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Aug. 22, 2014, 8:55 p.m.
8/22/2014
By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com
Last year's ROAR Electric Off-Road Nationals at AMain's Silver Dollar R/C Raceway in Chico, CA was held on one of the most extreme off-road tracks we've ever seen - and the racers' equipment was pushed to the extreme. This year's indoor course at Space Coast R/C is a bit more traditionally sized, with plenty of elevation changes but only a few jumps. In fact, the biggest challenge throughout practice has been finding enough grip to get around the track quickly - and that places utmost importance on every last detail.
Racing Truck Modified
Running a new pair of Blue Dirt Webs on the rear of his Centro-converted CT4.2, Ryan said his truck was “just as good as the first round” but had a cleaner run. Ryan will simply focus on driving the truck tomorrow and try to minimize mistakes.
After popping a ball cup on the third lap of the first round, Steven Hartson bounced back with a fourth-place finish in the second run. “My truck was really good, and finally had some grip - I’ve been struggling with traction.” Steven was happy with his tire choice, running Dirt Webs all the way around - Red on the front, Blue in the rear.
“Mediocre” was how Ryan Eckert described his run that led to a ninth-place finish in the second round, having crashed twice and made a few more bobbles. “I’ve just been struggling to come up to pace,” he continued. He changed oil and pistons on his Kyosho RT6 yesterday but kept it the same after the first round. Ryan ran X3 scrubs in front and X3 Suburbs in the rear, but other than possibly going to X2’s all the way around tomorrow he hadn’t yet decided what changes to make to the truck.
1. Ryan Cavalieri - 19/6:07.812
2. Jared Tebo - 19/6:12.927
3. Dakotah Phend - 19/6:13.163
4. Steven Hartson - 19/6:16.255
5. Tanner Denney - 19/6:19.334
6. Matt Chambers - 18/6:00.055
7. Michael Schoettler - 18/6:06.790
8. Brandon Marsh - 18/6:08.992
9. Ryan Eckert - 18/6:13.495
10. Adam Rayls - 18/6:14.002
11. Eric Clark - 18/6:18.944
12. Ben Ellis - 18/6:19.031
13. Billy Fischer - 17/6:04.319
14. Cody Turner - 17/6:08.947
15. Cody Hollis - 17/6:13.545
16. Landen Lewis - 17/6:13.826
17. Kory Ferguson - 17/6:23.016
18. Tylor Weaver - 15/6:01.795
19. Richard Crawford - 12/6:25.348
20. Justin Fales - 9/3:01.347
4WD Buggy Modified
“It was a really solid run,” said an enthusiastic Dakotah Phend after setting the fastest time in the second round by over nine seconds. “You can go fast out there, but it’s really, really hard. The track is edgy and there are a lot of holes, so I was just trying to keep it on the wheels.” Thoroughly happy with the performance of his 22-4 and emphasizing how precise he felt he needed to be to go that fast, Dakotah said, “there’s a really fine line everywhere - and you can’t cross it.”
“Very pleased” with finishing third, Drew Moller said “I finally found the tires I like!” Drew felt that the inconsistent weather was to blame for his difficult time choosing the right compound, before he settled on MX Scrubs on the front and X3 Electrons on the rear. “It was better than the first round, and I took it down one notch and just drove 90%. I tried to be consistent with no crashes.”
“It was great, really good,” said Travis Amezcua of his Team Durango DEX410V4. Even still, the whole run wasn’t great. “I kinda drove like shit at the end, and slowed down too much,” said Travis, even though he didn’t crash. Travis switched from Blue Barcodes to Red Dirt Webs and said the increased steering was a good change.
Going out on brand new Blue Barcode fronts and Blue Dirt Web rears, Alex Kosciuszek said his car was “really good” and was very pleased with the fifth-place finish. He had a virtually mistake-free run, with his only crash happening after the first double but the turn marshal was already there retrieving someone else. He did not expect to do this well at all, but doesn’t feel nervous because his car is good and all he can do is drive the best he can.
Carson Wernimont was shocked that he finished in the top ten. He said, “I had no idea you were going to come talk to me. I thought I sucked.” He described the track conditions as difficult, and said, “My car feels really good if I drive slow and steady, but if I push it goes slower. It’s just one of those tracks. That’s been my problem, just pushing too hard. You get out of control when you punch it.”
1. Dakotah Phend 20/6:05.302
2. Ryan Maifield 20/6:14.403
3. Drew Moller 20/6:15.915
4. Travis Amezcua 20/6:16.446
5. Alex Kosciuszek 20/6:17.605
6. JR Mitch 19/6:00.016
7. Ryan Lutz 19/6:00.105
8. Carson Wernimont 19/6:00.656
9. Ryan Cavalieri 19/6:01.466
10. Dustin Evans 19/6:02.153
11. Max Flurer 19/6:03.232
12. Brandon Marsh 19/6:03.297
13. JP Richards 19/6:04.091
14. Cody Hollis 19/6:04.233
15. Cole Tollard 19/6:04.399
16. Chad Due 19/6:05.095
17. Jared Tebo 19/6:05.098
18. Alex Miller 19/6:05.324
19. Colton Kruse 19/6:06.949
20. Mike Gay 19/6:07.841
2WD Short Course Modified
“My truck was really easy to drive that time,” said Ryan Cavalieri, who had a clean run with no mistakes - leading to the first 19-lap run of the day. Running Soft Grid Iron 2 fronts and a new pair of Soft Typos in the rear on his SC10.2, Cavalieri was comfortable with how his truck feels going into tomorrow.
“I made a couple of bobbles here and there, but didn’t need turn marshals,” said Max Flurer after finishing fourth. Running stiffer front springs than the first round, he said he might raise the front camber link to try and nub down the steering on his TLR 22SCT 2.0.
Cavalieri’s teammate, Kody Numedahl, didn’t change anything on his SC10.2 after the first round. He said, “It might push a bit too much in low-speed corners but I could make it way worse than I could make it better.” He added, “It’s a top five truck - well, the truck is the same as Ryan’s, so it’s a top five combo.” Kody made two mistakes during the run, with one rollover that landed back on the wheels and he bumped teammate Spencer Rivkin at one point so he stopped to let him go.
“I made a couple of bobbles but battled back,” said Kevin Motter, who made big changes to his SC10.2 after the first round - including moving the front shocks in on the tower, going from Blue Barcode fronts to Orange Double Dees, and adding 40 grams of weight behind the battery. “It planted the truck more and made it easier to drive,” said the 2012 Short Course 17.5 National Champion.
Kyosho’s Matt Chambers said, “It was actually really good, just had a lot of little bobbles but that was the best it has been” when describing his SC6. His truck was less edgy after switching from X3 Electrons on the front to MX compound, and will choose tires for tomorrow depending on the track conditions.
1. Ryan Cavalieri - 19/6:18.466
2. Jared Tebo - 18/6:02.903
3. Ty Tessmann - 18/6:06.216
4. Max Flurer - 18/6:07.990
5. Kody Numedahl - 18/6:11.583
6. Dustin Evans - 18/6:11.797
7. Kevin Motter - 18/6:13.411
8. Matt Chambers - 18/6:13.459
9. Mike Truhe - 18/6:15.158
10. Chad Due - 18/6:15.928
11. Billy Easton - 18/6:19.567
12. Spencer Rivkin - 18/6:22.802
13. Landen Lewis - 17/6:05.814
14. Cody Turner - 17/6:09.928
15. John Cravotta - 17/6:13.947
16. Jeff Keeton - 17/6:19.055
17. Brian Mellow - 16/6:02.237
18. Angel Echevarria - 15/6:02.468
19. Rob Arnold - 15/6:19.242
20. Jerry Lewis - 14/6:42.786
2WD Buggy Modified
Dakotah Phend said, “It was a good, clean round with no big mistakes, and I just tried to keep it on four wheels” as he marched away with the TQ time of the second round by 3.5 seconds. “Not crashing helps a lot, as the track is really, really, really challenging.” When asked if there was any particular part of the track where he excels, he said “I’m trying to maximize my lines without pushing too hard. This probably sounds funny coming from me, but I’m just trying to drive as smooth as I can.”
“It was mediocre,” said Phend’s teammate Ryan Maifield after finishing third. “I didn’t crash, I just wasn’t really fast. I needed to get some points so I wasn’t depending on both runs tomorrow. I need to get up to speed, and it’ll be better” he said, voicing a bit of frustration.
Tanner Denney scored a seventh place finish from the B heat after a few small mistakes in the middle of the race. “The track’s just really tough to get right every time,” said Tanner as he was jumping in the van to head to dinner.
1. Dakotah Phend - 19/6:11.968
2. Ryan Cavalieri - 19/6:15.423
3. Ryan Maifield - 19/6:17.454
4. Drew Moller - 19/6:18.521
5. Kody Numedahl - 19/6:18.548
6. Spencer Rivkin - 19/6:19.064
7. Tanner Denney - 19/6:19.879
8. Dustin Evans - 18/6:00.218
9. Chad Due - 18/6:02.242
10. Daimon Borkowicz - 18/6:02.382
11. Ryan Lutz - 18/6:03.055
12. Jared Tebo - 18/6:03.384
13. Cole Tollard - 18/6:03.821
14. Billy Easton - 18/6:03.932
15. Carson Wernimont - 18/6:03.983
16. Alex Kosciuszek - 18/6:04.896
17. Ty Tessmann - 18/6:05.173
18. Max Flurer - 18/6:05.350
19. Michael Schoettler - 18/6:05.403
20. JR Mitch - 18/6:07.019
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