Dakotah Phend does the double to highlight Cactus Classic main events

Dakotah Phend does the double to highlight Cactus Classic main events

The 28th running of the Cactus Classic ended with what may very well have been the last set of main events to be run on the famous sunbaked outdoor blue groove at the current Scottsdale R/C Speedway, and what a day of racing it was. All five premiere-class titles were decided in spectacular fashion, and every spectator that lined the brick wall surrounding the surface today was treated to incredible, exciting on-track action.

Modified Stadium Truck

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Top Qualifier Jared Tebo crashed early in A1 and ran into more bad luck with traffic afterward, relegating him to a fourth-place finish as Jörn Neumann inherited the lead; Neumann held off Ryan Cavalieri to take the round win. Tebo paced the field in A2 and won by three seconds to set up a showdown in the final main, and the two battled back and forth for the first half – until something in Neumann’s drivetrain let go. Billy Fischer charged within two seconds of the lead but couldn’t make a pass, and Tebo crossed the line to secure the overall win.

2014CactusClassic_Sunday_Mains_0649

F Q Driver A1 A2 A3 Chassis Motor Speed Control Battery Tires
1 1 Jared Tebo 4=13/5:06.213 1=14/5:19.428 1=14/5:16.410 Kyosho Orion Orion Orion AKA
2 2 Jörn Neumann 1=13/5:01.194 2=14/5:22.314

8=7/2:35.884

TD Orion Orion TP PL
3 4 Billy Fischer 3=13/5:05.435

3=13/5:03.803

2=14/5:18.192

Centro Novak Novak CRC PL
4 3 Ryan Cavalieri

2=13/5:04.471

4=13/5:05.233

3=14/5:21.483 AE Orion Orion Orion AKA
5 6 Mitchel Gardner 2=13/5:04.471 4=13/5:05.233 3=14/5:21.483 Kyosho Orion Orion Orion JC
6 8 Tanner Denney 8=13/5:23.209 5=13/5:06.767 13/5:02.028 AE Reedy Reedy Reedy JC
7 5 Steven Hartson 9=12/5:07.528 8=13/5:17.726 5=13/5:06.129 AE LRP LRP Reedy
8 9 Joe Pillars 6=13/5:20.442 7=13/5:16.872 7=13/5:14.625 Kyosho Orion Orion Orion AKA
9 7 Scott Spear 7=13/5:21.975 9=13/5:24.000 9=0/0:00.000 AE Reedy LRP Reedy PL
10 10 Brian Kinwald 10=0/0:00.000 10=0/0:00.000 10=0/0:00.000 AE Reedy Reedy Reedy JC

Modified 2WD Short Course

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Ryan Maifield got the upper hand in round one by beating his teammate Ryan Cavalieri by just a half-second after a race-long battle, but ran into bad luck in the second round and finished third behind Cavalieri and fourth qualifier Travis Amezcua. Another race-long battle between Maifield and Cavalieri wowed the crowd in A3 as the two finished just 73-thousandths of a second apart, with top qualifier Cavalieri taking the overall championship.

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F Q Driver A1 A2 A3 Chassis Motor Speed Control Battery Tires
1 1 Ryan Cavalieri 2=13/5:14.603 1=13/5:09.990 1=13/5:06.624 AE Orion Orion Orion AKA
2 2 Ryan Maifield 1=13/5:14.057 3=13/5:16.584 2=13/5:06.697 AE Reedy Reedy Reedy JC
3 3 Chris Wheeler 3=13/5:18.690 9=8/3:08.651 4=13/5:15.937 TLR Novak Novak CRC PL
4 5 Spencer Rivkin 4=13/5:24.910 5=13/5:22.937 3=13/5:15.389 AE Reedy LRP Reedy JC
5 4 Travis Amezcua 6=12/5:05.952 2=13/5:16.281 8=12/5:04.144 TD Reedy Viper TP Pan
6 6 Dustin Evans 9=7/2:55.479 4=13/5:18.983 5=13/5:16.908 TLR Orion Orion Orion JC
7 10 Mike Truhe 5=12/5:03.199 7=12/5:02.579 6=13/5:23.552 Serpent Novak Novak Trakpower PL
8 9 Carson Wernimont 7=12/5:09.795 6=13/5:24.209 7=13/5:27.550 Schum Reedy Reedy Reedy AKA
9 7 Cody Turner 8=12/5:09.968 8=12/5:04.420 (9=11/4:35.906 Kyosho Orion Orion Orion PL
10 8 Brian Kinwald 10=0/0:00.000 10=0/0:00.000 10=0/0:00.000 AE Reedy Reedy Reedy JC

4×4 Short Course Truck

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The sticky and rough surface of the SRS track layout proved to be too difficult for the 4×4 class, with very little opportunity to pass. The results tell the story – current National Champion Dakotah Phend successfully defended his title from last year after starting from the TQ spot on the grid, leading Team Durango teammates Jörn Neumann and Ryan Lutz in formation for the entire 7-minute main event without a single position change among the top three! Phend beat Neumann to the line by just over two seconds, with another two seconds separating Neumann and Lutz.

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F Q Driver Time Chassis Motor Speed Control Battery Tires
1 1 Dakotah Phend 19/7:04.955 TLR Orion Orion Orion Pro-Line
2 2 Jörn Neumann 19/7:07.127 Durango Orion Orion Thunder Power Pro-Line
3 3 Ryan Lutz 19/7:09.234 Durango Tekin Tekin ProTek RC AKA
4 5 Travis Amezcua 18/7:04.575 Durango Reedy Viper Thunder Power Panther
5 4 David Jenson 18/7:10.246 TLR Orion Orion Orion JConcepts
6 6 Carlos Arredondo 18/7:24.218
7 7 Louis Fernandez 17/7:03.287
8 8 Kenny Gatton 16/7:19.292
9 9 Dawn Forrest 15/7:01.715
10 10 Dan Harmon 15/7:07.858
11 11 Sean Popham 14/7:00.906

Modified 4WD Buggy

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The drama in A1 for 4WD began before the start tone, as second qualifier Jared Tebo broke a front arm during warm-up and missed the start of the race! The craziness continued with TQ Jörn Neumann and third qualifier Dakotah Phend both wrecking early, giving Ryan Maifield the chance to swoop by to take the win. Early mistakes by the front runners in A2 again allowed Maifield to get out front, but a few mistakes of his own dropped him to fifth. Current National Champion and fifth qualifier Ty Tessmann survived the melee and worked his way up to take the leg win over the recovering Phend and Tebo, setting up an unheard of battle for the overall between the fourth and fifth qualifiers! For the first time in three tries, TQ Neumann had a clean race and won handily with the fastest time of the day, but Maifield held off a charge by Tessmann to finish a second ahead of his rival and take the overall win for the fourth year in a row!

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F Q Driver A1 A2 A3 Chassis Motor Speed Control Battery Tires
1 4 Ryan Maifield 1=14/5:03.406 5=14/5:08.843 2=14/5:01.846 AE Reedy Reedy Reedy JC
2 5 Ty Tessmann 3=14/5:05.379 1=14/5:04.742 3=14/5:02.817 HB Orion Orion Orion PL
3 3 Dakotah Phend 2=14/5:04.946

2=14/5:05.536

4=14/5:10.045 TLR Orion Orion Orion PL
4 1 Jörn Neumann

5=14/5:12.673

4=14/5:08.362 1=15/5:20.182 TD Orion Orion TP PL
5 7 Billy Fischer 6=14/5:14.343 6=14/5:15.305 5=14/5:10.252 AE Novak Novak CRC PL
6 10 Ryan Lutz 4=14/5:12.461 7=14/5:16.012 7=14/5:14.831 TD Tekin Tekin ProTek AKA
7 8 Carson Werimont 7=14/5:17.076

8=14/5:23.456

6=14/5:13.509 Schu Reedy Reedy Reedy AKA
8 2 Jared Tebo 11=0/0:00.000 3=14/5:05.978 10=1/0:15.730 Kyosho Orion Orion Orion AKA
9 6 Ryan Cavalieri 8=14/5:17.586 9=7/2:32.861 9=5/1:47.024 AE Orion Orion Orion AKA
10 9 Daimon Borkowicz 10=1/0:19.236 11=2/0:42.715 8=14/5:23.411 AE Reedy LRP Reedy JC
11 11 Kody Numedahl 9=13/5:00.819 10=3/1:05.248 11=0/0:00.000 AE Reedy Reedy Reedy JC

Modified 2WD Buggy

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TQ Dakotah Phend got the start he needed in A1 and held off a hard-charging Ryan Maifield by less than a second and a half, and actually managed to pull away in A2 to win by nearly four seconds, wrapping up the title early and watching as Maifield won A3 over Ryan Cavalieri and Jared Tebo to secure second overall. Phend not only legitimized his ROAR National Championship from last year with a brilliant TQ performance and a resounding victory, but completed an amazing turnaround from last year’s performance in which he didn’t qualify for the A-main!

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F Q Driver A1 A2 A3 Chassis Motor Speed Control Battery Tires
1 1 Dakotah Phend 1=14/5:14.101 1=14/5:09.444 11=0/0:00.000 TLR Orion Orion Orion PL
2 2 Ryan Maifield 2=14/5:15.553 2=14/5:13.384 1=14/5:14.673 AE Reedy Reedy Reedy JC
3 3 Ryan Cavalieri 3=14/5:17.718 3=14/5:15.399 2=14/5:18.824 AE Orion Orion Orion AKA
4 4 Jared Tebo 4=14/5:22.983 4=14/5:18.117 3=14/5:21.694 Kyosho Orion Orion Orion AKA
5 8 Ryan Lutz 8=13/5:09.564 9=13/5:05.478 4=14/5:22.488 TD Tekin Tekin ProTek AKA
6 10 Ty Tessmann 6=13/5:06.488 7=13/5:03.382

6=13/5:00.420

HB Orion Orion Orion PL
7 5 Billy Fischer 10=13/5:12.713 5=14/5:21.156 8=13/5:02.435 Centro Novak Novak CRC PL
8 11 Jörn Neumann 11=13/5:21.031 6=13/5:01.605 7=13/5:00.959 TD Orion Orion TP PL
9 6 Travis Amezcua 5=13/5:05.406 8=13/5:04.425 9=13/5:08.915 TD Reedy Viper TP Pan
10 7 Dustin Evans 9=13/5:09.906 10=13/5:11.117 5=13/5:00.098 TLR Orion Orion Orion JC
11 9 Spencer Rivkin 7=13/5:07.281 11=13/5:13.576 10=13/5:12.875 AE Reedy LRP Reedy JC

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Updated: July 21, 2015 — 3:13 PM
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