ROAR 1/8 Nitro Off-Road Nats: Tessmann Sweeps!

Mains day was the day of reckoning as the racers prepared to do battle and to do right what they might have done wrong in qualifying. Starting up front for both classes was Ty Tessmann and he was determined to turn his top qualifying spots into National Titles. Here’s how it all went down.

Truggy A-Main (60 mins)

The starting grid was laid out on the back straight and extended around the first turn, where it would definitely give Ty Tessmann a great advantage not having to deal with a fast sweeping turn before the first 180-turn entering the infield.  It was a super clean start as all 15 participants formed a freight train going around the first few turns and jump sections. It wasn’t expected for Ty to win the main with such a huge margin with the heads-up format versus IFMAR qualifying. If you’re on the same lap, you didn’t have to move over for the car behind you. TLR’s Ryan Maifield charged strong in the beginning of the race pressuring Tessmann and staying within a couple of second behind. Unfortunately, a series of bobbles started to send Maifield deeper into the pack and out of contention for the win. Taking full advantage of Maifield’s misfortune was another Ryan; this time it was Tekno’s Ryan Lutz. Lutz was driving the wheels off his NT48, matching Tessmann’s pace lap for lap. As Lutz comfortably settled into the 2^nd spot, the battle brewing for the last available podium spot heated up involving a few players. Mainly Associated’s Ryan Cavalieri, Kyosho’s Jarad Tebo and TLR’s Dakotah Phend. Phend got knocked back to the rear of the pack as far as the 9^th position in the beginning of the race. That wouldn’t last long as Dakotah would quickly start to move up the leader board while Cavalieri and Tebo battled out. At the end of the hour long main, Phend’s hard work paid off and he was able to capture a 3rd podium spot.

 

Buggy A-Main (60 mins)

The only certainty for the A-main buggy final was that Ty Tessmann was TQ and had a guaranteed spot. That wasn’t the case for the rest of the field. The final order of the remaining 14 spots in the final was going to be determined how each competitor finished in the two, 30-minute semi finals. After the dust had settled, the top five on the starting grid were Tessman in the top spot, Dakotah Phend 2^nd, Ryan Cavalieri 3^rd, Josh Wheeler 4^th and Ryan Lutz taking the 5^th starting position. At the start of the race, a pile up ensued in the first 180-turn allowing Tessmann, Phend, Cavalieri and Wheeler to cleanly get away while the rest of field got caught up in the mess. As the lead group spaced themselves further from the rest of the field, Dakotah Phend and Ryan Cavalieri were laying down the pressure on Tessmann. After a handful of laps, Wheeler had a crash that set him back to the middle of the field and Dakotah Phend only completed 10 laps before a broken car forced him to retire early. Ryan Cavalieri was the only one that stayed in the hunt for the lead spot. Unfortunately, Cavalieri got caught up in lapped traffic and had a couple of bobbles that opened up the gap between him and Tessmann, who wasn’t making very many mistakes. Ty would eventually finish the races two laps in front of Cavalieri and Cavalieri finished a lap ahead Jared Tebo, who he had battled with earlier in the main. Associated’s Carson Wernimont would come all the way from the 11^th starting spot and nearly take the 3^rd spot away from Tebo.