1/4th Finals Update

In the first of the 1/4 finals 2008 Finalist Robert Batlle cruised to an easy victory to book his place in the Semis ahead of the young star of these World Championships Kyle McBride.  The 14-year-old was involved in a great three car battle with Americans Taylor Petersen and Travis Amezcua for what looked like being the final two bump spots.  Entering the last lap locked together McBride went to the front of the group with Amezcua looking like his event was about to come to an end, but a flame out for Jesse Robbers, who was holding a solid second, would see the Mugen driver scrape through.  Finishing fifth, Robbers’ exit is the second 2008 Finalist who will play no part in the big race later today, Taylor James’ event having come to an end in the 1/16th final yesterday.  We also lost Pre-Worlds race winner Meen Vejak, the Thai driver hitting engine trouble 4-minutes in.

The second of the 1/4 finals also saw a clear winner, this time Kyosho’s Jerome Aigoin taking it comfortably from Martin Bayer who bumps ups for a second time today with Matt Castellano finishing third.  The final bump up spot was decided by a thrilling battle between Serpent’s Billy Easton and Mugen driver Borja Hernandez.  Having swapped position throughout the final part of the 30-minute encounter, the pair fought right to line but both made mistakes in the final two corners, Easton recovering fastest to secure himself the last available spot in the Semis.  The race reduced the field down to just one remaining World Champion with 2006 Champion Mark Pavidis’ campaign coming to an end.  Running safely in the Top 4 and setting the fastest lap of the race his OS powered Kyosho flamed out at the 20 minute mark.  British teenager Elliot Boots was another looking on target to bump up until the steering servo in his Mugen packed in.

24 drivers remain and going on what we have seen so far this morning with engine cuts and servo failures, the Semis are going to be a case of which 12 can survive the 30 minutes rather than who are the fastest 6 drivers in each.

Semi Final A starting grid
1. Jared TEBO (US) – Kyosho/Orion
2. Adam DRAKE (US) – Losi/Novarossi
3. Billy FISCHER (US) – Losi/Novarossi
4. Renaud SAVOYA (FR) – Mugen/RB
5. Miguel MATIAS (PT) – Losi/RB
6. Tyler TESSMANN (CAN) – Hot Bodies/OS
7. Yannick AIGOIN (FR) – Losi/Novarossi
8. Joern NEUMANN (DE) – LRP/LRP
9. Jerome Aigoin (FR) – Kyosho/Novarossi
10.Martin Bayer (CZ) – Losi/Novarossi
11.Matt Castellano (US) – Losi/OS
12.Billy Easton (US) – Serpent/RB

Semi Final B starting grid
1. Atsushi HARA (JP) – Hot Bodies/OS
2. Ryan MAIFIELD (US) – Associated/Reedy
3. Cody KING (US) – Kyosho/Orion
4. Ryan CAVALIERI (US) – Associated/Orion
5. Mike TRUHE (US) – Losi/Orion
6. Darren BLOOMFIELD (UK) – Losi/Novarossi
7. Jeremy KORTZ (US) – Hobao/Werks
8. Joshua WHEELER (US) – Xray/OS
9. Robert BATLLE (ES) – Associated/Novarossi
10.Kyle MCBRIDE (AUS) – Mugen/OS
11.Taylor PETERSEN (US) – Mugen/Ninja
12.Travis AMEZCUA (US) – Mugen/Ninja

View the official event results here.

View the event photo gallery here.