Photo's from Day 5 at the Cactus Classic

Day 5 Report from Cactus Classic (Final day for qualifying)

Qualifying is over!! That’s it, all the hard work of making the A-mains is over. The track was a lot better in the way of grip today but the track started to break up in spots. This made the track a little inconsistent for some drivers and for other it felt much more at home. Most likely the grip came on due to the track breaking up a bit which was getting the polish off the top and making it more like sand paper. This did leave some guys guessing what tire to run in the last round of qualifying today when the sun came down and the grip came way up in the track. All weekend the grip has been down, so they have gone to a softer front tire to get the steering out of their cars. Most of the team found out the hard way this morning in round 3, when most found their cars hard to drive do to over steer.

The large jump in the front has really taken its toll on some guys. This jump don’t take much skill to get over (Just punch it) but a lot of luck is involved. I suggest taking off the face of the jump and yelling for the marshal. Overall the race has been great up to this point and I am expecting the mains to be even better tomorrow.

Qualifying was really up and down for some of the team guys today. A lot of this had to do with the fast changing track. Dustin Evans and Dakotah Phend seem to have a good handle on the changing track and put in some great results today. Dakotah would TQ both round of 4wd SCT today to take the overall TQ and have the front row starting spot for all three A-mains tomorrow. For some of the others they will look on to the next race and put this one behind them. “You can’t always have your best race”


TLR top 10 results after qualifying

Mod Racing Truck TLR Qualifying Results:
3rd-Dakotah Phend
4th-Dustin Evans
6th-Mike Truhe

13.5 Racing Truck TLR Qualifying Results:
1st-Josh Bend
3rd-Clayton Easley
4th-Travis Brock

Mod 2wd Short Course TLR Qualifying Results:
5th-Dustin Evans
7th-Cody Turner
8th-Frank Root

Mod 4wd Short Course TLR Qualifying Results:
1st-Dakotah Phend
3rd-Mike Truhe
9th-Frank Root

Mod 2wd Buggy TLR Qualifying Results:
3rd-Dustin Evans
5th-Dakotah Phend
8th-Billy Fischer

Day 4 TLR Report at the Cactus (Qualifying)

Today was the first of two days of qualifying. Each day you will run two qualifiers and the mains will be set by using qual points. It was a great day for some TLR drivers and for others they will be looking forward to a new day tomorrow. This track is not like the normal Cactus that most are used to. With all the rain Scottsdale got just before the race, it has made the track surface polished instead of the normal sandpaper grip. You really have to dive this track like an indoor style track and be very smooth on the throttle but let me tell you that is not the easiest thing to do. It is the Cactus Classic you just want to punch it everywhere but this track will bite you.

Dakotah Phend and Mike Truhe had a great race in the 4wd SCT class with there Ten-SCTe truck. In round 1 Dakotah would take TQ from Mike on the last lap. In Round 2 Mike Truhe took a 2nd for the round beating out Dakotah Phend with a 3rd for the round. After the two rounds today Dakotah Phend is on top.

In the Mod 2wd Truck class Dustin Evans was super fast and only seems to be getting faster each time he gets on the track. With some mistakes in round 1 for Dustin and still taking a 3rd for the round he new he had the speed. Round 2 would go much better taking a 2nd for the round and only eight tenths off of the TQ. Dakotah Phend had a great run in round 1 with a 2nd. Round 2 was not as smooth with a couple of mistake putting him 6th for the round. Mike Truhe put his problems behind him from the first round and came out swinging putting in some great laps to take 4th for round 2. Matt Chamber stayed consistent all day putting in two great runs to sit 10th overall.

2wd mod buggy was the class to watch today. This is one of the fastest cars on the track. Dustin Evans started the weekend off a bit slow with this class finding his zone but each time he put his TLR22 buggy down on the track he was getting fast. In round 1 he had a couple of mistakes but said he new what he had to do for the next round. He was right, because he came out swinging taking the round 2 TQ of mod buggy and feeling that much better going into round 3 tomorrow. The big talk after round 1 was TLR driver Cody Turner after a strong run that would put him 4th for round 1.Dakotah Phend but in two strong runs in mod buggy to put himself 6th going into tomorrows last two round of qualifying. Mike Truhe will need himself two good runs tomorrow after having a couple of mistakes that set him back.

Well, that's the TLR report from day 1 of qualifying. I will post some photos from the day today tomorrow morning. Check out these videos in the mean time.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL42510FD02F44A224

Day Three report from Cactus Classic

Well, the final day of practice has come and gone. The final day of practice went really well for the team. Everyone left very happy with there TLR cars and more happy with the track surface. The track really came around at the end of the day with the grip coming up. Dakotah Phend was very happy at the end of the night setting third in mod buggy, forth in mod truck and third in 4wd short course after timed practice. Dustin Evans was happy with his practice runs yesterday. He is looking forward to qualifying today and a little better heats with the fast guys. Dustin was very happy with his XXX-SCT with the new Hi-Performance body seeding himself second after practice. All in all I am happy with how the team performed today. I am looking forward to qualifying tomorrow!!!

Hi-Performance SCT Body Photo's from the Cactus

Check out some of the new Hi-Performance SCT Bodies from the Cactus Classic!!

Day Two Photo's

Today was the first real day of practice for the TLR team on the Cactus layout. The track started out really loose and did really come around tell the very end of the day today. This made it really difficult to tell were everyone was in the way of lap times. You could run really well right after they would sweep the track but this would only last around 10min then there would be a lot of dust on the track which would make getting around difficult. The track layout is a lot of fun and should be a really good track for racing. They are doing there normal wet track club racing tonight so this will really help the track out tomorrow for our two timed practice heats with the last round seating you into your qualifier.

Photo's from the day:

Day 1 at Cactus Classic (Set up day)

Hi Everyone,
Today we showed up at SRS in Scottsdale, AZ for the 2012 Cactus Classic. Today was set up day for TLR. we got the pits set up really nice and watched the little bit of practice on the track this afternoon. Track looks really fun and should be really good for racing. There is large jump section in front of the driver stand that I feel could make or break your qualifying run. We will have to see!

Here's some photos from the day: