October 11, 2013

Semi final line up complete

Teemu Leino

The line up for tomorrow’s Semi-Finals at the 1:8 Onroad World Championship is complete as Day 6 in Japan ended with a dramatic 1/4A Final that saw Atsushi Hara claim the final bump up spot to progress to the big day at the misfortune of Serpent’s Michael Salven.  A controlled race from the pole position starting HB of Teemu Leino saw the 200mm World Championship Top Qualifier take a very comfortable 12 second win over the Shepherd of former finalist Oliver Mack. Running second having just passed Mack, Hara’s Mugen would go crashing off the track with 5-minutes to go.  Allowing both Mack and Salven through into second & third respectively, it looked like the r/c legend had thrown away his place in the Semi finals.  With Teemu running behind Hara, the Finn saying afterwards he didn’t want to pass his former team-mate as he knew he was in contention for a bump up spot, it looked like the former 1:8 Offroad and Electric Touring Car would champion didn’t have have the pace to catch Salven despite the fact he recorded the fastest lap of the race earlier on.  With less than 30 seconds to go there was heartbreak for Salven as the onroad nitro racing veteran’s 977 flamed out, handing Hara the final bump-up.

Paolo Morganti

In the earlier 1/4 final, Salven’s Serpent team-mate Paolo Morganti booked his place into the Semi Finals after taking a narrow 2.2 second win over Swiss pairing Silvio Hachler and Simon Kurzbuch.  Starting from 6th on the grid the US driver said afterwards that he drove his own controlled race looking after the tyres on his Novarossi powered 977 and it all worked out perfectly.  Making his World Championship debut, 21-year-old Hachler was understandably delighted to secure a place in the Semi Final.  Having won his 1/8 final to bump up, the Mugen/Novarossi driver started the 20-minute encounter from 8th on the grid.  A finalist in Miami 2-years-ago,  Team Shepherd driver Kurzbuch couldn’t let up as he was within striking distance of team-mate Daniele Sieber who just missed the cut finishing 1.626 seconds behind.  For top Brazilian racer Elias Flavio, who bumped up twice today, a glow plug failure ended his quest to make his first World’s final.  Stopping on Lap 30 and losing over a minute as they fitted a new plug, the Mugen driver posted the fastest lap of the race but it would count for nothing as his event came to an end.  The race also ended the quest of Motonica driver Robin D’hondt to make a third World’s final in a row, the Belgian struggling with tyre wear leaving him to finish 5th.

Semi-A Final Grid
1. Tadahiko Sahashi (JPN) – Serpent/Picco
2. Jilles Groskamp (NL) – Shepherd/Maxima
3. Takehiro Terauchi (JPN) – Mugen/Novarossi
4. Shinnosuke Yokoyama (JPN) – Mugen/OS Speed
5. Keisuke Fukuda (JPN) – KM Racing/Picco
6. Michihiro Takayasu (JPN) – HB/OS Speed
7. Charlee Phutiyotin (THA) – KM Racing/OS Speed
8. Teemu Leino (FIN) – HB/OS Speed
9. Oliver Mack (DE) – Shepherd/Sonic
10.Atsushi Hara (JPN) – Mugen/OS Speed

Semi-B Final Grid
1. Takaaki Shimo (JPN) – Mugen/OS Speed
2. Meen Vejrak (THA) – KM Racing/OS Speed
3. Yuya Sahashi (JPN) – Serpent/Picco
4. Raiola Carmine (ITA) – Xray/Max
5. Adrien Bertin (FR) – KM Racing/Orion
6. Syoki Takahata (JPN) – Kyosho/OS Speed
7. Kazuya Yuruki (JPN) – Mugen/OS Speed
8. Paolo Morganti (USA) – Serpent/Novarossi
9. Silvio Hachler (CH) – Mugen/Novarossi
10.Simon Kurzbuch (CH) – Shepherd/Max

View the event results here.

View our event image gallery here.



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