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Ryan Lutz double win at the "1/8 Electric World Championships"

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Mike Garrison

0 Sept. 11, 2012, 6:39 a.m.

Main Photo: Ryan Lutz double win at the "1/8 Electric World Championships"

9/11/2012

By Mike Garrison

LiveRC.com

Team Durango Race Report:

www.team-durango.com

Ryan Lutz took the inaugural electric 8th ‘World Championships’ this past weekend at the Tiltyard in Virginia, USA. The ever expanding electric 8th classes are still growing and whilst this wasn’t an IFMAR event, it will surely lead to the growth of the class. Ryan took both classes with his Team Durango DEX408 and DEX408T prototype electric truggy.

Race report by Ryan Lutz:

It was a positive weekend for me at the Tiltyard in Dayton, Virginia. The event was the 1/8th Scale Electric Offroad World Championships presented by Team Tekin Racing. I brought along my trusty Team Durango DEX408 buggy and my new DEX408T which would be its first time out for this event. I may have a new favorite class after this weekend, as E-truggy is an absolute blast to drive. I threw on my DNX408T nitro truggy set-up and right away my DEX408T was dialed on the Tiltyard track. I knew it was going to be a good weekend.

It all started a little hesitant though as I arrived at the track on practice day to see the remnants of the passing hurricane had left the track very wet and undriveable on practice day. The decision was made to allow practice on Friday and not start the quals until 3pm. So I came back on Friday morning to get my practice packs in before tackling the 2, 8 minute qualifiers in both classes to finish out the day. Come Saturday morning we were under the gun to get the final qualifiers in before another bout of rain was scheduled to cut us short. However the rain delayed itself and we were able to get in a final 2 qualifiers for four overall.

In Buggy I was solid all throughout qualifying. My Durango DEX408 equipped with Tekin and ProTek power on AKA SS Gridiron rubber was dialed as can be the whole time. I was able to win all 4 qualifiers to take the overall TQ. In truggy my protype DEX408T was already up-to-snuff and was a joy to drive. I was able to take the overall TQ with the truggy as well on top of posting a very solid 20 lap run which took some fast consistent laptimes! I knew main day was mine to lose.

Come Sunday it was time for the mains. The rain on Saturday evening was very little compared to what was forcast and the track was in prime condition for some triple A-mains. Truggy A1 was up first and my truck was dialed yet again. I started on pole and never looked back. Running a nice clean run and staying smooth to be sure the 10 minutes would be no problem. I was able to come away with the A1 win. In buggy it was quite a battle. I tried soft tires instead of SS and the track wasn’t ready for it. I felt like I was running on a bit of ice and thus wasn’t able to put in a great run. I held the lead for about the first 4 minutes before making a mistake and finding myself looking at a 5+ second deficit. I fought back though and could tell I was catching up with about a minute to go and then the leader made a mistake and the marshal fell down when attempting to marshal his car and I was able to get by and hold him off in the waning moments of the race to take a close A1 victory.

Ryan with his TQ and Winning DEX408T prototype

Come A2 things came about a little easier. Truggy was another solid run and was able to steadily put most of the field a lap down in the 10 minute main coming away with the victory and World Championship. In buggy I threw the SS kicks back on and my car felt much better. I was able to run a solid start and felt some pressure from second place. But a few minutes in he would make a mistake and I would start to pull away. I stayed out front the remainder of the 10 minutes to take the victory!