Tebo to defend World title as Top Qualifier

Jared Tebo will defend his 2WD Offroad World title from the front of the grid after a dramatic finish in the final round of qualifying at the Yatabe Arena.  Going into the fifth qualifier only Tebo and Neil Cragg were left in contention for the overall TQ and with both making mistakes it looked like star of the event Spencer Rivkin would post his first TQ run.  Such a result would have led to a double celebration at Team Associated as it would mean 2005 champion Cragg with take the overall TQ due to previous results.  It was not to be however as Rivkin would have issues passing Naoto Matsukura with the resulting rollover enough to allow a recovering Tebo snatch the round and a second consecutive overall World’s TQ.  Lining up behind the Kyosho driver will be a trio of Associateds with 2011 Top Qualifier Cragg 2nd, Rivkin an very impressive 3rd and Ryan Cavalieri fourth.  Interestingly for an event that created a lot debate when it was announced it would be run on astro turf, with home advantage one of the big arguments against the artificial surface, no Japanese driver has made the final, most notably Naoto Matsukura, with the 10 car line up a split of five from offroad racing powerhouse nation American and five Europeans.

Commenting on his final qualifier, Tebo said ‘I was really nervous at the start and had one mistake which was a decent size crash’. Having made changes to his RZ6 for the morning’s practice run going in the wrong direction he said based off this he was able to better the car for the final qualifier.  With ‘the rear end a lot more stable’, he said after the crash he ‘got the head down’ and admitting to benefiting from Rivkin’s late incident he added it was ‘nice to finish out with a TQ’.  Happy with his ‘charge’ the American said it showed his ‘mental side is strong’.  Asked about the finals, which take place later today, he replied ‘I like starting up front, I can set the pace and do my job. I just need to keep it rubber side down and the pressure is on them ‘.

Asked about his final qualifier, Cragg replied, ‘I just had one crash in front of the drivers start but it was enough’.   The British driver continued, ‘lining up second is probably not the worst spot on this track’.  Asked about the finals he predicted ‘chaos’ adding his approach would be to ‘race close and clean and not crash and see how we go’.

A driver who  admits himself his World Championship is ‘exceeding all expectations’, Rivkin, despite Matsukura costing him a TQ run, described Q5 as ‘amazing, I was in the lead until the last 3-laps’.  Commenting on the incident, the 16-year-old, who since being signed as the driver to fill the void following the departure of his TLR bound mentor Ryan Maifield has taken on a impressive level of professionalism, said ‘I could have been a lot worse’.  He continued, ‘I am not mad at losing the TQ as second is still a great result’.  A driver who has consistency drilled into his approach for this event, the Arizona driver said its worked well so far and he has no plans to change it for the finals.

Despite a roll over on his second lap Cavalieri felt he ‘drove really good’ adding the round was also ‘by far the best (his) car  has been’ highlighted by him achieving his best overall time of the 5 qualifiers.  Asked about the final, the current US National Champion replied ‘I think I’m am about were I need to be to contend for the title’.  Commenting on his fourth place starting position he said ‘there are two guys who really want it and a new guy starting ahead of me so the plan is to sit back, wait and be patient’.

Lining up fifth on the grid will be reigning European Champion Lee Martin.  The Yokomo driver said a bigger front wing and different springs for Q5 made his YZ-2 better in some sections but it jumped a little awkward.  Feeling a mistake by Xray’s Martin Bayer, the Czech driver also making the A-Main in 9th position, helped him as he could do his own thing, the Brit said 5th for the round was not bad.  Asked about his plan for the final, the Vice World Champion gave a very simple reply ‘wait for the drama to happen’.

Putting his Serpent sixth on the grid, Joern Neumann is another who plans to wait for mistakes up front.  The German saying ‘everything can happen. For sure one final they will crash.’  Making reference to the last World Championship when Cragg went from 10th on the grid to finish second in A1, he said ‘they crash, maybe I’m lucky too’.  Asked about his car he replied, ‘Its good, easy to drive and the lap times are there’.  Behind Neumann the grid is completed by Maifield, the America getting a podium from 6th on the grid in Chico, young Schumacher star Michal Orlowski, Bayer and Associated designer Kody Numedahl, the B5M the best represented car in the final.

View the complete final overall standings after 5 rounds here (PDF).

View our full event image gallery here.

Video – 2wd Qualifying Rd5

Cragg & Tebo to go head to head for Worlds TQ

Neil Cragg and Jared Tebo will go head to head in the final round of qualifying tomorrow morning for the honour of being Top Qualifier at the 1:10 2WD World Championships in Japan.  A second TQ run from Cragg in the fourth round of qualifying, when he headed an Associated 1-2 from star of the event Spencer Rivkin, sets up the dual between the former Champion and Tebo. The defending champion also took two TQ rounds from the day but a bad second & fourth qualifier means Tebo sits 3rd overnight behind Rivkin.

‘My car was dialled again but I did get lucky too’ said Cragg explaining that having landed on the cones his B5M did a forward flip before landing on its wheels.  Adding that had it landed on its roof it was ‘game over’, he said ‘we are right in it now’ so while its going be ‘pretty boring, there will be no beers tonight’.  Describing his car as ‘pretty perfect’ the Brit said the car wouldn’t be touched nor would the driver be getting a shave!

Having made a set-up change to his Kyosho, Tebo said ‘maybe it was the change that got me out of my groove’.  Suffering a 3-second mistake on the second lap at the double after the table top, he said he struggled throughout the run on that one same section. Despite setting a new outright fastest lap, being the only driver to make 16-seconds also doing it in the previous round, for the final qualifier he plans to undo the set-up change and run the car as how it was in Q3 when he posted the fastest qualifying time of the day giving him the tie-breaker advantage should it be needed.

A driver who is turning a lot of heads on his Worlds debut, Rivkin said ‘it was good, me and Neil battling it out’.  Describing his Reedy powered B5M as ‘unreal’, the 16-year-old said he is ‘still driving on the conservative side’ but with ‘no wrecks’ thats paying off.  Despite the close battle with his team-mate, the gap only 2/10ths of a second, he said he didn’t want to push any harder as he was happy to take a second and not risk anything and end up throwing it away.  Appearing to be taking the event in his stride, that not being the case for his father, he said he remains focused on ‘consistency, consistency, consistency’.

Putting in his best performance of the day, Lee Martin would post his first Top 3 run.  One of the pre-race favourites, the reigning Vice World Champion struggled in practice but managed to open qualifying with a promising P4.  Changing his Yokomo’s set-up for Q2, the European Champion struggled.  Getting the car ‘drivable again but still not perfect’ for Q3 he said for Q4 they took the approach ‘better the devil you know’ and left the car unchanged.  Running in the second fastest heat, he felt he could have pushed harder and knowing this to end up only 1-second off was a little annoying but he was pleased the day was ‘a lot better than yesterday’.  Looking to the morning’s final qualifier he said ‘its time to tame the devil’.

Backing up his P5 from Q3 with fourth, Joern Neumann said it was a ‘very good run’ with the German managing to eliminate any mistakes.  Knowing he needs a good result to have any chance of making the A-Main, the Serpent driver said it was a safe run and he planned the same type of performance for the final round.  In terms of his car the German said he only plans to run the slipper a little tighter.

Another driver to benefit from cleaning up his driving was Associated designer Kody Numedahl.  The Warm-up Race podium finisher said he hasn’t really changed anything on his modified B5M since the first practice.  Normally happy to just target making the A-Main at the Worlds, the American said after his Warm-up performance he came into the event with more confidence targeting a Top 5 qualifying result.  Feeling his car can comfortably run Top 5 pace he said he just needs to get it around the track and get another good result in Q5.

Completing the Top 6, Ryan Cavalieri said the fourth qualifier was the best his Associated has been working, but excluding his break in Q1 it was his worst result due to him making a mistake.  Changing the rear wing for the run he said he’s wasn’t sure if the track came to the car or the wing made that big a difference but he’s very happy with the car and hopes to put it all together in the final qualifier.

View the overall standings after 4 rounds here (PDF).

View our full event image gallery here.