Boots tops first controlled practice

Kyosho’s Elliot Boots set the pace in the first controlled practice, the 19-year-old marginally faster than TLR’s Dakotah Phend over the timed 5-minutes run with 2008 World Champion Atsushi Hara posting the third fastest time.  Overnight rain and high winds in Buenos Aires resulted in a 4-hour delay to the start of Day 3 of the 1:8 World Championships as officials waited for the track, which again received a covering of wood shavings, to dry out. The high winds left Team Associated having to rebuild their pit area after the tents were a tangled mess when the team arrived at the track this morning.  Credit to Boots, JQ and Ryan Lee the three drivers getting stuck in to try to clear the heavy area of water from the track.

One of the most exciting drivers to watch on the track here in Argentina, Boots described his run as ‘steady’ adding he just ‘kept it clean’.  Running the same set-up on his Novarossi powered MP9 as yesterday, the British National Champion said the only change was tyres running AKA’s Moto tyres.  Really happy with the set-up which he said suits his driving he plans to leave it the same for the days second controlled practice only changing to City Block tyres. Asked about the track he said once you stay on line the track is not too bad but with the wood shavings running off line can be costly.

Phend said he had a few ‘bobbles’ on his run but overall he was pleased with his time.  Running Proline Bowtie tyres on his Orion powered 8ight,  he said his oils where a little soft for the condition which he added were rough but still not as bad as those he experienced at the Warm-up race.

Hara was very happy with his run saying things are starting to come together.  The Japanese ace said his engine testing yesterday paid dividends today with the OS Speed engine he used having perfect power delivery for the conditions.  A clean run, Hara ran Hot Bodies Grid Lock, but happy that his time will be good enough for a strong seeding for tomorrow’s qualifying he plans to try a few set-up changes as well as trying an AKA tyre.

Setting the fourth fastest time Jerome Aigoin described his run as consistent and mistake free adding that this is more important than setting a good time. The French National Champion ran AKA Crossbrace on the front of his MP9 and iBeam on the rear and declared himself happy with the feeling of the Novarossi powered buggy.  Team-mates Jared Tebo and defending World Champion Cody King set the 15th and 36th fastest times.  Tebo, who originally had AKA Moto tyres fitted to his MP9 for the run, which was what Boots used, the American made a last minute switch to soft iBeams.  His first time to try the tyre at the track the 2010 Worlds Top Qualifier said they worked OK but for his next outing he will switch to the Impact tyre.  Suffering two mistakes Tebo is confident that with a clean run he has good pace and is overall happy with how his set-up is working.  King also had two bad laps but with help from Orion engine guru Adrien Bertin he said things are getting better with his set-up.  The American said he doesn’t like this ‘racing the clock stuff’ and wants to get on with head to head racing.

Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield took his LRP powered RC8 to the fifth fastest time.  Running earlier than most of the top drivers, Maifield said he expected conditions for the first run to be muddy following the rain and so he opted not to rebuild his buggy but he said the track was dry and had good grip.  Running on JConcepts new Metrix tyre in red compound he said he didn’t push too hard and overall it was a good clean run. Rebuilding his buggy with fresh parts, the Arizona driver said he thinks that should give him a much better car for CP2.

Yannick Aigoin took his nVision powered example of the heavily modified RC8 to the sixth fastest but the former European Champion said his set-up was not ideal for the conditions. Having run a hard set-up yesterday the French veteran switched to a soft set-up following the rain which while it made the buggy easy to drive but it was slow.  Aigoin said with more rain due he said it was good to get track time with the soft set-up but for the second controlled practice he will revert to the harder set-up.

The fastest man in yesterday’s free practice, Ty Tessmann said changes to the set-up on his HB D8-12 made it too aggressive.  Having to drive easy for the 5-minutes, the US National Champion said he will revert back to his earlier set-up but added its going to be hard to better the CP1 times now as the track is sure to be rougher and thus slower in the evenings run.

One of the stars of the last World Championships in Thailand, Kyle McBride put in a strong run to set the 8th fastest time with Lee Martin the top Mugen in 9th while Ryan Lutz completed the Top 10 with his prototype Durango.

Controlled Practice Top 10
1. Elliot Boots – Kyosho/Novarossi – 7/5:17.208
2. Phend Dakotah – TLR/Orion – 7/5:17.429
3. Atushi Hara – HB/OS Speed – 7/5:20.053
4. Jerome Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi – 7/5:20.282
5. Ryan Maifield – Associated/LRP – 7/5:21.195
6. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/Nvision – 7/5:21.627
7. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed – 7/5:21.745
8. Kyle McBride – Kyosho/Novarossi – 7/5:21.836
9. Lee Martin – Mugen/Novarossi – 7/5:22.671
10.Ryan Lutz – Durango/Alpha – 7/5:23.141

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