ROAR NITRO NATIONALS! FINAL RECAP

0 May 31, 2011, 8:15 a.m.

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Tuesday, May 31, 11:30 a.m. PST

Hello everyone!

The LiveRC crew has been at Thunder Alley now for three days, working feverishly to set up what will be our most elaborate broadcast ever!

Today is check-in day. Some teams and participants are setting up tents and checking things out, but for the most part people are spending their day away from the track. We hear there is even a golf match taking place at a local course.

Our setup is progressing well, and we hope to be testing our entire operation by the end of the day. Our live broadcast will begin tomorrow morning for the first round of controlled practice!

Throughout the course of this event, we will be posting updates on our race blog (this), and on our Facebook and Twitter pages. We will also be posting photos in our photo gallery, so make sure you check back often for all of the latest content!

We will post pictures of the track later tonight, per the track's request that racers be allowed to see it in person first.

Wednessday, June 1, 7:00 p.m. PST

Day one of practice is now complete! Drivers got a brief chance to get acquainted with the racing circuit this afternoon before thy dive in head-first tomorrow morning for the first day of practice under ROAR's control.

The track looks every bit as cool with cars running on it as it did without. Things are smooth and fast and should provide some very good racing throughout the week.

If you didn't get a chance to tune in to the live broadcast today, make sure you do so tomorrow! You can find it here. You can also get yourself hooked up with an All-Access Pass for the event which will allow you to watch our entire TV style broadcast!

NEW: PHOTO GALLERY CREATED

Thursday, June 2, 9:30 a.m. PST

Official ROAR Nationals practice is now underway! Make sure you tune in to our BROADCAST page!

Some things to look for today:
How will the newest rendition of the TLR buggy work well? Will the new servo alignment hinder performance or enhance it?
Will Jared Tebo continue his dominant 2011 race season? Will he be able to back up his double victories from the 2010 nats?
Will Ryan Maifield be able to put his ballistic speed together for an entire race weekend, and perhaps, more importantly, will his equipment be able to hold up under the beating he usually gives it?
Will Ryan Cavalieri be able to build on his strong performance at NEO '11 and officially break out of his 'mini-funk' that he has been in this season?
Perhaps the biggest question of the week is, will anyone be able to take down Tebo or Maified- arguably the two fastest drivers of 2011 so far?

Our broadcast team will delve into all of these questions and get interviews from everyone on our All Access Pass feed!

Thursday, June 2, 7:30 p.m. PST

Practice is officially over. From here on out, IT COUNTS! (That will be the extent of the dramatic stereotypes for this post)

Day One of qualifying is up tomorrow! Drivers used today's two practice rounds to seed themselves in their final qualifying heats. (Heat listing can be found HERE)

As I write this, Barry Baker has entered the Orion Broadcast Center! This means that the crew has fully assembled and is ready for racing action tomorrow!

Also arriving today was the final piece of the LRC Hospitality Tent: the tent itself! Fresh off the printers at EZ-up, is our brand new EZ-up setup! It is huge, and fully decked out in the LRC logo. I'll post pictures of it tomorrow.

The LRC crew is packing up for the day now and soon we will be heading out for the one normal-paced activity we get during a race: dinner. We'll be back bright and early tomorrow, so make sure you tune in! Barry will be getting lots of juicy stories on camera right away, I'm sure.

LATE BREAKING ROAR RULING:
The latest word in the pits is that JConcepts new truggy wheel does not conform to ROAR rules, and there was some controversy surrounding how ROAR will rule against it. We have learned that the new wheel will NOT be allowed to run this weekend, sending many drivers into a scramble to try to find new wheels before racing starts.

The issue with the new wheel apparently is with the inner diameter of the mounting bead. The ROAR legal limit is 3.75". The new wheel has an angled bead, which starts at the legal limit and reaches 4" at the outer diameter.

We also hear that certain manufacturers wing dam lengths are also not within ROAR limits. The ruling on this determined tomorrow. Stay tuned for more info as it develops.

Friday, June 3, 7:30 p.m. PST

Day one of qualifying is in the books! The ROAR Nationals are officially 1/3rd complete.

TQ for the truggy division looks like it will come down a battle between Canadian Ty Tessman, and Missouri native and current truggy national champion Jared Tebo. Tessman came out in R1 guns blazing and set the fastest time of the day in the morning round. In R2, Tessmann had some bad luck that kept him from repeating, but managed to salvage a six for the round to ensure him a spot in the semis.

Tebo's morning started out a bit rough in truggy, but he would go on to snatch three zeros in his three remaining runs, securing at least a share of the TQ spot in buggy and a solid location in the semi in truggy. It may end up being hard to deny Tebo the TQ spot in truggy as he looks to be in the best ‘rhythm’ of any driver in attendance. However, if anyone can push Tebo around it would be young Ty Tessmann, who has the raw speed to match Tebo in truggy (if not more). It will all come down to who can run consistent in R3 and R4, and after today, it looks like Tebo will be hard to shake.

In buggy, Tessman was showing blistering speed and was in great position to TQ R2, but some ‘racing deals’ between himself and Ryan Cavalieri dashed his hopes for locking down a zero. Ty ended up with a four, which when combined with a three from R1, isn’t too shabby of a spot to be in after day one of qualifying.

Charlie's Notebook:

-Jesse Robbers has shown good speed all day matching fast laps and pace, with both his D8T, and the prototype CR8.

-The Ryan and Ryan Show from the AE camp is of course very fast, they are just looking to lock in some clean runs. Cavalieri has shown flashes of A-final winning speed throughout the day. Maifield has been suspiciously down in the standings from where we’ve been seeing him so far this year.

-TLR stars Mike Truhe and Adam Drake have had a hard time finding consistency, and have yet to really make their presence felt.

-Chad Bradley is running a Losi 8T 2.0 for this event has shown some excellent times and even locked down a five in the R2 this afternoon.

-Florida local JR Mitch has been racing a lot more 8th scale and it's showing! His truggy was very fast all day and has secured himself a top ten run in R2.

-Ryan Lutz secured himself a two in R1 and backed it up with a five for the afternoon run, proving that he really IS in tune with his now half-year-old Durango rig.

-Cody King found himself sitting 9th after R1, but picked up the pace for R2 and secured a three.

-Southern California's very own Steven Hartson finished eighth in R2.

-Michigan’s Dakotah Phend finished R2 with a five. This would prove to be TLR's highest finish in the first day of buggy qualification.

There were rumors of massive amounts of DQ's taking place today (like 30-40!). But like many rumors, this turned out to be false. The gossip stemmed from how the sheets were marked, as many drivers that didn't show up to race were still on the heat sheet and were marked as “DQ's.”

The track seems to be holding up very well with only one or two trouble spots developing so far. Thunder Alley works tirelessly through the day and into the evening to ensure a consistent race surface all day. The track is watered lightly every other race, which has proven to hold the track together well, but can lead to some inconsistencies in ‘track speed’ from heat to heat, according to some drivers we talked to.

We're looking forward to a bright and early start tomorrow morning! We will be back live at 7 a.m. local time, and will run through all of the final qualifying as quickly as possible before starting the main events tomorrow evening, which will run until 10:00 p.m.

See you in the morning!

NEW: Photo gallery updated!

**QUALIFYING RECAP**
Saturday, June 4, 7:30 p.m. PST

Saturday

As most of the country was still sitting in their underwearwatching Saturday morning cartoons whilst spilling their Captain Crunch cerealall over themselves, the hardcore racers that make up the entry list here atthe ROAR nats had already eaten their Wheaties, set-up their pits, and hit thetrack.

R3 of qualifying got underway under foggy skies here inSoCal. By the time the gloomy skies burned away, Jared Tebo and Ty Tessmann were about tohit the track in the ‘A’ truggy qualifier to determine who would step closer toearning TQ honors.

Tessmann and Tebo swapped the lead several times, but Tebo’sbrutal mix of speed and consistency was too much for Tessmann at the sevenminute mark, taking the zero in R3 by one second, and setting up a pivotal run forboth drivers in R4 to determine who would take the top spot.

R4 in truggy saw many different drivers flirting with thelead while Tebo lurked in the background. During the last minute, Tebo foundhis way to the front to eclipse Ryan Cavalieri’s R4 time by 0.4 seconds. Tebo’sthird ‘zero’ locked up the overall TQ.

In buggy, Tebo went into the day knowing he had alreadyscored two zeros and a share of the overall TQ for the weekend. He did NOT letthis fact allow him to release his boot off of the rest of the fields throat,however.

Showing an impressive ‘killer instinct,’ Jared Tebo pilotedhis Kyosho MP9 to zeros in R3 and R4 as well, becoming the first driver toaccomplish the feat since Travis Amezcua in 2006.

Overall qualifying results can be found HERE.

Charlie’s notebook:

Truggy:

R3:

-The fastest TLR racer of the morning would prove to be oneof the team's youngest members in the form of 14 –year-old Drew Moller. Drew had anearly flawless run, which proved to be fast enough to secure a five for theround. Fellow TLR teenager DakotahPhend was also fast but would suffer a drive train problem ending his round.

-The Ryan and Ryan show went out and laid down solid runs tosecure a three for Cavo and a four for Mans.

-Hartson had a great run putting him 6th for theround followed by Truhe and Drake, and yet another great run for JR Mitchputting him 9th.

-Robbers showed great pace early on, but was only able tosalvage a 10 for today's opening round of Truggy.

R4:

-Jesse Robbers lead a majority of the final round, but afew minor miscues would lead to him finishing 4th for the round.

-Cody King has found his pace this afternoon and put in arun good enough for 5th.

-Travis Amezcua (not in the ‘A’ qualifier) posted a timethat would prove to be good enough to score him a much improved 6thfor this round.

-Maifield seemed to have lost a bit of his early pace andsalvaged a 7th for the round with Dakotah Phend winning his heat tohold on for 8th for this round.

-Pavidis secured a 9th, with Adam Drake 10thfor the round.

-All in all a great round of truggy with lots of driversshowing excellent pace that should prove for a very exciting build up to ourfinals tomorrow.

Buggy:

-The racing surface had developed some minor roughness, sothe track became a bit trickier as the R4 progressed. This showcased thedrivers’ talents a bit more then the setup of the car. It appears that the traction here atThunder Alley has increased and the minor deterioration of the surface after 78rounds of 1/8th scale practice/quals being run. This makes the carsa bit hard to drive and prone to random crashes from even the top drivers.

-The fast heat again would see a majority of its attendees turntop ten times. However, JoshWheeler came out of the ‘B’ heat to post a time to put him 3rd for theround.

-Reigning WC Cody King put together a solid run to wrap hisqualifying efforts up with a 4 for the round.

LiveRC.Com All Access during the last round informed us viathe LiveRC Chat that Maifield was out on main tires testing for tire wear. Thanks Paul Wynn and J-Concepts! Ryan was able to bring home a five forthe round.

Tessmann appeared to have a fairly uneventful final round,bringing home a six in front of TLR's Phend.

Easton secured an eight with his Serpent, while the otheryoung gun on the TLR crew, Drew Moller, scored a 9. Also, Matt Castallano'sproved he is gaining pace with the recent setup changes.

Lower Mains are in store as this is being typed. LiveRC.comwill be here late into the evening to bring you coverage of all theaction. Stay Tuned!

Racing is due to kick off Sunday morning at 7:00 AM localtime! In the mean time, watch the lower mains LIVE until 10 p.m. (local PST)!OR, watch the replay of the day allllll night long!

NEW: Photo gallery updated!

Sunday, June 5, 10:30 p.m. PST

FINALS

The lights are out; the party's over...at least for us, anyway. Ryan Cavalieri, Ryan Maifield, Brent Thielke and the rest of the AE crew are probably just getting their party started in celebration of their sweep of the 2011 ROAR Off-Road Fuel Nationals.

The truggy final was run half-way through today's broadcasting/racing marathon. The heavily favored TQ Jared Tebo ran out front for 44 laps before Ryan Maifield drove past him and never looked back. Maifield, who hunkered down in second and went on a hot-lap spree to pull himself up to, and away, from Tebo, regained the truggy national title after losing it to Tebo in 2010. The truggy championship is Maifield's third.

In buggy, Tebo looked to redeem himself after a disappointing loss in truggy, and put himself in great position to do so for the first 50 laps.

Then he put himself in a good position to DNF.

As Tebo drove into the 'cereal bowl' corner like he had hundreds of times before, his steering linkage decided to come undone, sending his Kyosho MP9 into a never-ending right turn...that eventually ended with his car in the pipe. Tebo, frustrated, then stormed off of the stand and back to his pit in order to fetch a tool to repair his vehicle. The Tebo camp repaired his vehicle and it soon returned to the track, however, with the pace Cavalieri, Maifield, and himself had been keeping for the prior 50 laps, it was obvious he was out of contention almost as soon as he spun out in the berm.

Tebo by no means handed the victory to anyone, though. The 'Ryan and Ryan' show put on a dominating performance the entire race. So much so, that Ryan Maifield, who had looked VERY capable of winning, still took home the second spot after a flame out.

The story of the race, and perhaps the weekend, though, was Ryan Cavalieri. Having seemingly lost his 'podium consistency' over the last half year, Cavalieri scored a major win right on the heals of a strong third place finish at NEO '11, proving that Ryan is 'back.'

Rounding out the podium was everyone's favorite R/C youngin', Dakotah Phend! One of the nicest kids at the track from one of the nicest families around, Dakotah out-ran current WC Cody King to take the third spot after the hour long main. Congrats, Phends!

Well, that will do it here at Thunder Alley R/C Raceway! The LRC crew is hastily tearing down out equipment in an effort to get a couple hours of sleep before we begin our long journey back home.

We would like to take time to thank our sponsors: AKA, Team Associated, Orion, nVision, JConcepts and Upgrade for helping us out this week! But more importantly, we want to thank YOU for tuning in! There is NO way we could do this without you! And honestly, seeing people enjoy the coverage is what drives us to continue to try and get better. So thanks again, and make sure you tune in next time!

-LRC