Cragg is 2WD Worlds Top Qualifier

2005 World Champion Neil Cragg is the Top Qualifier for this afternoon’s 2WD electric Buggy World Championships, the British ace snatching the honours from Associated team-mate Ryan Cavalieri with a TQ run in the fifth and final round of qualifying at Vaasa this morning.

The 28-year-old, who won his only World title in Italy from second on the grid, said his B4.1 just got faster every round culminating in this morning’s TQ in which he beat TLR’s Dustin Evans by 9/1000ths of a second.  Asked about the final, which will be decided over three 5-minute legs of which the best two count, the six time European Champion said he is expecting a close challenge from his two AE team-mates Cavalieri and Ryan Maifield who line up directly behind.  With all the finalists feeling driver errors are going to play a big part in the results Cragg said his focus will be on trying not to crash as he feels there are not too many places to pass.

Starting from second on the grid former 4WD World Champion Cavalieri feels he is looking good for the final as he chases his first 2WD title.  Admitting anything can happen the former US Champion said he is comfortable racing the guys around him and thinks they should be exciting finals.

Fellow American Maifield said he is pretty confident about his chances as he is very comfortable with his Reedy powered B4.1.  Starting third on the grid, the most consistent driver throughout qualifying feels the pressure is on the two ahead rather than on him.  Expecting more exciting racing than at the Warm-up Maifield feels the track layout now gives more potential for passing.

Taking two rounds of qualifying Jared Tebo starts fourth after a poor final qualifier this morning.  The Kyosho star said he did not listen to himself and changed his set-up for Q5 and the result was not good.  Reverting back to the set-up he used on both his TQ runs, the American said his modified RB5 should be fine and the race is going to come down to him running flawless 5-minute finals each time.

Lining up fifth on the grid Dustin Evans said he ‘super pumped’ going into the finals.  Having worked on his car late last night along with his engineer he said they found an issue with the diff.  Transform the feel of the TLR22 he said his run to second this morning, which was so close to a TQ run, took half the driving effort of yesterday but was way faster.  The 25-year-old who has been enjoying a really strong run of results in the build up to the Worlds believes he has a really good race car for this afternoon.

Starting from sixth on the grid Tamiya’s Lee Martin is aiming for a podium.  The current European expects everyone to make mistakes especially over the jumps but feels his Speed Passion powered TRF201 is good enough to race with those ahead of him on the grid.

Starting behind Martin is Team Yokomo’s Naoto Matsukura who still holds the fastest lap time of these championships.  Running a standard lenght B4.1, the Japanese Champion says he is going for the win.  The current back to back 1:12 World Champion the 17-year-old is no stranger to success and is sure be spectacular in the finals.

One of the stars of the past three days is American Dakota Phend. His first electric buggy World Championship the 14-year-old will start 8th on the grid for Team Losi Racing. Totally unfazed by this impressive performance he said his aim is just to get good starts and stay out of trouble.  Working with former two time 4WD World Champion Jukka Stennari, Phend said making the final was down to the Finn, who is now based in California where he is responsible for product developed at Losi.

Making their 2WD Worlds debut Team Durango have made the main event thanks to German Champion Joern Neumann.  Running the prototype DEX210 he said he is really happy for the team and hopes he can finish well up in the finals.

Completing the grid here in Vaasa is Austrian Peter Pinisch who brings the total number of Associated B4.1s in the final to five.  The most successful brand in the class this is no real surprise and right now the American company looks good to add an 11th World title to their role of honour.

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Tebo bounces back in Q4

After under par performances in the second and third round of heats Kyosho’s Jared Tebo bounced back to take his second TQ run of the day with a new outright fastest run in the penultimate qualifier.  The American was one of three drivers to record a 13-lap run in the final qualifier of the day topping Team Associated’s Neil Cragg by 7/10th with Ryan Maifield third fastest a further 1.6 seconds adrift.

Having TQ’d the opening round of qualifying, Tebo said changes to the drag brake and droop on his Orion powered RB5 for Q2 led him to change to a stiffer set-up for Q3 which left him with a buggy that was really difficult to drive.  Reverting back to his Q1 set-up for Round 4 he said things felt good again and the lesson from the day is he needs to learn to leave it as is and stop over thinking about how he might be able to improve the buggy.

Although he took third in the second qualifier Cragg still considering himself to be off the pace but in Q4 the former Champion said he felt competitive.  Really happy with the set-up on his B4.1 he said he was able to push harder and that was reflected in his lap times coming tumbling down.

AE team-mate Maifield, who set the fastest lap, was frustrated at again missing out on a TQ run. The American ace is the only driver to run in the Top 3 of all four qualifiers and feels their early running order in the morning’s final round of qualifying is going to make it very difficult to top the time sheets therefore denying him any chance of overall TQ honours.

Missing the cut for a 13 lap run Lee Martin took his Tamiya around the Vaasa track in the fourth fastest time.  The European Champion said the TRF201 felt really good with his earlier understeer dialled out.  Feeling the car can now take more power he plans make changes to his Speed Passion electrics but will wait to see how conditions are in the morning before deciding whether a motor change is required or just an adjustment to his speedo settings.

Having made a change to his Losi TLR22 for Q3, which he said did not suit his driving style, up & coming US talent Dakotah Phend went back to his previous set up and was again the fastest of the Team Losi drivers. Setting the fifth fastest time and set to make the A-Main on his electric buggy World debut, the 14-year-old said he will use the morning’s final qualifier to try a small set-up change which he hopes with give him a little more traction.

‘I just choked it’ was how Ryan Cavalieri summed up his Q4 performance.  On target for a second TQ run he threw it all away in the final minute of the top heat. Trying to run too tight over the jumps he got it wrong after the big double and together with poor marshalling lost almost 6-seconds to drop to sixth fastest.

Peter Pinisch pulled off another solid run to record 7th for the round with Team Durango’s Joern Neumann, Associated’s Steven Hartson and Losi’s Dustin Evans completing the Top 10.  Fastest in Q3 Naoto Matsukura had two bad laps which left him 23rd and now the rapid Japanese driver is dependent on the final qualifier to ensure himself a place in the elusive Top 10.

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Matsukura gets it done in Q3

Qualifying for the 2WD Electric Buggy World Championship is hotting up in Finland with Naoto Matsukura becoming the third different driver in as many rounds to TQ a round.  The Team Yokomo driver laid down the first and only 13-lap run to take maximum points for Q3 ahead of Associated’s Ryan Maifield and Losi’s Dustin Evans with Q2 pace setter Ryan Cavalieri fourth.  Top qualifier in the opening round this morning Jared Tebo again failed to repeat that form setting only the 35th fastest time after a very untidy run.

Best of the European’s for the round, Austrian Peter Pinisch posted his most competitive run yet as he took his Associated to fifth ahead of American TLR driver Mike Truhe.  2005 World Champion Neil Cragg was next up in seventh being joined in the Top 10 by fellow Brits Lee Martin and Paul Bradby who recorded the 8th and 10th fastest times respectively.

One of the Legends of electric Offroad racing in the ’90s, two time 2WD World Champion Brian Kimwald took his Associated to the ninth in Q3 which puts him provisionally on the grid for tomorrow’s all important A-Main.

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Cavalieri heads Associated 1-2-3 in Q2

Ryan Cavalieri headed a 1-2-3 for the factory Associated team as he TQ’d the second qualifer at the Worlds from Ryan Maifield and Neil Cragg as Q1 Top Qualifier Jared Tebo managed only 8th. Topping the round by a healthy 3 seconds, Cavalieri said he managed to save a few moments and overall it was a pretty clean run.  With the sun now shining over Vaasa, the American felt the track was the best its been so far and the extra grip made it a lot more fun to drive.  Happy with his Orion powered B4.1 he will leave everything as is for Q3.

Having had two costly incidents in Q1, one of which was a result of getting hit by Schumacher’s Tom Cockerill, former Champion Neil Cragg said he just focused on getting in a clean run.  Describing it as ‘nothing special’ the run was good enough for 3rd and gets the multiple 2WD European Champion’s campaign back on track. The British driver said he knows he is not the fastest but will try to keep things going for the rest of the day.

‘Better driving’ helped Team Durango’s Joern Neumann to set the fourth fastest time.  The German Champion, who is being tipped by many as a potential outside treat to an American victory on Wednesday, said he is happy with the handling of his DEX210 and the only thing he has done to the prototype buggy is refresh the shocks for Q2.

Once again Dakotah Phend was fastest of the Losi drivers setting the fifth fastest time just ahead of team-mate Dustin Evans.  Evans said the track felt ‘awesome’ in Q2 and it really suited his TLR22.  Having a moment when he hit the back of an out of shape Naoto Matsukura, which put the young Japanese driver out, the Reedy Race winner said he now has a set-up he is really comfortable with and he plans sticking with it.

After a great start to qualifying Tebo said he just couldn’t get in to a groove at the start of Q2 and ‘killed himself’ in the first few laps.  Eventually settling in to a rhythm he said his Kyosho felt good, highlighted by the fact he ran a faster lap than all ahead of him.  Fastest lap for the round, and so far the event, went to Matsukura who managed a rocket fast 23.925.

Also in the Top 10 Lee Martin took his Tamiya to the 7th fastest time while young Swedish talent David Ronnefalk took his Kyosho to 9th half a second up on 10th fastest man Mike Truhe.

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