Situated at the northern edge of Los Angeles County, the city of Santa Clarita is best known as the location of Six Flags Magic Mountain. For sixteen years it has also hosted the Hot Rod Hobbies Shootout, a local event that quickly turned into one of the biggest and most competitive electric off-road races in the United States. The abrasive track surface offers incredible traction without being sugared, making for exciting racing action in all classes – of which fourteen were offered for this year’s event.
The race has also earned the nickname “Hot Rod Sweatout,” with seasonably sweltering temperatures sometimes exceeding 115 degrees. Rare cloud cover this year has kept the mercury in the 90s, instead bringing with it oppressive humidity and a chance of rain for Sunday’s main events. Although this year’s turnout was the lowest since the event’s infancy, the qualifying action was as intense as ever as the “who’s who” of electric off-road using the Shootout as another step in preparing for the upcoming IFMAR World Championships.
2WD Modified Short Course
Team Associated‘s Ryan Maifield, a two-time ROAR National Champion in the class, stole the show with four straight TQ runs that got faster each time he hit the track. The battle behind him was much closer, with Cactus Classic winner Ryan Cavalieri, Maifield’s teammate, beating TLR‘s Dustin Evans on the combined time tiebreaker to secure the second spot on the grid.
- Ryan Maifield
- Ryan Cavalieri
- Dustin Evans
- Cody Turner
- Doug Nielsen
- David Jenson
- Ryan Dunford
- Corey Peterson
- Chad Bradley
- Nick Sava
Modified Truck
In a reversal of the Short Course division, defending ROAR National Champion Ryan Cavalieri captured the TQ position over Cactus Classic winner Ryan Maifield. Cavalieri won on both Friday and Saturday morning to grab top honors and a much-needed advantage on his teammate, who put in the fastest run of the weekend in Saturday’s final round.
- Ryan Cavalieri
- Ryan Maifield
- Dakotah Phend
- Dustin Evans
- Jared Tebo
- Steven Hartson
- Mike Truhe
- Billy Fischer
- Nolan Anderson
- Kevin Motter
4WD Modified Buggy
Driving a Team Associated B44.2 FT as his sponsor doesn’t make a car for the class, Hot Bodies‘ Ty Tessman logged two round wins and two second-place finishes on his way to the overall TQ for 4WD Modified Buggy. The double-winner at last month’s IFMAR Worlds Warm-Up race will have great company lining up behind him, as fourth round TQ Ryan Maifield edged first round victor Jared Tebo on a tiebreaker.
- Ty Tessman
- Ryan Maifield
- Jared Tebo
- Ryan Cavalieri
- Cody King
- Steven Hartson
- Drew Moller
- Brent Thielke
- Cody Turner
- Nolan Anderson
2WD Modified Buggy
The battle for the TQ spot went down to the final lap, literally, as Ryan Maifield won both rounds on Saturday and recorded the only 18-lap run in the division to beat Cavalieri on a tie-breaker after the current World Champion’s sweep of Friday’s opening runs. For the third time this year the 2WD class was dominated by mid-motor buggies, with Steven Hartson and Nolan Anderson the only rear-motor vehicles to qualify for the A-Main.
- Ryan Maifield
- Ryan Cavalieri
- Ty Tessman
- Jared Tebo
- Dakotah Phend
- Dustin Evans
- Steven Hartson
- Cody Turner
- Nolan Anderson
- Mike Truhe
The first leg of the A-Mains kicks off at 8:30 AM. Stay tuned for final results!