This year's Dirt Nitro Challenge promised to be challenging for me as I would leave directly after Montpellier GP to USA! I like to spend time practicing in California prior to the race in order to adjust the setups of my cars to the US style track of the Dirt but this season it wouldn't be possible! Boosted from my result in Montpellier, I was pretty confident in my cars and package. With the great help of team mates Juraj Hudy, Martin Bayer and Josh Wheeler I managed to start with a really good setup for my nitro buggy. My truggy needed more work as the last time I drove it it was back at the Dirt last year! Not so many occasions to practice Truggy back home!
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I qualified in B main in truggy and ebuggy, after too many mistakes and the lack of track time. The track was so selective, especially the 9 pack section!! Josh Wheeler would do an amazing job placing all his 3 cars into the tough A main. Congrats!
After recovering from a bad start I would bump into the A main in Pro truck but unfortunately my Ackermann plate broke 2minutes into the race and I couldn't expect any better result. At the end we had two cars in the A main final which is a very good result, though no podium finish this time.
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In ebuggy, the B final was set to 8 minutes with 3 bump up spots. Unfortunately, too many mistakes at the beginning of the race and some traffic so I would end up 4th, just a few seconds away from the last bump up spot!
In buggy, everything went according to the plan since the first practice!I would qualify 3 times in the top 10 during qualifications and secure #8 on the grid for the Amain!
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The entire XRAY team did a fantastic job. In the B final Tyler Vik bumped up to the A main and Martin Bayer was on the bump up position until his batter connector broke. At the end we had 3 cars in the A main final which was one of the best share from all other brands. Our of the dozens of car brands in the race there were at the end 8 different brand cars in the A main final which shows the high level of competition.
The 45minutes final was epic as I took a very good start and was already close to the lead! As the car was fast and easy to drive, I could put some fast laps together and stay 2nd for most of the race! 2 mistakes on the camel jump after the loop cost me a lot of time and I had to bring back 3rd place home!
It's an amazing result for me, best result at the Dirt so far in all 3 classes!! XB8, XT9 and ebuggy were fantastic all week!
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Results
1. Ty Tessmann
2. Dakotah Phend 3. Renaud Savoya â“ XRAY XB8
4. David Ronnefalk
5. Cody King
6. Ryan Lutz
7. Austin Blair 8. Josh Wheeler â“ XRAY XB8
9. Carson Wernimont
10. Ryan Cavalieri
11. Barry Pettit
12. Jared Tebo 13. Tyler Vik â“ XRAY XB8
14. Taylor Petersen
15. Ryan Maifield
