Cavalieri bumps into the A-main and Clint Wachtner also bumps.  Clint actually looked a little quicker than Cav.  Cav might be just in cruise mode.

Crowd Forming Around Track for Finals

Cavs RC8B After Semi-Final

JR Mitch bumps to A-main.  Yellow Crossbows look good afterwards.  JR ran 20 minutes with no crashes and Amezcua, Wheeler and King had nothing for him.

Crew

Starting the day off with happy thoughts.  Positive thinking going on right now.  We are packing the vehicle and wondering and trying to cross all our T’s and dot our I’s.

We had to wait about 15 or 20 minutes to unlock our special room but we are re-stocked and ready to rock.

They are having a hair stylist convention at our hotel so there so no shortage of women with nice hair at our hotel regardless of age and dimension.

Moving on to the track we are mounting for the A-main practice and beyond.  A-main practice was intense trying to give the competition that one last pysch out before the finals.

Maifield, Drake and Fischer all went out on yellow Cross Hairs and they looked good.  I don’t know what to expect come the mains but based on the practice Maifield and Drake look good.  Maifield goes the entire practice without pitting about 9:00 minutes.

Buggy is up next and as they roll them out looks like Maifield is testing and Truhe is out on what he ran in the last qualifier.  Little battle going on and the pits guys are intense.  Drivers and pit crew are yelling so things appear to be normal.

JConcepts Chat from NeoBuggy.net on Vimeo.

I have to give some shoutouts to the JConcepts drivers.  We have had a lot of support this weekend and the guys have been working together and trying to find the best combination.   I’ve also got a chance to meet Marshall Skare and Shane Racer…etc and re-touch with many of my friends from the past.

We need to give JR Mitch his props qualifying 13th and just 1 position behind Ryan Cavalieri.   They will be in separate semis tomorrow so they could both bump to the A-main.

I think the hero racers tend to forget about us Florida racers but we can wheel when we are on it!  Ha

I’m going to give some of my notes as I wrote them during the A qualifier.  Truhe looks to be on rails.  Car and engine looks about perfect for round 4.  Explosive bottom end and pop.  JR Mitch is giving Jared Tebo all he wants!  Tebo can’t shake him for 4 minutes!   JR is on an 09 or 10 pace which would be top 5 for the round.  JR loses the car going down the hill and costs some time and finishes with a 13 which is his best run of the weekend.

Another thing to mention is JR ran the same set of yellow crowbars for all 4 qualifiers.  Same set of tires and running with Tebo!  He claims the tires just got better every round and he was affraid to touch it.  This is important for the guys that think they have to mount all the time or the hero drivers are mounting all the time.  You have to know your tires!

I don’t want this to be too much of a feel good report but it was worth mentioning.   Still work to be done tomorrow if we are going to come home with the trophy.

Hotel restruant again for Jon and I followed by a trip to The Home Depot.  We had to pick up some packing tape and dispenser.  Trying to tape boxes without the dispenser is pointless.  Got to have it!

Jon busted his butt today helping the team and Maifield.  Rebuilds on Mans truggy, buggy plus the normal wear and tear for a pit guy.   Bob Evans for breakfast tomorrow morning?

Waiting through the heats to pass as we get to the C,B and A qualifier track is grippy now but bumpy in spots.  For buggy the back double is tough to do and only a few guys are jumping it.

Maifield’s in the B qualifier and looks conservative but fast.  He wants to TQ but not risk a top 5 run. He looks a little edgy at first but once the edges wear off the car starts to come in.  At first an 06 pace which be lowers with a couple hot laps right at the end.  Finishes with 11 – 5:04 which is TQ for the moment.

A qualifier up next and Truhes buggy looks awesome in warmup.   He starts the race off on a 12 lap pace and looks to be pulling away.  Drake and Tebo were also going fast early but not under Maifields time.   Truhe gets in a little trouble and the pace goes to an 01 than 02.  Truhe finishes with a new TQ and becomes TQ for the event.  He drove awesome and buggy looked great.

Qualifying order will be for buggy-
1.  Mike Truhe
2.  Adam Drake
3.  Ryan Lutz
4.  Ryan Maifield

I needed to make a lunch run and pickup some goods at the hotel.  Time for a few more sets of Crossbows and some inserts for the guys.

Maifield still has a chance to TQ overall but will have to get the last round with a TQ and quick time.  He but will probably have to run a perfect run and roughly 11 – 6:01 or 02 area.  He would have to win on a tie-break and it will have to come with a hot (fast) time.

Truggy round 4 A-qualifier

Maifield did not have to run the A qualifier because he had TQ wrapped up.  He’s looking to make the truck better and he made some changes to try and get faster. Still on used yellow Cross Hairs he was looking to tune and tweak the rest of the truck.

Maifield has a rough first lap and drops to eighth in the heat but recovers to 4th within 3 laps.   The top of the heat is Lutz, Drake, Truhe and Maifield charging hard.   Maifield moves to 2nd and is charging hard and 2 seconds behind Lutz.  Lutz is also flying but Maifield throws down a hot lap and gets on a 12 lap pace and takes the lead.   Maifield and Truhe get together which costs mans about a second or so.  Lutz takes the lead again but just then the truck loses drive and he is forced out.   Maifield takes the lead and TQs round 4.

B Qualifier

Maifield and Cavalieri are on the track in the B qualifer right now. Maifield leads and on new TQ run.    Ryan Maifield, Travis Amecua and Cav are top 3.  Only top two drivers ahead of TQ.   Maifield TQs 11-6:06

A Qualifier

JR Mitch looks dialed in practice warmup laps.  Truhe and Drake also look good but as the heat starts Truhe and Lutz jump to the front and Tebo in 3rd.   I watched Truhe looks to be going for TQ and the others going for a “good run”.  Truhe TQs round 3 11- 6:03

Maifield Changing Tires - Last Minute Decision that Proved Right!

Well the best news to report for me is Maifield has TQ’ed.   Round 3 of truggy turned into a night round and we mounted a fresh set of Blue Cross Hairs.  The track was cold and Maifield was looking to lock it up.  Jon trashed in the pits and mounted the blues and put them on the truck.

They brought the truck up to tech and Mans started warming it up in the pre-race area.  I noticed he was changing tires and was putting back on the yellows.   I asked what’s up and he says the track still has lots of traction and yellows will be the ticket.

I went to the top of the steps and watched the race with Lance Norick.  This has to be one of the best races / qualifying that i’ve ever seen.  I’m not so sure anyone really had any major crashes.  Maifield just pushed it so hard it was amazing and continued to pour it on.  12 lap pace once again.  Adam Drake who was also running JConcepts Crosshairs was in 2nd.  Pretty dialed!

Maifield made a small mistake but didn’t cost him much time. Still remained in the lead with about 2 minutes to go.  Drake and Tebo battled for 2nd and wheeler was pulling in for a look.

Finishing the race was Maifield with the 12 lapper and the only driver to turn 12 laps all weekend and he has done it twice!

Maifield is the ROAR nationals TQ with JConcepts and Associated.

Cross Hairs – yellow compound
Illuzion Punisher – body -new!
Mono wheels – new!
Illuzion rear wing – black

Sorry for the delay.  Things got a little crazy after the 2nd TQ for Maifield on truck.  Mans was unhappy with his engine in round one and decided to head to the parking lot for some tuning and break in.   We also mounted some crossbows in yellow and blue because the temperature has been dropping so much we want to be ready.

In-between the action I did a liverc interview with Jeremy Fellas.  Thanks for the great coverage guys.

JR Mitch just put down a bad ass run!  11 – 6:14.  Top 6 for the round.  Yellow Crowbars.

Watching Maifield I was nervous as the warm-up looked dialed.  After the first few laps he was on TQ by under 5 seconds.  Things were looking good.  Lapper got into Mans over the double and they tangled.  Ugh buggy flamed out.  Got to do it now in round 3.