The Worlds according to Ruona – Sunday Practice

Of course I’m an excellent driver.  That’s the quote I keep replaying in my head while I’m driving around Italy with our little Fiat.  I’ve turned totally local, I’m not waiting on anybody and you better not try and moped by me because I might just decide to turn.   In the beginning I was getting the stare down from other drivers and now I’m doing the staring. I’ve almost rubbed mirrors with a van. I pulled out in front of a motorcycle. Walking people don’t faze me anymore.  Watch out for my Fiat bro!

Practice here today was a success for our massive team here in Messina.  Aerial photographs will be available tomorrow just after official practice.  Ryan Maifield stepped up his game today and he’s starting to really feel this Naxos track. After some early struggles with brakes and a bad traffic heat he was into form today and led the TLR team and ran an 8th in round 1, 4th in round 2 and 2nd in round 3.  Of course we are still takin bout practice and it doesn’t really mean anything. Or does it? Where would you rather be? On top or on the bottom?

I’ll tell you what, it’s not easy being at the top either. Ty Tessman has been posing for more photos than Kate Upton with all this practice success. Each round the photographers have to find a new pose to go with. #fastguyproblems

David Ronnefalk wasn’t as on-point as he was yesterday but still good enough for 2nd.  Rough day huh? He has great support in the pits and they look very professional trying to get their guy to the top. It’s amazing, this must be important or something…

The current WC Robert Batlle has his program in check as well. Each run he really shakes down that back chicane and angle double on the back stretch. His car has great corner speed and make no mistake about it.  This guy wants to repeat.  He sits 3rd after today’s championship open practice day.

We circle back to Maifield (cough, cough – JConcepts) who finished the day in 4th and is building in speed and confidence. The driver once known as too punched or too fast or wreck-less has a new style.   It’s called I drive however I need to in order to be successful. Oh, this week it’s short course, brap and oh crap I need to hold on to her.. Oh, this week it’s 2wd, smooth brap… This week it’s 4wd buggy… Fast forward brap… Back to 1/8th buggy, it’s concrete, I can only drive so hard….brap, brap.

Seriously though, this guy has a magic finger for throttle and gifted hands for steering. Watching him run the correct lines and driving the turns like a touring car today was impressive. He’s a long ways from where he wants to go this trip but he’s come a long way over the years to remain one of the best overall drivers in the world. #maifieldsoldier

The track conditions itself are staying very consistent. The only real hole is just before the blue table top and a high speed bump coming on the straight. There is a delamination of the concrete just after the double after the straight but it seems its no issue. It’s been a success so far and let’s hope it remains. Please, no one put in a concrete track back home because I said it’s been good.

We had some PA meltdowns today with some tremendous screeching sounds coming from the speakers for about 2-3 runs. I think Martin Bayer jumped clean off the track once because of the noise.  I was just watching and couldn’t take it. Next time I’ll ram the drivers stand with the Fiat.  Jim Carey has a new most annoying sound ever after today.

I started seeing some frustration from the drivers today who were either chasing the clock or trying to put in that practice run that saved the world.  A little yelling coming from the stand and pits today.  I like it!  I love when it’s passionate and it’s serious. I found myself yelling at a Kyosho car today who was jamming up Maifield in one of the heats.  It’s goes something like this….hey green Kyosho, how bout some space….!?!?! No disrespect to that driver but it gets passionate out there when cheering for your guy.

Did I mention it’s still practice? The JConcepts products have been working well and I enjoyed the day catching up and helping where needed. John McGinty put down his best run of practice so far and it’s exciting seeing the young guys have success. Thanks to RedRC for the great video of the new products and the coverage throughout the week. Check out the JC Facebook page for company news happening by the hour and blog.jconcepts.net for daily updates from around the world.

Open practice complete, Tessmann claims early bragging rights

An extended World Championship open practice, due to the fact there was no Warm-up Race, is finally complete with Ty Tessmann the fastest man in Sicily at the end of four hot days of practice.  Topping the final round of practice, it was the US National Champion’s time from the 2nd of the day’s three 10-minute runs that gives him the early bragging rights over European Champion David Ronnefalk and the defending World Champion Robert Batlle.  The highest placed improvement for the final practice came from Ryan Maifield, the US driver ending up fourth ahead of former team-mate Yannick Aigoin.

Running a 1:51.058 compared with his previous 1:50.743, Tessmann said he ‘maybe drove a little too hard’ in the final open practice but having reverted back to the stiffer chassis plate on his D812 he said changes to the buggy felt better.  Running Pro-Line’s Fugitive tyre, the 21-year-old said they felt good but for the first of tomorrow’s two controlled practice, the times from which will determine the seeding for qualifying, he will go to a harder compound of the tyre.  Overall the Canadian, who also posted the fastest lap of the day being one of only three drivers to break into the 36-seconds around the Naxos World track, declared himself happy with his pace heading into Day 5 of the event when things move up a notch and the event officially gets underway.

One of the drivers to run a 36-second lap, Ronnefalk said for the final practice he decided to try a completely different set-up which threw up a few surprises.  Making his Kyosho a lot better on some parts of the track, in particular the sweeper, he said it also made it more lazy through the chicane.  With the improvement in areas significant, the Swede said they now plan to start controlled practice with a mixture of both set-ups.

Batlle said he suffered a lot with traffic in his final practice but added he ‘feel(s) good’ with practice going a lot better than it traditionally works out. Describing the set-up he has reached on his Novarossi powered Mugen as ‘quite good’ he was also upbeat about his tyre options saying he had the opportunity to test all the various scenarios in terms of his Procircuit’s tyre wear. Asked if he planned any changes for controlled practice, the Spaniard said with the car going so well he would mostly leave it and just use the run to focus on going for a complete 10-minute run time.

Ending practice with his best three laps of the track Maifield described his final run as ‘a little better’.  The new Team Losi Racing signing said he know whats what he needs to do to go fast but could do with a little more help from the car.  Rated as one of world’s best offroad racers but having a World title so far elude him, the US ace said ‘its hard to set-up a car for asphalt and also get it to jump jumps’.

Former European Champion Aigoin said his all new prototype Team Associated RC8 was good the first time he put it on the track but since then he has used every run to try something new so as to build up knowledge of the new car.  Returning to the base set-up they came to for the car in pre-event testing for the final practice he said it was instantly competitive again.  For tomorrow the Frenchman said it was going to be just a case of making very fine adjustments.  Having run Pro-Line’s Surburb tyre he said he will run something else for the controlled practices as he needs to save his sets of Suburbs for qualifying.

Yannick’s twin brother Jerome also found a big improvement in the final practice to complete the overall Top 6 for the day.  The Kyosho driver and reigning 3-time French National Champion said going up in the diff oils for the last run gave him a much quicker car.  Still feeling he needs to find a little more from his Novarossi powered MP9 he said he is not yet sure what to change to find it.

Mugen’s Lee Martin would end up 7th, the British driver improving his time in the final practice.  Going up in the front diff oil, the British ace said the change made his MBX7R less twitchy allowing him to drive a little harder.  Saying he is ‘somewhere close now’ in terms of being in the mix for tomorrow he will just freshen up his car including fitting a new chassis plate and plastics with the first controlled practice set to be a system check of all the new parts.

Top Qualifier in Argentina, Kyosho’s Elliott Boots finally appeared towards the top of the time sheets as he set the 6th fastest time of the final round to end the day the day 8th overall.  Behind Boots was fellow country and newly crowned British National champion Darren Bloomfield, the Agama driver’s opening run of the day proving his best.  Flying the home nations flag, 13-year-old emerging Italian talent Davide Ongaro completed the Top 10.

Setting the fastest lap of the final practice round and the third driver to run a 36 second-lap, Dakotah Phend ended day 11th.  The TLR driver said a change to heavier diffs made his Orion powered 8ight a lot more stable with him able to drive harder and still be comfortable with the car.  The 17-year-old plans to make a shock change for the morning declaring himself confident for tomorrow.

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Tessmann back on top in Sicily

Ty Tessmann jumped back to the top of the practice time sheets at the 1:8 Offroad World Championships in Sicily, the HB driver almost equalling his outright fastest time set yesterday.  After making a wrong tyre choice for the day’s opening run, the Canadian improved on his morning pace by over 2 & half seconds with David Ronnefalk closest over 3-consecutive laps from the 10-minute run.  Fastest first time round and bettering that time, defending World Champion Robert Batlle completed the Top 3 with a pace that was just 0 .005 off that of Ronnefalk.

‘Really good’ was how Tessmann described his latest run which was 0.163 shy of the best time recorded over the four days of practice at the Naxos World track.  Freshening up his OS Speed powered D812 and using the opportunity to fit a more flexible chassis he said the main focus of the run was tyre testing. Changing from Pro-Line’s Suburb to Lockdown tyre, the Suburb being a harder compound, he said both felt really good but most likely he will stick with the Suburb as his tyre of choice for qualifying.  Asked about the chassis change he said the extra flex made the car feel a little soft and he will revert to the stiffer version for the final round of open practice this evening adding it makes the car better out of the corners and give better overall stability.

Changing back to the first of the two cars he has been using, the car which he used to win at the Italian Job Race at the IBR Padova track last week as part of his preparation for the Worlds, Ronnefalk said it was ‘a lot better’.  Describing the car as ‘more safe, more consistent’ the 18-year-old was able to run his fastest round of practice.  Still running on AKA’s Catapult tyre, which he said he is set on for qualifying, he said he is very happy with how everything is working.  Asked about his plans for the final practice the back to back European Champion said while there is no need to change anything on the car they will still use the track time to ‘try something’ different.

Batlle used the practice to continue to evaluate his Mugen on worn tyres.  Using a set of Procircuit Hot Dices which he said had already done 30-minutes of running he was pleased with how his Novarossi powered MBX7R ran and the lap times it was able to produce.  Happy to be Top 3 in practice, he said overall he could do with finding a few tenths as he is having to push the car a little harder than he would like to to run the times.  Overall he said the biggest change they will make for the day’s closing run would be to run a different engine so as to have a spare ready to go should it be needed later in the event which officially gets underway tomorrow with two rounds of controlled practice.

Fourth fastest, Ryan Maifield was pleased with the improving performance of his Novarossi powered TLR. Having improved in the morning and again in the second practice, the American ace said he was making steady progress now. Describing his JConcepts equipped 8ight as feeling consistent he added that he has ‘a good vibe with the track’.  Planning some small changes, he said there are a couple of things that he would like to get the car to do better but overall he was happy.

One of Italy’s big future hopes, 13-year-old Davide Ongaro enjoyed a strong showing setting the 5th fastest time.  Racing since the age of 5 and running an identical package to World Champion Batlle, he said a switch to heavier shock oil and a harder insert in his Procircuit Hot Dices tyres improved his Novarossi MBX7 a lot.  Less edgy and with improved corner speed the 2013 European B Championships Top Qualifier plans no further changes to his set-up but will use his final practice to test Procircuit’s new and as yet unnamed thread pattern.

Completing the Top 6 was Dakotah Phend.  The 17-year-old Team Losi Racing star said his Orion powered 8ight was better than this morning but added it still ‘felt a little tippy’.  Planning to ‘work on that for the next one’ he said most likely they will make a shock oil adjustment to make it a little less edgy.  For his senior team-mate Adam Drake, who was fourth fastest in the morning, changes to his 8ight gave it more speed but the driver ‘drove like shit’.  Getting caught up in a pack of cars early on Drake said he didn’t drive well adding he was more comfortable in the first practice.  He will make a few little changes for the third run but said the main improvement needs to come from the driver.

Making a bad insert/tyre combo in the morning run, Xray’s Martin Bayer had a better second outing posting the 7th fastest time.  The Czech driver who has stuck with AKA’s Catapult tyre but played around with its preparation said he still thinks he hasn’t got the combo perfect as he looks for a bit more traction adding that some improvement can also come from his LRP powered XB8’s set-up.

Lee Martin would set the 8th fastest time.  The Mugen driver made a series of changes the biggest of which was in the engine department.  Changing the venturi on his Beat engine as well as changing his gearing, his mechanic Jon Dell said the car had much better ‘punch’ which helped a lot with the lap times.  Also going up in the rear diff from 8 to 15K oil it gave the car more turn in but for the next run they will go up in the front diff to take some of that away again.  Overall Dell said their focus is on consistency rather than outright lap times.

Having set Top 3 times in morning Darren Bloomfield and Ryan Lutz had issues in the second round.  For Agama’s Bloomfield the run lasted only 5-laps as he broke the plastic end off a front shock.  Trying to get the chicane faster he said he got carried away resulting in a broken car.  The renewly crowned British National Champion said a change from Beta’s Cube to Freeride tyre improved the car with it more tamed and he will stick with them for the next one.  Unfortunately for Team Durango’s Lutz a bad set-up change and ongoing brake issues meant he couldn’t build on his earlier performance.

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Video – Sunday Controlled Practice Rd1