WORLDS: Matsukura fastest in Q3, kept Coelho from earning overall [RESULTS AND POINTS]

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By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Warm-up winner Naoto Matsukura drove his Kyosho ZX-6 to the fastest time in the third round of qualifying, beating Bruno Coelho by just .266 to stop the Portuguese driver from securing the overall TQ. Matsukura set the pace from the start of the race and held on for the first three minutes before Coelho took over the top spot while the Japanese driver picked his way through traffic. With less than a minute to go, Coelho crashed after coming up short on the front double and Matsukura held off the charge on the final two laps. HB driver David Ronnefalk had his best run yet, finishing 9-tenths of a second back in third, with top seed Yusuke Sugiura scoring the fastest 17-lap run in fourth and Coelho’s XRAY teammate Martin Bayer in fifth. A further 1.95 seconds further behind Bayer, three-time 4WD world champion Ryan Cavalieri scored defending champion Team Associated’s first top-ten run of the week.

Here are the results of the third round of qualifying:

Matsukura's TQ performance technically prevented Bruno Coelho from locking up the overall TQ, though with two points in the best-three-of-five format the Portuguese driver is guaranteed to start no worse than second - and he's the dominant points leader after three rounds. Swedish HB driver David Ronnefalk sits second, with three top-four finishes, and Tom Cockerill is hanging onto third despite having 19 points. Top practice seed Yusuke Sugiura is fourth with 25 points, with a lowest score of 4, and British Yokomo driver Lee Martin is fifth.

Here are the overall points standings after three rounds: