Cavalieri takes Leg 2

Ryan Cavalieri has won the second A-Main of the IFMAR 2WD Electric Buggy World Championship meaning the 2011 World Champion will be decided in the third and final race of the day here in Vaasa, Finland.  The former 4WD World Champion took the win ahead of Associated team-mate Ryan Maifield after getting by Top Qualifier Neil Cragg who made a mistake over the big double.  Once in front the multiple US Champion was never really threatened putting him in prime position to lift his first 2wd World title later today. 2005 Champion Cragg finished the 5-minute encounter a distant 6th ending the British driver’s chances of retaking the title.

The winner of the opening leg of the finals, Kyosho’s Jared Tebo saw any chance of a repeat performance end when all but the top three starters got tangled up on the opening lap.  The American made a good recovery but battling for fourth with Cragg the pair came together on the final lap allowing Evans to get through demoting him to fifth and Cragg to sixth. The drive of the race came from Joern Neumann who finished 3rd, the Team Durango driver having started second last on the grid.

Going into the final race of what has been a superbly run World Championships only one thing is sure and that is that the World title is going back to the US for the first time since 2003 when Billy Easton took the win on home soil. What needs to be decided is whether its Cavalieri, Maifield or Tebo who is going to stand on the top step of the podium.

Full results can be found here.

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Tebo wins opening final

Jared Tebo has won the opening leg of the A-Main at the 2WD Electric Buggy World Championship.  Starting from fourth on the grid the Kyosho driver took a convincing win over the Associated’s of Ryan Cavalieri and Top Qualifier Neil Cragg.  Running only the seventh fastest lap time of the race, the American proved speed was not the key to success at the Vaasa track as he benefited from mistakes early on by Cavalieri and Maifield before pulling off a very nice pass on Cragg for the lead.

Running a clean race, Tebo said afterwards he just listened to his pre-race notes one of which was to not have a marshal touch his car.  Once he hit the front the American said the pressure was on the chasing pack and he felt really good allowing him to open up a comfortable gap.  Backing right off on the last lap he still managed a 1.4 second winning margin.

Cavalieri, who finished in the same position he started, said it was a decent race but the double single in front of the drivers stand caused him some problems.  Comfortable with his B4.1 on every other part of the track he said for some reason in the final it flew differently every time over the front section jump leading to a few moments for him.

The only driver in the final to have held the World title before, Cragg had an up and down race eventually finishing third almost a second off team-mate Cavalieri.  Afterwards the softly spoken British ace admitted that ‘maybe’ his nerves got the better of him.

Finishing fourth, 5 seconds down on Cragg, Dustin Evans was disappointed with the result after a coming together with Ryan Maifield ended his chances of a strong finish.  Not wanting to go into too much detail, Evans said about the incident that ‘it is was it is’ but it was ‘unfortunate to get taken out when running in the freight train for the race win’.  Maifield, who set the fastest lap of the final, felt it was a racing incident caused by the pair touching wheels and was clearly upset by the decision of IFMAR officials to make him wait which let four cars passed.  In the end the American, who started 3rd, finished 5th.

Starting from ninth on the grid Team Durango’s Joern Neumann completed the Top 6 a massive 9 seconds ahead of the Tamiya of Lee Martin who had a terrrible first run.

Full results can be found here.

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Cragg is 2WD Worlds Top Qualifier

2005 World Champion Neil Cragg is the Top Qualifier for this afternoon’s 2WD electric Buggy World Championships, the British ace snatching the honours from Associated team-mate Ryan Cavalieri with a TQ run in the fifth and final round of qualifying at Vaasa this morning.

The 28-year-old, who won his only World title in Italy from second on the grid, said his B4.1 just got faster every round culminating in this morning’s TQ in which he beat TLR’s Dustin Evans by 9/1000ths of a second.  Asked about the final, which will be decided over three 5-minute legs of which the best two count, the six time European Champion said he is expecting a close challenge from his two AE team-mates Cavalieri and Ryan Maifield who line up directly behind.  With all the finalists feeling driver errors are going to play a big part in the results Cragg said his focus will be on trying not to crash as he feels there are not too many places to pass.

Starting from second on the grid former 4WD World Champion Cavalieri feels he is looking good for the final as he chases his first 2WD title.  Admitting anything can happen the former US Champion said he is comfortable racing the guys around him and thinks they should be exciting finals.

Fellow American Maifield said he is pretty confident about his chances as he is very comfortable with his Reedy powered B4.1.  Starting third on the grid, the most consistent driver throughout qualifying feels the pressure is on the two ahead rather than on him.  Expecting more exciting racing than at the Warm-up Maifield feels the track layout now gives more potential for passing.

Taking two rounds of qualifying Jared Tebo starts fourth after a poor final qualifier this morning.  The Kyosho star said he did not listen to himself and changed his set-up for Q5 and the result was not good.  Reverting back to the set-up he used on both his TQ runs, the American said his modified RB5 should be fine and the race is going to come down to him running flawless 5-minute finals each time.

Lining up fifth on the grid Dustin Evans said he ‘super pumped’ going into the finals.  Having worked on his car late last night along with his engineer he said they found an issue with the diff.  Transform the feel of the TLR22 he said his run to second this morning, which was so close to a TQ run, took half the driving effort of yesterday but was way faster.  The 25-year-old who has been enjoying a really strong run of results in the build up to the Worlds believes he has a really good race car for this afternoon.

Starting from sixth on the grid Tamiya’s Lee Martin is aiming for a podium.  The current European expects everyone to make mistakes especially over the jumps but feels his Speed Passion powered TRF201 is good enough to race with those ahead of him on the grid.

Starting behind Martin is Team Yokomo’s Naoto Matsukura who still holds the fastest lap time of these championships.  Running a standard lenght B4.1, the Japanese Champion says he is going for the win.  The current back to back 1:12 World Champion the 17-year-old is no stranger to success and is sure be spectacular in the finals.

One of the stars of the past three days is American Dakota Phend. His first electric buggy World Championship the 14-year-old will start 8th on the grid for Team Losi Racing. Totally unfazed by this impressive performance he said his aim is just to get good starts and stay out of trouble.  Working with former two time 4WD World Champion Jukka Stennari, Phend said making the final was down to the Finn, who is now based in California where he is responsible for product developed at Losi.

Making their 2WD Worlds debut Team Durango have made the main event thanks to German Champion Joern Neumann.  Running the prototype DEX210 he said he is really happy for the team and hopes he can finish well up in the finals.

Completing the grid here in Vaasa is Austrian Peter Pinisch who brings the total number of Associated B4.1s in the final to five.  The most successful brand in the class this is no real surprise and right now the American company looks good to add an 11th World title to their role of honour.

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