Cavalieri gets his 2WD World title

Ryan Cavalieri is the new 2WD Electric Buggy World Champion after seeing off intense pressure from his Associated team-mate Ryan Maifield in a very close third A-Main to claim his first IFMAR 2WD title. A past winner of the sports greatest accolade in 4WD, Cavalieri said afterwards that the race was probably their best ever battle and on crossing the finish line his first thoughts were that he couldn’t believe he had managed to hold off his great rival.

The deciding 5-minute encounter in Vaasa, Finland, became a straight race for the title when Top Qualifier Neil Cragg broke his car during the warm-up leaving Cavalieri to head the field directly in front of the only other two drivers in with a shout of the title, Maifield and Kyosho’s Jared Tebo.  Running as a freight train, Tebo broke on his 10th lap leaving the Ryans to go at for the overall win.  Pushing Cavalieri to the limit, Maifield also showed great patience as he ran right on the back of his fellow American’s B4.1.  The Champion elect was given a vital break on the penultimate lap when Maifield had a bad landing and took the win by 1.4 seconds with TLR’s Dustin Evans third for the round.

The 11th 2WD World title for Associated Cavalieri said the victory was a huge team effort and the result of a lot of pre-event preparations and finishing 1-2 on the podium was a great way of thanking everyone involved.  Saying that he thought he would have taken the 2WD title before the 4WD crown which he won in 2003 & 2005 this was the one title he really wanted.  Happy to qualify second on the grid he said this played a role today as it forced him to push harder than he would have if he had of been Top Qualifier.

Maifield said he did everything he could as a driver and it was an emotional day but he was happy for his team-mate and Associated whose cars made up half the grid in the main event. Saying if he was ever to win a World title he would like it to be in electric, he said he has just got to let the race happen and today it didn’t work out for him but he could be proud of being part of an AE 1-2.

Despite his non finish in A-Main 3 Tebo completed the podium.  The winner of the opening final from fourth on the grid, the 2007 4WD Champion said he lacked consistency and the result today was were each of the drivers deserved to finish.  Coming here with a new much modified RB5 chassis, Tebo said he was pleased they were competitive and in the hunt throughout.  The American who TQ’d two rounds of qualifying said one of the main problems was his search for perfection which at times made him change his set-up when he should have just focused on driving it.

Missing out on the podium, Losi’s Evans said he could not be disappointed at finishing his first Worlds in fourth.  Coming to Finland with high hopes for the new TLR22 and in search of their first 2WD title in 10 years the friendly American said it was a pity about the opening two mains as he really felt his car was good enough for a podium.

Pulling off a stunning drive in the second A-Main to finish the leg 3rd, Team Durango have got to be pleased with Joern Neumann for taking their prototype DEX210 to fifth overall. Starting from 9th on the grid this is the German’s second time to put a Gerd Strenge designed prototype in the Worlds final on its debut having made the 4WD World Final in Japan in 2007.

Neil Cragg, who like Cavalieri won his 2WD World title starting from second on the grid, ended the event 6th in what was a very up and down day for the 28-year-old British ace.  The high of securing the Top Qualifier honour this morning with a great final qualifying run was short lived with three finals he will want to forget.

One of the stars of these championships Dakotah Phend is now officially the 7th best 2WD buggy driver in the world which is no mean feat for a 14-year-old on his debut.  Behind the talented American the World’s Top 10 was completed by Naoto Matsukura,  Lee Martin and Peter Pinisch.

With the 2WD World Championship in the bag and Ryan Cavalieri joining the prestigious list of champions the other drivers have little time to reflect on what could have been as Friday sees the start of the 4WD event.  Tomorrow the organisers, who have put on the best World Championship the sport has seen, and are getting just recognition for their efforts, will change the layout of the track in preparation for what is expected to be a more fiercely fought contest.  Our coverage which is being supported by Team Durango, LRP, Speed Passion and Team C, will resume Friday with updates throughout the practice day.

Full results can be found here.

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Cavalieri takes Leg 2

Ryan Cavalieri has won the second A-Main of the IFMAR 2WD Electric Buggy World Championship meaning the 2011 World Champion will be decided in the third and final race of the day here in Vaasa, Finland.  The former 4WD World Champion took the win ahead of Associated team-mate Ryan Maifield after getting by Top Qualifier Neil Cragg who made a mistake over the big double.  Once in front the multiple US Champion was never really threatened putting him in prime position to lift his first 2wd World title later today. 2005 Champion Cragg finished the 5-minute encounter a distant 6th ending the British driver’s chances of retaking the title.

The winner of the opening leg of the finals, Kyosho’s Jared Tebo saw any chance of a repeat performance end when all but the top three starters got tangled up on the opening lap.  The American made a good recovery but battling for fourth with Cragg the pair came together on the final lap allowing Evans to get through demoting him to fifth and Cragg to sixth. The drive of the race came from Joern Neumann who finished 3rd, the Team Durango driver having started second last on the grid.

Going into the final race of what has been a superbly run World Championships only one thing is sure and that is that the World title is going back to the US for the first time since 2003 when Billy Easton took the win on home soil. What needs to be decided is whether its Cavalieri, Maifield or Tebo who is going to stand on the top step of the podium.

Full results can be found here.

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Tebo wins opening final

Jared Tebo has won the opening leg of the A-Main at the 2WD Electric Buggy World Championship.  Starting from fourth on the grid the Kyosho driver took a convincing win over the Associated’s of Ryan Cavalieri and Top Qualifier Neil Cragg.  Running only the seventh fastest lap time of the race, the American proved speed was not the key to success at the Vaasa track as he benefited from mistakes early on by Cavalieri and Maifield before pulling off a very nice pass on Cragg for the lead.

Running a clean race, Tebo said afterwards he just listened to his pre-race notes one of which was to not have a marshal touch his car.  Once he hit the front the American said the pressure was on the chasing pack and he felt really good allowing him to open up a comfortable gap.  Backing right off on the last lap he still managed a 1.4 second winning margin.

Cavalieri, who finished in the same position he started, said it was a decent race but the double single in front of the drivers stand caused him some problems.  Comfortable with his B4.1 on every other part of the track he said for some reason in the final it flew differently every time over the front section jump leading to a few moments for him.

The only driver in the final to have held the World title before, Cragg had an up and down race eventually finishing third almost a second off team-mate Cavalieri.  Afterwards the softly spoken British ace admitted that ‘maybe’ his nerves got the better of him.

Finishing fourth, 5 seconds down on Cragg, Dustin Evans was disappointed with the result after a coming together with Ryan Maifield ended his chances of a strong finish.  Not wanting to go into too much detail, Evans said about the incident that ‘it is was it is’ but it was ‘unfortunate to get taken out when running in the freight train for the race win’.  Maifield, who set the fastest lap of the final, felt it was a racing incident caused by the pair touching wheels and was clearly upset by the decision of IFMAR officials to make him wait which let four cars passed.  In the end the American, who started 3rd, finished 5th.

Starting from ninth on the grid Team Durango’s Joern Neumann completed the Top 6 a massive 9 seconds ahead of the Tamiya of Lee Martin who had a terrrible first run.

Full results can be found here.

View our event image gallery here.