First day of qualifying belongs to Boots
Elliott Boots stamped his authority on the opening day of qualifying at the 1:8 Offroad World Championships, the Kyosho driver making it two from two in Vegas as he took the second round of qualifying. Having taken the opening qualifier from team-mate Jared Tebo, the former Worlds Top Qualifier set the pace on a much slower track ahead of Ryan Cavalieri, his time advantage similar to that of Q1. Behind them, star of practice David Ongaro made up for a disappointing first qualifier to complete the Top 3 ahead of Dakotah Phend and Ryan Lutz with Joern Neumann 6th. For reigning champion Ty Tessmann, 9th was the best he could do after he went with a wrong tyre compound choice.
Summing up his run, Boots said, ‘I kept the car the same as before and again it was really good. Unfortunately I had a crash with a car out back but apart from that all was good’ – that car being former European Champion Renaud Savoya. He continued, ‘The times are dropping a lot, there are a lot more bumps. They are in the same place but just more of them’. Looking to tomorrow he said, ‘the track is changing fast but I have no plans to change anything on the car as I’m really comfortable with it’.
‘We made a couple of good adjustments and found speed. Its something to build off’, was Cavalieri reaction after Q2. 8-seconds off Boots in the opening qualifier in which he got a P4, he continued, ‘We were quite a bit closer to Elliott that time too’. Asked about the traction he felt he lacked in Q1, the 2014 World Championship Runner-up said after the changes ‘it was better all round now’. For tomorrow’s second day of qualifying, the Team Associated driver said, ‘there are a few spots (on the track) I can work on to get better’. Next best of the RC8s for the round would be Spencer Rivkin, the US National Champion getting a P8.
Admitting anxiety got the better of him in the opening qualifier, 15-year-old Ongaro said ‘the second one was a lot better as I was more relaxed’. Describing the track as a lot tougher and which he doesn’t prefer, the Mugen driver ‘had to adapt (his) driving style a lot’. Not comfortable with his LRP powered MBX7R in Q1, his mechanic would make a number of changes for the second including a wing change. Having run the standard Associated kit wing he reverted back to the JConcepts Lexan wing he ran in the first 2 rounds of practice. The change, together with increased front camber, would give the car better rotation and for Q2 he will add a JConcepts front wing in an attempt to get more steering.
‘That went better’ was how Phend described his second qualifying attempt. Having lost a lot of time through mistakes in Q1, he said changes to his 8ight had made it ‘safer’ resulting in less mistakes although he ‘traffic cost (him) a couple of seconds’. Switching tyres from Holeshots to Blockades he said ‘they were OK but caught the bumps a little more so I’ll probably not stick with them but it depends how much the track slows down’. In terms of car set-up, the 19-year-old said ‘we’ll continue to make subtle changes to the car as the track gets rougher’.
Having had two marshals in the morning and being ‘off the pace’ as he still looked for a good set-up, Ryan Lutz said after Q2, ‘its getting better’. The Tekno driver, said ‘a few changes to the car made it better but the track is also coming to me as its getting rougher’. The 2012 & 2014 Worlds finalist, added, ‘mid corner it stepped out on me a few time so thats something we’ll try to get sorted for tomorrow’. Standing on the opposite side of the drivers stand for the second quali he said he had to learn how to deal with that but added ‘I actually liked it eventually’. Running AKA Grid Iron 2 in super soft compound he plans to continue with that for now.
Running in Heat 6 of 18, Neumann’s P6 in Q2 came as a bit of a surprise. Only 26th in Q1, the Serpent driver put that result down to trying to put in a safe run but being too safe. Pushing harder second time round he would also copy the set-up of team-mate Shin Adachi. Going from 13 degree caster blocks to 17 degrees on his MX powered SRX8 as well as to different shock piston and springs, the German said the changes gave him a car that ‘overall felt faster and was much easier to driver over the bumps’. For tomorrow, the former 1:10 4WD Worlds Top Qualifier said ‘they will change the order (of the heats) so I will wait and see how the track is but maybe we will run a softer tyre’.
Posting the 7th fastest time, Tebo said ‘I screwed myself’. He continued, ‘I changed tyres and didn’t like it. I copied Elliott but it wasn’t for me’. The Kyosho driver said, ‘It was probably the best I have driven and the track is now fun. I just screwed up with tyre choice but its alright’.
‘It wasn’t especially good and I had such a wet track again I was just sliding around for the first bit’, said Tessmann after Q2. Running M3 Electroshots, the HB Racing driver said ‘I went with the wrong compound in the tyre’. Happy that he still has a good car if fitted with the right compound, he said ‘with them shuffling the order (of the heats) a bit it should be better tomorrow’. It was also not a good round for Tessmann’s team-mate David Ronnefalk. The qualifying top seed, the Swede was only 23rd saying ‘I felt something was strange on the car. It was like ice out there with the rear end just swinging around’. Asked what he thought was the cause of the problem he said, ‘I need to check but i think there was too much oil in the centre diff’.
View our event image gallery here.
