Jones wins high attrition rate ABC Malaysia Truggy Main

Australian Tekno driver Liam Jones has won a high attrition rate Nitro Truggy A-Main at Round 2 of the Asian Buggy Championships in Malaysia.  The championship’s first visit to the country and the impressive LAP Paradise RC Raceway, which located just an hour across the border from Singapore, it was expected that the half hour final would be just a formality for Top Qualifier Caleb Noble.  The Sworkz driver dominated the opening round of the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed championship last month in New Zealand, and no one would have bet against the Aussie going back to back here in Johor Bahru.  Starting on pole ahead of the Sparko of Ken NG, Noble quickly established a lead but as the race approached half way distance the 19-year-old suffered a diff failure, his race was done.  This promoted NG to the lead with Jones, who qualified P4, running in second.  However he too would hit mechanical problems, losing rear drive after just a few laps out in front – something he said may have been the result of his truggy taking a heavy hit to the rear early on in the final.  With Noble down in pit lane cheering on his compatriot, along with Jones’ elated father, the Melbourne driver would stay out front to take the win ahead by 2/3 of a lap over fellow Aussie Jayden Edmunds.  Chinese Kyosho driver Francis Guan completed the podium while with only 2WD NG managed to finish down in P6.

First big TQ for Iivonen at ABC Malaysia

Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen is the Top Qualifier at the second round of the Asian Buggy Championship, the Finn taking the final round of qualifying to win the shot out with Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen and Sworkz’s Caleb Noble.  The battle for pole between the drivers from three different continents was set as they each posted a TQ run over the opening qualifiers but laying down the fastest time to take the fourth round it was Iivonen who claimed his first major international TQ honours.  His third appearance in the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed Championship, the Finn drove a near perfect final qualifier in a close battle with ABC debutant Nguyen until on the last lap.  With Iivonen running just behind him on track, the teenager made a mistake that sealed the deal for Iivonen.  The American will line-up P2 for the 45-minute final with ABC race winners Noble and Jayden Edmunds starting 3rd and 4th respectively.  Nguyen would get the better of Iivonen in eBuggy taking the final round in the fastest time to become the Top Qualifier on tie-break, both drivers having two TQ runs each.  In Nitro Truggy, with Noble having already secured pole position in Q3, Ken NG would take the final round and his Sparko Truggy will line-up second on the track which he has been a key figure in developing into an impressive facility.

Reacting to his first big international race TQ, Iivonen said, ‘I sam pretty happy with that.  I really got to battle it out with Phi.  It was super tight until the last lap when Phi made a mistake, it was super tight before that and I kept the pressure on him and got the best out of it.  He added, I am really happy with the car and the pace and it will be good for the final.’  Asked about run time for the final, the 23-year-old replied, ‘Actually I haven’t checked it but I think it should be fine to do 7:30 if not we need to do 6:3o but I think it will still be fine.  I think the biggest challenge will be if you are on your roof and need a marshal it going to be done already.  I think tyres are also fine so the bigger issue is that if you make a mistake and need a marshal, a clean race and there is a good chance to win.  Overall the Top 3 is very close so the winner will be the one who makes the least mistakes.’

I tried pushing it but Pekko had already caught up, his car was good in the fast 180s (degree corners).  My car good all round but we just got to do a little more tuning and drive better.’  The 15-year-old up & coming star of 1:8 Offroad said they hope to find last little bit in the set-up in this evening’s free practice, a weather front that was expected to curtail today’s action thankfully getting side track en route to the track.  Aside from fine tuning his set-up to try diminish Iivonen’s set-up advantage, the FEMCA Champion said his only other concern is compound choice for the final but he won’t make a call until Sunday as rain showers are set to hit the track plus all the lower finals will be run on it too.

Asked about his final nitro buggy effort, Noble said, ‘It was OK, I just made a couple of mistakes.  I was pushing a little hard as I figured the only way it was going to make a difference was if I won so I just went out there and drove as hard as I could really.’  Happy with car at the end of qualifying, asked his thoughts for the final, the Top 10 going directly to the main and 5 bumping up for a 15 car grid, he added, ‘I just wanted to see and find the limit of what made it unstable and what not and learn from it. For sure I can back it down and be consistent and drive the laps out and hopefully that will work out well.’  On race strategy for the final, the 19-year like his rivals doesn’t believe this will be a deciding factor explaining, ‘My run time I am getting towards 9-minutes so run time is fine and tyre wear is not too aggressive so I think we will be fine.  I think its just pick the right tyre and lets go racing pretty much.’  Agreeing with Iivonen on the marshals, these like most races in Asia provided my the organisers, he said, ‘the marshals are very harsh on you to put it nicely if you make a mistake.  The key will be no mistakes for the main for sure.’