SILVER STATE: Tebo sweeps Buggy classes, Maifield takes Truck title

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By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Compared to many of the tracks that have held major events over the past few years, the RC Tracks of Las Vegas racing surface looked like a minefield - but for Silver State, this year’s track looked like a freeway! The difficult course produced incredibly close racing in nearly every class, challenging the drivers’ skills and temperament in the long main events used to determine the winners at the first Silver State held at RC Tracks of Las Vegas.

Top Qualifier Ty Tessmann led until the first pit stop of the Open Nitro Truggy class, but a flameout in pit lane dropped him to fourth - and he never recovered, eventually flaming out again later in the race before working his way up to sixth by the race’s end. In his place, Ryan Lutz and Ryan Maifield traded the lead several times and Jared Tebo even led for ten laps during the second half of the race. Eventually, Maifield got out front and Lutz crashed too many times while trying to catch him - Lutz took the lead briefly during the final round of pit stops, but Maifield got back out front and held on for the win by 2.3 seconds and Tebo finished another 8.6 seconds back.

Robert Batlle burst forth from the TQ spot and led the first five laps of the short ten-minute Open Electric Buggy final, but crashed on lap six and again three laps later to eventually slip to fifth. Jared Tebo was the driver who benefitted most from Batlle’s mistake, moving into the lead and holding off a hungry Ryan Lutz for the rest of the race before crossing the line 65-thousandths of a second ahead for the title. Tessmann crashed on lap six and ran as low as fifth before working back through the field to take the final spot on the podium.

Except for a brief five laps in the first few minutes of the race, and one lap as pit stops cycled through much later, Top Qualifier Ryan Cavalieri led for 33 of the 45 minutes  in Expert Nitro Buggy. Meanwhile, Jared Tebo’s race rose and fell like a roller coaster, at one point taking him as far down as 11th before working up toward the front and tracking down his AKA and Mx Racing teammate. Cavalieri hit the curbing through a high-speed switchback section on the right side of the track and Tebo swooped to the inside for the lead. With Cavalieri crashing while trying to catch up, Tebo pulled away for the championship by 10.6 seconds. Like Tebo, Tessmann’s race had its ups and downs, running as low as seventh before he moved into the third position for good about 31 minutes into the final. Tessmann was just a half-second away from being lapped by Tebo, finishing about 20 seconds behind Cavalieri to claim the final podium spot.

Here are the winners of the other classes that competed this weekend.

That’s a wrap for the 2015 Silver State from RC Tracks of Las Vegas! Stay tuned tomorrow for replays of the races as well as interviews with the winners in each division. Special thanks to LiveRC’s title sponsor, AKA, as well as Pro-Line, Team Associated, Reedy, and LiveTime Scoring Engine.