Flashback Friday: The 2000 IFMAR Worlds Website

Believe it or not, you can still go to the original website with all the information and results from the 2000 IFMAR worlds which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you would like to check it out for yourself click here.

AMB personal transponders in production form were seen for the first time at the event according to the website.

The website even has a full writeup on how the finalists did in qualifying and how they ended up in the main event.

Here is the route the Finalists took.

Car 1 Mark Pavidis (Qual 1) 4th Overall
Mark dominated qualifying, TQing the first 4 rounds, breaking in the 5th and scoring 152 points as 3rd in the final round. Having sat for a day and a half watching the rest run their finals, he seemed determined to destroy the rest of the Finalists. His opening pace was fierce. Laps 9 -62 were spent fighting places 3-6. lap 63 say him back in 2nd and charging at Kanai and but for a breakdown a few minutes from the end, he may have been the first American 1/8th IC Off-Road World Champion. The graph shows a marked lack of consistency in the first 25 laps while he fought for places. The middle third was less frenetic.

Car 2 Jeremy Kortz (Qual 7) 1st Semi, 8th Overall
Qualifying was progressively better for Jeremy, scoring 45, 127,141,150,143,153 in the 6 rounds. In his Semi he was car 3 and although he dropped as low as 7th on lap 6 (only 11.68 seconds from the leader) he gained first place by lap 11 and never looked back, finishing with a 13 second lead over Daniel Reckward. In the Final he maintained second after the opening laps until a setback on lap 49 and a major loss of some 4 minutes on lap 55, after which he maintained 8th place until the end.

Car 3 Miguel Matias  (Qual 28) 2nd 1/4, 1st Semi, 3rd Overall
Qualifying was up and down with a good Tuesday and variable 2nd and 3rd days 146, 144, 26, 115, 24, 128 being the points scored. Clearly capable of better things he demonstrated this by climbing steadily from 7th on the grid in the 1/4 B Series Final, hitting 2nd place on the final lap and from 9th on the grid in the Semi held first place from lap 3, dropping to second on lap 24 from Kania, regaining the lead on the next lap and winning. In the final he was clearly car 3, holding that place more or less all the way through, taking a short spells in 1st place on laps 48-52 and 55-61. Lap 62 was the crucial lap, with most time (and 3 places) lost, but 3rd was regained 3 laps from the end when Pavidis retired. The graph shows that speed is not that important. Look at laps 12,13,14. Sector 1 & 2 times are more or less level, but the speed varies 20-28mph.

Car 4 Yuichi Kanai (Qual 2) 2nd Semi, World Champion
Excellent Qualifying, 151, 151, 146, 152, 150, 155 telling its own story. He was in the same heat as Billy Easton, who helped set the pace. Kanai had a hard Semi, dropping as low as 9th, but with 5 or the top 7 laps, clawed his way back to the lead, settling for 2nd place. The Final was a different story. He hit the front on lap 5 and stayed there, briefly sharing the lead with Matias from lap 48-61, then never faltering until the chequered flag. A confident, measured drive and a worthy World Champion. The graph clearly shows most of the fuel stops (regular slower sector 1 roughly every 9 laps). Consistency suffers in the second half, when Matias put him under pressure.

Car 5 Daniel Reckward (Qual 19) 1st 1/4, 2nd Semi, 2nd Overall
The defending World Champion was clearly not satisfied with qualifying 145, 134, 124, 108, 146, 26 showing a lack of consistency. In his 1/4 Final he held a clear lead from lap 11. In the Semi he had a fight on his hands, only getting to 2nd place by lap 18 and then not being able to eat into Jeremy Kortz's lead. The Final was a similar story, with the first 48 laps spent in the lower order. the breakthrough came on lap 49 (5th) followed by a steady climb hitting second place on lap 72 after the Pavidis demise. The graph shows Daniel to be Mr. Consistency in the speed trap and despite running in the lower orders early, there were some very swift fuel stops..

Car 6 Greg Degani (Qual 9) 3rd Semi, 5th Overall
Qualifying was a gradual improvement, 23, 111, 138, 147, 147, 150. The semi was comfortable, with a brief lead on lap 9. The Final was going well (4th place) up to lap 55, only 30 seconds from Kanai, but a series of slow laps say Greg drop to 6th (with only 8 cars running), recovering to 5th on lap 66 and holding this until the end.

Car 7 Derek Furutani (Qual 14) 1st 1/4, 3rd Semi, 6th Overall
Qualifying was steady, but not spectacular until the last round (130, 125, 139, 125, 130, 148). The 1/4 Final was a battle for the lead with Yannick Aigoin (who had a disastrous last lap of 55 seconds, falling from 1st to 4th and missing the bump). The Semi saw a gradual rise from a low position, securing the bump by lap 21. In the Final Derek ran in the lower half for most of the race (6-9, mostly 7th) securing a 30 cushion in 6th on lap 66 when Marc Ibars lost 90 seconds.

Car 8 Jason Ashton (Qual 6) 4th Semi, 9th Overall
Jason saved the best till last in qualifying (95, 145, 142, 151, 148, 145). The Semi came good on lap 10, when he hit 2nd, yielding first to Julle Pederson then the charging Yuichi Kanai, finally Derek Furutani. In the Final Jason rose as high as 5th on lap 5 but by lap 25 was a secure 9th, where he stayed until he withdrew on lap 53.

Car 9 Marco Grandesso (Qual 37) 3rd 1/8, 3rd 1/4, 4th Semi, 10th Overall
A burst of form in Rounds 2,3 gave us a glimse of the ability that got Marco to the Final (-, 138, 149, 22, 106, 107). Marco rose quickly in the 1/8 to 3rd by lap 9 and fought with Austin Dvorak until Dvorak lost 8 seconds on lap 23. The 1/4 was a little more secure with Marco running in 2nd for most of the last 10 laps, Marc pushing him back to 3rd for the last 2 laps. He had his revenge over Ibars in the Semi, staying ahead of him all the way. He hit 4th on lap 11, losing it to Reckward on lap 13, regaining it when Billy Easton fell over on lap 22. 

Car 10 Marc Ibars (Qual 63) 1st 1/32, 1st 1/16, 2nd 1/8, 2nd 1/4, 5th Semi, 7th Overall
I think Marc Ibars was delighted to make it in to the Final, the culmination of 2 days hard work. His qualifying was clearly fraught with disaster (21, 114, 136, 14, 27, 141). The 1/32 Final was comfortable, 2nd after the first lap, 1st by lap 5 and staying there. The 1/16 was the same, except it was lap 6 before he gained 1st. The 1/8 was tougher, as he had Davide Tortorici to contend with. Davide held him to 2nd, finishing 10 seconds ahead. In the 1/4 it was tougher still with Reckward and Grandesso joining the fight. The semi was even tougher, the bump only becoming possible by lap 23. By now Marc's car had raced in Finals for 1 hour and 40 minutes plus! There was still 60 minutes of the Final. This proved to be similar to the Semi and the 1/4 with a steady climb. He topped at 5th on Lap 63, loosing this on lap 66 when over a minute was lost. By now there was no one running lower than Marc so 7th was secure. If I had to point to one driver as an example of sheer determination it is Marc. He gets my "Man of the Meeting" award.

You can also find the full overall results here.