the United States and Canada, and are open to any ROAR member. Yet, there is a Canadian national and a, presumably, United States national. The operative word here being "national," derived from "nation" - which would imply they are the the championship for that particular nation. Which makes sense because there are a separate Canadian nationals which is also sanctioned by ROAR. Confused yet? Well, today things got a whole lot more confusing.

 

Now that young Canadian R/C superstar Ty Tessmann has conquered the ROAR (U.S.?) nationals, we may have to change the name of the race to the "ROAR Championships." Or, to take a page out of Europe's playbook -- "The Ameros." 

 

The young Canadian has done more than just confuse people like me whom think too long and hard about the meaning of words and titles and how they intertwine with reality -- he has cemented his place amongst the best. Only one other driver has won both the buggy and truck 1:8 national titles in the same year. Combined with his excellent performance at this year's Dirt Nitro Challenge, Tessmann is now ranked No. 1 in the summer 2012 LiveRC Power Rankings and has to be the overwhelming favorite going into the IFMAR world championships this December in Argentina. 

 

Ty's amazing drive wasn't the only impressive feat this weekend, however. Nipping on his heels (both figuratively and literally) was the even younger Dakotah Phend, whom finished second in both classes -- nearly winning the buggy final.

 

Speaking of the buggy final, the two young stars battled for a majority of it. There were stretches of it where it seemed Dakotah may run away with it and other portions where it seemed Ty would be untouchable. But a combination of bobbles and mishaps had the two within car lengths going into the final lap -- which may be the best 45 seconds of racing in R/C history.

 

Both drivers had leads. Both drivers gave them away. Both drivers attacked and overtook. In the end, both drivers powered into the final turn -- Phend made one last inside pass for the lead but carried too much momentum into the turn and went wide -- Tessmann took advantage of Dakotah's wide line to duck right back inside him and beat him to the finish by the narrowest of margins. 

 

Had either driver been facing a veteran pro on the last lap, they may not have had the second and third chances each of them had to retake the lead after giving it up. A veteran would have capitalized on their mistakes and not made their own. But Tessmann and Phend may have both just made a critical step forward in the development of an R/C driver. We might not see either driver make so many nerve-related mistakes on a final lap again. They've both been there now -- in the thick of a fight on the last lap with a major championship on the line. Not even that many veteran pros can say they've experienced that close of a battle that late in a race of this magnitude. The experience both of them will have gained from this is invaluable to their future careers. They've both gotten a huge shot of ice in their veins. Neither one may ever face that type of pressure on the last lap of a major 1:8 buggy final ever again. So, in some ways, every race for the rest of their career will be easier than the one they just had. 

 

This weekend, Ty Tessmann was the fastest driver in the nation. He was the fastest driver in Canada. He was the fastest ROAR member. And he may very well be the fastest driver in the world. Who cares what the race is called. :) 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Truck podium -- (L-R) Dakotah Phend, Ty Tessmann, Josh Wheeler


Truck Results



Buggy -- (L-R) Dakotah Phend, Ty Tessmann, Jared Tebo


Buggy Results



Dakotah was thrilled with his results, despite losing on the last corner of the buggy main. Not to worry -- he will win his share of major races.  






The father-son team of Gord and Ty Tessmann. Not many other folks in this sport work as hard as they do. Congrats to the entire Tessmann family and to Team HB!

 

 

That will do it for our coverage from the 2012 nats! We want to give a HUGE thanks to the LCRC crew for being such great hosts and for throwing a great race, and to the ROAR crew for doing all that they do while also having to play "bad cop" more than they would like. Without them, we would be lawless! They work hard to make these events happen, and for that we thank them. We would also like to thank AKA for presenting our coverage of the nationals! They are always supportive of what we do, and we cannot thank them enough. Also, we want to thank Associated, Reedy, Absolute Hobbyz, Novak, MIP, JConcepts, Pro-Line and Absolute Hobbyz for their sponsorship of our coverage! Most importantly, as always, we would like to thank YOU -- our audience! Without your support we would be unable to bring you this coverage!

On behalf of Scotty Ernst, Charlie Suangka, David Church, Erik Jensen, Ross Walters, Bob Kendall, Josh Stough, and Brandon Rohde - This is Eric Swanson signing off. See you next time!  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

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