One of my personal favorites of the year is over and the 2024 Dirt Nitro Challenge did not disappoint
Report from
Dirt Nitro Challenge 2024
One of my personal favorites of the year is over and the 2024 Dirt Nitro Challenge did not disappoint. Thanks to Joey, Aaron, Jimmy, Daniel and LiveRC for the event and coverage. The week with the Tekno RC crew and my extended racing family and friends was epic as always.
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The Tekno RC truggy line-up was incredible with JConcepts tires and accessories (I used the same set of Green Reflex to win both 1:8th Pro Nitro Truggy and E-Truggy.) The Hobbywing and ProTek RC power was smooth and reliable and Flysky RC kept me well in control of the vehicles! It's never easy to win at DNC, so it was nice to be able to grab 2 wins on the weekend.
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Thank you as always to Mike Truhe for coming along and helping with everything and Scott Heckert as one of our chefs for the weekend. We had the entire Tekno RC engineering and management team out with us as well as all of our new European drivers which was a great addition! JConcepts brought a large support team as always with Jason, Paul, and Hannah in attendance to make sure we had what we needed and we looked good on social media. A-Main Hobbies / ProTek RC showed up with the pop-up hobby shop for the first time which was a nice touch.
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Practice was a little up and down, but I didn’t sweat the 2 lap seeding much because it is more important to have a good idea going into qualifying if you can hold on to it for a complete run. I was able to seed 2nd in 1:8th Pro Nitro Truggy and 4th in 1:8th Pro Nitro Buggy.
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Qualifying went in the correct direction in all 4 classes and I was able to take TQ in Pro E-Truggy, start 2nd behind my Teammate Spencer Heckert in Pro Nitro Truggy, 4th in Pro E-buggy, and 5th in Pro Nitro Buggy. I felt it was the right combination of positions I could do something with in the finals.
_______
The Saturday Night E-Buggy main was mass chaos but the spectators seemed to enjoy it. Most of us had at least a mistake that was tough to recover from. Several of us had the lead at different times and just when I thought 2nd was possible, I crashed on the last lap to give it away. In the end, I finished 5th, less than a second behind Brandon Rose who ended up 3rd. Congratulations to Juan Carlos Canas, Spencer Rivkin, and Brandon Rose for the all JC podium in E-Buggy.
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I was determined to make Nitro Truggy my kind of race from the beginning. Spencer
Heckert had a mistake on the opening lap which allowed me to grab the lead and I wasn't willing to let it go. Dakotah and I had an awesome battle for the lead. The pace and intensity kept increasing and I’m proud to take the win in that one! Shoutout to Dakotah Phend on the hard charge in 2nd and Elliot Boots on the podium in 3rd.
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Sunday Night the Pro E-Truggy race was similar to Nitro Truggy on Saturday but a much shorter race. I was able to lead the whole race, but was under constant pressure from Ryan Lutz. I like to use the ProTek 5600 battery in the E-Truggy which provides plenty of run-time for 5 min qualifiers, but it’s pushing the limit to make the 10 min A-Main. I went with it anyway and used the complete capacity in a close battle and barely crossed the line for the victory. Again, congrats to Ryan Lutz on a great race in 2nd and Brandon Rose on 3rd.
_______
I had a lot of confidence going into the Pro Nitro Buggy main and I looked to get a good start to get the pace and rhythm going. Unfortunately, I was involved in a crash early on the first lap and lost a lot of positions. Just when I thought I was digging myself out of a hole, another mistake or getting hung with another car, set me back. I never recovered and had to settle for a disappointing 10th on the evening. Congratulations to Elliot Boots on a great wire to wire win, David Ronnefalk on 2nd and Dakotah coming all the way back from the bump-up to take 3rd.
_______
The next one on the list is the 2024 Psycho Nitro Blast in White Pines, Tennessee. Good luck to everyone heading to the INS Spring Indoor Nationals.
_______
Tekno RC
JConcepts
Hobbywing
FlySky
ProTek RC
VP Fuels
Flash Point
RM2
Hobby Action
A-Main Hobbies
Drakein
Factory Tracks
Motowhips
Stick-It One
_______
The Tekno RC truggy line-up was incredible with JConcepts tires and accessories (I used the same set of Green Reflex to win both 1:8th Pro Nitro Truggy and E-Truggy.) The Hobbywing and ProTek RC power was smooth and reliable and Flysky RC kept me well in control of the vehicles! It's never easy to win at DNC, so it was nice to be able to grab 2 wins on the weekend.
_______
Thank you as always to Mike Truhe for coming along and helping with everything and Scott Heckert as one of our chefs for the weekend. We had the entire Tekno RC engineering and management team out with us as well as all of our new European drivers which was a great addition! JConcepts brought a large support team as always with Jason, Paul, and Hannah in attendance to make sure we had what we needed and we looked good on social media. A-Main Hobbies / ProTek RC showed up with the pop-up hobby shop for the first time which was a nice touch.
_______
Practice was a little up and down, but I didn’t sweat the 2 lap seeding much because it is more important to have a good idea going into qualifying if you can hold on to it for a complete run. I was able to seed 2nd in 1:8th Pro Nitro Truggy and 4th in 1:8th Pro Nitro Buggy.
_______
Qualifying went in the correct direction in all 4 classes and I was able to take TQ in Pro E-Truggy, start 2nd behind my Teammate Spencer Heckert in Pro Nitro Truggy, 4th in Pro E-buggy, and 5th in Pro Nitro Buggy. I felt it was the right combination of positions I could do something with in the finals.
_______
The Saturday Night E-Buggy main was mass chaos but the spectators seemed to enjoy it. Most of us had at least a mistake that was tough to recover from. Several of us had the lead at different times and just when I thought 2nd was possible, I crashed on the last lap to give it away. In the end, I finished 5th, less than a second behind Brandon Rose who ended up 3rd. Congratulations to Juan Carlos Canas, Spencer Rivkin, and Brandon Rose for the all JC podium in E-Buggy.
_______
I was determined to make Nitro Truggy my kind of race from the beginning. Spencer
Heckert had a mistake on the opening lap which allowed me to grab the lead and I wasn't willing to let it go. Dakotah and I had an awesome battle for the lead. The pace and intensity kept increasing and I’m proud to take the win in that one! Shoutout to Dakotah Phend on the hard charge in 2nd and Elliot Boots on the podium in 3rd.
______
Sunday Night the Pro E-Truggy race was similar to Nitro Truggy on Saturday but a much shorter race. I was able to lead the whole race, but was under constant pressure from Ryan Lutz. I like to use the ProTek 5600 battery in the E-Truggy which provides plenty of run-time for 5 min qualifiers, but it’s pushing the limit to make the 10 min A-Main. I went with it anyway and used the complete capacity in a close battle and barely crossed the line for the victory. Again, congrats to Ryan Lutz on a great race in 2nd and Brandon Rose on 3rd.
_______
I had a lot of confidence going into the Pro Nitro Buggy main and I looked to get a good start to get the pace and rhythm going. Unfortunately, I was involved in a crash early on the first lap and lost a lot of positions. Just when I thought I was digging myself out of a hole, another mistake or getting hung with another car, set me back. I never recovered and had to settle for a disappointing 10th on the evening. Congratulations to Elliot Boots on a great wire to wire win, David Ronnefalk on 2nd and Dakotah coming all the way back from the bump-up to take 3rd.
_______
The next one on the list is the 2024 Psycho Nitro Blast in White Pines, Tennessee. Good luck to everyone heading to the INS Spring Indoor Nationals.
_______
Tekno RC
JConcepts
Hobbywing
FlySky
ProTek RC
VP Fuels
Flash Point
RM2
Hobby Action
A-Main Hobbies
Drakein
Factory Tracks
Motowhips
Stick-It One