Stunning drive puts Kurzbuch in final after start-line flameout

A stunning drive has put former Champion Simon Kurzbuch in the 1:8 Onroad World Championship Final in California.  Suffering an engine flame out on the grid, the pole sitter for the second of the Semi Finals missed the start and had to be returned to the pits to be restarted as the rest of the field got underway and the general feeling of the stunned onlookers was the Swiss ace’s event was done.  Kurzbuch however defied the odds, driving at 110% he started to put himself back in contention for a bump up spot as the crowd watch on in awe.  Setting the fastest lap of the race he crossed the line in 3rd position to ensure he gets another chance to do battle with his great rival and reigning champion Dario Balestri.  Up front in the Semi Odd, Jesse Davis made the race his own, leading home fellow Australian Jeff Hamon to secure both drivers their first 1:8 Worlds Final start.  In the first of the Semi Finals, Dominic Greiner led from start to finish despite struggling with his engine with Shoki Takahata a close second and Toni Gruber third.  Unfortunately for Lamberto Collari he fell just three minutes short of making the Main Final on the 10th Anniversary of his last World title after he suffered an engine flame out. With the second Semi the faster the finals, the two drivers to book their place in the main event at the 22nd running of IFMAR Worlds would be Takaaki Shimo and Carmine Raiola.

Reacting to his dramatic Semi, Kurzbuch said, ‘my father went to the starting grid and the engine flamed out.  The engine setting was good so I don’t know what happened but in the end we had a lucky outcome’.  He continued, ‘We had to work hard for it and show everything we had. I’m sure my father was the fastest in the pits in the final’. Looking to the main final, the Shepherd drivers said, ‘everything from now on is a bonus. I will just enjoy the 60-minutes but the car in the Semi was amazing.  We matched the set-up to the conditions. Apart from the flame out the package is perfect for the final. Lets see’.

Winning with a good buffer, Davis said, ‘This is my first IFMAR A-Main,  I’ve made five Semis in a row but had bad luck but today we did it finally’.  On his Semi Final, his fastest time securing him 3rd on the grid behind Infinity team-mates Dario Balestri and Naoto Matsukura, he said, ‘It was the perfect race. We stuck to our fuel stops and knew the tyres would do the distance. I just raced the clock’.  Regarding his World final debut, he said, ‘I think the car is so good I just need to keep circulating for 1-hour and see what I can do’.

Having made his first final at the 1:10 Championships last year in Miami, Hamon said, ‘It went pretty good. It was a pretty solid and clean race. My pit crew was solid even if I was stressing a little over them fully fuelling the car so that if I had more up my sleeve if I needed it’.  A new signing to the Serpent team this year, starting 4th on the grid he said his goal is to better his 5th place finish from Miami.

Despite winning his Semi from the pole, a very concerned Greiner said, ‘I had a problem with the engine. I had to make one more fuel stop than planned. Something is not right’.  Having quickly pulled clear of the field at the start, the Serpent driver had just 3/10ths on Takahata at the end of the 30-minutes and looking to the final the German said, ‘For sure we will change the engine but maybe also the pipe and the tank.  Something is not working with the power’.

Takahata said he made a ‘super safe drive’ to book his second consecutive Worlds Final start.  Starting third on the grid, the Mugen driver had to use caution at the start to avoid crashing.  Describing his pace as ‘quite good’ he said he will ‘try my best’ to better his 2017 podium finish.  Asked about strategy, the Japanese factory Mugen driver said that based on the car’s performance both his run time and tyre wear are safe and these should be factors in the 1-hour final.

Securing his first World Champion Final appearance, Toni Gruber said, ‘This track is really difficult. It changes every time so I hoped the car would work for the conditions and it did’.  The Shepherd driver did however suffer a gearbox issue in the second half of the race which causes him some difficulties.  He explained, ‘Sometimes the car was getting stuck in second gear, one lap it would be fine, the next lap it would get stuck so we need to check this for the final’.  Battling with Collari during the race, the German said, ‘I was having a close fight with Collari but I had some luck when he had a problem with his engine. Asked about the final, he said, ‘When you bump up from the Semi Final I think your only goal has to be to push, this is the World Final.  One hour is a long time, a lot can happen but we will see what we can do’.

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Semi Final Line-up complete at Steel City RC Speedway

After a morning of some intense racing the line up for the Semi Finals at the 22nd running of the IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championships are set at Steel City RC Speedway.  In the first of the 20-minute Quarter finals, two former Champions battled for the win with 9-times Champion Lamberto Collari getting by pole sitter and long time race leader Robert Pietsch in the final stint of the race.  Bumping up from the 1/8 Final, Patrick Schaefer would work his way through the field surviving a moment in the pitlane and benefiting from some key retirements including former finalists Teemu Leino and Robin D’Hondt.  Finishing 4th, the race was the end of road for 1:10 Worlds podium finisher Alessio Mazzeo.  In the second of the Quarter Finals, there was heartbreak for Steven Jovanovic who was comfortably leading but with just 3-laps to go ran out of fuel.  This meant Jonathan Gandin, a driver who had his own run time issues in qualifying, would take the win to go to the Semis along with former Champion Tadahiko Sahashi and American Bryce Butterfield.

22nd after qualifying putting him 3rd on the Quarter Final grid, on progressing to the Semi, his 2017 Worlds ending with a plug failure while leading the 1/8 Final, Collari said, ‘Now the car is much better.  Yesterday I couldn’t push without flipping but today we found a good set-up that the car doesn’t want to flip’.  Looking to make his first final since 2009 when he won his last World title, asked about the 30-minute Semi the Infinity driver said, ‘The car is fast.  I hope I can push without problems’.

One Italian driver starting the rise of what looks like a promising career here at Steel City RC Speedway, 16-year-old Gandin was very happy to make his first Semi final, this only his second 1:8 World Championship. Getting as far as the 1/64th Final in France, here in California he quickly established himself as a front runner putting his ARC in the fastest heat for qualifying. Unfortunately run time issues hampered him from translating that speed into a good qualifying. Lining up 6th on the grid for his Quarter Final, making the bump up to the Semi he said, ‘the Semi was our goal and after practice went better than expected we kind of expected to be in the Semi but our fuel consumption caused us problems.  In the Quarter Final we better understood how to manage it and now we are in the Semi so I am very happy.  We will leave the car the same for the Semi and try our best to make the final’.

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Salven calls time on WC career

Michael Salven has called time on his World Championship racing career, one of nitro onroad racing’s best known figures made the announcement that having made his World Championship debut in California in 1987, that the 22nd running of the IFMAR 1:8 Worlds here in Fontana, California was the right time to take a step back from racing.  The 58 year-old German, who has enjoyed all of his professional career with Serpent, a company which was instrumental in the early development of the class, Salven bowed out of the Worlds competition here this morning at Steel City RC Speedway when he failed to finish the 1/16th finals.  Asked about his decision, he said, ‘The Pro guys turn up with everything sorted. I turned up here with three engines that still needed to be run in and it turned out none of them are very good.  I will still race, I probably have a few more Euros in me, but its important I race because as the designer of our cars I need to know what’s going on’.

Reflecting on his career, he said, the first WC I did was 1987 at Ranch Pit Shop which was owned by Gil Losi, it’s gone now, but I am told it’s only about 30-minutes from here.  It was actually a shitty event for me, and this one was even worse, but I had a few good ones in between’.  Only missing one World Championship over the 32-years, Brazil in 2015, he said, ‘Phuket in Thailand (1995) was really good and the race in Mexico (1997) was amazing.  I TQ’d both of those races but some stupid guy called Collari was there which meant I never won’ – joking about the 9-time World Champion.  Joining Serpent as designer in 1991 it is there that Red RC’s own personal relationship with Salven began with our founder Eoghain O’Briain working alongside him and even having the pleasure of being his pitman on the odd occasion. We wish Michael well as he steps back from World Championship competition but look forward to meeting him in the pits at future Worlds and who knows, maybe in the future his son’s name might appear on a World Championships entry list.