November 5, 2018

Phend tops 1st Controlled Practice in Perth

With things finally getting official at the 1:8 Offroad World Championships after 6 free practice runs over 4 days, it was Dakotah Phend who topped the opening round of controlled practice in Perth, Australia. The TLR driver posted a best time of 1:39.697 for his fastest 3-consecutive laps to set the pace ahead of Xray’s Bruno Coelho. Running in the heat just before Phend, Coelho managed a time of 1:39.957 around the MORBC track with both drivers having an almost identical fastest lap. Running in Heat 13 of 18, Davide Ongaro would complete the Top 3 followed by Jared Tebo, Naoto Matsukura and Australia’s own Aaron Stringer. For reigning champion David Ronnefalk, who topped the final free practice yesterday, the first of the 2 seeding rounds would see him with the 7th fastest time, a full second down on Phend.

Reacting to topping the first seeding round, Phend, who was in the second last heat to run, said, ‘We made a lot of changes and we are a lot closer than yesterday. Running AKA’s Catapult Soft-Long Wear tyre, the American added, ‘the changes we made were really good but the grip came up too. We will try to get the car a little safer with a few more changes for the next one’. Asked his thoughts on the track he replied, ‘It flows well and its a little tighter and technical than other 1:8 tracks. It’s nice’.

‘2nd is very good’, was how Coelho summed up his pace. With his offroad super star team-mate Ty Tessmann only 45th fastest having had his run early in the round on a wet track, the newly crowned Touring Car World Champion added, ‘we are still working on set-up and tyre compound but overall it is looking very good’. Using Proline’s Buckshot tyre to set his time but also trying Fugitives during the 10-minute run the European Champion said, ‘we still need to improve the car because it is difficult to drive but we have a good team working on finding something to improve it’. Travelling to Australia straight after contesting the opening round of the Euro Touring Series in Vienna last weekend, asked about the change of track he replied, ‘It’s really fun. It’s not super difficult but it’s fast. It has a nice flow. There is no section that breaks the flow. I like it.’

A driver who shot to prominence at the last World Championships in Las Vegas, Ongaro was content with his pace saying it ‘was better than yesterday’. In yesterday’s single round of practice, the Team Associated driver had to contend with a wet track, ending up 24th fastest, a full 3-seconds off the pace of Ronnefalk who topped the times. Describing the track as ‘nice to drive’, the Italian added that he is still working on finding the best line through the steps section at the back of the track where if he can get the car to run more straight he can gain some time. The 17-year-old is currently running the new compound of AKA’s Catapult tyre but faced again with a wet track for the second of the two seeding runs on today’s schedule he will change the front sway bar.

Having ‘screwed up’ yesterday in the final free practice, Tebo describe his CP1 effort as ‘awesome’. The Kyosho driver said, ‘the car was really good and I finally picked the right tyre at the right time’. Using a new and as yet unnamed tyre AKA has brought to Australia, he added, ‘I was not the fastest on 3-laps but overall the 10-minutes was really good’. He added, ‘I screwed up my wet heat last night, hopefully it will be better today but they are watering the track less so the tyre choice should be similar. I will keep the car the same and just focus on tyre choice for a wet track and cooler conditions’. Describing the track as ’super fun’, he said, ‘it has a good flow which suits my driving style’.

Fresh from becoming the 1:10 200mm Onroad World Champion in Miami 9-days ago, Matsukura joked, ‘this is completely different’. The Infinity team driver, who has chosen to run a Mugen in Perth as his team have yet to add a 1:8 Offroad chassis to its ever growing product line-up, copied the set-up Mugen factory driver Ryan Mayfield for CP1 saying it ‘works good’ and that ‘the feeling of the car is good’. With his most recent offroad outing the 2018 Indonesian Challenge over 2-months ago, the Japanese driver added that is biggest issue is he ‘need(s) more practice to get back into offroad mode’. Running JConcepts Reflex tyre in blue compound the Japanese driver said another challenge is how much the track changes between each run – the gap between the two runs a day a common complaint among racers.

Ronnefalk put his P7 down to increased traction and traffic. The HB Racing driver said, ‘the traction was higher than it has ever been. We expected it to be grippy but not that high’. With his ‘set-up too soft in the shock oil we used and the also the diffs’, he added he also had ‘major issues with traffic’. Managing 4-clean laps at the start he said ‘every other lap I had issues but as long as your Top 24 your good for the Top 2 heats’. Using JConcepts R2 Stocker tyre he said they are his tyre of choice for the race but with his next run at 18:45 this evening right after the track’s scheduled watering he said they will have to see what they will do concluding ‘the track is not going to dry at that time’.

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November 5, 2018

Track Focus – MORBC

Track Name – MORBC
Host –  M.O.R.B.C (Model Off Road Buggy Club)
Country – Australia
Location – Whiteman Park, Perth
Direction – Clockwise
Surface – Dirt

The MORBC track, the acronym formed from the club’s very descriptive name Model Off Road Buggy Club, has the honour of bringing the 1:8 Offroad World Championships to Australia for the first time, this being the 17th running of the IFMAR event.  With international drivers flying into Perth for the event, the track is located in Whiteman Park, a 4,000-hectare bushland area located 22 km north of the city.  With an RC flying club as neighbours, the club was originally formed with 5-members in 1996 with it later leasing land from the local government to establish itself at the current track, with the Worlds bringing improvements such as an extended permanent pit area, rebuilt scrutiny area and timing room.  Hosting the FEMCA Championships twice, it was the host of these Asian Championships for the first time in 2015 and that lead to the club securing the world’s biggest race.  Hosting the FEMCA race again in 2017, this prepared the club of approximately 90 members well for the Worlds with the organisation and facilities so far being greeted positively by the RC circus as it pulled into town.  The track design and build was led by former club member Craig Laughton. Having relocated to the east of Australia, the club got him back to do the build because as well as being a 1:8 Offroad driver he is also a bobcat driver by profession – a very handy trade to have when building a track.

In terms of the track Laughton has created and prepared, the feedback back is also positive. A person who gets to visit and study a lot of offroad tracks as he watches his drivers do laps so he can offer tyre advice, JConcepts boss Jason Ruona summed up the general feeling on the track by saying, ‘it is one of the better ones we have been on in a very long time’.  Clinching his first World title in Las Vegas two years ago, when asked his thoughts on the layout reigning World Champion David Ronnefalk said, ‘the track is great and its fun to drive’.  The HB Racing driver continued, ‘they did a great job but we already knew from the warm-up the layout would be cool.  It is tricky in spots out there, in particular the double table top and the double triple.  There is a lot of difficulty which will separate the drivers but once everyone gets their cars sorted, it’s going to be very close’.  The Swede adding that compared to the Warm-up Race, the grip is now higher and that has effected the tyre compounds they are now using but with a number of practice runs completed already he said, ‘I’m not sure the track is going to show any character. I hope it stays close to how it is now as it will make close and exciting racing but I also don’t mind if it breaks up a bit because that suits me too’.

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October 28, 2018

Matsukura adds first nitro title to World Championship tally

Multiple Electric Onroad World Champion Naoto Matsukura has added a Nitro Touring Car World title to his tally with a very convincing performance at the 1:10 200mm World Championships in Florida.  After a messy start which saw Top Qualifier Dario Balestri, Super Pole winner Robert Pietsch and reigning champion Dominic Greiner receive penalties, the Infinity driver quickly stamped his authority on the 1-hour final.  By the first round of fuel stops the 200mm rookie, who stopped early at 4:30, had already pulled out over a 6-second lead and such was his lead at the mid race tyre change his crew was able to switch to 4:00 stops ensuring his massive lead was never at risk.  At the end the Japanese driver becomes the 8th different World Champion of the class by almost 2-laps.  Battling with Tadahiko Sahashi for second place before the Infinity driver suffered a flame out in the final minutes of the race Capricorn’s Kyle Branson would finish second with Team Shepherd’s very quick Eduardo Escandon coming through from the back of the grid to complete the podium at Homestead RC Raceway.  Half a lap back Pietsch would recover from his penalty and a bad tyre stop to finish fourth ahead of Mugen team-mate Jeff Hamon, with Greiner, who got a second penalty completing the Top 6.  Ending up 9-laps off the lead after running out of fuel, Balestri ended up 7th but his biggest frustration was the length the cars were held on the starting grid.  He said his penalty was a result of him trying to make sure his engine didn’t cut.

‘Perfect.  Perfect car, perfect speed, perfect mechanic’, was how Matsukura summed up becoming the nitro touring car World Champion at his first attempt.  The former Electric Touring Car World champion, who also won that title in Florida at the nearby Kissimmee track, continued, ‘We made a really fast tyre stop and after this the gap more than a lap so I then just tried to control my race.  Before we were refuelling at 4:30 but to be save we make 4-minutes’.  Having led the final on his 1:8 Onroad Worlds debut in France last year, but succumbing to a flat receiver battery, he said ‘around 55-minutes I started to get nervous and starting think about things going wrong.  I even asked Miura if we could go to 3:30 for the last fuel stops but he told me don’t worry.  Miura and Bank did a perfect job.  I also want to thank my boss Mr. Kenji and my family who all stayed in Japan to watch the race’.

Reacting to his race, having bumped up twice after starting the day in the 1/4 finals, Branson said, ‘I didn’t expect that’.  The British driver continued, ‘We were all bunched up for a while at the start and I had to hold back.  I didn’t want to do anything stupid so I waited for the pack to spread out.  I know I had to do 2 extra (fuel) stops I think but for the final my car was perfect.  I could drive it so easy.  I didn’t have to push to be in the pack’.  His first Worlds podium having made his first worlds final last time out, he added, ‘thanks to everyone who has helped me and congrats to Naoto.  Fair play to him, he was on another level’.

‘First I have to say a massive thank you to Shepherd Micro Racing and Coten Escuderia because I am only here because of their support.  Without it I would not be celebrating this podium’, said a delighted Escandon.  The Spanish driver, who first made a name for himself in the ENS after joining Shepherd last season started out the day in the 1/4 finals, continued, ‘ (Takaaki) Shimo hit my car in the last lap of the Semi so we had to rebuild the car and I had to get a bodyshell from Thilo.  After that my plan was to have fun with the top drivers in the World for 1-hour but when I realised I was running in the main pack I started to push and at the end I am third place.  It’s amazing from where we started the week struggling to what we finished. For sure this was a team effort’.

Asked about his fourth place in the final, Pietsch replied, ‘the start was a big problem.  Dario jumped the start and I followed him so I also got a penalty.  Then after Dario took his penalty he touched me at a bad angle and I rolled’.  Winner of his 1:8 World title at the same track 7-years ago, the German continued, ‘The tyre stop was bad and we lost 6-seconds but the car was also difficult to drive.  It was not on the same pace as before’.

Summing up his race outgoing champion Greiner said, ‘I don’t know what happened at the start.  I didn’t jump the start but I got a penalty.  They said I put my car too early on the ground so I got a penalty’.  Not happy with the decision, the German said, ‘I don’t know what Masami was doing.  I touched a guy and rolled my car and got a penalty.  Dario hit Robert and got no penalty’.  Ultimately running out of fuel would end Greiner’s chances of retaining his title.  He said, ‘At the second fuel stop we ran out of fuel and then it was over.  For sure Naoto was fast but out front he could drive his own race’.

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October 27, 2018

Greiner to defend title from 4th in Miami

Dominic Greiner will defend his 1:10 200mm World title from 4th on the grid in Miami later this evening.  Starting second in the Semi finals, the Serpent driver maintained that position behind pole man Naoto Matsukura to progress to the 1-hour main event at Homestead RC Raceway.  In the first of the two Semi finals, it was Tadahiko Sahashi who took the win ahead of Jilles Groskamp and Kyle Branson.  Starting from pole and holding an early lead, Andy Moore’s impressive campaign came undone when he lost the brakes on his car.  After his demise, No.2 starter Shoki Takahata took control but after building up a lead the Mugen driver’s race faltered when he had the first of a number of flame outs.  Flame outs also ended Vice-Champion Alessio Mazzeo’s event while former Champion Meen Vrejrak’s attempt at a second title ended when he had issues with wheels coming off his car.  In the second of the 30-minute encounters, Matsukura led home Greiner by a comfortable gap of 4.7 seconds with Teemu Leino completing the Top 3. With their fourth & fifth place times the next fastest two times outside the Top 3 of both Semis, Jeff Hamon and Eduardo Escandon, both having bumped up from the 1/4 finals, complete the Top 10 that will battle to become the 1:10 200mm’s 8th World Champion.  Unfortunately for former 1:8 World Champion Simon Kurzbuch there will be no repeat of the result as he came the second 2016 podium finisher to fall by the wayside in the Semis after suffering a number of flame outs.

‘It was OK’, was Greiner’s reaction after the race.  The German continued, ‘at the start me, Naoto and Simon pulled away a bit but having watched the previous Semi and seen a tyre stop was no advantage I then had to drive safe to save my tyres to the end’.  He said, ‘It was a clean run and now the first step is done’.  Asked about the pending final, he replied, ‘Management of the tyres is important.If you push too much they are finished. I think there will be many strategies but I think 1-stop for sure is needed’.

Matsakura described his race as ‘perfect’.  The 200mm Worlds Rookie said, ‘the car is good and the speed is good but I also made a safe run for the tyres’.  The Infinity driver, who will line up 3rd on the grid behind Top Qualifier Dario Balestri and Super Pole winner Robert Pietsch, added, ‘I had to make one extra (fuel) stop but I still lead. I have an engine that will do 5-minutes but the feeling of the Semi engine is better so I think I will keep (for the final)’.  The multiple Electric onroad World Champion concluded, ‘Me & car today are good so I can go for the win’.

Describing his race, Leino said, ‘I had a shit start because two times I got taken out but I had a very good car and could recover.  The next one with a better start all will be good’.  The Infinity driver and reigning European Champion added, ‘After the bad start I then catch a lot the leaders so I’m very confident for the final’.

Winner of the first Semi, Sahashi said it was important to manage the tyres in the race.  The former 1:8 World Champion, who along with Balestri and Pietsch will be vying to become only the second ever driver alongside Adrien Bertin to be both a 1:8 and 1:10 World Champion, said ‘I made a safe run’ adding on run time he was just making the 5-minutes but he was looking forward to a competitive showing in the final.

Commenting on his race Groskamp said, ‘I started super slow and let others passed. They were super aggressive at the start and maximum push’.  The Infinity driver continued, ‘I drove really safe for the tyre because I knew 30-minutes was going to be critical.  I also made my first stop one lap later than the others to have a clean stop.  After my mechanic told me the fuel was good and that I could push’.  The newly crowned Euro Nitro Series Champion added, ‘after the third pit stop I was already in the bump up position and started to be safe. I was surprised how close I was to Tadahiko. I had one spin at the end of the straight but my car was really good on small tyres’.  The Infinity driver concluded, ‘I stayed out of trouble. It was one of my better races ever and I’m excited for the final’.

Having made his final debut at the previous Worlds in Gubbio, Branson was delighted to repeat the feat.  The Capricorn driver said, ‘I knew once we found our set-up earlier in the week that it would be good for the finals. It was not the fastest but it was good for long runs’.  The British driver added, ‘I drove my own race but I was down on run time compared to the others so I had to make one extra stop.  It’s strange, the race is a bit like a mirror of Gubbio. I’m super happy I made it’.  Looking to the 1-hour final he concluded, ‘I’m going to enjoy myself. You come to the Worlds looking to make the final and I have achieved that so I’m going to drive my own race’.

View the complete event results here.

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