‘From Race Control’ – Day 1 of 2WD Buggy

UPDATE (10:30 local time) – Due to the track having not fully dried the start has been now put back a further 2-hours to 13:00 local time.  We have been informed too by Masami that a recommendation has been made that timed practice be determined over 2-consecutive laps as the lap times are expected to be in excess of 30-secs.  The second delay to the start of the event means Day 1 will run under flood lighting so as to allow them get fully through the already reduced 7 rounds of practice.

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New to our event coverage we will post a short update under the heading ‘From Race Control’ at the start of each day giving a short run down of what lies ahead for the drivers.  Today is the first day of action at the 15th IFMAR 1:10 Electric Offroad World Championships here in Chico, California with seven 5-minute practice rounds on the schedule, down from the 10 rounds originally planned.  Due to heavy rain two days ago which resulted in the Silver Dollar RC Raceway track surface requiring to be repared and sugar treated, the start of the first day of 2WD action has been delayed until 11:00am local time to allow the track to dry.

Getting an update this morning just before 9am from r/c legend Masami Hirosaka, who is here as official race referee alongside Steve McLaughlin, he said he is confident that they should be able to get underway at the rescheduled 11am start time.  The multiple former World Champion said he expects the track to be ‘very dusty’ in the opening practice round with the plan being for track staff to clean the track with leaf blowers in the 1-minute between each heat adding this will only be done for FP1.  The closing practice of the day, set to start around 17:45, will be controlled with each driver’s 3-consecutive laps counting towards the only reseeding of the heats for tomorrow’s qualifying action which starts with one more controlled round of practice.

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