Matsukura blitzes rivals in Super Pole

Naoto Matsukura effectively blitzed his rivals in Super Pole needing just three laps to set the fastest lap and book his direct starting position in the final alongside Infinity team-mate and Top Qualifier Dario Balestri.  Only the second time Super Pole has been held at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships, the 2nd through 5th placed qualifiers had the opportunity to avoid racing in the Semi Finals with the process comprising of a 3-minute warm up following by 6-timed laps of which each drivers fastest was counted.  With three of the drivers participants of Super Pole in France two years ago, first up was Jesse Davis with his best attempt a 14.640.  Next to go was Dominic Greiner who was making his first 1:8 Super Pole. Timing issues however meant his run was restarted and after much deliberation between officials on how he could continue the run he was forced to start his timed run from the pit lane with just a single warm-up lap.  Despite the disruption he improved on Davis’ time by 1/10th of second.  Qualifying third overall, next up was Simon Kurzbuch who pushed Greiner off the top spot by 0.003 of a second.  Last to go and knowing what he needed to do, Matsukura duly delivered a 14.449 lap to go quicker than Kurzbuch by 0.084.

Reacting to his Super Pole win, Matsukura said, ‘In the last qualifying round my engine was rich but we kept that engine and made adjustments in the warm-up.  After the first lap I knew I had the car & engine to do the lap I needed’.  Happy at maintaining his 100% appearance in nitro onroad World finals, this being only his third attempt and his third time qualifying into the final, the reigning 1:10 World Champion said, ‘Everything looks good for the final but 1-hour is a long time so lets see.  I remember the battery from 2-years ago.  I will make sure to fully charge’.  Leading the final in Monteux he would crash out after his receiver battery died.

Having also missed out on the Super Pole to Matsukura last time, Kurzbuch said, ‘the car was now pushing a bit but I tried my best and it was not enough so it was the same outcome as 2-years ago’.  Looking to tomorrow’s Semi Finals for which he will start on pole, the Shepherd driver said, ‘for the finals the car is OK for the best lap now it was not enough but we know what we need to do in our Semi’.

‘I don’t know if this is fair.  I had to come in 3 times and then the last time I come in I get just one lap before my timed laps’, was Greiner’s reaction after his Super Pole run.  Not sure what the timing issue was that forced his run to be stopped, the Serpent driver continued, ‘The others had more time to get into a flow but my flow and concentration was broken because of the problem’.  Now set to start on pole for the first of the Semi Finals, he added, ‘When I thought I was on my timed laps, I thought the first of them was my best one’.

Speaking about his 6-laps, Davis said, ‘the result was sort of what I expected’.  The Infinity driver added, ‘we changed the engine and it was not better so we’ll take that back out and put in the other one for the Semi Finals.  We should be alright again in the Semi’.

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Balestri to defend World title as Top Qualifier

Dario Balestri will defend his 1:8 Onroad World Championship title as the Top Qualifier for tomorrow’s final at Steel City RC Speedway in California.  The Infinity driver secured his fourth consecutive World Championship TQ when he topped the sixth & final round of qualifying ahead of Simon Kurzbuch and Dominic Greiner.  With the first five qualifiers seeing 4 different drivers post TQ run, the final qualifying was a four way shoot out. Running in the second fastest heat Greiner did all he could to set the provisional TQ time while the other three contenders, Balestri, Naoto Matsukura and Kurzbuch set off in reverse order in the top heat.  The first to post a second TQ run when he topped the morning’s Q5, Matsukura would unfortunately crash out at two and half minutes, leaving the battle between Balestri and Kurzbuch, their predicted pace up on the time set by Greiner.  In the end Balestri had it under control finishing with 4/10ths on Kurzbuch. Overall Matsukura qualified 2nd followed by Kurzbuch, Greiner and Jesse Davis.

‘The last one was the best one because finally I start behind Naoto. The one in front always has more pressure’, was Balestri’s reaction to the final qualifier.  The Italian added, ‘I didn’t want the battle to end with Naoto mistake but even when he went out I could not take it easy because if Simon would win he would have the TQ so I had to push to the end for sure’.  With his place in the final secured, looking to the 1-hour race he said, ‘We have a perfect car for the race.  It’s super balanced and consistent on the lap times so we just need to see which temperature we will have and we can adjust the balance for that. I am looking forward to the final’.

Explaining his mistake, Matsukura said, ‘the engine was a little rich, I had no power, so I pushed hard and it caused me to traction roll’.  Winner of Super Pole at the last 1:8 World Championships when he made his nitro racing debut, the Japanese ace said, ‘For Super Pole I will go 100% but it is going to be super close.  Dominic and Simon can make good laps and also Jesse.  I will do my best and I like the single lap challenge’.

‘We gave everything I would say’, was how Kurzbuch summed up Q6.  The Shepherd driver continued, ‘Overall 3rd we are third now which is a good result.  Twice we were super close to Dario but he was just a bit quicker so he deserves this pole. Now the next challenge for us is Super Pole’. On contesting Super Pole, the 2015 Champion said, ‘In the last round the car was really good so we will go with it the same for Super Pole.  I cant say I like Super Pole because it means we missed the TQ but the passed two years I have experience of it and I will be pushing for a good outcome for our side’.

On his final qualifying attempt, Greiner said, ‘the engine was better but my driving was not perfect. The car was fast’.  He continued, ‘I am not a super pole driver. I am not so good on single laps but of course I will try my best’.  Almost conceding he will be lining up in the Semi Finals the Serpent driver concluded, ‘for the Semi we have a good car so everything should be fine’.

The final of the four Super Pole contenders, qualifying 5th overall, Davis said, ‘still we have good final’s pace but we just couldn’t find that 1-second we needed for the TQ pace’.  Making Super Pole last time out in France, the Australian said, ‘For Super Pole we will change the engine. Normally over one lap I can do something but here on this track I don’t think it’s going to be easy for me to do something over the 6-laps but I know we have a good Semi car. It’s easy to drive and consistent’.

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Matsukura first to TQ for a second time at 1:8 Worlds

After an opening day of qualifying at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships yesterday that produced four different TQ drivers, this morning Naoto Matuskura became the first driver to go fastest for a second time. Having TQ’d Q1 in cool morning conditions, the Infinity driver repeated the result on what is again a cold morning at Steel City RC Speedway.  Pursuing top seed and team-mate Dario Balestri, a slight mistake from the Italian in the final minute of 4-minute run was enough for Matsukura to move to the top where he would stay to the end.  Finishing 9/10ths ahead of Balestri who held on for another P2, the Q5 result means the honour of Top Qualifier at the 22nd running of Championship is looking like a two horse race between the defending Champion Balestri and the reigning 1:10 Champion Matsukura, although former champions Simon Kurzbuch and Dominic Greiner still have a chance.  For the round, Greiner set the third fastest time followed by JJ Wang, Jesse Davis and Kurzbuch.

Summing up his TQ run, which was just 2/100ths off the quickest TQ time set by Balestri in Q4, Matsukura said, ‘my car was pretty good but we changed engine for today and it was very good.  I almost traction rolled but I wont change anything on the car as it will be more hot so the traction should be lower’.  He continued, ‘Dario had a little bit of a mistake so I can get the TQ.  Without (the mistake) I think I would be 0.5 off so I think we need to work on the bottom end of the engine tuning’.

Commenting on his run, Balestri said, ‘I just made a small mistake and it was finished’.  Securing the overall TQ on the way to his World title in France two years ago, he continued, ‘Naoto always start behind me so there is a lot of pressure but it is OK.  We have one more to go’.

Greiner described his performance in the penultimate qualifier as ‘so so’.  The Serpent driver explained, ‘the engine got lean and more lean in the run so at the end I had no power.  It was the same yesterday so I think we will change the engine for the last one.  The car was pretty good and I think the track will be better so we change nothing just the engine’.

A driver impressing a lot of people with his pace and consistency throughout qualifying, Wang said, ‘I guess it was another solid run.  It was not quite enough to fight with the guys at the front and I had a bobble at the end which cost me a few tenths’.  Looking to the final qualifier, the Mugen driver said, ‘I will do some calculations and see what I need to do in the last one but I’m going for making the Super Pole’.

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