Boots bounces back to take final qualifier in Vegas

Having dominated the first day of qualifying with two TQ runs but then had issues mostly involving traffic, Elliott Boots bounced back to take the final qualifier at the 1:8 Offroad World Championships in Las Vegas. The Kyosho driver would top the round by almost 4-seconds from David Ronnefalk secure pole for the second of the Semi Finals, team-mate Jared Tebo having already wrapped up the overall TQ by taking the previous round of qualifying.  After struggling since opening qualifying with a P3, Ryan Maifield would complete the Top 3 for the sixth & final qualifier with the young find of the 16th running of the Worlds Davide Ongaro booking a Semi Final spot with a P4.  Needing to be marshalled twice, Tebo would conclude qualifying with a P8 but the round was always a testing opportunity for the American.

‘Having a clean track helped massively’ was Boots reaction to his 3rd TQ run. The European Champion continued, ‘I walked the track at lunch time which helped and drove around the bumps this time which helped a lot’. The 2012 Worlds Top Qualifier, a servo issue preventing him from progressing to the final in Argentina, said while he had ‘a few little bobbles (he) was able to keep it steady for the run’.  Setting the fastest lap by over half a second, he concluded, ‘I’m ready to go for the finals now.  That was my finals set-up and we got the pace with that’.

Best of the rest behind the Kyoshos, Ronnefalk declared his final qualifier, ‘another good run’.  With the P2 allowing him to drop his P9 from Q3 and jump ahead of HB Racing team-mate Tessmann in the qualification ranking, the Swede said, ‘the track was a little faster as it stayed moist for longer and I knew if didn’t crash it was going to be close for the TQ of the round.  Then I crashed at the brick section and that (time lost) was the gap to Elliott’.  He continued, ‘you miss the line by 10cm and you hit the bump and it throws you out’.  Set to run in the same 30-minute Semi as Tebo, the multiple European Champion said, ‘I’m super confident with the car now so I’m looking forward to the final’.  Yet to make it through to the Main event at a Worlds, when asked about runtime the Team Orion sponsored driver replied, ‘I don’t think many can make it (10-minute between stops) so its not a concern for us’.

Tessmann was on target to do the final qualifier without a stop but with 2-minutes to go he would land on Ryan Lutz’s Tekno causing his OS Speed engine to stop. Afterwards the reigning Word Champion said his flywheel was marked indicating the contact had cut his engine.  Asked about the 10-minute run time, the defending World Champion said, ‘for sure we could have done the 10-minutes.  The track is rougher and slower so the mileage comes up’.  He added, ‘we are not as close as Jared (on run time) so it’s good for the final’.

‘That went ok’ was Maifield’s reaction to matching his previous best qualifier.  The TLR driver said, ‘we changed tyres and made changes to the car and I got a good flow that time’.  He added, ‘I was driving more like me which is a good way to end before going into the finals’.  The Arizona ace said while he didn’t know if it would have affected the outcome he was ‘disappointed they didn’t announce the pace for our run as it would have been nice to know’.  Switching to JConcepts green compound Reflex tyre the 2014 World final pole sitter said they gave the forward bite he was looking for but were lacking in the 180s but thats something we can get out of the car’.

Going to wider rear hex on his Mugen, Ongaro said his car ‘was a lot more stable’.   Asked about the run, the 15-year-old said ‘I switched off at the double double single and had a bobble’, his mechanic ‘Verry’ joking ‘Jesus saved us’.  Only his second World Championship, his first attempt seeing him qualifying in the 1/8 final, looking to the Semi final he said, ‘We are not going to change anything, just rebuild everything’.

Joern Neumann would end qualifying with his best run of the six rounds posting 5th to bump the Serpent driver up into the Semi Finals.  The German said ‘just no mistakes’ was the main contributing factor to the run but he was also much happier with his MX powered SRX8.  With Serpent preparing prototype 19 degree C-hubs for the event but Neumann preferring the steering of 13 degree C-hubs in all his pre event testing and then going to 17 degrees, he said this was the first time he tried them and they made the car ‘much easier to drive everywhere’.  Also doing his final qualifier without stopping for fuel, he said ‘we are very good on run time. I can do 10-minutes no problem.  Gerd (Strenge) timed me and I did 12-minutes with plenty left’.   The 2010 Worlds Finalist said after his final qualifier, which he pointed out should run at similar time to the scheduled Semi Finals,  he is ‘feeling positive for a good final’.

Completing the Top 6, Ryan Cavalieri said, ‘I bobbled too many times but it would have been a good time, my pace was good’.  The top Team Associated at the end of qualifying, the 2014 podium finisher continued, ‘we were definitely faster that time and will build off that for the Semi. We’re going in the right direction now’. Asked about changes for the finals he replied, ‘I need to watch some film of what the car is doing but I think maybe we need to soften up the front end’.

Commenting on his Q6, finishing behind 2014 Finalist Alex Zanchettin, Tebo said ‘I changed the set-up and didn’t quite like it as much so I’ll put all back to how it was but I’m happy I tried stuff’.  He continued ‘I haven’t needed a marshal but that time I had to be turn marshalled 2 times in the one lap, without that it would have still been a good run’.   He concluded, ‘I’m happy Elliott got the TQ.  Overall it was a great day and I’m looking forward to Saturday’.

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Pit Focus – Adam Drake

Team: Mugen Seiki
Neighbours: none
Charger: Hitec Multicharger
Tools: MIP/Mugen
Setup Tools: Mugen camber & ride height gauge
Car Stand: Upgrade RC
Transport Bag: OGIO
Features: CowRC magnetic pit mat & Jet Blaster Turbo, Hitec cap, Makita electric screwdriver, Spare NovaRossi engine, plenty of PL tires.

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Tebo fuels way to second World Championship TQ

Jared Tebo fuelled his way to the honour of 1:8 Offroad World Championship Top Qualifier after taking the penultimate round of qualifying in Las Vegas.   Having TQ’d the first of yesterday’s two Day 2 qualifiers, the Kyosho driver again kicked off the final day of qualifying with another TQ run thanks to going the full 10-minutes without stopping for fuel.  With two P2 finishes also to his credit he wraps up the overall TQ that counts the best 4 of 6 with one round remaining. Behind Tebo, last night’s Q4 pace setter David Ronnefalk posted second for the round with the gap just 1.4-seconds despite the HB Racing driver stopping for fuel.  Running in the same heat as Ronnefalk, team-mate Ty Tessmann would complete the Top 3.  Former World Champion Cody King would be the only other driver to manage a 17-lap run on the increasingly difficult track as he showed further improvement in his package.  Justing missing out on 17-laps, Davide Ongaro would get a P5 ahead of overnight TQ holder Elliott Boots.

‘It was all going to plan and I planned not stopping for fuel but I hit a car, I didn’t see, so I was a bit nervous after that but I’m happy, we got the TQ’, was how Tebo summed up Q5.  He continued, ‘I was driving nice & easy and smooth, I wanted a bigger gap (at the end)’.  The 2010 Worlds Top Qualifier added, ‘the car is really good but I’m doing some lines not so good and I need to work on that’.  Asked about his choice to not stop for fuel, the MX engines & fuel sponsored driver said, ‘It’s risky, I didn’t come in with a 1/4 of a tank of fuel left. It a long time to run out there its well over 11-minutes’.  The TQ secured, he said for the final qualifier he will ,’try a couple of things I’ve been wanting to try which where always in our plan to try at the end of qualifying’.

‘Another good one’ was Ronnefalk’s reaction adding ‘If it wasn’t for Tebo doing 10-minutes it would have been a decent TQ’.  The Swede adding, ‘the track changed a lot since last night, we are working hard out there’.  Describing the track as ‘more dry this time’, he said this left his Orion powered D815V2 ‘loose at the end’ but overall the car ‘felt the same (as when he TQ’d Q4)’.  The 20-year-old felt Tebo running with no stop was a positive for him saying, ‘I think its a good thing they needed to try that (running 10-minutes) because maybe they are under pressure (in terms of outright pace)’.

Finishing 1.6-seconds back, Tessmann said, ‘I had one spin around and I think I could have ran a better tyre but I dropped my 9 so I have four good runs’. Running on Pro-Line Holeshots, the defending World Champion said, ‘Electroshot would have been better now’.  Looking to the final qualifier the Canadian said, ‘its getting rougher and rougher out there and you need to be a lot more picky where you choose to drive but I think I’ll just change tyres for the last one’.

‘Car is getting better and better and I’m just trying to find my way around the holes’, was how King summed up his best qualifier so far.  A finalist at all the Worlds since his crown in 2010, the Kyosho driver feels there is more time to come from his driving plus the car adding, ‘your going to hit bumps wrong once in a while but I got a good combination in my driving and how the car is working.  Also my pit crew are hitting it in the pitlane which is helping too’.  For the final qualifier, the Californian said, ‘I don’t think I’ll change too much because I want to get rid of my 14 (from Q2) so a solid run is what I’m after’.

Missing out on 17-laps by 0.069, Ongaro said, ‘I just made a mistake and that cost me the 17-lap run but apart from that it was good’.  The Mugen driver continued, ‘it was very dry at the end which made the rear end pretty loose which led to my mistake’.  Describing track conditions as a ‘disaster’ he elaborated, ‘I don’t want to be negative about the track but the bumps are now extreme’.  Looking to improve rear stability of his LRP powered MBX7R for the final qualifier the 15-year-old Italian talent will run a wider rear hex as well as made a camber link change to try to also get the car to ride the bumps better.

Boots was less than impressed with his ongoing traffic issues saying, ‘I had a nightmare with traffic again’.  In the middle of giving his thoughts on his run, the reigning European Champion would walk off after Kyosho team-mate Joao Figueiredo, 17th for the Round, expressing he was less than impressed with the Portuguese driver ‘not helping’ when he was trying to pass him.  The Brit also put some blame on himself saying, ‘I had a couple of mistakes.  I hit one bump and it put me on my roof and no one saw me so that cost a lot of time’.  Describing his Reds Racing powered MP9 as ‘good’ he continued ‘but I might have been on the wrong tyre. I think I need to go up in compound, it was catching the bumps’.  The 2012 Worlds Top Qualifier concluded, ‘it’s tough out there, everyone is crashing’.  Just outside the Top 6, Ryan Maifield would be the top TLR for the round with a P7 followed by 2012 World Champion Robert Batlle with Ryan Cavalieri and Ryan Lutz completing the Top 10.

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