1:8 Onroad to crown all new World Champion

The sport’s oldest and founding class is to crown an all new World Champion this evening in Japan as the only former World Champion Adrien Bertin exited from the event in the first of the Semi Finals.  Starting from 5th on the grid the KM Racing driver lasted just 2 and a half minutes of the half hour final when he was forced out with a broke steering servo saver.  Up front and booking his place in the race that will decide the 19th World Champion, Mugen/OS driver Takaaki Shimo controlled the race from start to finish only dropping from the top of the timing screens when he made a full tyre change.

Behind the Pre Worlds Race winner Yuya Sahashi looked to be comfortable in second but just as he crossed the timing loop to come in for his final fuel stop he ran dry.  Luckily the position in which his Serpent 977 stopped meant he didn’t lose too much time but it dropped him back to fourth. In the dying moments of the race a hard charging Silvio Hachler found a way passed the Japanese driver for the final guaranteed bump spot.  In an exciting finish the paired battled it out but contact on the final lap which allowed Sahashi to cross the line in fourth resulted in a 1-lap penalty leaving him 7th and out of the Main.  Making his World Championship debut and having bumped up twice yesterday to start the Semi from 9th, 21-year-old Hachler was delighted to secure his place in the Main event.

Starting from second on the grid Meen Vejrak, who like Hachler only changed the outside tyres during the race, finished second having to fend off a strong challenge from Raiola Carmine.  The reigning 200mm World Champion, booking his place in the Main keeps the Thai driver on target to become the first ever driver to hold both Onroad nitro racing World titles at the same time.  Going for a similar strategy to Shimo and changing all four tyres, Italian National Champion Carmine finished 3rd to book his place in the final.

Finishing fifth & sixth and now having the nervous wait to see if Semi A’s fifth & sixth place finishers can run a faster time where Kazuya Yuruki and Miami Finalist Simon Kurzbuch.  Unfortunately for the Swiss Team Shepherd driver he ran out of full just before crossing the finish line costing him a lap. A flame out at the 6-minute mark ended top US driver Paolo Morganti’s, winner of the 1/4 B final, chances of progressing with the Serpent driver finishing 8th.

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Semi-B Final Result

1.(1) Takaaki Shimo (JPN) – Mugen/OS Speed – 100/30:12.631
2.(2) Meen Vejrak (THA) – KM Racing/OS Speed – 99/30:00.771
3.(4) Raiola Carmine (ITA) – Xray/Max – 99/30:01.406
4.(9) Silvio Hachler (CH) – Mugen/Novarossi – 98/30:03.350
5.(7) Kazuya Yuruki (JPN) – Mugen/OS Speed – 98/30:17.804
6.(10)Simon Kurzbuch (CH) – Shepherd/Max – 97/29:59.138
7.(3) Yuya Sahashi (JPN) – Serpent/Picco – 97/30:03.046
8.(8) Paolo Morganti (USA) – Serpent/Novarossi – 96/30:12.341
9.(6) Syoki Takahata (JPN) – Kyosho/OS Speed – 62/30:06.857
10.(5)Adrien Bertin (FR) – KM Racing/Orion – 8/2:30.649

‘Race Control’ – Day 7, the Final Day

The big day has arrived at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships with the event just three races away from crowning the 19th World Champion of the sport’s oldest class.  Day 7 of the event, its a beautiful sunny morning at the KeiTune Racing Speedway and the first race of the day will be the Semi B Final which will see Mugen driver Takaaki Shimo start from pole position.  One hour later its the turn of the Semi A drivers which will be led away by the Serpent of Top Qualifier Tadahiko Sahashi.  For the first time this year’s Main final will be completely determined by the results of the Semi Finals, the traditional format of Top 4 qualifiers going direct to the 1-hour race having been dropped, and now it will be the Top 4 from each Semi along with the drivers with the next two fastest times that progress.  The driver with the fastest Semi Final winning time will secure the pole position.

Timetable (local Japanese times)
10:00 – Semi B Final (30 minutes)
11:00 – Semi A Final (30 minutes)
14:00 – Driver Presentation/Warm-up
14:30 – Final (1 hour)
14:30 – Prizegiving

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Semi final line up complete

The line up for tomorrow’s Semi-Finals at the 1:8 Onroad World Championship is complete as Day 6 in Japan ended with a dramatic 1/4A Final that saw Atsushi Hara claim the final bump up spot to progress to the big day at the misfortune of Serpent’s Michael Salven.  A controlled race from the pole position starting HB of Teemu Leino saw the 200mm World Championship Top Qualifier take a very comfortable 12 second win over the Shepherd of former finalist Oliver Mack. Running second having just passed Mack, Hara’s Mugen would go crashing off the track with 5-minutes to go.  Allowing both Mack and Salven through into second & third respectively, it looked like the r/c legend had thrown away his place in the Semi finals.  With Teemu running behind Hara, the Finn saying afterwards he didn’t want to pass his former team-mate as he knew he was in contention for a bump up spot, it looked like the former 1:8 Offroad and Electric Touring Car would champion didn’t have have the pace to catch Salven despite the fact he recorded the fastest lap of the race earlier on.  With less than 30 seconds to go there was heartbreak for Salven as the onroad nitro racing veteran’s 977 flamed out, handing Hara the final bump-up.

In the earlier 1/4 final, Salven’s Serpent team-mate Paolo Morganti booked his place into the Semi Finals after taking a narrow 2.2 second win over Swiss pairing Silvio Hachler and Simon Kurzbuch.  Starting from 6th on the grid the US driver said afterwards that he drove his own controlled race looking after the tyres on his Novarossi powered 977 and it all worked out perfectly.  Making his World Championship debut, 21-year-old Hachler was understandably delighted to secure a place in the Semi Final.  Having won his 1/8 final to bump up, the Mugen/Novarossi driver started the 20-minute encounter from 8th on the grid.  A finalist in Miami 2-years-ago,  Team Shepherd driver Kurzbuch couldn’t let up as he was within striking distance of team-mate Daniele Sieber who just missed the cut finishing 1.626 seconds behind.  For top Brazilian racer Elias Flavio, who bumped up twice today, a glow plug failure ended his quest to make his first World’s final.  Stopping on Lap 30 and losing over a minute as they fitted a new plug, the Mugen driver posted the fastest lap of the race but it would count for nothing as his event came to an end.  The race also ended the quest of Motonica driver Robin D’hondt to make a third World’s final in a row, the Belgian struggling with tyre wear leaving him to finish 5th.

Semi-A Final Grid
1. Tadahiko Sahashi (JPN) – Serpent/Picco
2. Jilles Groskamp (NL) – Shepherd/Maxima
3. Takehiro Terauchi (JPN) – Mugen/Novarossi
4. Shinnosuke Yokoyama (JPN) – Mugen/OS Speed
5. Keisuke Fukuda (JPN) – KM Racing/Picco
6. Michihiro Takayasu (JPN) – HB/OS Speed
7. Charlee Phutiyotin (THA) – KM Racing/OS Speed
8. Teemu Leino (FIN) – HB/OS Speed
9. Oliver Mack (DE) – Shepherd/Sonic
10.Atsushi Hara (JPN) – Mugen/OS Speed

Semi-B Final Grid
1. Takaaki Shimo (JPN) – Mugen/OS Speed
2. Meen Vejrak (THA) – KM Racing/OS Speed
3. Yuya Sahashi (JPN) – Serpent/Picco
4. Raiola Carmine (ITA) – Xray/Max
5. Adrien Bertin (FR) – KM Racing/Orion
6. Syoki Takahata (JPN) – Kyosho/OS Speed
7. Kazuya Yuruki (JPN) – Mugen/OS Speed
8. Paolo Morganti (USA) – Serpent/Novarossi
9. Silvio Hachler (CH) – Mugen/Novarossi
10.Simon Kurzbuch (CH) – Shepherd/Max

View the event results here.

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Argentina loses 200mm World Championship

Argentina will not be hosting next year’s 1:10 200mm Nitro Touring Car World Championship. The decision was made this morning at the IFMAR AGM which is taking place at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships in Japan. With only a single application from a track not too far from venue of last year’s troubled 1:8 Offroad World Championship, the Pros & Cons of hosting the race near Buenos Aires were discussed with it decided that in the best interest of the class the race be relocated. With no FAMAR representative traveling to Japan to attend the AGM it was voted that the WC would be awarded to FEMCA. Hosts of last year’s Worlds in Thailand, where Meen Vejrak claimed the title, FEMCA accepted and will now start to gather applications from the 15 countries which they represent. 1:10 Nitro Touring Car is at a critical point with numbers struggling and moving the race should be viewed positively by the small number of manufacturers still supporting the class.

Other items of interest from the AGM include the likely reducing the controlled tyre for nitro onroad World Championships to a single brand. The 1:8 Onroad Worlds taking place here at KeiTune Racing Speedway is the first time controlled tyres have been used with 5-brands being available but the systems has had its problems. IFMAR are also to look at possibly introducing a points system to replace the fastest time used in qualifying. The current system meant that the direct Semi-Finalists where all decided here in Japan on the first of the three days of qualifying making for a rather dull qualifying as the weather meant no driver could get near to the TQ time set in the only evening run heat of the event.

There is also a proposal to change the schedule for future World Championships with the event to start with 2 days of practice restricted to international drivers who did not attend the Warm-up Race. The proposal is at a very early stage but for classes where manufacturer’s racing budgets are limited it sounds like a positive move for Onroad nitro.

With the pits of at nitro race a noisy place making communication between drivers and their mechanics difficult often leading to a lot of roaring & shouting, IFMAR have charged FEMCA with researching a pit to driver radio system. IFMAR are looking at permitting such a system but want to ensure that it will in no way interfere with the cars and therefore are looking at allowing a spec system.

1/16 Finals Complete

The 1/16 finals have been completed reducing the number of drivers remaining in the Japanese event to just 48 drivers.  In the first of 20-minute 1/16th Finals it was Tsuyuoshi Baba who took the win from 6th on the grid ahead of top Brazilian Flavio Elias, the Mugen driver having started from pole.  Unfortunately for young Japanese driver Baba Isamu the race marked the end of a short but impressive run.  Having only turned up on the last day of qualifying, which consisted of just 1 round, he started the yesterday’s lower finals from the 1/128 final bumping up 3 times to make it through to today.  Unfortunately he couldn’t make it a fourth bump up with an early crash ending his event.

In the second 1/16A Final Korean driver Teak Oh Yong, also starting from sixth on the grid, took the win by 3 seconds ahead of French Team Shepherd driver Stephane Bouche who started from pole position.  Behind them Team Maxima driver Daniel Fungladda secured the final bump position, the Thai driver having started 7th.  For 2010 200mm World Finalist Takumi Matsuda the race would be the end of his event. Having bumped up from the yesterday’s 1/32 final, he would retire from the race after 16 laps.

View the event results here.

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