This caused tire selection headaches for everybody. The rule of thumb here is ProLine M-3 in the morning and Losi Red in the afternoon. What to do with these cool temps? Many teams tried Holeshots and Square Fuzzies in the short practice session before the mains got underway, and they just weren't working. There was plenty of rubber on the track from three days of practice and 2 days of qualifying, but the temperatures were low.

The cool night time temperatures meant that moisture came up on the track. However, the wind and occasional sun dried things out pretty well by the 9AM start, and 4WD A-1 was the first race on the program.

Another headache was caused by the fact that Losi seems to have discontinued Silver front Tapers. Everybody agreed that was the front tire to have and nobody had any, not even Losi team drivers. Silver Blockheads weren't working so that left Red Blockheads or Red Tapers. Not everybody ran this way, but the consensus seemed to be Red Blockheads and Red BK Bars in the morning and Red Tapers all around in the afternoon.

A-1 saw a clean start with TQ Ryan Maifield leading Ryan Cavalieri. At the end of the straight on the first full lap they were side-by-side, but Maifield maintained the lead with Travis Amezcua just behind in third. Fourth place Billy Fischer rolled on the first full lap in the high speed turn, allowing Mike Truhe into fourth, but Mike put it on the pole atop the pitcher's mound to give the spot back to Billy. At the end of the first full lap, Maifield had about a helf second lead on Cavalieri, with Amezcua about 3/4 second further back and another 2 seconds to Fischer.

Running on his home track, Maifield opened a lead of about 1/3 of the straight with his BJ over Cavalieri's Losi on lap three. Amezcua's xxx-4 was a full length of the straight behind Cavalieri. Cavalieri's problems in the washboards on lap 4 allowed Maifield to stretch his lead into a full straightaway. On lap 6 Maifield clipped the pipe in the 180 just before the finish line, allowing Cavalieri to catch up a bit. By the end of lap 7, it was Maifield with a bit more than a second over Cavalieri, then 2 seconds back to Amezcua, another second to Fischer, and Truhe well behind in 5th.

Lap 9 almost cost Maifield the race as he flipped it in the 180 on the tabletop in the corner. This is one of the difficult sections of the track, and many cars came to grief there all week. Cavalieri ran into the up-side-down BJ and the marshall got right on them, putting Maifield down just ahead of Cavalieri. They finished lap 9 about 2/10 second apart, with Amezcua and Fischer now much closer.

Lap 10 saw Maifield swing a bit wide around the pitcher's mound with Cavalieri keeping tight to the pole, and they got on the straight with about an 8 foot gap. The next lap Cavalieri went for it all on the high-speed jump, landing right on Maifield's bumper for the following 120. Maifield tapped the brakes, Cavalieri hit him, and Maifield got away clean while the xxx-4 wobbled wide to the right. This gave Maifield a more comfortable lead and he cruised to the win.

For A-2 everybody was wearing Blockheads and Red BK Bars except Ryan Maifield, who had Red Tapers all around. Again we had a clean start, with only Mike Truhe crashing just before the finish line on the first half lap and the two Ryans beginning to pull out a lead over the field. After lap two it was Maifield with a slight lead over Cavalieri, then 2 seconds back to Pinish, who had worked the Durango up through the field.

Cavalieri hung up on the tube following the tabletop 180 on lap three with Maifield pulling away and Pinish closing right up. I didn't see Pinish's mistake after that, but it cost him dearly when Cavalieri rolled on lap 4 after the high speed jump-and-turn allowing Fisher through into second and Amezcua into third.

Fisher spun at the end of the straight on lap 5 and Amezcua went by, but Travis immediately crashed on the off-camber before the finish line collecting Billy. Mike Truhe passed them both for second, and
Pinish also got by into third.

With all that going on behind him, Ryan Maifield put the BJ on cruise and ran away to the win. Perhaps Tapers really were the way to go, cold tamps or not. Ryan's wins in the first two A mains wrapped up the 2005 Cactus Classic Championship.