Video – 4wd Free Practice Rd2

4WD gets underway at World Championships

With drivers having had a day off to recover from their 2WD exploits it is back to business this morning at the Yatabe Arena as the 4WD World Championships got underway with the first round of practice.  With the astro turf track undergoing two changes from that used in 2WD it was Xray’s touring car ace Bruno Coelho who found the best early footing in the high traction conditions as he lay down the early pace over 3-laps.  For defending champion Steven Hartson it was not the start the Associated driver was looking for with the American set to change car for the second practice.

In what is only his second international 1:10 Offroad event, the Portuguese driver making his debut at the recent Euro Offroad Series season opener in Germany and impressing, Coelho said it was ‘a super good start’.  With team-mate Martin Bayer posting the third fastest time, the current European Nitro Touring Car Champion said his XB4 was good but like everyone else they need to improve it for the high traction levels.  Asked about the track he said the new layout now had ‘two blind spots, but every time I mention blind spots people say its just offroad’ jokingly adding ‘offroad must be for blind people’.  Asked about the rubber strips which have been moved to run around the near left corner leading to the chicane before the straight, he feels now everyone has to do it the same ‘one, one, one’ approach and so there is ‘no big performance advantage like in 2WD’.

Newly crowned 2WD World Champion Spencer Rivkin was in the same frame of mind that helped him in 2WD saying ‘I was just getting the feel for the car and track’.  Asked what he thought of the track changes, the large roll over having been moved from in front of the drivers stand to the centre section after the table top, the 16-year-old replied ‘its pretty cool’ adding he likes the strips as ‘you need to be patient in there’, patience having paid off for the new Associated star in 2WD.  Commenting on his car he said ‘it wasn’t bad but we’ll make it better for the next one’.

Unfortunately for defending champion Hartson, he didn’t share the same feeling for his car describing it as ‘no good’.  The Californian said it ‘wasn’t what he hoped for’ and he will now switch to his second car which is ‘a standard car from back home’.  Describing the track as ‘fun and flowing’ he said ‘just the whoops felt worse to me as they really upset the car’.

The driver with the most titles to his credit, three time 4WD Champion Ryan Cavalieri described the track as ‘pretty fun’ and he ‘like(s) the changes’ adding that it was ‘a lot better than (he) was expecting’.  Overall a track that is ‘easier in some areas’ he said it is ‘not as risky as the 2WD layout’.  In terms of his car, the Associated driver said for a first run it was ‘not too bad’.

Top Qualifier at the last World Championship, Joern Nuemann response to his first practice was ‘its very edgy’.  The Serpent driver said the new layout was ‘OK,(and) better than expected’.  Looking to make his car more stable he plans to remove another set of pins from the handout Schumacher Wide Stagger Rib front tyre.

Top Qualifier in 2WD earlier in the week, Jared Tebo reaction to the track was ‘really grippy’.  Finishing runner-up to Rivkin in 2WD, the Kyosho star said, ‘the 2WD track was more fun but its alright’.  On the moving the strips, where he took an early advantage over his rivals in 2WD, to the corner he said ‘they’re ok, but you need to be patient with them’.  Recording the 7th fastest 3-laps the 2007 4WD Champion said ‘it was pretty edgy’.

TLR’s Ryan Maifield said his 22-4 was really easy to driver but added the end of straight was an area that he needed to work on.  Describing 4WD as being ‘more sensitive to wheel inputs at speed’ he said ‘you need to be careful how you send it in end at the end of the straight’.  Describing it as a positive opening run, the Arizona driver who was the only TLR to make the 2WD final, said it was a ‘surprisingly better start than 4WD adding the 2WD track time had helped’ adding ‘I wish they ran 4WD first honestly’.

Current Euro Offroad Series Champion Lee Martin had similar views about his opening 4WD practice.  A driver who was one of the favourites for 2WD but struggled, the Yokomo driver said ‘I think we are a little better than 2WD’ adding ‘its a more positive start, the car feels less alien’.  Feeling the diffs in his YZ-4 took a while to come in he said when they did ‘it was not too bad after but (he) didn’t get any clean laps’.  For the second practice the British driver said they still had to get things right with the front tyre in terms of cutting pins and gluing.  On the track changes he said the ‘rubber strips are still annoying’ but continuing ‘they are less critical’.

Having never featured in 2WD, Canadian star Ty Tessmann was much more upbeat saying ‘It’s a lot closer, I’m not so far of the pace so I’m happier with that’.  The HB driver said the track is ‘more fun than 2WD’ and the whoops are ‘not nearly as difficult’.  More positive about 4WD he said he needed to work on the roll over jump as he was flat landing it in the first practice.

View our full event image gallery here.

Dreams do come true – Rivkin is World Champion

His team-manager Brent Theilke has been using the hashtag #dreamsdocometrue to highlight the progress of his young driver’s first World Championship and the use of wording couldn’t have turned out to be more true with Spencer Rikvin your new 1:10 2WD World Champion. The 16-year-old claimed the sport’s greatest accolade by backing up his A2 win with an even more impressive drive to victory in A3.  Going up for the title against two of the sport’s biggest names, Jared Tebo and Ryan Cavalieri, what was special about the performance in Japan was how the new star of offroad dealt with the pressure of the occasion like water off a duck’s back.  Behind Rivkin, outgoing champion Tebo would claim second overall with Cavalieri completing the podium at the Yatabe Arena.

‘I’m really speechless’ said a tearful Rivkin.  ‘I stayed patient behind Jared justing following him around.  He had a crash and I never looked back’. Asked what was going through his mind as he completed his final few laps, he said ‘I didn’t feel any pressure, I was just having fun.  It might mean more because it has Worlds in the title but to me it was just like driving any other race’.  Thanking his dad Ronnie, Thielke, and Associated designer Kody Numedahl for their support at the event, he said there were two people without whom he wouldn’t have ever got the opportunity to have reached the level where attending a World Championship would be possible those being Humpty Helms and Ryan Maifeld.  ‘Without Humpty I wouldn’t be racing and without Maifield I wouldn’t have got to take it to the next level’.  Receiving congratulations on his win from Maifield, the offroad ace having mentored the youngster, Rikvin was very emotional saying ‘I couldn’t have done it without you Ryan’.

Finishing A3 third but getting second overall on tie break thanks to his A1 win, Tebo said, ‘It was going good, I just made two very costly mistakes. I did my best’. This statement backed up by him being the only driver to run a 16-second lap over the three mains. Keeping his Kyosho at the front for 9 laps in A3 before Rivkin took the lead, the Top Qualifier said ‘I’m disappointed not to win but I got the TQ and 2nd and I can be proud of that, I left it all out on the track’. He added ‘At the Warm-up I only qualified 20th so we made a lot of progress and I’m excited about getting 4WD started – the 4WD Worlds starting on Thursday.

Saying he was ‘surprised it ended up an all American podium considering our performances at the EOS were pretty shit’, the Euro Offroad Series running carpet tracks similar to that used for this Worlds, it was clear from Cavalieri he was here for more than a podium finish.  A former 2WD champion and 3-time 4WD World Champion, and proud of the fact he won his first title at a younger age than team-mate Rivkin, he said in A3 ‘I made another great start but couldn’t get into the groove’.  Eventually finding his rhythm, the Team Associated driver said by then he ‘couldn’t close the gap’.  Asked for his thoughts going into 4WD he replied ‘we’ll regroup and start over’ adding we done a lot of work with the car ‘so lets see what we get’.

Outside of the podium Neil Cragg would get fourth in A3 to finish in that position overall ahead of fellow European Joern Neumann.  The only TLR in the final, Ryan Maifield would, after a strong showing in A1, DNF A3 leaving the 2013 podium finisher to complete the overall Top 6 winning out on a tie break with Xray’s Martin Bayer.  The other of the Chico podium finisher, where he finished runner-up, Lee Martin wouldn’t even register a lap in A3 breaking on the opening lap leaving the European Champion to finish 10th overall behind Kody Numedahl and Michal Orlowski.

View the complete final overall standings here (PDF).

View our full event image gallery here.