ROAR NATS: Tessmann sweeps final round, will start in front of even semi in Buggy

0 June 21, 2014, 2:10 p.m.

6/20/2014

By Aaron Waldron

LiveRC

Tessmann took the lead with just two laps to go in the final qualifying heat of the weekend, splitting TQ's with Dakotah Phend but losing the overall on the combined time tiebreaker. Heading into tomorrow's semifinals, the strong run when the track was at its worst certainly points to Tessmann having a strong chance at repeating as the Buggy class national champion.

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Saying that it didn't matter that the overall TQ had already been decided, Ty Tessmann said "he just tries to win every round." Blaming it on the track, he said his D812 "was really loose, but it didn't do anything weird." His father, Gord, added that the track conditions "make it really interesting." Ty said that overall TQ isn't as important given the semifinals format, but he didn't feel any less pressure knowing that it was wrapped up.

Ryan Maifield ran the exact same setup and tires as he plans on using for tomorrow's semifinal, crediting his best finish of the weekend to Dakotah crashing at the end saying "otherwise I would've finished third again." Maifield pointed out that fuel mileage won't be a factor in the semis since everyone will have to pit twice in the 20-minute race, so it won't be any different than qualifying. With everyone on the same pit strategy, Ryan said, "you just gotta get through it."

Dakotah Phend had his worst finish, third for the round, as he didn't go out to win necessarily but just wanted to learn where the bumps are. He ran the same setup and tires as he had been for qualifying and wasn't sure what setup changes he might make to make his car better through the rough sections. "The biggest challenge of the semis will be not crashing," said Dakotah, "because there's nowhere to pass."

"I tried to blow out that time!" Carson Wernimont said while laughing, adding that "finishing sixth on my worst run is not too shabby." Having run Soft Enduros for qualifying Wernimont tried Medium Impacts, thinking they'd be better for the longer race, but his car was so much faster on the previous tires that he'll run them for the semi.

Defending national champion Adam Drake continued flying under the radar with a ninth-place score in the final round, saying his car "was better" than it had been all weekend and the most comfortable since practice. Adam spent the last two days trying different setup options and tires at different times, trying to learn how to pick the right tires for the semis, saying "that's all that matters."