CACTUS: Phend, Tebo, and Tessmann locked up class TQs after round three - stadium truck and 4WD Buggy undecided

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By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

With only one round to go, the pressure was on many drivers in the make-or-break round three. For drivers in some classes, it was a chance to wrap up the overall TQ spot or secure a starting position in the A-Mains. Others that suffered from bad luck or broken parts yesterday needed to put in a solid run or risk not having a shot to move up at all in the best 2-of-4 qualifying format. Track conditions continued to throw a wrench in the drivers’ plans, though and generated times that in most cases were the slowest so far.

SHORT COURSE 4WD MODIFIED

In the 4x4 Short Course class, defending champion Dakotah Phend stamped his authority over the kingdom by marching off to the only 16-lap run of the round. His third round win of the weekend means he’ll try for another class championship from the front of the grid.

Short Course 4WD Modified - Top 20

1. Dakotah Phend - 16/5:18.587
2. David Jenson - 15/5:09.985
3. Jörn Neumann - 15/5:11.985
4. Matthew Olson - 14/5:02.815
5. Rocco Epler - 14/5:06.335
6. Carlos Arredondo - 14/5:11.107
7. Louis Fernandez - 14/5:20.392
8. Gary Ottosi - 13/5:04.324
9. Dawn Forrest - 13/5:10.304
10. Darrell Forrest - 13/5:16.344
11. Ruben Santacruz Abascal - 13/5:17.858
12. Sean Popham - 13/5:20.155
13. Andrew Trask - 13/5:26.973
14. Duke Cox - 12/5:01.849
15. Richard Demark - 12/5:14.190
16. Christopher Deatherage - 12/5:27.419
17. David Wilson - 0/0:00.000
18. Chris Smelcsr - 0/0:00.000

Here’s how the drivers sit after three rounds:

STADIUM TRUCK MODIFIED

Ryan Cavalieri took a big step toward securing the TQ spot in Stadium Truck in the T5M’s Cactus debut, turning a nearly identical time to his Q2-winning run. Cavalieri and ex-teammate Ryan Maifield swapped the lead several times throughout the heat, finishing less than a half-second apart. Now with two TQ runs, Cavalieri’s round win set up a showdown with Jared Tebo for the overall in round four.

Stadium Truck Modified - Top 20

1. Ryan Cavalieri - 15/5:02.169
2. Ryan Maifield - 15/5:02.608
3. Spencer Rivkin - 15/5:04.878
4. Carson Wernimont - 15/5:08.718
5. Jared Tebo - 15/5:09.167
6. Dakotah Phend - 15/5:09.423
7. Steven Hartson - 15/5:11.707
8. Jörn Neumann - 15/5:11.931
9. Tanner Denney - 15/5:16.527
10. Taylor Larsen - 15/5:16.697
11. Dustin Evans - 15/5:17.457
12. Brent Thielke - 15/5:19.079
13. Cody King - 15/5:20.727
14. Scott Spear - 14/5:03.356
15. Josh Bend - 14/5:04.523
16. Andrew Smolnik - 14/5:06.572
17. John Watkins - 13/5:06.285
18. Chad Eubanks - 13/5:12.723
19. Alex Treber - 13/5:25.598
20. Brian Kinwald - 10/4:09.139

Updated points after three rounds look like this:

SHORT COURSE 2WD MODIFIED

Perhaps motivated by not being able to wrap up TQ honors in Stadium Truck, Jared Tebo turned up the heat in 2WD Short Course and put in a nearly flawless run. The Kyosho star beat his closest challenger this weekend, Ryan Maifield, by over four seconds to lock up the TQ spot with his Kyosho SC6.

Short Course 2WD Modified - Top 20

1. Jared Tebo - 15/5:12.721
2. Ryan Maifield - 15/5:16.499
3. Spencer Rivkin - 14/5:00.806
4. Matt Chambers - 14/5:03.835
5. Chris Wheeler - 14/5:03.980
6. Mike Truhe - 14/5:04.960
7. Dustin Evans - 14/5:05.941
8. Paul Sinclair - 14/5:15.891
9. Rocco Epler - 14/5:17.965
10. Kevin Kimberley - 14/5:19.801
11. Vinny Pedersoli - 14/5:20.334
12. Alex Krieg - 14/5:21.515
13. Eddie Armijo - 13/5:00.140
14. David Jenson - 13/5:00.510
15. Uri Valde - 13/5:05.180
16. Alex Treber - 10/4:02.683
17. Tanner Stees - 0/0:00.000
18. Chad Nelson - 0/0:00.000
19. Jeremy Kuhns - 0/0:00.000
20. Brian Hartman - 0/0:00.000

After three rounds, here are the updated points:

BUGGY 2WD MODIFIED

Ty Tessmann clinched the TQ with his third straight round win, completing the feat in spectacular fashion. A mistake about 90 seconds into the race sent the Canadian tumbling down the running order in his heat to sixth, but he responded with his best lap of the race to get back on track. Tessmann motored back to the top spot with ten straight 19-second laps and edged Ryan Cavalieri by four tenths of a second to seal the deal.

Buggy 2WD Modified - Top 20

1. Ty Tessmann - 16/5:16.337
2. Ryan Cavalieri - 16/5:16.734
3. Dakotah Phend - 16/5:17.013
4. Spencer Rivkin - 16/5:17.014
5. Ryan Maifield - 16/5:18.529
6. Jörn Neumann - 15/5:01.938
7. Carson Wernimont - 15/5:03.540
8. Tommy Hinz - 15/5:05.039
9. Kody Numedahl - 15/5:06.220
10. Rob Gillespie - 15/5:07.627
11. Drew Moller - 15/5:09.225
12. Jason Corl - 15/5:09.765
13. Steven Hartson - 15/5:11.397
14. Jake Mayo - 15/5:11.460
15. Zachary Rogers - 15/5:12.010
16. Brent Thielke - 15/5:12.152
17. Hupo Hönigl - 15/5:12.238
18. David Ronnefalk - 15/5:14.230
19. Jared Tebo - 15/5:16.271
20. Nathan Bernal - 15/5:17.390
21. Jake Mayo - 15/5:11.460

With one round to go, here’s what the points look like:

BUGGY 4WD MODIFIED

Jared Tebo and his former teammate Ryan Cavalieri, both of whom are former 4WD World Champions, battled back and forth on the clock for the round three win and were never more than tenths of a second apart. Cavalieri crashed on the penultimate lap and dropped to third, which gave Tebo the heat win by a full second over Dakotah Phend.

Buggy 4WD Modified - Top 20

1. Jared Tebo - 16/5:06.369
2. Dakotah Phend - 16/5:07.377
3. Ryan Cavalieri - 16/5:08.154
4. Lee Martin - 16/508.511
5. Ryan Maifield - 16/5:08.765
6. Spencer Rivkin - 16/5:10.465
7. Carson Wernimont - 16/5:11.319
8. Ty Tessmann - 16/5:13.787
9. Rob Gillespie - 16/5:14.160
10. Hupo Hönigl - 16/5:14.584
11. Dustin Evans - 16/5:15.022
12. Tanner Stees - 16/5:16.072
13. David Ronnefalk - 16/5:16.349
14. Kazuki Sasatsu - 16/5:18.959
15. Jake Mayo - 16/5:19.779
16. Drew Moller - 15/5:00.207
17. Travis Amezcua - 15/5:00.285
18. Cody King - 16/5:00.762
19. Mitchel Gardner - 16/5:02.342
20. Jason Corl - 16/5:03.365

With just one round remaining, here are the current standings:

There’s just one round left to go in qualifying at the 29th annual Cactus Classic, brought to you for free on LiveRC by Pro-Line Racing! Don’t miss a minute of the action - CLICK HERE to watch the broadcast.