Levanen wins first A Main

Juho Levanen has won the first A Main of the 1:12 World Championships after being handed the race lead when his team-mate Naoto Matsukura clashed with an out of shape Marc Rheinard.  Top Qualifier Matsukura was holding a comfortable and steady lead over the Finn when with just over a minute to go he got collected by Rheinard who lost the rear end of his Hot Bodies in the hairpin at the end of the back straight.  The young Japanese star’s car left the track after being hit by the pursuing Levanen who was able to continue and take the lead where he would stay til the end.  Rejoining the track, such was the Associated team’s advantage over the field, Matsukura was able to hold on for second.  Afterwards Rheinard was very apologetic for the incident which also cost him a certain third place finish.  Instead his Hot Bodies team-mate Hideo Kitazawa claimed the position.  Starting from third on the grid Hupo Honigl saw his podium hopes dashed on the first lap after a clash sent his car crashing into the barrier.  The Austrian CRC driver tried to continue but had to pull up after 16 laps as the incident had tweak the car.

Results A-main Leg 1
1. Juho Levanen – 41 Laps 8:12.474
2. Naoto Matsukura – 40 Laps 8:06.675
3. Hideo Kitizawa – 39 Laps 8:00.704
4. Marc Rheinard – 39 Laps 8:01.157
5. Simo Ahoniemi – 39 Laps 8:01.726
6. Andy Moore – 39 Laps 8:07.080
7. Jilles Groskamp – 39 Laps 8:07.443
8. Teemu Leino – 39 Laps 8:08.810
9. Dasiuke Yoshioka – 38 Laps 8:04.293
10. Hupo Honigl – 16 Laps 3:20.836

Elsewhere Atsushi Hara won the B Final comfortably from Alexander Hagberg while former Touring Car World Champion Surikarn won the C Final.

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Matsukura TQs 1:12 Worlds

He is the protege of Masami Hirosaka, he is back to back Japanese Champion and is rated very highly by the likes of Atsushi Hara, 15-year-old Yokomo hot property Naoto Matsukura is the Top Qualifier for the 2008 IFMAR 1:12 World Championship here in Bangkok, Thailand.  Driving an Associated RC125R, Matsukura won the final qualifier to secure himself a place in the history books as he becomes the youngest ever World Championship Top Qualifier.  Winning four of the six qualifiers the only one to come close to challenging to emerging world star was his Finnish 1:12 scale team-mate Juho Levanen who TQ’d Heat 3 & 4 giving the US manufacturer total domination here at Radio Control Speedway.

While Associated rule the front row of the grid, four other manufacturers will join them in the final but going on current form they are going to be battling for the final podium placing unless the two certain drivers trip one another up.  Heading that fight is Hupo Honigl with his CRC chassis who will line up third on the grid ahead of European 1:12 Champion Marc Rheinard.  Hot Bodies have four cars in the final with Rheinard joined by Hideo Kitazawa (5th), Daisuke Yoshioka (9th) and Andy Moore (10th).  A big blow for Hot Bodies is pre event favourite Atsushi Hara’s failure to make the A Final.  The 1:8 Off Road World Champion & former Touring Car World Champion will line up in the No.1 spot for the B Final where he his joined on the front row by Touring Car Pre-Worlds winner Viktor Wilck.

Also in the A Final for CRC is Dutch ace Jilles Groskamp who starts 6th with his Speed Passion powered example.  Row four is made up of Simo Ahoneimi who carries the mammoth task of trying to retain the World title for Team Corally while Teemu Leino carries the hopes of Xray who must already be very pleased at having made the A Main on their 1:12 debut.

So three 8 minute final legs separate us from finding out who will become the 14th holder of the 1:12 World Champion title.  Are we about to see history in the making?  Time will tell.

Top 10 qualifiers
1. Naoto Matsukura – JPN [Asso] – 465pts
2. Juho Levanen – FIN [Asso] – 463pts
3. Hupo Honigl – A [CRC] – 454pts
4. Marc Rheinard – DE [HB] – 453pts
5. Hideo Kitizawa – JPN [HB] – 453pts
6. Jilles Groskamp – NL [CRC] – 451pts
7. Simo Ahoniemi – FIN [Corally]- 447pts
8. Teemu Leino – FIN [Xray] – 445pts
9. Daisuke Yoshioka – JPN [HB] – 445pts
10. Andy Moore – UK [HB] – 444pts

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TQ number 3 for Matsukura

Naoto Matsukura claimed yet another TQ this morning in the penultimate qualifier for the 1:12 World Championships which will be decided here in Bangkok later today.  The 15-year-old Japanese star ran a very close heat with Associated team-mate Juho Levanen eventually claiming the fastest 8 minute run time of the event to put himself in the provisional overall TQ position.

Matsukura said after the run that he had to control the pace and hold back a little on the throttle to ensure he made the full run time.  Running the same set-up as yesterday when his car dumped in the dying moments while on target for a 41 lapper, the controlled driving paid off allowing the reigning Japanese Champion to record 40 laps in 08:04.181.  Having initially set the pace, 6 minutes in Levanen’s RC12R5 started to get loose causing the Finn to spin out twice which allowed Matsukura to close in and then pass to claim the round.  The Team Associated team will rebuild the diff on Levanen’s car for the final qualifier which he needs to win in a sub 8 minute 4 second time if he wants to claim overall TQ honours.

While the two Associated drivers continued their reign up front Teemu Leino took Xray’s best run posting the third fastest time with 40 laps in 08:12.214.  The surprise pace setter in Controlled Practice the Finn benefited from running a harder tyre on his prototype XII.  Having run an 11.6 second lap in practice this morning his car was only good for 4 minutes but a switch to the harder compound, while slower in lap times, made it more consistant over the full run.

Setting the fourth fastest time and heading the large Hot Bodies entry was Daisuke Yoshioka with his LRP powered Cyclone 12X.  The Japanese driver was happy with his car unlike his team-mates who are struggling to get a good balance around the asphalt RCS track.  Atsushi Hara, who was a pre-event favourite, just can not get his car to work and will be need to pull out all the stops in the final heat if he is to make the A Final.

Despite dumping on the last lap CRC lead driver Hupo Honigl took fifth for the round.  The Austrian who was running a 4.5 version of the new LRP Vector X12 will switch to a 5.0 for Heat number six.  Simo Ahoneimi completed the Top 6 for Team Corally.

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Levanen & Matsukura untouchable

Day 2 of the IFMAR Electric Onroad World Championships has come to a close and yet again the final 1:12 scale qualifier of the day saw Juho Levanen and Naoto Matsukura crush the opposition.  The Associated duo managed a 1-2 in Heat 4 despite both of them dumping at the end of the run.  Producing the fastest lap of the event with a blistering 11.675 second lap during the heat, Levanen put his dumping down to the increased traction but the Yokomo team pointed blame for their young star dumping down to the pair battling throughout the heat for the TQ.  Running 40 laps in 08:07.965 the Finn was a little under a second ahead of his Japanese team-mate despite nursing their cars to the line but such was their advantage that third placed Jilles Groskamp was too far behind to capitalise and end the RC12R5’s reign in Thailand.

Groskamp described his run as decent when you take the dominating AE drivers out of the equation.  The Dutch driver was happier with his CRC, in which he is running a 4.5 turn Speed Passion motor, in the cooler conditions and was happy to record his first 40 lap run.  The only other driver to break the 40 laps today was Hideo Kitazawa who has a 5.5 Speed Passion motor installed in the rear of his Hot Bodies Cyclone 12X.

Viktor Wilck enjoyed his first decent run so far clocking up 39 laps in 08:06.340.  The Swede has been struggling to get his car to work but isnt quite sure if its the car or tyres that are the problem.  Encouraged by his fifth position he is hoping he can continue on a similar pace in tomorrow’s final two qualifiers as he needs two good runs if he is to have any chance of securing a spot on the grid for the A Mains.  Hupo Honigl, who is running in the second last group of heats, was annoyed that he got collected by back markers twice on his way to topping the group.  The CRC driver eventually took sixth overall for the round.

Xray driver Steven Weiss was very pleased with his run to 9th making him the fastest of those running the new prototype XII.  A change of tyre compound resulted in a big improvement in the cars handling and allowed the German to claim his best run ahead of fellow Xray driver Paul Lemieux.  Elsewhere Marc Rheinard was on for the 3rd fastest time when a rear tyre parted company with the wheel, while Atsushi Hara’s bad luck continued as a chunked tyre ended his run for a second time today.

Two more qualifiers await the 49 drivers tomorrow morning before the finals get underway and the 14th 1:12 World Champion is crowned.  Our live coverage, which is supported by Speed Passion and LRP, continues tomorrow when we will see if anyone can respond to the Associated domination.

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