Phend tops final practice from Ongaro

Practice is complete at the IFMAR 1:10 Offroad World Championships with Dakotah Phend capping off controlled practice with the fastest time from 1:8 Buggy World Champion Davide Ongaro.  After yesterday’s two controlled practice rounds determined the heat groupings for qualifying, with drivers in their new groups this morning the third & final controlled practice round determined the starting order for Q1.  Based off drivers total 5-minute run time, Phend would run 16 laps in 5:01.524 which was over 3-seconds up on Ongaro while Michal Orlowski competed the Top 3 a further 3-seconds off just ahead of Spencer Rivkin.  Finding himself demoted to Heat 13 of 14 after yesterday’s performance, defending champion Bruno Coelho did not have a good 5-minutes run this morning but the Xray driver would post the 4th fastest for 3-consecutive laps, lacking half a second over the quickest time set by Ongaro.

‘A good way to start the day off’, was Phend’s reaction to being Top Seed going into qualifying.  The factory Team Losi Racing driver continued, ‘It was a good solid run and we’ll try to keep it rolling today’.  Asked about track conditions, he said, ‘I expect the track to be pretty similar to yesterday so we’ll keep everything the same for the first one’.

Ongaro was pleased with his form in the final practice describing the run as ‘really good’.  The Team Associated driver was on used tyres for the run and feels they didn’t offer the same grip as before.  Also making one mistake over the 5-minutes, he was still only 3-seconds off Phend leading him to say ‘I think I can run together with him in qualifying’.

Asked about his run, reigning European Champion Orlowski said, “I was trying stuff for qualifying and one of the things we changed was not good but my 5-minute time was not bad’.  For the first of the 4 qualifiers on today’s schedule, the Schumacher driver will go back to his previous set-up adding he is ‘confident for Q1’.

Commenting on his final practice Rivkin said, ‘It was pretty good but we are off to the races now with Q1’.  He continued, ‘It was nice to get the run in this morning.  The track was a little slippery as expected but I was happy with my consistency apart from a touch with the pipe’.  The Arizona driver, for whom Hobby Action is his home track, believes tyre strategy is going to come into play in qualifying with drivers having been saving tyres for racing.  This morning the tyre allocation rule was updated with racers informed they have been reduced to a maximum of four sets of tyres, one less than was implement yesterday after a shortage of tyres delayed the start to the event.

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Phend heads seeding at 4WD World Championship

Dakotah Phend heads seeding at the 4WD Offroad World Championship at the end of the opening day of action in Arizona.  The TLR driver’s opening time remaining the quickest as 1:8 Buggy World Champion Davide Ongaro set the pace in the second seeding to move up to P2 with one more seeding round in the morning.  Despite improving on his second fastest time set in the opening round, Broc Champlin dropped to P3 while Dustin Evans enjoyed a good run to jump up to fourth.  Another to make a big improvement was Joern Neumann whose Sworkz means four different manufacturers in the current Top 5 seeding.  For defending Champion Bruno Coelho it was a tough first day at Hobby Action with the Xray driver currently set to line up in the second fastest heat for qualifying and in need a good final practice in the morning.

Summing up the second seeding round with, ‘it wasn’t the best round’, Phend said, ‘I felt that might be the case going into the run.  ‘Messing around with some stuff’ on his buggy after setting the fastest 3-consecutive laps in Round 1 of seeding, a time his rivals couldn’t better in the second round, he said he will try something in the morning’s final practice to ‘see where we need to be at for qualifying’.

Asked about his improved time, which was 3/10ths off Phend’s 56.303 time, Ongaro said, ‘It took three or four laps for the new tyres to break in but after that it was good and I am feeling confident with everything’.  With the final seeding round and 4 of the 5 rounds of qualifying on tomorrow’s (Monday) timetable the Team Associated driver said, ‘I am looking forward to tomorrow. It should be good’.

Champlin found himself in bother at the start the second seeding round as he car came unbound while he was up on the driver start.  Eventually getting it working again he said the new tyres were better but given the chaos at the start he left a lot out there.  Looking to tomorrow, Champlin said he is ‘excited for qualifying’.

‘That was good but I don’t really know why’ was Evans reacting to setting the fourth fastest time.  Running new tyres in the first seeding round, the Reedy team driver said it was ‘horrible’.  Switching to another new set for his second attempt his Associated buggy was ‘dialled’.  Pleased also at managing a clean 5-minute run, he said he is driving well within himself adding ‘it is not a track you can go all out at.  You’ve got to be reserved.  The double at the end of the straight is always a challenge’.  He concluded, ‘I know I have got the pace for tomorrow’.

Knocking 1.5 seconds of his 3-lap time,  summing up the second run Neumann said, ‘the first half was not so good but after that the car was really good’.  Asked what he felt changed, the German said, ‘I didn’t warm-up the differentials that time so maybe I need to do that like before.  I think the car is good and we have made big improvements since the Warm-up Race. Now we need to see how everything is going with tyres in qualifying but I think we are in a good position’.

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Phend fastest in first seeding round

TLR’s Dakotah Phend set the fastest time of the opening round of seeding practice at the 1:10 4WD Offroad World Championship.  Running late into the evening at Hobby Action RC Raceway following the earlier delays caused by tyres,  Phend set the fastest 3-consecutive laps by half a second from Schumacher’s Broc Champlin who had set the pace over the four rounds of free practice.  Marcus Kaerup who completed the Top 3 as the fastest Team Associated driver just ahead of team-mate Davide Ongaro while pre race favourite Spencer Rivkin found himself 9th fastest just behind reigning defending champion Bruno Coelho.

Asked about his run, Phend replied, ‘the track was pretty good that one.  I made one small change and the car was better so I’m happy’.  Looking to the concluding run of Day 1 of the Championships, drivers set to put in a 14 hour plus day, Phend said he planned to leave his buggy unchanged and focus on a clean 5-minute run adding, ‘I don’t think it (the second seeding round) will be much faster so I should already have a good seeding’.

‘Really good’ was how Champlin summed up his first seeding run.  Running in group 13 of 14, he continued, ‘I have been running on the same old tyres so I am excited to try new tyres the next one.  There was only 1/2 a second between me ad Dakotah so it should be really close’.  On his buggy he said, ‘I have changed anything since the end of the third free practice run but the track is developing more.  It’s more polished and more abrasive in spots where you need more steering’.

Newly crowned 2WD and former 4WD European Champion Kaerup was pleased with his improved performance for seeding.  The Dane said he made new set-up change and the buggy was ‘perfect now’.  Asked about the changes the 15-year-old said, ‘we made a lot of little changes and they resulted in better rotation.’  Planning to leave the set-up unchanged for the second seeding round, he said ‘the driver now needs to step up his game’.

Struggling more than most with the long day after Craig Drescher woke the house they are sharing in the early hours of the morning as he gave coaching advise via a phone video link to his son’s soccer team who where playing a match back in England (which they won!),  Ongaro said things on track are ‘getting better’.  The Italian said both car and driver and improving and his plan for the next one is new tyres to break them in for tomorrow’s qualifying.  With Drescher highlight to the 1:8 World Champion a few lines where he could improve Ongaro said he’s looking forward to going to bed after a ‘long day’.

Eight fastest, Coelho found the his Xray difficult to drive in the first seeding round.  He said, ‘the last practice was good but the track conditions changed a little for seeding and our car was difficult to drive.  We had made a change to make it easier to drive but now its more difficult so maybe we need to try the opposite for the second round’.

Asked about his P9 pace, Rivkin said he was ‘tyre testing’ and had gathered ‘good info’ from the run.  Saying ‘new tyres are fast’, the Warm-up Race winner said he was now just getting his buggy charged up and ‘ready to roll’ indicating he was expecting a much improved pace in the final seeding round.

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Offroad Worlds is GO in Arizona

The IFMAR 1:10 Electric Offroad World Championships are finally underway in Arizona, USA.  With Hobby Action RC Raceway rising to the occasion of hosting the 19th running of the Championships with its brilliant presentation of the track and pits, drivers would find themselves having to wait a further 3-hours than originally scheduled for the first buggies to hit the track.  A Championship for which the slick tyres have been the big talking point it was the black rubber rings that would cause the delay.  With no limit on the number of front tyres for 4WD and an open tyre in 2WD, some drivers stocked up on the front AKA tyre leading other drivers short.  After meetings the decision was made to limit all drivers to 5 sets of front tyres.  Those who purchased more based on the no limit rule forced to return tyres for re-distribution for those in need.  While some drivers still only ended up with 3-sets, AKA are having extra tyres delivered to the track tomorrow and to ensure fairness all drivers are limited to running a maximum of three sets today.  With the first buggies taking to the green track at midday it would be Dakotah Phend, running in the 14th and top heat, who would top the timing screens over 3-consecutive laps from Ryan Maifield and Dustin Evans but with the track expected to change considerably over the next 3 rounds of practice little can be read into the times.

Summing up his first experience of the track Phend said, ‘I just drove around to get used to the track, nothing crazy as the track is going to change a ton’.  Asked his thoughts on the layout, the TLR drivers said, ‘there are a couple of sections that are pretty technical so I need to work on dialling those in’.  While Phend was fastest both on 3-consecutive laps and total time registering 14 laps, it was the Sworkz of Joern Neumann who had the outright fastest lap with a time of 19.792.

Reigning Champion Bruno Coelho would kick off his title defence with the 6th fastest time.  The Xray driver summed up the run as ‘good’ adding, ‘the first time is always weird as you want to go fast but you still need to try learn the track’.  Asked what he thought of the layout, the Portuguese driver replied, ‘It’s OK.  I won’t say I like it and I won’t say I don’t like it’.

The firm favourite to retain his 2WD title and also add a first 4WD title here at his home track, Spencer Rivkin would register the fourth fastest time.  The Team Associated driver was delighted to finally get down to the business of racing saying, ‘It’s finally started.  It’s go time’.  With many believing it will be difficult for his rivals to match his local knowledge of the unique Hobby Action dirt, Rivkin seemed surprised by the surface saying, ‘the track feels pretty different to normal but my last 7-laps were pretty good so we’ll build off that good foundation.  I have some stuff I want to try next run’.

Just ahead of Rivkin with his Associated, Reedy driver Dustin Evans said, ‘It’s nice to be finally out there after a lot of hanging around.  Myself and Spencer did buy a load of extra tyres so we didn’t have anything to do while all the sorting out was going on.  The delays means it’s going to be a long night’.  On his own performance he said ‘Top 3 is pretty good.  My pace was really good but the track is definitely different to normal and there are a few tricky spots out there’.

Ninth fastest just ahead of reigning 1:8 Buggy World Champion Davide Ongaro, Michal Orlowski was content with his opening run saying, ‘the track is far from what it will be later’.  The Schumacher driver added, ‘we decided to stick with our warm-up set-up for the first run and it was difficult to drive on the green track’.  Setting the second fastest lap time to Neumann, he continued, ‘the car is fast but we just need to make it easier to drive so we have some small tweaks we’ll make for the next one’.

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