Cavalieri & Maifield win big at ROAR Nats

Located directly in the center of the United States, Omaha, Nebraska and the Hobbytown Hobbyplex was selected to host the 1/10th ROAR Electric Off road National Championship and Team Associated were there in force and have given us this report. With prior experience in hosting National Championships, the Hobbyplex crew put together a great layout that challenged drivers from the top pros to the 17.5 classes. This year’s event featured a few new changes highlighted by six-minute races as opposed to the traditional five-minute heats and due to the large track size, 12-car main events.

2WD Modified
Leading the way in qualifying for 2WD Modified was Team Associated/Reedy’s Ryan Maifield. With a controversial end to A1 and Cavalieri taking the victory over Tebo and Maifield, A2 was set as a do-or-die situation. As the top three qualifiers (Maifield, Tebo, and Cavalieri) freight trained around the track, Tebo fell back a bit to let Maifield and Cavalieri battle it out for the victory. Coming across the line ahead of Cavalieri, Maifield took the victory in A2, setting the stage for a great A3.

As the tone sounded the three drivers checked out from the field and swapped the lead among the three of them until Maifield made a mistake, dropping him out of touch with the top two. Tebo lead Cavalieri and with the ROAR tie breaker being the combined laps and times of the two best finishes, Cavalieri knew he had to stay close to Tebo if he were to win the tie breaker. As the two drivers approached the finish line Tebo made a small correction at the end of the straight and Cavalieri closed to within 0.6 of a second at the finish line.

With Cavalieri’s 0.8 of a second victory over Tebo in A1, Cavalieri’s combined laps and time beat that of Tebo’s by only 0.2 of a second, sealing the National Championship for Cavalieri and Team Associated. This is the fourth 2WD Modified title in a row for Cavalieri, who adds to his now nine ROAR National titles.

Truck Modified
In the Truck Modified was Associated’s Ryan Cavalieri with his Factory Team T4 sitting on the pole position. In A1 Cavalieri, and the hard-charging Ryan Maifield, brought his Reedy-powered T4 from the 4th qualifying position to challenge Cavalieri for the race lead. Maifield made the pass on Cavalieri with only a few laps to go and crossed the line only half a second ahead of the TQ Cavalieri.

In A2, Cavalieri jumped out to an early lead as again Maifield charged from his 4th qualifying position. With less than a minute to go in the race and Cavalieri looking good for the win and Maifield in second, Cavalieri’s truck suddenly slowed through the rhythm section. As Maifield inherited the lead he only had to navigate the last few laps without a major mistake to claim his second ROAR Electric National Championship.

After further inspection it was determined that a cold solder joint in Cavalieri’s wiring caused the failure. A disappointed Cavalieri congratulated his team mate on a hard fought victory, but couldn’t help but think of what could have been. This victory by Maifield gives the T4 an impressive string of National Championships dating all the way back to 2003 and marks the 7th consecutive championship for the race proven truck.

4WD Modified
Starting from the second position on the grid, Associated’s Ryan Cavalieri paced with TQ Tebo in A1, setting a blistering pace that only Associated’s Ryan Maifield was able to keep in sights. A bobble by Tebo collected Cavalieri and Maifield took over the lead. With Cavalieri now in 3rd while Maifield lead out, a mistake by Maifield allowed Tebo to take back the lead on lap nine. This was short lived as Cavalieri made a hard charge and another mistake from Tebo gave Cavalieri the lead that he wouldn’t relinquish on his way to what would be the fastest time for any main event.

Heading in to A2 everyone knew what could happen if Cavalieri were able to take the victory. As the tone sounded it was clear that Cavalieri had intentions of sealing the victory. He got around Tebo on the second lap and dropped the hammer, leaving the rest of the field in the dust. Maifield was able to work his way in to 2nd position just past the halfway mark and run some really fast laps, but Cavalieri’s lead was too big and by crossing the line before time expired and with Maifield getting caught at the line, Cavalieri enjoyed the perennial “victory lap” and cruised home to a National Championship, bringing the B44 its second consecutive National Championship.

Short Course Truck
This event also saw the beginning of the SCT (Short Course Truck) category of racing. This class was open to any of the standard Short Course trucks. The Associated SC10 dominated the field with over three quarters of all the entrants choosing the race-based short-course truck from Team Associated.

Starting from the pole position Gary O’Brien battled hard with Bill Koch and Matt “Murffdawg” Murphy in all three main events and after the dust and carnage had settled, Bill Koch was crowned the inaugural Short Course National Champion with his Associated SC10.

Team Associated would like to take the time to thank the team at the Hobbytown Hobbyplex for hosting a great event, to Mother Nature for not foiling the plans and blessing us with great weather for the event, and to the ROAR RMT for a consistent and fair race event.

Source: Associated [rc10.com]