Hartson wins action packed A1

Team Associated’s Steven Hartson was a surprise winner of the opening A-Main at the 4WD Electric Buggy World Championships this morning, the American finishing 1.9 second ahead Ty Tessman.  On the first lap things looked to have been handed to Top Qualifier Joern Neumann as a fast starting Maifield hit the No.2 starting Ryan Cavalieri delaying the pursuing field with Hartson coming out in 2nd spot.  With a comfortable lead Neumann’s reign at the front lasted just a lap as the German rolled his Durango next time round giving Hartson the lead from Ryan Lutz.   Taking control of the race while the rest of the drivers fell over one another, such was Hartson’s lead that the 21-year-old was able to get away with rolling his Reedy powered B44.2 onto its roof on the last lap.  Requiring it to be marshalled he was still able to hold on for a convincing win.  Having worked his way back up to second after a good battle with Lutz, who would break & retire in the final minute, further mistakes by Neumann would see him finish 4th just ahead of defending Champion Cavalieri who would post the fastest lap of the race.

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A-Main Leg 1 Result

1.(6) Steven Hartson – Associated – 11/5:00.626
2.(3) Ty Tessman – HB – 11/5:02.614
3.(8) Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo – 11/5:04.084
4.(1) Joern Neumann – Durango – 11/5:04.625
5.(2) Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 11/5:04.966
6.(4) Ryan Maifield – Associated – 11/5:05.349
7.(5) Lee Martin – Tamiya – 11/5:07.938
8.(10)Dakotah Phend – TLR – 11/5:11.809
9.(7) Ryan Lutz – Durango – 9/4:10.499
10.(9)Travis Amezcua – Durango – 2/00:48.937

‘From Race Control’ – Day 3 of 4WD Buggy

Today is the concluding day of the 15th running of the IFMAR 1:10 Electric Buggy World Championships in Chico, California. 7 Days on from the event getting underway at the Silver Dollar R/C Raceway with 2WD, today is all about crowning the 4WD Champion which will not be the 2WD Champion as Jared Tebo has not made the A-Main after a torrid day of qualifying yesterday.  Drivers have just completed an early round of practice on what is a good overcast morning at the track.  For the title contenders the schedule will see a practice run of the A-Main at 09:10 local time with the first race proper set to start at 10:10 followed by leg 2 one hour later and leg 3, the closing race of event at 12:15.

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Neumann is 4WD Worlds Top Qualifier

Despite the best efforts of defending Champion Ryan Cavalieri, Team Durango’s Joern Neumann is Top Qualifier for the 15th running of the 4WD Electric Buggy World Championships. Cavalieri was the only driver going into the fifth & final round of qualifying who could deny Neumann from starting on pole position for tomorrow’s A-Main at Silver Dollar R/C Raceway in Chico, California. TQ’ing the round from Ty Tessman, Cavalieri complete the run in 11 laps in 5:06.990 a mere .135 shy of the time needed to deny the German his first Worlds TQ.

Running in the top heat directly after Cavalieri, who was in the B Heat, Neumann said 3-time Touring Car World Champion Marc Rheinard informed him the overall TQ was already his before he started his final run.  Despite this the 22-year-old said he still wanted to take the honour with a perfect score, each driver counting their best three of five qualifiers. Pushing hard and running an early TQ pace, three subsequent mistakes left him to finish 11th, the last one of which resulted in him breaking a rear arm off his prototype DEX410 as he crossed the loop.

Commenting on tomorrow’s race, which could very well be effected by the same weather which interrupted the 2WD event, Neumann said his plan was to try and ‘make the same as Tebo’.  Top Qualifier in 2WD Buggy the Kyosho driver Jared Tebo wrapped up his first 2WD title in the second A-Main.  Suffering a motor failure while leading the second A-Main in Finland, costing him a shot at the World title, he said he is comfortable about leading away from the front.

Having TQ’d the third qualifier and backed it up with a 3rd & 2nd in the final two rounds, HB’s Ty Tessman starts third on the grid.  Running the new D4-13, which he previously used in August to win the US Nationals here at the A-Main Hobbies own track, the Canadian is sure to be a title contender having recovered from a poor start to qualifying.  Unfortunately the same can’t be said for Tebo with the event turning in to a case of Hero to Zero for the Kyosho team.  Tebo had a torrid qualifying, ending up down in the E final, while team-mate & fellow 2WD finalist David Ronnefalk also missed the cut meaning the Japanese company will not be represented in the final.

Durango & Team Associated are the best represented manufacturers in the final with three cars each on the grid that will see 6 different brands line-up.  Neumann will be joined by team-mates Ryan Lutz and Travis Amezcua who start 7th & 9th respectively while Cavalieri will be joined by Ryan Maifield. In addition to the single HB entry of Tessman there is one Tamiya, with Lee Martin lining up fifth, one Yokomo, Naoto Matsukura starting from 8th, and one TLR, Dakotah Phend completing the grid for what has been a tough debut for the new TLR22-4.

1. Joern Neumann – Durango – 2 pts
2. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 2
3. Ty Tessman – HB – 5
4. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 9
5. Lee Martin – Tamiya – 11
6. Steven Hartson – Associated – 14
7. Ryan Lutz – Durango – 16
8. Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo – 17
9. Travis Amezcua – Durango – 21
10.Dakotah Phend – TLR – 23

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4WD Qualifying times Round 5

1. Ryan Cavalieri – Associated – 11/5:06.900
2. Ty Tessman – HB – 11/5:07.058
3. Ryan Maifield – Associated – 11/5:07.580
4. Lee Martin – Tamiya – 11/5:07.757
5. Naoto Matsukura – Yokomo – 11/5:08.652
6. David Ronnefalk – Kyosho – 11/5:09.223
7. Ryan Lutz – Durango – 11/5:09.502
8. Travis Amezcua – Durango – 11/5:09.937
9. Dakotah Phend – TLR – 11/5:10.177
10.Tyler Vik – Xray – 11/5:10.285

Provisional Top 10 as running order for Q5 means some lower heats still have to run