After an epic 45 minute final Ty Tessmann clinched victory ahead of Team Associated’s Ryan Cavalieri and Ryan Maifield. The final was a real classic, Cavalieri stretching out what appeared to be an insurmountable lead, battle royale between Tebo, Tessmann & Maifield, and Tessmann’s cool reeling in and subsequent fight with Cavalieri. Early on the top 3 held their positions until a few bobbles allowed Tebo to build a lead only for him to fall back into a monster battle with Maifield and Tessmann. On lap 28 the trio were on the 12-pack front section and a couple of misjudgements and Tebo’s truggy was pointing the wrong way and was hit, breaking the car – a favourite out early on. At this point Cavalieri was pushing and doing what he has done so often; take any opportunities presented to him. The mid part of the race saw Maifield’s challenge for 2nd & 1st fade and it was left to Tessmann to try and slash Cav’s lead. His cause was somewhat helped by one less planned pitstop, but it was traffic that caught out Cav, as suddenly Tessmann was a corner or two behind. It wasn’t long before Tessmann was leading but not without great driving by Cav; he showed why hes so good at the nitro pit, setting two consecutive fastest laps while hunting down the young Canadian driver. However it wasn’t to be a Nitro Challenge Hat-trick for Cav as Tessmann kept his nerve to finish as the winner. A great drive as well as finally a Big Win for Tessmann. Cav got 2nd and Maifield finished 33sec ahead of 4th placed Jesse Robbers.
Saturday Photos


What the track looked like earlier on Saturday.

Saturday and the weather isn’t quite as promising as we’d have hoped with a 70% chance of rain today. Anyway, some thoughts on yesterday; quite a few drivers are having problems, some more than others, Ryan Lutz qualified 18th overall after a duff Q1 and a solid run in Q3 hauled him up the order. Great to see Bobby Tillman racing, last time we saw him was the 2009 Nitro Challenge – qualified 19th. 21st qualifier Steven Hartson looks like he could really develop at Team Associated, watch out for him over the course of the year. Billy Easton with the Serpent looks pretty good, could have been a bit higher but he had a bad Q3.

Maifield is the highest profile name struggling to get to grips with the track; woops and 12 pack jump section, but come Sunday maybe he has some unfinished business… Despite Tebo TQing the most consistent driver is Ryan Cavalieri; a 5th, and two 2nd finishes, he always goes well at the Nitro Pit and TQ’D truggy. Another consistent driver was Ty Tessmann, over the 3 rounds his times were 9/7:14.362, 9/7:16.653 and 9/7:18.210, ok getting a little slower per round but still impressive times.
Photos from Friday | Heres a video of Cody King’s heat during Q3 last night.