August 24, 2013

Hara on pole for FEMCA final

Hara

Atsushi Hara is on pole position for the 1:8 Offroad FEMCA Championships after the Japanese ace convincingly won his Semi final in the faster time.  A lack of clarity in the ruling meant there was a long wait before the grid was finalised with officials disagreeing on the interpretation of the rule. JMRCA representatives were adamant that the rule should see the pole position go to the winner of the odd Semi final as this was deemed the faster race as it contained the Top Qualifier. With Sheng Chie Huang beating Top Qualifier Dani Choi this would have but the Taiwanese driver on the pole for the 1-hour title deciding race. In the end a call to IFMAR’s Sander De Graaf saw the ruling interpreted as the driver with the fastest time from the 2 Semi finals getting pole position, Hara’s time being 2 laps faster than that of Huang.

Hara Wing

Commenting on his race, Hara said he was happy with his performance saying that it was the best he has driven all week.  Having adjusted the rear toe on his Mugen said the change made the buggy a lot more stable and comfortable to drive on the track which he said has a lot more traction than in qualifying.  With the heavy tyre wear clearly visible on his HB tyres, Hara said despite this didnt make the buggy too slow.  With the final twice the distance the former World Champion thinks he can do the race on just one set of tyres but added that he will monitor his lap times compared to any drivers that do change tyres during the race.  If the gap is substantial he said he then may opt to change.

Choi

Top Qualifier Dani Choi, who will start 4th on the grid behind Huang and Thailand’s Charlee Phutiyotin, said all excuses aside he was just too slow.  The Sweep team driver said he made too many mistakes and with his engine too rich he was also forced to make an extra fuel stop.  With his tyres looking more like slicks after the run the Korean said this was due to the fact that he ran the same tyres as he used in the morning’s 15-minute Semi Warm-up adding that he thinks running the entire Main on one set of tyres should be fine.  In terms of set-up he plans to lower the ride height on his Alpha powered Kyosho.

Meen

For the other two world champions there was contrasting luck.  Nitro Touring Car World Champion Meen Vejrak was leading the second of the Semi Finals and looking strong when his steering servo started to burn out eventually forcing the Thai ace to retire at the 17-minute mark.  For 2000 1:8 Offroad World Champion Yuichi Kanai he had a heart stopping moment when his RB powered Kyosho stopped with just 5-seconds to go.  With his mechanic unable to get the engine restarted so as the MP9 designer could finish the race he thought his event was over but luckily for the Japanese driver such was the timing of his cut out and his gap over those behind him he would still be classified third ensuring he bumped up to start 6th on the grid.  With the engine cut not due to a lack of fuel Kanai thinks something in the engine is broken and for the final will fit a new one.

Hiroki

Another key retirement in the Semis was Japan’s Dai Hiroki, the Japanese driver suffering a similar faith to Vejrak as he too went out with a steering servo failure on his Kyosho.  For the Chinese there was plenty of reason to celebrate for the host nation as they will be represented in the final by both Hu Wei Ping and Lin Le Hua who will start 11th and 12th respectively.

Main Final Starting Grid
1. Atsushi Hara (JPN) – Mugen/OS Speed
2. Sheng Chie Huang (TW) – HB/Alpha
3. Charlee Phutiyotin (TH) – Mugen/OS Speed
4. Dani Choi (KOR) – Kyosho/Alpha
5. Chavit Saliguppa (TH) – Mugen/OS Speed
6. Yuichi Kanai (JPN) – Kyosho/RB
7. Ryan Lee (KOR) – TLR/Alpha
8. Wataru Takashiro (JPN) – Kyosho/OS Speed
9. Liu Man Yet (SGP) – Mugen/OS Speed
10.Tommy Chung (UK) – Kyosho/Novarossi
11.Hu Wei Ping (CN) – S-Workz/S-Power
12.Lin Le Hua (CH) – Hong Nor/Alpha

Result Semi Final Even
1. Atsushi Hara (JPN) – Mugen/OS Speed – 60/30:20.941
2. Charlee Phutiyotin (TH) – Mugen/OS Speed – 57/30:26.875
3. Chavit Saliguppa (TH) – Mugen/OS Speed – 57/30:29.597
4. Ryan Lee (KOR) – TLR/Alpha – 56/30:09.597
5. Liu Man Yet (SGP) – Mugen/OS Speed – 56/30:28.919
6. Tommy Chung (UK) – Kyosho/Novarossi – 55/30:26.683
7. Lin Le Hua (CH) – Hong Nor/Alpha – 54/30:18.831
8. Chun Chi Chen (TW) – HB/Alpha – 54/3030.419
9. Manabu Takashiro (JPN) – Kyosho/OS Speed – 53/30:21.753
10.Dai Hiroki (JPN) – Kyosho/Reds – 41/22:10.188

Result Semi Finals Odd
1. Sheng Chie Huang (TW) – HB/Alpha – 58/30:21.881
2. Dani Choi (KOR) – Kyosho/Alpha – 58/30:25.734
3. Yuichi Kanai (JPN) – Kyosho/RB – 56/29:54.576
4. Wataru Takashiro (JPN) – Kyosho/OS Speed – 55/30:12.272
5. Hu Wei Ping (CN) – S-Workz/S-Power – 55/30:26.736
6. Witchapoom R (TH) – Agama/Bullitt – 54/30:24.029
7. Meen Vejrak (TH) – Mugen/OS Speed – 30/16:55.466
8. Witsarut Rumlarp (TH) – Agama/Bullitt – 29/17:59.573
9. Trin T (TH) – Mugen/OS Speed – 22/12:14.857
10.Li Cong (CN) – Kyosho/Novarossi – 17/24:11.499

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