Surprise Q4 as Wheeler TQs round

The fourth round of qualifying threw up a surprise with Xray driver Josh Wheeler setting the pace ahead of the Kyosho of A-Main Hobbies team driver Dylan Rodriguez with Jared Tebo third fastest.  Running in the 5th group of 12 which was the opening group of Q3 & 4, Wheeler benefited from the timing of his run with the second of today’s runs really taking a toll on the track.  The former World Championship Finalist admitted he got lucky with track conditions but said having followed in the same direction with his set-up as Xray team-mate Martin Bayer his OS powered XB9 worked really well for the run.  Running medium compound AKA iBeam tyres he said other than going for a longer rear arm he will leave everything else as is for the final run of the day.

18-year-old Rodriguez said changes to his MP9 including adding more caster improved the buggy but overall it was a change of his driving style that made the biggest change.  Running Proline Blockade tyres the American said they gave him a very consistent buggy.  Planning to run the buggy the same for Q5 he said he will only make a few small adjustments to keep up with the increasingly bumpy track conditions.

Behind the two surprise names at the top of the timing sheets, Tebo was best of the title favourites followed by Yannick Aigoin who laid down the fastest time in the Top heat where track conditions lead the majority of drivers to require marshalling.  Ty Tessmann who had a difficult run said the track ‘completely blew out’ for Q4 and said the key to the rest of qualifying is going to be staying on your wheels rather than trying to be ‘super fast’.

Just .065 behind his Associated team-mate, Ryan Maifield took fifth for the round despite loosing 8 seconds due to some very poor standards of marshalling.  The same marshall cost Q3 top qualifier Elliot Boots dearly and left him 7th behind Kyosho team-mate Jerome Aigoin.  A coming together with Tessmann which saw both buggies end up on their roofs on the concrete step, Warm-up Race Top Qualifier David Ronnefalk set the 8th fastest time.

Q1 pace setter Robert Batlle made a wrong last minute tyre choice for Q4 and eventually decided to pit during the run to change to the Procircuit Marathon & Sweet Shot combo he was originally planning to use.  The Warm-up race winner said he will stick with these on his Mugen MBX7 for the penultimate qualifier.

Qualifying Round 4 – Top 12
1. Josh Wheeler – Xray/OS Speed – 13/10:14.317
2. Dylan Rodriguez – Kyosho/OS Speed – 13/10:15.559
3. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 13/10:15.771
4. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision – 13/10:16.073
5. Ryan Maifield – Associated/LRP – 13/10:16.138
6. Jerome Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi – 13/10:16.906
7. Elliot Boots – Kyosho/Novarossi – 13/10:18.263
8. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 13/10:19.290
9. Davide Tortorici – Mugen/Bliss – 13/10:19.847
10.Renato Tradardi Jr – Associated/Novarossi – 13/10:19.709
11.Taylor Peterson – Mugen/Alpha – 13/10:20.139
12.Travis Amezcua – Xray/Novarossi – 13/10:21.793

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Boots fastest in Q3

Elliot Boots became the third driver to post a TQ run at the 1:8 Offroad World Championships with the Kyosho driver getting Day 5 in Argentina off to a perfect start by topping Q3 ahead of Q1 pace setter Robert Batlle and Ty Tessmann who was fastest in Q2.

British Champion Boots had a couple of moments over his latest 10-minute run but said overall he was pleased with the result. Running AKA iBeam tyres on his MP9, the 19-year-old said the track was getting really unpredictable and it was important to be patient with the buggy and let it do its own thing over the increasing number of bumps because if you push too hard you end up having moments.  With two more qualifiers to run today following a decision to change the timetable last night in the hope of getting 5 of the 6 qualifiers in before Thursday’s predicted rain, Boots said he will continue with the same set-up and tyre choice for Q4.

Mugen’s Batlle was very happy to end the qualifier with the second fastest time, the Spaniard saying with three mistakes in the run he didn’t expect it.  Running a new as yet unnamed Procircuit tyre the Warm-up Race winner said the tyre was good but with the track getting more bumpy as well as more grippy he will switch tyres for Q4 to Marathon on the front and Sweet Shot on the rear.  Batlle’s team-mate Lee Martin enjoyed another competitive run taking his MBX7 to the fifth fastest time, the European Electric offroad champion proving very consistent with Top 6 runs in all three qualifiers.

Despite one crash at the end of the straight, where a lot of drivers are now having moments, and another big bobble Tessmann described the run as ‘alright’.  Having switched to thicker shock oil for the run he said his OS Speed powered D8’12 didn’t feel as good with it being edgy to drive.  Team-mate Hara set the sixth fastest time, the Japanese ace a lot happier with his performance today.  Running a softer shock set-up for Q4, he said he had better overall grip than yesterday and the buggy handled the bumps better however on the bigger jumps he added the softer shocks meant it was a little bouncy on landings.

Having set the 10th fastest time in both of yesterday’s qualifiers, Ryan Maifield posted the fourth fastest time in Q3.  The American said he did a lot of ‘Home work’ last night and the run was the best his heavily modified RC8 has been at the event so far. Switching to JConcepts Red compound Crossbow he said he would have been better with a larger pin tyre for the round.  With the buggy easy to drive, Maifield said they are very close in terms of the set-up he is looking for and for his next run he will make some very minor changes to try and get just a little more speed from it.

Top Xray for the round was Martin Bayer who was set the 8th fastest time just behind FEMCA Champion Kyle McBride who wasn’t happy with his tyre choice for the round.  Bayer said the run could have been ‘way better’ but he just lacked consistency.  Suffering one small mistake he said the track is getting more difficult and they need to adjust his LRP powered XB9 to better suit the conditions.

Elsewhere Jared Tebo ended the round with the 10th fastest time his Kyosho collecting a spun out buggy on the sweeper at the end of the straight which put the Orion powered MP9 on its roof.  TLR’s Dakotah Phend set the 12th fastest time after the 15-year-old, who had good pace, suffered three mistakes of his own doing.  Team-mate Adam Drake lost time in his run when he and defending World Champion Cody King had a coming together and them on the last lap he had an more costly incident with team-mate Darren Bloomfield.  The American ended up 21st for the round. Top Qualifier of the Worlds Warm-up event here in Buenos Aires Kyosho’s David Ronnefalk had a rear wheel fall off his MP9.  The young Swede said it was frustrating because his MP9 felt ‘really good’.

Qualifying Round 3 – Top 12
1. Elliot Boots – Kyosho/Novarossi – 14/10:39.259
2. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi – 14/10:41.101
3. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed – 14/10:43.192
4. Ryan Maifield – Associated/LRP – 13/10:01.809
5. Lee Martin – Mugen/Novarossi – 13/10:02.283
6. Atsushi Hara – HB/OS Speed – 13/10:03.450
7. Kyle McBide – Kyosho/OS Speed – 13/10:04.028
8. Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP – 13/10:04.400
9. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision – 13/10:05.874
10.Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 13/10:07.983
11.Taylor Petersen – Mugen/Alpha – 13/10:08.913
12.Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 13/10:10.694

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Tessmann fastest in Q2

Team HB’s Ty Tessmann upped the pace in the second round of qualifying which brought Day 4 of the 1:8 Offroad Championships to a close in Argentina. The Canadian bettered Robert Batlle’s morning time by 1.3 seconds to top the Q2 time sheets ahead of Kyosho’s Jared Tebo with Batlle’s Mugen posting the third fastest in the hotter afternoon run.

Having made a mistake in Q1 which left him with the fifth fastest time, Tessmann said the second run was crash free.  Switching to the X2 compound of Proline’s Bowtie tyre he said these suited the hotter conditions better.  Happy with the run he said they ran shock oil that may have been a little too soft for the run and so if the track stays dry for tomorrow the US National Champion believes he can probably better the time.  Team-mate Atsushi Hara said they may have got a little lost when choosing their set-up for the warmer conditions of Q2 which compared with the overcast morning run was held in much sunnier conditions.  The 2008 World Champion & 2010 Runner-up said ultimately it was his driving that was the problem as he made too many mistakes claiming only the 19th fastest time.

Another driver that lost time in Q1 due to mistakes, Tebo was very happy with his second qualifier, the American saying he ‘kept it clean this time’.  Running AKA Impact tyres on his Orion powered MP9 the Top Qualifier at the 2010 Worlds in Pattaya, said his buggy felt really good and everything worked really well and he declared himself ‘ready for tomorrow’.  Kyosho/Orion team-mate & defending World Champion Cody King also had a better second qualifier as he managed to set the 8th fastest time.  Running Proline’s X2 Blockade he said small adjustments to the set-up made the buggy a lot better but the big improvement came from his driving.  Planning to switch to the Bowtie tyre, which Tessmann used to good effect, for tomorrow’s Q3 King said he will also try Kyosho’s new hub weights which he said should help the buggy to settle a little better and reduce the aggressiveness of the steering.

Overall the second qualifier was a good round for Kyosho with the company to hold the most 1:8 Offroad World titles getting five cars in the Top 12.  FEMCA Champion & star of 2010 when he made his Worlds debut, 16-year-old Kyle McBride took his OS Speed powered MP9 to the sixth fastest time ahead of Jerome Aigoin while Warm-up Race Top Qualifier David Ronnefalk who had a difficult Q1 set the 9th quickest run.  McBride, who didn’t attend the Warm-up race, said he got his tyre choice the wrong way round today running Proline Calibers in Q1 and Blockades in Q2.  Starting the event with a set-up Kyosho came with after the Warm-up the Australian said he is now back at a very similar set-up to that he runs back home and he is confident of a better day tomorrow.  Elliot Boots, who was the best placed Kyosho in Q1 with 4th, had a terrible second run, the British Champion saying he similarly made a wrong tyre choice using too soft a compound of the AKA Moto which caused his buggy to be very edgy.

Winner of the Warm-Up race at the end of September, Batlle described his second run as ‘OK’.  Declaring himself happy to back up his Q1 TQ run with the third fastest time he said the rear end of his Novarossi powered MBX7 felt a touch too soft and for Q3 he plans to run a harder spring.  Just behind the Spaniard was his Mugen team-mate Lee Martin, the British driver improving his Q1 time by 1.5 seconds.

After a disappointing Q1, Team Associated’s Yannick Aigoin put in a strong 10-minutes in Q2 to set the fourth fastest time.  Team-mate Ryan Maifield once again completed the Top 10 despite one crash that required his LRP powered RC8 to be marshalled. Comfortable to drive the American is looking to get more speed from the buggy and following his run he promptly returned to his hotel to start rebuilding for tomorrow and to consider what set-up changes to make.

Having set the second fastest time in the opening heat, TLR’s young star Dakotah Phend made a wrong tyre choice for his second run, the Proline Bowtie rubber being to soft a compound for the conditions.  Adam Drake would be the fastest 8ight in Q2, the American nitro offroad legend setting posting the 10th quickest time.

Having set the third fastest time in Q1, Team Xray’s Martin Bayer said his set-up just didn’t suit the hotter conditions with the Czech driver only able for the 12th fastest time.  Team-mate Renaud Savoya had a difficult second qualifier.  The French ace had a ‘big crash’ which he said cost him a lot of time and during his fuel stop he suffered a flame out.  With his RB engine running fine in Q1, Savoya said they are having problems with it cutting out once the conditions get hot and have tried different pipes and a different fuel but he is not sure what is causing the problem.  Having not been happy with his tyre inserts in Q1, Savoya tried a different type in Q2 but said they were ‘not good’.

With rain imminent the decision was made following today’s qualifying to revise the timetable for tomorrow with the start time brought forward to 08:30 local time so that 3 rounds of qualifying can be run rather than the 2 originally planned.

Round 2 Qualifying Top 12
1. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed – 14/10:36.255
2. Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 14/10:38.130
3. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi – 14/10:41.999
4. Lee Martin – Mugen/Novarossi – 14/10:43.532
5. Yannick Aigoin – Associated/nVision – 14/10:44.068
6. Kyle McBride – Kyosho/OS – 14/10:44.150
7. Jerome Aigoin – Kyosho/Novarossi – 14/10:45.483
8. Cody King – Kyosho/Orion – 13/10:01.388
9. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho/Orion – 13/10:01.418
10.Ryan Maifield – Associated/LRP – 13/10:02.747
11.Adam Drake – TLR/Novarossi – 13/10:02.776
12.Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP – 13/10:03.170

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Batlle TQs first qualifier in Argentina

Robert Batlle has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the 1:8 World Championships in Buenos Aires, the factory Mugen driver topping the 10-minute run by 4.3 seconds from TLR’s Dakotah Phend and the Xray of Martin Bayer.  With the teams and drivers expecting to wake up to a wet track this morning the forecasted rain stayed clear and the action was able to get away at 09:00 with Heat 1, made up of fastest Top 12, something that took many by surprise.  Team Associated’s Ryan Maifield, who was in that heat, was very critical of the event saying it was the ‘worst’ World Championships he had been to as there was a complete lack of communications. He continued that the schedule is being followed and the re-sort for the qualifying was not done how it was supposed to be done.  He finished his criticism with ‘where is IFMAR?’.

Running a time of 14/10:37.538, Batlle said he just tried to run a good safe heat with there being a strong threat of rain before the second qualifying round and in the end was a surprised to TQ as the run didn’t feel that fast.  Running purple compound Procircuit Hot Dice tyres on his Novarossi powered MBX7, the Warm-up Race winner said the buggy was good however track repairs made this morning left a number of sections of the track very slippery due to the cement dust.  In terms of his plan for Q2, the 3-time European Champion said he will wait until nearer the afternoon’s run to see how much the track has broken up and also see what the weather decides to do.

Phend said his run was really good and he was happy to have kept his Orion powered 8ight on its wheels for the entire run.  Using Proline Bowtie tyres, the 15-year-old who was a very close runner up at this year’s hugely competitive US Nationals said while the cement dust made things a little tricky the repair work to the jumps made them a lot better.  Looking forward to Q2, Phend said he would probably run the same set-up and tyres again but said he would make the call on that nearer to the time of the run.  Team-mate & reigning European Champion Darren Bloomfield, who is running in heat 2, failed to finish his opening qualifier after he broke a front arm on his 8ight.

Setting the third fastest time Bayer, who is running in Group 3, was very happy with his run.  The factory Xray driver said he made a few mistakes in the opening two laps but thereafter the run was really good with his LRP powered XB9 very easy to drive.  Running AKA City Block tyres he said a suspension change and a wing adjustment improved the buggy from yesterday.  The Czech ace said what he does for Q2, commenting the car needs to be adjusted for every run due to the changing conditions, would depend on how the track holds up.

Suffering a mistake of his own doing and then having problems with traffic on his last lap,  yesterday’s controlled practice pace setter Elliot Boots said the incidents cost him about 9-seconds in total to leave him 4th fastest but he said ‘thats how it goes’. Running AKA Cityblock on his Novarossi powered MP9, the 19-year-old British Champion said he found the track quite edgy compared to yesterday and so he plans to make a few set-up adjustment but he will wait and see how the track changes over the remainder of the first round of qualifying before adjusting anything.

Team HB’s Ty Tessmann set the fifth fastest time despite a mistake on the step-up which left the Canadian’s D8’12 needing to be marshalled.  Fitted with Proline Bowties, the US Champion said the buggy was really good and other than freshening it up for Q2 he doesn’t plan to make any set-up changes.  He said his focus for this afternoon’s run is to ‘try not to crash.

Taking his Mugen MBX7 to the sixth fastest time, 3-time European 2WD Electric Buggy Champion Lee Martin was very happy with his start to qualifying.  The British ace said his buggy was not as fast as in practice but it was easy to drive apart from one mistake, which he put down to being ‘semi nervous’, that cost him around 2-seconds.  Choosing medium AKA iBeam tyres, Martin said the soft compound would have been faster but he made the choose to make the buggy safe.

Team Xray’s Renaud Savoya said his objective was to drive a safe run and keep his XB9 on its wheels which is what he achieved.  The Frenchman said he was the fastest buggy on the track but the aim was to get a solid Top 10 run and so he was happy with 7th.  Comfortable with his buggy in the first half of the run he said after refuelling it felt a little edgy something he thinks was due to the insert he ran in his Sweep Battle Star tyres.  For Q2 the 2008 Worlds Podium finisher said he will fit the inserts differently and may glue them to the edges of the rim.

One of the smallest factory teams in Argentina, Serpent’s Billy Easton set the 8th fastest time with his S811 Cobra. The American, who designed the buggy, was happy with the result but said it could have been much better had he not had traffic problems.  Catching up to a slower car early in the heat he said this caused him to make a mistake and having being one of the last cars to start the run he said on his final lap he lost further time as all the other cars were running around the track slowly having already finished their 10-minutes.  The former electric offroad World Champion said in the first half of the race the buggy was a little loose something he put down to the fresh set of Proline Blockades but after the fuel stop he said he put together some ‘really good laps’.  Looking to bag another safe run in Q2 he said he doesn’t plan to make any set-up changes for this afternoon.  Behind Easton was two time European Champion David Tortorici who took his Bliss powered Mugen to the 9th fastest time.

Having got his opinions of the way these World Championships are being run off his chest, Maifield said changes to his RC8 last night made it a little more difficult to drive but overall the run to the 10th fastest time was ‘OK’. Having not had time to mount a new set of tyres due to the unexpected heat resort, the former US Champion ran the same set of JConcepts Metrix tyres he used in controlled practice yesterday.  Planning to make a revert back to his set-up used in CP2 he said with a fresh set of tyres he should have a better package for Q2.

Defending World Champion Cody King said he took the full blame for a poor opening qualifier.  The Kyosho driver said his MP9 was pretty good but he just tried to drive it too hard.  Putting it down to ‘first round jitters’ the first 5-minutes of the run was full of mistakes but he hopes he has now got it all out of his system and is looking forward to a much better Q2 run.  Team-mate Jared Tebo, Top Qualifier at the last World Championships, needed to be marshaled twice, one time being on his final lap but still set the 11th fastest time.  The American said his MP9 was really good but he was pushing it over the limit at the time of his two occassions.

Round 1 Qualifying Top 12
1. Robert Batlle – Mugen/Novarossi – 14/10:37.538
2. Dakotah Phend – TLR/Orion – 14/10:41.924
3. Martin Bayer – Xray/LRP – 14/10:42.680
4. Elliot Boots – Kyosho/Novarossi – 14/10:44.646
5. Ty Tessmann – HB/OS Speed – 14/10:45.024
6. Lee Martin – Mugen/Novarossi – 14/10:45.036
7. Renaud Savoya – Xray/RB – 14/10:45.466
8. Billy Easton – Serpent/Novarossi – 14/10:45.925
9. Davide Tortorici – Mugen/Bliss – 14/10:47.046
10.Ryan Maifield – Associated/LRP – 13/10:00.849
11.Jared Tebo – Kyosho/Orion – 13/10:00.889
12.Teemu Leino – HB/LRP – 13/10:02.274

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