Van Dalen is new ROAR National Champion

Having started the season with an impressive double win at the Dirt Nitro Challenge, Tekno’s Seth Van Dalen has just become the new ROAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy National Champion.  Qualifying P2 behind Top Qualifier & defending Champion Dakotah Phend, Van Dalen would line up 6th for the decider after he dropped from pole in his Semi to P4, that race won by team-mate Ryan Maifield who completed the Truggy double earlier in the Silver Dollar Raceway hosted championships.  Double Champion in 2024, Maifield would start 2nd for the 15 buggy World Championhip length 1-hour Main behind Phend’s Xray and ahead of the Xray of Chase Lemieux with Team Associated Davey Batta lining up P4 and Sparko’s  Jonah Wilson carrying no.5.  Having won the eBuggy title on Saturday from Kyosho’s Phi Long Nguyen, Phend led away the nitro final before his first fuel stop at 10-minutes but going an extra lap before his stop, a quicker stop by his pitman Billy Fischer, saw Lemieux come back out still in the lead.  The 2026 ROAR 1:10 4WD Buggy Champion stayed out front until his second stop at the 20-minute mark, but on his in lap the Wisconsin driver had a roll and needed to be marshalled handing Maifield a brief lead.  Out of sequence with the Xrays, Maifield’s 3rd stop handed the lead to Van Dalen.  In the second half of the race Van Dalen and Lemieux would go wheel to wheel.  After a roll that saw his buggy cut the track on his in lap, with the final stops compete it was Lemieux in the lead with just over 7-minutes on the clock but a mistake as the final 6-minutes approached handed the lead back to Van Dalen.  With Lemieux retaking the lead the pair would tangle with 4-minutes remaining, the battle resuming with Lemieux in front.  Inside 3-minute Van Dalen would make the pass for the lead with a mistake from Lemieux giving his rival his biggest lead of the final which he maintained to claim his first national title by a winning margin of 4.4-seconds over Lemieux.  Finishing on the lead lap, Sworkz’s Mason Fuller completed the podium from P11 on the grid.  After a late issue Maifield would fall back to P7 while Phend would be a DNF, retiring at the 2/3rd race distance. 

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]