Cactus Classic Friday qualifying report

What an epic day of qualifying! 48 heats twice through, started at 8am and ended at 10:30PM. Round 1 of the 25th annual Cactus Classic is saw Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield dominating the field. With his home track advantage and his cars looking stellar around the track, he finished with TQ’s in 2wd Modified Buggy, 4wd Modified Buggy, and Pro-2 Short Course.  Ryan had some minor motor issues in Pro-4 SC but otherwise would have likely TQ’ed that as well. I asked him what the plan for round 2 is and if he is going to change anything up. He said, “Everything is working really good today. I’m going to put a new motor in the SC-10 4×4 and hopefully have a better run.”

Coming off his domination at the Nitro Challenge, Jared Tebo is looking fast as always around the track with his Kyosho vehicles.  Jared held 1st round TQ in Modified Truck and has top 4 finishes in all of his other classes. His RB5sc looks amazing going around the track and we can’t wait to see Jared and Ryan do some battle on the track in Pro-2.

In round 2 Ryan Maifield continued show some outstanding driving around the track. He grabbed another couple TQ’s in round 2 in 2wd short course and 2wd mod buggy. Mike Truhe and his 4wd Losi short course truck had a great day taking home the win in both qualifiers but had Ryan Maifield nipping at his heels.

What an epic day of qualifying! 48 heats twice through, started at 8am and ended at 10:30PM. Ryan Maifield continued show some outstanding driving around the track. He grabbed another couple TQ’s in round 2 in 2wd short course and 2wd mod buggy. Mike Truhe and his 4wd Losi short course truck had a great day taking home the win in both qualifiers but had Ryan Maifield nipping at his heels.

10PM rolled around, the track has taken a beating throughout the day and starting to show some wear but traction is as good as ever. A lot of people speculated that a drop in ambient temperature would cause a drop in traction. Quite the opposite happened. Ryan Cavalieri went out for the last heat of the night in 4wd Mod.

Maifield held the TQ still after the other heats wrapped up. Cavalieri said, “I’ve been having a rough day and all I want to do is have ONE good run.” Granted he had a 3rd in 2wd and a 2nd in truck. Not exactly what I would call a bad day but according to his standards, he didn’t feel like he had a good run yet. Cav started his run off blistering fast. In fact, he was about 7 seconds ahead of the TQ after a minute into his 4wd run. His B44 found a couple of the potholes worn into the track and spun out but he quickly corrected it and kept on charging. The majority of his run was flawless. Fast would be an understatement. It was insanely fast! Cavalieri ended up taking the TQ in round 2 over Maifield by just 3 seconds.

Team Losi’s 14-year-old phenom, Dakotah Phend, had a great mod truck run in round 2 edging out Ryan Cavalieri by .3 of a second for the round win.

Saturday’s qualifying will be resorted and we’re sure it is going to shape up some great battles on the track. It is definitely not a day to miss as a spectator.

New in the pits

AKA are using the Cactus Classic to debut their new Rebar 1/10th scale tire, which we wrote about last week, and so far it is performing well on the car’s of Jared Tebo. Set to be available in 2wd/4wd rear, 2wd front and 4wd front versions, it will come in Soft and Super Soft compounds. AKA are also debuting their all new cut red foam inserts for 1/10th scale available for 1/10 scale 2wd/4wd rear foam and 4wd front.

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