Tebo ‘rains’ as 2WD Top Qualifier

Jared Tebo is Top Qualifier for the 2WD Electric Offroad World Championships after heavy rain last night led to the cancellation of this morning’s fifth and final round of qualifying.  Originally the stage was set for Tebo and defending champion Ryan Cavalieri to go head to head to start onpole position for the finals but with the track unraceable this morning there was little option but to cancel Q5.  Originally 3 of the 5 rounds were to count but with only 4 rounds complete the grid has been determined by each drivers two best heats leaving Cavalieri second on a grid that will see the Top 5 places filled by drivers representing 5 different manufacturers.

Behind Tebo and Cavalieri, Q2 pace setter Lee Martin will line up his Tamiya third ahead of Team Losi Racing’s Dustin Evans and Team Yokomo’s Naoto Matsukura.  The team with the most World titles in electric offroad, Team Associated are not surprisingly the best represented car in the final with four Centro mid motor converted B4.2s on the grid.  Ryan Maifield starts sixth, with AE designer Kody Numedahl 9th while Neil Cragg, Top Qualifier in Finland, scraps in to complete the 10 car field.

The big surprises are the failure of two of America’s talented young guns to make the cut.  Unfortunately for Pre Worlds winner Ty Tessman he just ended up 11th taking the unenviable honour of BQ.  16-year-old US National Champion Dakotah Phend, who won that title at this track in August, will also feature in the B-Main.  While Europe’s 1:8 Offroad Champion David Ronnefalk has made the final in 8th right behind the driver he took that title off Darren Bloomfield,  the reigning 2WD Buggy European Joern Neumann hasn’t. The German Team Durango ace will line up 3rd in the B-Main.

2WD A-Main Grid
1. Jared Tebo – Kyosho – 0 pts
2. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 3
3. Lee Martin – Tamiya – 4
4. Dustin Evans – TLR – 4
5. Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo – 8
6. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 8
7. Darren Bloomfield – TLR – 8
8. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho – 12
9. Kody Numedahl – Associated – 12
10.Neil Cragg – Associated – 13

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‘From Race Control’ – Day 3 of 2WD Buggy

Today should have been the day on which the 15th 2WD Electric Buggy World Champion was crowned but heavy rain last night just as the fourth round of qualifying finished up has left the Silver Dollar R/C Raceway unraceable this morning.  Officially racing has been cancelled until 13:00 local time with IFMAR Electric Chairman Frank Mostrey confirming that the 5th round of qualifying has been cancelled and that the priority is to give the A-Main Hobbies track team what ever time is required to prepare the track so they can run the Mains even if that means running under floodlights later tonight.  An update on the situation is due at 12:30 local time.

Normally the IFMAR rules state that the track must be changed between the 2WD and 4WD, as they are classified as separate events, but we are glad to hear from Mostrey that due to the extreme circumstances, the heavy ran unusual for Chico at this time of the year, they may not insist on this ruling giving priority instead to ensuring that drivers are presented with a well prepared track to race on.  The Belgian said IFMAR will go on the advice of the track team, who so far have done a superb job in preparing and maintaining the track, but added early reports are they will need at least 5 to 6 hours to get the track right from its current condition.  The concern is that should they rush the preparation of the track for the 2WD finals this may result in excess damage to the surface which will not be able to be rectified in time for the 4WD World Championships.

Video – Daimon Borkowicz Worlds Debut diary – Day 2

In the second of a series of diary videos this week we catch up with World Championship debutant, up and coming Florida talent Daimon Borkowicz. The 13 year old Associated/ JConcepts driver is the protege of JConcepts founder and World Championship finalist Jason Ruona.

Video – Day 2 Roundup

Cavalieri TQ’s penultimate qualifier

Defending Champion Ryan Cavalieri claimed the first TQ run of his World Championship campaign as he steered his Associated to the top of the time sheets in Q4 ahead of fellow American factory heavyweight’s Dustin Evans and Jared Tebo who posted the fastest lap of the round.  The result means that we will have to wait until tomorrow morning’s fifth and final round of qualifying to determine who will be the overall Top Qualifier for the finals that will decide the 15th IFMAR 2WD Electric Offroad World Champion.  As it stands now with 4 of the 5 qualifiers complete the battle for pole position is between Tebo and Cavalieri, the latter winning the title in Finland 2-years ago from 2nd on the grid.

Behind the US trio, Tamiya’s Lee Martin was the fastest non US driver for the round taking his TRF201XM to the fourth fastest time 4/10ths in front of fellow British driver Darren Bloomfield’s TLR22.  Unfortunately for the former multiple European Champion he missed out on a Top 3 by just 9/1000ths of a second which would have left the Q2 pace setter in contention for the honour of Top Qualifier.

Setting the 6th fastest time Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield is one of a number of high profile drivers who wont be able to sleep easy tonight as they need a good result from the morning’s final qualifier.  Another such driver is HB’s Ty Tessman.  The winner of the Pre Worlds, the Canadian ace is not comfortable with his Kyosho and a crash in Q4 meant he ended up outside the Top 10.  With only a pair of 7th place finishes to his credit Q5 is going to be crucial.  US National Champion Dakotah Phend, who claimed that title here in August, needs nothing short of a miracle to make the A-Main.  The 16-year-old TLR star will have to count 14th in Q1 and 8th in Q2 as two of his three results in the final qualification ranking.

Just as the final round of qualifying was completed the heavens opened up over the the Silver Dollar R/C Raceway which could have a knock on effect on tomorrow’s proceedings as it did when it rained two days before the opening day leading to a 5 hour delay to the start of practice.

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