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TD's Silver State report

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Mike Garrison

0 April 30, 2012, 4:53 a.m.

4/30/2012

By Mike Garrison

LiveRC.com

Team Durango Race Report:

The annual Silver State Nitro Challenge race took place last week in Boulder City, Nevada. Temperatures would be high and the sun unrelenting. Team Durango drivers Ryan Lutz and Carson Wernimont took their Team Durango rides over to do battle at one of the toughest races around. All the classes would be running each day – Carson was running three classes with electric and gas 1/8th buggy and truggy – whilst Ryan would be running a 4th class, with 4WD short course.

1/8th Nitro Truggy – DNX408T
In 1/8th Truggy, both Ryan and Carson would be running the pre-production prototype DNX408T truggy. The truck is very close to production and the team are really thrilled with the performance. Carson had an OK qualifying session, placing second in the B-main and got a good start to lead. Carson got hung up on a track marker and dropped down but fought back to the bump-up position before an unfortunate flame-out killed his chances of battling in the A-Main.

Ryan made the A-main with his DNX408T and battled up to second with 10 minutes to go. A popped turnbuckle cost Ryan dearly as he dropped to 5th by the time he got back on the track, which is where he finished. Still a very solid result but disapointing for Ryan.

1/8th Electric Buggy – DEX408
Ryan had some good runs in electric 8th buggy qualifying and quickly took up the lead in the main for about three laps until some mistakes dropped him back. Carson had bumped up from the B-Main after some electrical problems in the heat of the Nevada desert which had hampered his qualifying runs – and in the A-Main, Carson was pushing his way toward the front now. With just a lap to go Carson was looking for a way past the leader Drake but ran out of time and had to settle for second, with Ryan finishing up 4th.

1/8th Nitro Buggy – DNX408
Carson and Ryan both had average qualifying runs in 8th nitro buggy with Ryan lining up in the B-main and Carson 11th on the grid for the A-main. Ryan drove hard in the B as he looked to bump-up, but with 5 minutes to go a blown shock bladder saw his car become less settled and the resulting 4th place meant there would be no bump-up for Ryan this time. Carson had a bad start in the A-main after a tangle with another driver sent him to last place after the first corner on lap one. Carson got into a groove and had a good battle with Pavidis and Castallano for 8th place which he held to the line.

4WD Short Course – DESC410R
The 4WD short course class was the hilight of the weekend for Ryan Lutz, as he once again showed the DESC410R is the only game in town – taking the TQ and win in the A-main by over half a lap. People were impressed and surprised by how well the DESC410R handled the rough track at the Silver State.

A mixed bag of results for us at the Silver State – the guys were both disapointed by some bad luck in qualifying and finals, but Ryan taking the win in 4WD SCT, and Carson taking second in 8th EP buggy were fantastic results we’re all proud of. Congratulations to all the Team Durango drivers competing at the Silver State – and here’s to even better results in 2013!

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