Semi just a formality as Ronnefalk secures pole in Texas

The Semi Finals were just a formality for Xray’s David Ronnefalk, the 2016 World Champion securing pole for the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship in Texas with his dominant winning time in the first Semi securing him pole for the title decider.  Needing to do an extra fuel stop over his rivals, the Swede got a early break when Canas crashed on the opening lap and back up the field.  Pulling out an earlier lead, Ronnefalk’s extra fuel stop was quick negated such was the buffer he built up by his first stop.  At the end of the 30-minutes it was 2024 pole sitter Juan Carlos Canas who finished second despite making contact with the same post that made him an internet sensation in the final qualifier.  Completing the Top 3 was Spencer Rivkin ahead of Team Associated team-mate Brandon Rose.  In the second Semi, the opening part of the race very scrappy with defending World Champion Davide Ongaro and Top Qualifier Mason Fuller coming together and handing Ryan Maifield the lead until he found the famous left hand side roof post.  In the end it was the very impressive Chase Lemieux who took his Xray to the win holding just fending of the close attentions of both Fuller and Ongaro, the defending champion set to start 4th on the grid behind Fuller.

Giving a run down on his perfectly executed Semi, Ronnefalk said, ‘I got a good start and was able to do what I wanted to which was to try to make up as much time in the first stint as possible and with Juan Carlos crashing on the first lap it made that a lot easier for me and I was able to come out in front after my first pit stop so that was key.  After that I just able tried to control the race, not over doing anything, and being cautious when I knew that I was not on the right line on the track, like on the back section or whatever I just slowed down enough to where I didn’t risk anything.  I had a bad stint after the second pit stop I felt like I just found it hard to focus and I didn’t really have anyone to gauge my speed off of so when I little slow there for 2-3 minutes but then I saw Canas where I had him on the track and I just tried to match my speed with him for the last 5-minutes.’  On his FX Engines powered XB8 for the final, the 30-year-old said they will just check over the buggy and having not changed anything since qualifying they have no plans to change for the 1-hour Main.

Set to chase a fourth consecutive World title at Thornhill Racing Circuit, summing up his race Ongaro said, ‘the start was bad, I lost a lot of time there.  My car was actually good and I was trying to push on Mason who was slower than me and then I hit him and I need to wait because the referee say I have to wait.  Then I had a mistake on the right section so I was like 6 or 8th so then I just keep my head down.  The car was good and we got third.’   Asked if the speed is there for the final to take the fight to Ronnefalk, the 25-year-old replied, ‘Maybe David didn’t push at all in his Semi, he was alone in his Semi so he was driving well, but considering all my mistakes to be 2-seconds off him after 30-minutes of racing I think we are closer than the qualifying.’

Tebo progresses to final day 1:8 Nitro Buggy Worlds

Jared Tebo will progress to the main day at the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship in Texas, this the legendary American offroad racer’s 1st World Championships as a privateer.  His tenth Nitro Worlds, racing last as a factory driver in Redovan in 2022, the 39-year-old found himself 54th at the end of qualifying in what he himself described as ‘a rough qualifying’ but taking the win in his 1/16 final he now gets to be part of the Main day here at Thornhill Racing Circuit for the 20th edition of the World Championships.  Not just racing this week but also here with his family running his growing JTP business’ track side shop, Tebo, who is known for being his own biggest critic, joked ‘this is my first Worlds wearing with a bunch of hats.’  Asked how the week had gone the multiple 1:10 World Champion said, ‘I just haven’t really flowed with the track.  I haven’t really felt the rhythm and wasn’t sure if it was my car or my driving so I was kind trying stuff on my car but still just not driving that well.’  He continued, ‘My last qualifier went well and I had kind of a 15-20 run going but crashed twice on the last lap and ruined it and that’s kind of why I am racing today.’  Taking the 1/16B final win ahead of 2012 World Champion Robert Batlle, this the Spaniard’s 12th Worlds appearance, he said, ‘I felt I probably drove the best I have driven that race so yeah all positive and looking forward to tomorrow.’

Asked if he was happy enough with his performance given his ‘privateer’ status and also running his shop, he replied, ‘I am not happy with my results at all but I am trying to be.  I had a little high expectations coming in.  I practiced a lot and made a point to try practice with Mason Fuller a bunch.  I was running his pace at all these different tracks and he’s TQ and I am 54th, you know, so that’s been discouraging, obviously I want him to do really well but I expected myself to do better.  I am hard on myself but I’ve got to realise that I am here for JTP, my family, and our shop.’  Also progressing from Tebo’s final will be Pelle Culmsee and Nate Sutherland who finished 3rd and 4th respectively.  In the 1/16A Final, Lee Setser took the win from the TQ ahead of Cole Kasten, Bryan Baldo (organiser of the last two Worlds), and 2023 2WD World Champion Tater Sontag who all progress to the 1/8 Final tomorrow, the remaining entry now down to the final 56 drivers.

Ronnefalk doubles in Q5 as Ongaro fuel gamble fails

Xray’s David Ronnefalk has taken a second TQ run at the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship, the Swede topping Q5 by more than 2-seconds as his main rivals for the overall TQ honour here in Texas had their issues.  In the end it was Sworkz’s Juan Carlos Canas who was closest to Ronnefalk over the 10-minutes.  Up in the first of the Top 3 heat groups, Ronnefalk set the benchmark with a new fastest time of qualifying of 17/10:30.480, doing so as the only driver to run a 35-second lap of the Thornhill Racing Circuit.  Having posted his second TQ run in this morning’s Q4, it looked like running in Heat 14 of 15 that Mason Fuller was going to better the Swede’s time.  While looking very fast on track, the American Sworkz driver would make a number of mistakes that needed marshalling ending his quest to wrap up an early overall TQ.  Considering the time lost his P3 for the round was impressive.  With the top heat next up, all eyes were on Ongaro, the defending Champion having TQ’d Round 3 with a fuel stop but now gambling on trying to do the full 10-minutes without a stop.  With the noise of the rain on the roof covering the track drowning out the noise of the engine, Ongaro’s engine was to fall silent for other reasons.  His fuel gamble didn’t pay off and as he started his last lap his Team Associated came rolling to a halt.  With the Top 5 drivers making 17-lap runs it was Associated’s Spencer Rivkin in P4 and Sparko’s Noha Ben Mohamed who completed those position ahead of Ongaro who still took a P6 for his efforts.

Commenting on his second TQ run, Ronnefalk said, ‘It was pretty hectic there mid way through the run.  I had a lot of traffic and I probably had to go by five cars or so, so that was a bit scary.’  He continued, ‘I also had one moment on the back left with a lapped car and luckily I was able to keep the car on the wheels even if I went in to the infield and probably lost 2-seconds or so.  Then with 4-5 minutes to go I had clean air and I felt like the car was really really fast so I just needed to stay smooth and click off the fastest laps and was able to finish off very strong there.  I posted the quickest time so far this week and put some pressure on the guys coming up after me.’  On the track, the 2026 World Champion felt, ‘It got more grippy now, it was a lot more critical to drive and you could see that with all the other guys having a hard time fighting the cars.  I did too, it got a little soft towards the end so I just need to bump up the oils or something like that to just slow the movement down a bit.’  Asked if it is game on for the final qualifier Ronnefalk said, ‘Mason was very fast in that last one but had a couple of crash so I just need to post that good fast time before he is up and maybe I can put some pressure on him.  At the end of the day qualifying is not everything, there is a long way to go after that.’

‘It was perfect, I liked how the car was driving and behaving, everything was good’, was how Canas described the penultimate qualifier.  Making a suspension change and switching to a lower rear wing for the run, the 24-year-old now plans to use the sixth & final round to test a few more things saying, ‘I want to try things I have in my head.  I will change many things, tyres, shocks, many things.  I will try things that I think will be better and if it is not working I go back to the normal things for the Semi practice.’  On the wing change he said, ‘with the lower wing in the 180s there is more corner speed.’

Giving his thought on Q5 Fuller said, ‘I tried a different tyre which was better so that will be good for Round 6, I just had 3 wrecks so that kind of killed me.  Other than that the car is going to be good for the Semi I think.’  Asked if his Reds Racing powered buggy had become edgy to drive leading to his mistakes, he replied, ‘I think I just pushed a bit too hard and they were just dump wrecks.’  Quizzed on his tyre change, asked if it was a different tyre or just compound change he replied, ‘both’ adding when asked their name, ‘I don’t know if I can say what it was.’  Planning to use the same tyre in Q6 and ‘probably the Semi too’, the battle for the overall TQ is now a two horse race between himself and Ronnefalk.

‘That one was pretty dang good’, was Rivkin’s reaction to his P4 for the round.  Opening the day with the 17th fastest time, the 2-time Electric Offroad World Champion, explained, ‘the first one today was actually OK.  I ended up running a test compound that the guys ran last night, Canas and Maifield, and just the way my set-up was for a little bit more traction with the conditions I was just a little bit slow and just needed more steering.  I went back to the tyres I ran in the other qualifiers then for that one and we are back kind of on the same pace we have kind of been at.’  He added, ‘I ran brand new tyres that run that were kind of scuffed in with the drill and my speed was adequite to my other personal best so I think we are definitely on the right track but feel there is more in the tank in terms of hitting my marks better with my driving and a couple of things clicking together with the car can be improved.  I think we are kind of peaking at the right time, there is still a lot more racing left.’  On the run time gamble, that didn’t pay off for his team-mate Ongaro he said, ‘A lot of people that run were trying to go 10-minutes that haven’t been going 10-minutes and its getting into some people’s head a little bit.  I haven’t pitted once in the qualifiers.  The Reds guys, Marco and the Reds family are here, are putting in a lot of time and effort with their drivers which is really nice so huge round of applause to them.’

‘The run was really good and I finished P5’ was Ben Mohamed reaction to his first Top 5 run.  The talent French racer added, ‘All my package is good, my car, my engine, my tyres, all is OK and I am happy how things are going’.  Describing the track layout as ‘challenging’ and ‘completely different’ to when he came here for the official Warm-up Race in May, the 17-year-old also highlighted he is happy with his engine package explaining, ‘With my Reds engine I don’t need to stop so lets see now how we do in the last one.’  Running Matrix Black Hole tyre, he said this has been pretty solid through the event but he might use Q6 to try something different for the Semi finals.

Fuller produces second TQ run in Texas

Sworkz’s Mason Fuller has opened Day 2 of the qualifying at the IFMAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy World Championship with a second TQ run, the American topping the round from team-mate Juan Carlos Canas and defending Champion Davide Ongaro.  Going in the group ahead of Ongaro and Canas, Fuller would be the only driver to run 17-laps of the Thornhill Racing Circuit this morning, Canas missing the mark by 1-second as he snatched P2 from Ongaro on his final lap of the fourth qualifying round.  Behind the Top 3 it was David Ronnefalk, who took Q1 yesterday morning, who set the fourth fastest time ahead of Xray team-mate Chase Lemieux both drivers running in Heat 13 of 15.  The Top 6 was rounded out by eBuggy World Champion Marcus Kaerup with US Offroad heavyweights Dakotah Phend, who had two DNF’s yesterday, and Ryan Maifield just behind him.

A driver who prefers to do his talking on the track, Fuller summed up his second TQ run with, ‘I had a few little mistakes with traffic and just going wide in places but I guess it was quick enough to do the TQ without a pit.’  With his last lap dropping almost a second, asked about this he said, ‘I just got in the dust a little bit and when you get in the dust it slows you down so much so that was why.’  Asked his thoughts on the track today, the 21-year-old said, ‘It is definitely better because they didn’t water last night so it started out pretty good, I think it will still get faster.’  On any planned car changes for the penultimate round of qualifying, he replied, ‘Eh we are going to try run a similar tyre and try & TQ cause that would be nice.’  With 3 of the six schedule qualifiers to count a TQ run in Q5 would lock Fuller in as the Top Qualifier.

Reacting to his best qualifier so far, Canas said, ‘We tried new things on the shocks and it was good, today I think it is working better, I mean the speed is better than yesterday.’  The Top Qualifier of the previous Worlds in his home country Spain, he added, ‘It is a little bit difficult to drive but not too much and the pace was good so we’ll keep working for the next one.’  Asked about his last lap on which he took 3/10ths out of Ongaro, he said, ‘I pushed because I knew I was close to him, so I pushed on the last lap to get it.’

With Ongaro in a deep engine discussion all in Italian with his father and mechanic, he explained afterwards that they were talking about engine set-up for trying to do a run without a fuel stop.  He explained, We are working with Kouki (Kato) who is doing 12 (minutes) so I think my driving style is a little suited to the 10-minutes because I am not like super aggressive, so lets try it.  We have two good scores, I need one more and P5 will be the last one which is faster for us so we try it.’  On Q4, he said, ‘Yes it was good.  We use the same car as yesterday but I think they fixed some holes on the track and the dust off that was just a little bit everywhere so we had a little less grip than yesterday but I think it will come up soon.’

‘It was a good run, clean, no big mistakes’ explained Ronnefalk.  He continued, ‘I had one moment when I came down the straightaway and I just braked a little bit in the dust and got inside of the pipe like 3 laps from the end and lost I think a second which would have put me very very close to Canas and Davide.’  He added, ‘I mean we were the fastest guys doing a pit stop.  Fuller didn’t do the pit stop obviously but he was driving very good too.  Maybe I drove a little bit to cautious.  I had a six from yesterday I wanted to better and now I got a 4 which is better but I’d like to improve that a little but more.’  Asked about the track, the last World Champion to be crowned on US soil when he won in Las Vegas in 2016 said, ‘It was not as bad as yesterday morning as they didn’t water in between qualifying round. It was definitely a bit more similar to Round 2 of yesterday but from now on its going to get more grippy again.’

‘It was solid’ was the response of Lemieux when asked how Q4 went.  He continued, ‘The felt pretty good, pretty similar to yesterday maybe a little less grip but it is good enough to do some testing for the Main and the Semis so that is what is on my mind next.’  For sure I still want to go out there and TQ but I think now is the opportunity to do some testing for the finals ahead and give ourselves the best shot to make it count most when it matters most, you know.’  On what he is looking for in terms of a finals car, the 20-year-old said, ‘Mainly just consistency and easability to drive.  That is how my car has been all of qualifying and I have been happy with it but still looking for just that extra little bit of pace but your car also can’t be hard to drive in an hour long final which is going to come down to mistakes.  That’s going to be the biggest factor.’