Tebo the early benchmark at Yatabe

Jared Tebo continues to be the early benchmark at the 1:10 Offroad World Championships in Japan with the defending champion laying down the pace with three rounds of practice completed at the Yatabe Arena.  Both in terms of fastest lap time and 3-consecutive laps, the Kyosho driver is distinctly faster than his rivals with team-mate Naoto Matsukura closest on consistency almost a full second off.  A driver who didn’t attend the Warm-up Race and a novice on astro turf, TLR’s Dakotah Phend is third fastest followed by former champions Ryan Cavalieri and Neil Cragg.

‘All right so far’ was Tebo’s response to how practice has been going, the American adding ‘the turf’ has a more ‘normal feeling now’ compared with the opening two rounds.  Changing to a ‘completely different car’ for FP3, he said it felt good as proven by his fastest lap 2/10ths quicker than that of the second fastest lap time which was set by Phend.  Despite the speed, for the final free practice he will change back to his other car on which he will make a minor set-up change.  As one of the few drivers to like the washboard after racers got their first taste of the track this morning, he said both his cars were ‘really awesome’ over the five rubber strips.

Stiffening up his Kyosho after the first practice, Matsukura said while better he still has issues with the whoops section.  The multiple 1:12 World Champion, now also has the issue of his car now having too much rear traction which is creating understeer.  Declaring he ‘need(s) to work on the set-up’, he added that with his car ‘different to both of Tebo’s cars’, he said he needs to think of a solution for himself.

Describing the track as ‘fun to drive’, Phend said he was adjusting both his car and himself to the track.  Having prepared for the event by running on a rubber type surface track back in the US so as to prepare for the traction level and corner speeds, he said while this helped he said the astro turf is a little different. Stilling working on perfecting his lines he said the car is handling good and he can drive it as is but for the final free practice will try to make it easier to drive in case the traction keeps coming up.

Cavalieri declared his third practice as ‘by far his best run yet’ saying he was ‘now driving with a lot more consistency’.   Making ‘1 or 2 mistakes’ he said he was pretty much working on his driving with changes made after the 2nd run leaving his modified B5M feeling ‘pretty darn good’.  Commenting on the washboard, the 2011 Champion feels he has a ‘steady line’ for the section and is ‘getting through it pretty quick’.

Setting the fifth fastest time, Cragg said he ‘didn’t drive too good the last one. I drove too hard’.  Making an adjustment to his brake he said while it felt better it was not as fast and he will go back to the previous setting.  Other than this he said the car is good and his aim was just to try & stay clean adding ‘there are lots of crashes out there and clean runs win’.

Seventh fastest behind Japanese driver Yusuke Sugiura, Martin Bayer described his pace as ‘Ok’ but added he doesn’t feel really comfortable yet.  Having trouble with the 180 corners, the factory Xray driver is encouraged by his XB2 over the whoops, feeling it is one of the best through that section.  Having watched the fastest heat groupings, in which drivers are cutting corners more over the jumps, the Czech ace said there is a good chunk of time to be made from doing the same.

Currently 8th fastest, Ryan Maifield described things as being ‘not bad’ although he did lose valuable track time after breaking in P3.  Crashing in the blind spot at the tabletop, he said the marshal didn’t see his TLR so he ‘gassed it’ causing it to break.  This aside he said the car is getting better and the surface is also getting more consistent adding the track is ‘still going to be gnarly when racing gets started’.

With the Americans appearing to have no issues with adapting to what is seen as a track that should suit the Europeans, European Champion Lee Martin is only 15th fastest.  The Yokomo driver said he is ‘struggling a little’. Feeling he just hasn’t ‘clicked in yet’ he said they ‘still haven’t found the optimum set-up or the optimum driver’.

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Drivers give first impressions of Worlds track

Drivers got their first taste of the 1:10 Offroad World Championship’s contentious astro turf track this morning at the Yatabe Arena with the overall layout getting a positive reaction however the track’s washboard section has been widely branded as ‘a stupid’ feature.  A completely new track build to that used for the warm-up and having had no running drivers reported the astro turf needs more time to get a groove however in terms of outright 2WD lap times it was the defending champion Jared Tebo who set the pace from former champions Neil Cragg and Ryan Cavalieri.  Over 3-consecutive laps it was Cragg who laid down the early pace ahead of Japanese star Kohta Akimoto.

A driver whose extensive preparation for the event hasn’t gone unnoticed, Tebo’s first reaction to the track was that ‘the layout is faster than it first looks’.  Describing the ‘turf’ as ‘weird’, the Kyosho/Orion star put this down to the different sections of the green astro turf having been ‘laid backwards’.  Overall liking the layout to drive, the American did add that it was going to make for ‘difficult racing’.  One of the few drivers to like the five section rubber strips, describing it as ‘pretty cool’, he said ‘at least its one section that can offer mistakes’.  Tebo’s Kyosho team-mate Naoto Matsukura, who is being heavily tipped for success in 4WD later in the week, the Japanese driver posted the fourth fastest lap time but was lacking any sort of consistency saying his car was ‘maximum soft’ and had too much roll.

2005 World Champion Cragg was ‘pretty happy’ with his opening practice saying he felt ‘pretty comfortable’ so it was a ‘thumbs up’ start to proceedings.  Asked about the layout, the Associated driver replied ‘it is what it is but at least it has plenty of features’.  The British driver added ‘I’m not sure about the ripples’ but felt he did ‘better than (he) thought’ through the section when it ‘caught a few others out’.

Team-mate Cavalieri said ‘everything is fun except for the black strips’.  The 2011 World Champion likes the flow of the track and said once he gets the washboard figured out it should be more enjoyable.  Commenting on his modified B5M, of which the AE are not allowing photos, the reigning US National Champion said it felt ‘pretty decent’ and the plan for the day’s four other practice runs was to ‘change one thing here and there’ as they get used to the track.

Heading the efforts of the Yokomo team, owners of Yatabe Arena, Lee Martin ran the fifth fastest lap time.  The reigning Euro Offroad Series champion, a championship run on carpet tracks, and winner of the new season’s opening round 2-weeks at the Nurburgring, the British ace is one of the 2WD title favourites.  Giving his initial thoughts on the track, he said ‘the astro is strange’ adding ‘it is not laid in sequence’.  In terms of the layout he described some of the jumps as ‘a bit odd’ pointing out the blind spot on the approach to the table table.  In terms of his car he raced his EOS car with the Warm-up set-up but the car had ‘too much punch’ and for the next practice he will switch to his ‘Worlds car’ to see how it feels.

Third fastest over 3-consecutive laps, Ryan Maifield initially responded with a silent look when asked for his thoughts on the track.  Describing the track as ‘really weird’ he said driving it felt like you had a broken servo.  The Team Losi Racing driver said this is was due to the astro having no groove yet adding he was ‘not sure how long that takes’.  Commenting on the washboard the American replied the ‘rubber things are stupid’.  Asked if they would be key to a lap, he said it was key not to crash there but the key was going to be putting clean laps together for the entire 5-minutes.

Elsewhere HB’s Canadian star and reigning 1:8 World Champion Ty Tessmann, who ran a Top 10 lap time, described the track as ‘pretty fun’.  Running a pre-production version of HB’s upcoming 2WD kit release he said he has ‘just moved around weight for astro’. Pointing out that unlike most other manufacturers they don’t have an ‘astro turf chassis’ plate, he said the track was a little slower than he thought it would be and so he will make changes for this for the next practice.

Another of the European’s expected to feature strongly, Joern Neumann ran the 7th fastest time over 3-consecutive laps.  The Serpent driver described the track as ‘tricky for everybody’, adding the grip is different with some sections having very high grip while others he is struggling for steering.  Describing the washboard as ‘stupid’, the German continued ‘for what, there is no need for this’.

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