The 26th Annual Cactus Classic kicked off today in Scottsdale, Arizona at SRS Raceway. The weather couldn’t be any better with sun shining and a light breeze to help keep cool. The track is one that is typically ran wet during the year, but for the Cactus race they run it dry and let it “groove” up. Between high track temperatures and plenty of consistent drivers on the track the groove comes in rather quick. The layout is a fun one to driver with many risk-reward area that make for great racing. The front rhythm section has many options to get through it, but the faster vehicles will quad or even quint into the 7-pack of jumps. The racing schedule is 2 rounds of qualifying on Friday, 2 more rounds on Saturday, and the mains on Sunday.
With a home track advantage, Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield was the fastest in practice in all 4 classes that he ran. After the first day of qualifying he was able to stay on top in 3 out of the 4. 2wd mod short course was dominated by Maifield with TQ’s in Q1 and Q2. Ryan had a stellar TQ run int he first round of modified stadium truck and a few mistakes in Q2 left him 3rd overall but still good enough to top the list in the class. If you blinked, you might miss a lap of Maifield’s in 4wd modified buggy. Crashes in Q1 left him 4th overall but he showed his insanely fast pace in the second round, taking the TQ by 7-seconds over Englishman, Lee Martin.
The largest class of the race is 2wd modified buggy with 69 entries. TLR’s Dustin Evans and Associated’s Ryan Cavalieri share the top of the leader board with 3 points each and mirroring each others finishes with a TQ and 3rd overall run. If the tiebreaker mattered at this point, it would be Cavalieri on top with faster combined times.
4wd Short course is being lead by TLR youngster, Dakotah Phend whom took the TQ in round 1 and a solid 3rd in Q2. Teammate Mike Truhe is just one point behind followed by a pair of Durango trucks driven by Austrian Hupo Honigl and up-and-comer, Carson Wernimont.
Saturday will be another 2 rounds of qualifying and the mains will be seeded by the best 3 out of 4 rounds of qualifying.
New Products in the Pits!
AKA
- 1:10 buggy wheels for 2wd and 4wd front and rear
JConcepts
- Pressure Point 1:10 stadium truck tires
- Yellow short course wheels
- Losi spur gears
- Associated T4 carbon fiber battery brace
Team Associated
- Big-bore buggy shocks
Check out the gallery below for detailed shots of all the above!
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