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.

Matsukura blitzes rivals in Super Pole

Naoto Matsukura effectively blitzed his rivals in Super Pole needing just three laps to set the fastest lap and book his direct starting position in the final alongside Infinity team-mate and Top Qualifier Dario Balestri.  Only the second time Super Pole has been held at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships, the 2nd through 5th placed qualifiers had the opportunity to avoid racing in the Semi Finals with the process comprising of a 3-minute warm up following by 6-timed laps of which each drivers fastest was counted.  With three of the drivers participants of Super Pole in France two years ago, first up was Jesse Davis with his best attempt a 14.640.  Next to go was Dominic Greiner who was making his first 1:8 Super Pole. Timing issues however meant his run was restarted and after much deliberation between officials on how he could continue the run he was forced to start his timed run from the pit lane with just a single warm-up lap.  Despite the disruption he improved on Davis’ time by 1/10th of second.  Qualifying third overall, next up was Simon Kurzbuch who pushed Greiner off the top spot by 0.003 of a second.  Last to go and knowing what he needed to do, Matsukura duly delivered a 14.449 lap to go quicker than Kurzbuch by 0.084.

Reacting to his Super Pole win, Matsukura said, ‘In the last qualifying round my engine was rich but we kept that engine and made adjustments in the warm-up.  After the first lap I knew I had the car & engine to do the lap I needed’.  Happy at maintaining his 100% appearance in nitro onroad World finals, this being only his third attempt and his third time qualifying into the final, the reigning 1:10 World Champion said, ‘Everything looks good for the final but 1-hour is a long time so lets see.  I remember the battery from 2-years ago.  I will make sure to fully charge’.  Leading the final in Monteux he would crash out after his receiver battery died.

Having also missed out on the Super Pole to Matsukura last time, Kurzbuch said, ‘the car was now pushing a bit but I tried my best and it was not enough so it was the same outcome as 2-years ago’.  Looking to tomorrow’s Semi Finals for which he will start on pole, the Shepherd driver said, ‘for the finals the car is OK for the best lap now it was not enough but we know what we need to do in our Semi’.

‘I don’t know if this is fair.  I had to come in 3 times and then the last time I come in I get just one lap before my timed laps’, was Greiner’s reaction after his Super Pole run.  Not sure what the timing issue was that forced his run to be stopped, the Serpent driver continued, ‘The others had more time to get into a flow but my flow and concentration was broken because of the problem’.  Now set to start on pole for the first of the Semi Finals, he added, ‘When I thought I was on my timed laps, I thought the first of them was my best one’.

Speaking about his 6-laps, Davis said, ‘the result was sort of what I expected’.  The Infinity driver added, ‘we changed the engine and it was not better so we’ll take that back out and put in the other one for the Semi Finals.  We should be alright again in the Semi’.

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Balestri to defend World title as Top Qualifier

Dario Balestri will defend his 1:8 Onroad World Championship title as the Top Qualifier for tomorrow’s final at Steel City RC Speedway in California.  The Infinity driver secured his fourth consecutive World Championship TQ when he topped the sixth & final round of qualifying ahead of Simon Kurzbuch and Dominic Greiner.  With the first five qualifiers seeing 4 different drivers post TQ run, the final qualifying was a four way shoot out. Running in the second fastest heat Greiner did all he could to set the provisional TQ time while the other three contenders, Balestri, Naoto Matsukura and Kurzbuch set off in reverse order in the top heat.  The first to post a second TQ run when he topped the morning’s Q5, Matsukura would unfortunately crash out at two and half minutes, leaving the battle between Balestri and Kurzbuch, their predicted pace up on the time set by Greiner.  In the end Balestri had it under control finishing with 4/10ths on Kurzbuch. Overall Matsukura qualified 2nd followed by Kurzbuch, Greiner and Jesse Davis.

‘The last one was the best one because finally I start behind Naoto. The one in front always has more pressure’, was Balestri’s reaction to the final qualifier.  The Italian added, ‘I didn’t want the battle to end with Naoto mistake but even when he went out I could not take it easy because if Simon would win he would have the TQ so I had to push to the end for sure’.  With his place in the final secured, looking to the 1-hour race he said, ‘We have a perfect car for the race.  It’s super balanced and consistent on the lap times so we just need to see which temperature we will have and we can adjust the balance for that. I am looking forward to the final’.

Explaining his mistake, Matsukura said, ‘the engine was a little rich, I had no power, so I pushed hard and it caused me to traction roll’.  Winner of Super Pole at the last 1:8 World Championships when he made his nitro racing debut, the Japanese ace said, ‘For Super Pole I will go 100% but it is going to be super close.  Dominic and Simon can make good laps and also Jesse.  I will do my best and I like the single lap challenge’.

‘We gave everything I would say’, was how Kurzbuch summed up Q6.  The Shepherd driver continued, ‘Overall 3rd we are third now which is a good result.  Twice we were super close to Dario but he was just a bit quicker so he deserves this pole. Now the next challenge for us is Super Pole’. On contesting Super Pole, the 2015 Champion said, ‘In the last round the car was really good so we will go with it the same for Super Pole.  I cant say I like Super Pole because it means we missed the TQ but the passed two years I have experience of it and I will be pushing for a good outcome for our side’.

On his final qualifying attempt, Greiner said, ‘the engine was better but my driving was not perfect. The car was fast’.  He continued, ‘I am not a super pole driver. I am not so good on single laps but of course I will try my best’.  Almost conceding he will be lining up in the Semi Finals the Serpent driver concluded, ‘for the Semi we have a good car so everything should be fine’.

The final of the four Super Pole contenders, qualifying 5th overall, Davis said, ‘still we have good final’s pace but we just couldn’t find that 1-second we needed for the TQ pace’.  Making Super Pole last time out in France, the Australian said, ‘For Super Pole we will change the engine. Normally over one lap I can do something but here on this track I don’t think it’s going to be easy for me to do something over the 6-laps but I know we have a good Semi car. It’s easy to drive and consistent’.

View the complete event results here.

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