Matsukura gets it done in Q3

Qualifying for the 2WD Electric Buggy World Championship is hotting up in Finland with Naoto Matsukura becoming the third different driver in as many rounds to TQ a round.  The Team Yokomo driver laid down the first and only 13-lap run to take maximum points for Q3 ahead of Associated’s Ryan Maifield and Losi’s Dustin Evans with Q2 pace setter Ryan Cavalieri fourth.  Top qualifier in the opening round this morning Jared Tebo again failed to repeat that form setting only the 35th fastest time after a very untidy run.

Best of the European’s for the round, Austrian Peter Pinisch posted his most competitive run yet as he took his Associated to fifth ahead of American TLR driver Mike Truhe.  2005 World Champion Neil Cragg was next up in seventh being joined in the Top 10 by fellow Brits Lee Martin and Paul Bradby who recorded the 8th and 10th fastest times respectively.

One of the Legends of electric Offroad racing in the ’90s, two time 2WD World Champion Brian Kimwald took his Associated to the ninth in Q3 which puts him provisionally on the grid for tomorrow’s all important A-Main.

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Cavalieri heads Associated 1-2-3 in Q2

Ryan Cavalieri headed a 1-2-3 for the factory Associated team as he TQ’d the second qualifer at the Worlds from Ryan Maifield and Neil Cragg as Q1 Top Qualifier Jared Tebo managed only 8th. Topping the round by a healthy 3 seconds, Cavalieri said he managed to save a few moments and overall it was a pretty clean run.  With the sun now shining over Vaasa, the American felt the track was the best its been so far and the extra grip made it a lot more fun to drive.  Happy with his Orion powered B4.1 he will leave everything as is for Q3.

Having had two costly incidents in Q1, one of which was a result of getting hit by Schumacher’s Tom Cockerill, former Champion Neil Cragg said he just focused on getting in a clean run.  Describing it as ‘nothing special’ the run was good enough for 3rd and gets the multiple 2WD European Champion’s campaign back on track. The British driver said he knows he is not the fastest but will try to keep things going for the rest of the day.

‘Better driving’ helped Team Durango’s Joern Neumann to set the fourth fastest time.  The German Champion, who is being tipped by many as a potential outside treat to an American victory on Wednesday, said he is happy with the handling of his DEX210 and the only thing he has done to the prototype buggy is refresh the shocks for Q2.

Once again Dakotah Phend was fastest of the Losi drivers setting the fifth fastest time just ahead of team-mate Dustin Evans.  Evans said the track felt ‘awesome’ in Q2 and it really suited his TLR22.  Having a moment when he hit the back of an out of shape Naoto Matsukura, which put the young Japanese driver out, the Reedy Race winner said he now has a set-up he is really comfortable with and he plans sticking with it.

After a great start to qualifying Tebo said he just couldn’t get in to a groove at the start of Q2 and ‘killed himself’ in the first few laps.  Eventually settling in to a rhythm he said his Kyosho felt good, highlighted by the fact he ran a faster lap than all ahead of him.  Fastest lap for the round, and so far the event, went to Matsukura who managed a rocket fast 23.925.

Also in the Top 10 Lee Martin took his Tamiya to the 7th fastest time while young Swedish talent David Ronnefalk took his Kyosho to 9th half a second up on 10th fastest man Mike Truhe.

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Tebo TQs opening qualifier

Team Kyosho’s Jared Tebo has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying for the 2WD Electric Buggy World Championships taking Q1 by over a second from the Associated’s of Ryan Cavalieri and Ryan Maifield with the Losi of Dakotah Phend making it an all American Top 4. Running a heavily modified RB5, which is being kept well under wraps in the pits here in Vaasa by the team, the 1:8 Offroad World Championship Top Qualifier said the buggy felt really good and starting a campaign with a TQ run was always a good feeling.

Cavalieri was pleased with his run saying other than a few moment everything else was really good. Running the long chassis B4.1 Associated developed for this event, the former 4WD World Champion will focus on minimising mistakes in Q2 as his buggy is feeling really good.

Setting the fastest lap of the opening qualifier, Maifield said he had some issues with traffic and a mistake of his own doing but was overall happy to start the day off with some good quali points.  Like Cavalieri, Maifield is running the 8mm longer B4.1 which he said they now have working well.

Kicking off his electric Worlds debut at the sharp end of the time sheets Phend was delighted with his run.  Having reverted back to his set-up from P6 yesterday the 14-year-old said he was a lot more comfortable with his TLR22 and the plan for the rest of the day is just to focus on his driving.

Surviving a crash on the big double on his final lap which cost him 2 seconds, Lee Martin was the fastest non-American taking his TRF201 to fifth.  Topping the timing screens until his last lap off, the Tamiya Racing Factory driver said his TRF201 is getting better and better every run but admits he could do with a little more steering.  Having run JConcepts Groovy tires on the front he will switch to Rips for Q2 which he hopes will give him the extra grip he needs.  It was a good round for Tamiya with Touring Car World Champion Marc Rheinard taking a surprise 9th for the round.  The German said he drove a slow but clean round and doesn’t expect he’ll be in the Top 10 again in Q2.

Team Yokomo’s Naoto Matsukura took his standard chassis B4.1 to sixth.  Despite his cool & calm exterior presence the 17-year-old, who is a very popular character in the pits, said his nerves got the better of him leading to a number of mistakes but feels everything should be fine for the second round.  Another young Japanese talent to open with a strong run was 14-year-old team-mate Keisuke Enomoto who posted the 8th fastest time behind US Champion Mike Truhe.

Elsewhere former two time World Champion Brian Kinwald set the 11th fastest time 2/10th off fellow Associated driver Peter Pinisch while 2005 winner Neil Cragg was only 18th after two costly incidents without which he could have featured in the Top 3.

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Maifield tops final practice

Day 2 of the 2011 IFMAR Electric Buggy World Championship got underway in Vaasa, Finland this morning with a final round of practice that saw Ryan Maifield set the fastest time from Associated team-mate Ryan Cavalieri.  Having run 4-minute practice sessions yesterday with 12 cars per group, the final practice was the first opportunity to do a full 5-minute run with drivers running in the regrouped 10 car heat order that will be used for qualifying.

With yesterday’s timing based on a driver’s individual fastest lap, this morning the timing was based on the laps completed over the 5-minutes giving a more accurate indication of the form going into qualifying.  Covering the track with an impressive single piece tarpaulin the organising crew did a great job of protecting it from overnight rain however ground moisture meant traction was down on yesterday.

Setting the fastest lap of the morning practice with a 24.829, Maifield posted 12 laps in 5:07.392 compared with Cavalieri’s 5:08.304. Behind the AE stars it was two more US drivers with Kyosho’s Jared Tebo and Team Losi Racing’s Dustin Evans third and fourth fastest respectively.

The fastest non American was Japanese Kyosho driver Kohta Akimoto in fifth.  Fellow countryman Naoto Matsukura who topped the timing sheets yesterday with a blisteringly fast lap ended up 15th fastest over the 5-minutes, the Japanese Champion having a number of moments during his run.

Dakotah Phend backed up his strong showing yesterday with the sixth fastest time followed by Tamiya’s Lee Martin and Austrian Team Associated driver Peter Pinisch.  US Champion Mike Truhe and Steven Harston completed the Top 10.

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