The last time we contested the IFMAR World Championships in electric off-road, we saw American Ryan Cavalieri capture both titles (2WD, 4WD) in Vaasa, Finland in July 2011. Here is an early look at who to watch this week:
Steven Hartson, Darren Bloomfield, Kody Numedahl, Ryan Lutz, Naoto Matsukura, Mike Truhe, Billy Fischer
After heavy rains Saturday, this is what much of the track area looked like early Sunday morning.
Drivers spent much of today gluing tires. Here, Neil Cragg happily crams a foam into a set of handouts.
Pro-Line's Daniel Adams getting mugged by a posse of tire-hungry drivers.
Masami Hirosaka lurking...
Defending 2WD and 4WD IFMAR World Champion Ryan Cavalieri kills time on registration day.
Legends / old friends / bitter rivals Mark Pavidis and Brian Kinwald have a chat.
Team Australia getting ready to lead the way out to the track during opening ceremonies. Shortly thereafter, they probably lead the way out to the bar.
A great photo of Team Japan...
Jared Tebo and his daughter make their way out to the "Parade of Nations" portion of the opening ceremony.
Ty Tessmann's 2WD appears to be a mutt.
Ah, the ol' concurs judge bribe.
Team America
Here, you can see the size of the American team in relation to the rest of the world's attendance. This is typical at most world championships, regardless of where they are being held.
After a lengthy delay to allow the track to "bake,"
practice finally got underway this afternoon. Downpours last weekend turned the track -- and most of the surrounding area -- into conditions that would make any mud-wreslting fan twitch with excitement. But, the
track crew did a phenomenal job turning what looked like a hopeless situation into the fine specimen of a dirt surface drivers were greeted by as they turned their initial laps today.
Despite the amazing aesthetic condition of the track, there were some reports early today that the traction was somewhat inconsistent. Such is life when you are trying to run-in a sugared track, however. Most drivers looked pretty locked in as the practice program reached its end.
Drivers are reporting that the layout is fun, flowing, and all of the other clichéd adjectives that pro racers use to describe tracks. Honestly, I think they are all programmed to say the same thing about every track. ;) From our perspective, though, it does look like an extremely fun layout.
As for the practice sessions, there weren't many surprises. There were a handful of guys that looked superior; another handful that looked like they could turn fast laps but weren't that consistent; and then the rest of the field who have done a great job paying their entry fees and will have an amazing experience this week, I'm sure.
Here are some tidbits about some various drivers I watched today:
Dakotah Phend -- Wasn't blistering fast, but has a noticeable amount of command over his vehicle.
Ryan and Ryan -- They're good. And so is the C4.2.
Jörn Neumann -- He is sneaky fast. He is my dark horse pick in both classes this weekend.
David Ronnefalk -- Fast but shaky. Will most likely improve, but taking down the favorites might be an insurmountable task.
Ty Tessmann -- Looks very confident. Will look faster in race conditions. Still very much one of the favorites to win.
Jared Tebo -- Doesn't jump out at you in practice, even though he was running super fast. He looks "on."
Dustin Evans -- Had good laps, but isn't operating with the same amount of "command" as his teammate Dakotah.
Mike Truhe -- Already having a great year, Truhe looks poised for an A-main run in 2WD...or perhaps more?
Tomorrow qualifying begins and we will be able to sketch a much clearer picture of how things will play out on Wednesday. See you then!
PHOTOS
Track master Kevin Jelich has been working his tail off for the last three days to bring the track back to life. He and his staff have done an amazing job.
Masami knows what's up.
Jörn Neumann may have missed yesterday's opening ceremony, but he was on the track today and looking good. The track surface will probably play into his strengths. Look for him to be a force this week.
Speaking of Neumann, he tested both his 2WD and his 4WD (without the front drivetrain) today. It appears he settled on the true 2WD platform for racing.
Dakotah Phend wasn't turning the fastest laps in each round today, but the command he showed over his car was as good or better than anyone else I saw today. This is very similar to how the nationals went.
We didn't mention David Ronnefalk on our list of contenders or sleepers. That was clearly a mistake. David had some of the fastest laps of the day. Overall, he looked very fast, but fairly inconsistent. He will look to improve that under race conditions.
Speaking of fast but inconsistent, I'm not sure a short phrase has ever fit an R/C driver better than Naoto Matsukura. Look for Naoto to hot lap at least a round or two tomorrow, if not TQ. If some dominoes fall his way during a few qualifiers and the mains, he could easily win his first off-road world title.
Jared Tebo looked like Jared Tebo. Smooth, fast, and in control.
Four of the five scheduled rounds of qualifying were run on Tuesday. Q5 will go off on Wednesday morning before the mains, so drivers will have a whole night to either
mull over their mistakes and hope they can redeem themselves in the morning, or
relax comfortably knowing they are securely in the main.
Jared Tebo is definitely a part of the latter group. Tebo finished the day with a pair of round TQs and a three. He is in the best position to secure the overall TQ tomorrow having already secured three points as a qualifying score.
Lee Martin had a phenomenal day and is sitting in a very good spot going into tomorrow. He already has two fours and a zero and can jump up into a great spot with a zero in Q5.
Ryan Cavalieri is being Ryan Cavalieri. He doesn't dominate qualifying, but he is
steady and relentless in his bid to defend his 2WD title thus far. With two threes, a four and a zero, Cavalieri is the only driver who can unseat Tebo on the top spot of the grid. However, knowing the driving styles and tendencies of both drivers,
Cavalieri may prefer to start second.
In my
opinion, both
Cavalieri and
Tebo will have the advantage if they start from the No. 2 spot. Tebo has trouble when people are breathing down his neck in short sprint situations, but is a beast if he is chasing. If he is by himself, he is gone. Conversely, Ryan Cavalieri has (historically) been a robot that doesn't seem to be affected by people being in front of or behind him (even though he did throw away a national title in August after being pressured by his teammate Ryan Maifield).
Round five will definitely be interesting to see. I doubt either Tebo or Cavalieri will be shooting for anything but the TQ, but I bet the loser in that game will quickly find the silver lining I just pointed out.
Other tidbits:Dakotah Phend had a disappointing day at the track. His only top ten run was an eight, and he did not look confident at all today- which was surprising considering how comfortable he looked yesterday.
Darren Bloomfield quietly had a very solid day. The Brit -- whom famously wasn't allowed to run at the 2011 IFMAR Worlds after winning the warm-up race just because he "didn't qualify" -- finished the day with a handful of top ten finishes.
Naoto Matsukura could either be in the top five or in the B-main tomorrow depending on how his Q5 goes.
Same for
Ryan Maifield, who has already used both of his throwouts.
Ty Tessmann could also find himself on the outside looking in tomorrow if he doesn't have a stronger run in Q5. If he fails to make the main, it will only be a few small seconds here or there that cost him.
That's how close things are.That does it for today. Make sure you tune in tomorrow for Q5 and the world championship for the BEST class in the world-
1:10 2WD ELECTRIC OFF-ROAD BUGGY.
QUAL POINTS:
VIDEOS:
Q3, Heat "A"
Q4, Heat "B" (Ryan Cavalieri, Ty Tessmann, etc.)
PHOTOS:
Some say the day was exciting, others were quite bored.
Others were stressed out. Luckily, Tyler Vik was giving out free massages. What a guy!
Others seemed like they might cry. Cheer up, Naoto!
Gord is seen here probably building something out of metal with his bare hands.
Jared Tebo was calm, cool, and collected in the pits and on the track. When he is in a zone like this, he is dominant. Today he captured the top spot in Q1 and Q3.
Lee Martin had a stellar day that included a TQ in round 2.
WC Ryan Cavalieri TQ'ed the final round of qualifying today. Just like at the nationals in August, I think his car looks better than anyone else's.
So...
change of plans. After immense rainfall last night, much of today's activity has been put at risk of being
cancelled. Q5 has already been officially cancelled making
Jared Tebo the 2013 2WD Top Qualifer.
Tebo also stands a good chance at
becoming the 2013 2WD World Champion without having to turn another lap. IFMAR rules dictate that we have ran enough rounds of qualifying to determine a champion without needing to run another race, should the track not be able to be prepared in time to run today.
For those suggesting that
tomorrow be used as a make-up day, we have heard there is
no chance that will happen. Mains will either be run this afternoon/night, or not at all- which would make Jared Tebo the WC
by default.
I know it's not the way any of us want to see the world title for 2WD go down, but it is a very real possibility that is looming over the fairgrounds in Chico at the moment. We won't know the official plan until
1 p.m. PST. We DO know that there will be NO racing tomorrow whatsoever, and that there will be NO racing beyond 11 p.m. tonight, making 6 p.m. the "point of no return" to start the mains.
We will have a much better idea of what will happen in a few hours.
Stay tuned...
12:30 UPDATE: All mains WILL be run tonight after 5 p.m.
VIDEOS:
Discussing the options for the race program
Jared Tebo interview
Mike Truhe interview
Matt Francis interview
Not a good combination...
**UPDATE: All mains WILL be run tonight**
After some delegations and lots of track work, the IFMAR team, track crew, and team managers have decided that we will be racing after all today- a decision that is much appreciated by all. I don't think anyone wanted to end the 2WD class on a sour note.
Of course, many racers were slightly upset at hearing there would be no 5th round of qualifying. Actually, let me rephrase that: ALL but ten of the racers were upset. ;)
So, since Q5 was cancelled, the qual points from yesterday's qualifying will serve as the final qualifying order. If case you forgot, here is how they will start:
Here is the updated schedule for the evening:
3:30 -- Practice mains (O-A)
5:30 -- A-main practice
6:25 -- A1 main
7:45 -- A2 main
9:15 -- A3 main
I bet A-Main is happy they installed a fancy lighting system that will replicate the brightness of the sun. I thought it was a shame that we were going to be at such a fantastic facility that was capable of running at night only to race all day under the hot sun. Well, Mother Nature thought it was a shame as well -- apparently -- because now the world title will be decided in PRIME TIME.
**UPDATE: The mains are done!**
They may not have gone off in the most orthodox manner, but they were all ran- a feat that the
A-Main Hobbies crew will take as a
major victory tonight after numerous run-ins with precipitation.
A1 ended up running slightly before it was supposed to. In fact, the time slot it fit into was originally scheduled for A-main practice, which it was still scheduled to be up until just minutes before the race. It was then that the ominous rain cloud that had been lurking nearby looked like it would not be denied the air space above Silver Dollar R/C Raceway.
IFMAR decided to change the practice run into the actual A1 main- something that caught everyone off-guard.
After the endless boredom that occupied most during the delay, suddenly the entire grounds were filled with an exciting mixture of panic and prestige as the announcement was made over the loud speakers that the cars that were on the track and the drivers that were on the stand would suddenly be racing in the A1 main of the 2WD IFMAR World Championship. Since rain looked imminent, the crowd kind of collectively
realized what they were about to witness could very well be a lone, five-minute sprint to decide the world title.The rain never came and It didn't end up being a lone sprint.
A1 finished up with
Jared Tebo leading
Neil Cragg by inches going into the last corner with Tebo holding on for the decisive A1. The victory for Tebo wasn't easy. He gave away positions multiple times and had to fight his way back to the front and hold off a hard charging Cragg. The fact that everyone knew there was a good chance it would be the only main ran also made the win for Tebo in A1
more impressive. He may have slipped slightly under the pressure, but showed he has the guts to fight back when it truly counted.
Roughly an hour later,
A2 hit the track under a steadily clearing sky that would be fully lit up by the track's lighting system by the end of the race.
Tebo again had some issues and mixed it up with
Ryan Cavalieri and
Lee Martin mid-way through, but mistakes by those drivers allowed Jared to inherit the lead with only
Ryan Maifield in his rear-view mirror. Maifield charged hard and stayed clean but could only close to within a foot or so in the last corner.
Tebo held him off and won A2 giving him a dominant, well-earned 2WD IFMAR World Championship.
In
A3,
Lee Martin took the win capping an amazing drive this week for the Tamiya driver. With the win, Martin would end up second overall.
Ryan Maifield managed to fight his way up to second, giving him the third overall position- a pretty good result considering his less than ideal grid position (6).
So there you have it-
Jared Tebo wins his second IFMAR World Championship! (2007, 4WD Buggy) Now we move onto 4WD on Friday.
See you then! FINAL RESULTS
PHOTOS:
ACCOUNT UPGRADES / ALL ACCESS PASS PURCHASE
Not much action at the track today as drivers mostly glued tires and tech'd their machines for Friday's qualifying. We were able to get some shots of a few new things, however!
TLR 22-4 (Twenty-Two-Four)
Arguably the biggest reveal of the event, the underbody shots of the TLR 22-4 show just how "XX-4" the soul of this machine is. Why change a good thing, though? The suspension design basically invented an entire school of 4WD electric and nitro designs. The XX4's achilles heal? Toughness. Clearly this has been the focal point of this redesign. It looks every bit as "built like a tank" as the Twenty-Two 2WD buggy.
Today's electronics are much more suited to the 3-belt design than those of 1997. The XX4 design was truly ahead of its time.
Beefy.
No "Free graphite chassis!" is included with this beast (that's an inside reference for all you first-run XX4 owners out there) -- The staple of the Twenty-Two design family (the aluminum chassis) makes its way onto the 22-4. Give credit to TLR for resurrecting this once antiquated design theory after realizing that today's lightweight electronics would pair nicely with extra weight along the bottom of the car.
Hot Bodies D413
Finally! Underbody shots of Ty Tessmann's 2013 ROAR National Championship-winning Hot Bodies D413!
Try to break those rear arms. Not even that guy that can tear phone books in half would stand a chance at cracking those suckers.
The "eye-catcher" of this design is easily the shock tower setup.
Personally, not a fan of the multiple-piece body, but such a radical design requires some sacrifice.
Ty seen here running the Pro-Line shocks similar to the design we saw on his 2WD.
A closer look at the D413's arm design.
Ten rounds of practice are on the schedule today -- just short of a full championship boxing match. Lots of TKOs so far as the track is doing its best to knock out the traditionally brittle four-wheel-drive machines. So far we've seen just about everyone leave the track early.
The track layout for 4WD has not changed from the 2WD portion of the event due to the tender nature of the dirt after the weather related bruising it took this week.
We'll get back with you later about how practice went, but for now- here is some new stuff from the pits:
JConcepts: 
New C4.2 parts: rear bulkhead, rear shock tower with optional camber mounts, and wing mounts.
B4/C4.2 front shock tower
C4.2 body
Rear buggy wing
B44.2 body
New 2WD and 4WD body designs
Tekin:
RSX 1:10 ESC
NOTES:
Car tippin' -- Cars were tipping like crazy early in the day due to the insane amount of traction. Many drivers were able to adjust to these conditions over the day, however we noticed the TLR drivers still having some trouble later in the day.
Tough designs -- At one point early in the day we had a chance to see the durability of the
D413 and the
22-4 tested out...on each other. Ty Tessman overshot a jump and rear-ended Mike Truhe super hard on the landing. Truhe's rear arm broke and Tessmann drove away.
Demolition derby -- Today's practice was littered with wreckage. I'm pretty sure everyone was off the track early at some point or another today. The main cause for the carnage appears to be the table-triple feature at the end of the straightaway. We talked to a few people who were really hoping that this section of the track could have been changed for 4WD.
New cars looks good -- the new chassis from
TLR, Hot Bodies, Tamiya, Kyosho, and
Yokomo all have proven to have contending pace. The
Associated still looks awesome though. Until proven otherwise for an extended period of time, the
B44 platform remains the benchmark and will be tough to beat.
Twenty-Two-Four - The car looks great. It corners like mad, jumps like a XX4 (highest compliment you can give a 4WD car), and accelerates hard. The only issue we could see was that it looked a little tippy and seems to have to be driven slightly more conservative to account for this in comparison to other cars. That doesn't mean it isn't fast, though. The car had several 27 second laps today and will be a factor in this weekend's world championship.
4WD Power Rankings (Practice Day):
Here is a new feature I'll throw at you- the top ten drivers (as I see them!)
1. Jörn Neumann -- Everyone knows his 4WD is better than his 2WD. He helped prove that hypothesis in practice today. Remember, Neumann (arguably) should have won the 2011 title, but was plagued by electronic failures while leading. By the end of the day today, he was on another level. Clearly the class of the field in the seeding round. He will start first in qualifying.
2. Ty Tessmann -- It will be tough to beat the man and car who won the national championship on this very track just over a month ago. He will have to calm down and drive consistent if he wants to win this weekend. Up until Jörn Neumann's dominant final practice round, Ty had looked the best for a majority of the day.
3. Lee Martin -- Lee looks fast and confident. He will surely benefit from his strong performance in 2WD when approaching the 4WD class. He is one of the few drivers who doesn't even attempt the long jump line at the end of the straightaway. He has smooth and consistent speed.
4. Ryan Cavalieri -- He had speed that was on par with Tessmann, but is a little more predictable. If he isn't contending for the win on Sunday, I will be surprised.
5. Ryan Lutz -- Ryan looked awesome today. Team Durango clearly has their 4WD working well. Lutz with a good car can be extremely dangerous. He is a guy that could easily jump up to the podium or even win, should things go his way in the mains. If his runs were a little more consistent, he would be in the No. 2 spot behind his teammate Jörn Neumann.
6. Ryan Maifield -- If he drives like he did in the 2WD mains (smart, aggressive, not reckless) during qualifying and the mains, he instantly becomes a favorite to win. However, given his track record, counting on him taking that approach to this weekend's racing isn't a sure bet. He will have to prove he can maintain that approach throughout the entire weekend to capture his first world championship.
7. Neil Cragg -- Cragg wasn't showing the same speed as the Durangos in the final practice round, but his consistency and experience will make him a contender.
8. Jared Tebo -- The WC wasn't hot lapping anyone today, but he has the smooth, consistent speed that kills on this track...just like it did in 2WD. Expect him to climb these rankings under race conditions.
9. Naoto Matsukura -- With this much traction, Naoto must be considered a threat. Like always, his battle will be maintaining his ballistic driving style for five minutes amongst a field of ten other cars. That isn't likely to happen.
10. Tyler Vik -- Kind of off my radar until the final race of the day. Apparently Vik built a brand new XRAY in the middle of the night in order to race it today. He made quick work of adapting to the new ride because it was on rails in the final round of practice. It would be a "Cinderella" story if Vik made his way anywhere near the podium this weekend, given the nature in which his 4WD program has evolved over the course of the last 24 hours. But, numbers don't lie. He had the pace...even if it was only for a few laps. He will be someone we will have to look at further tomorrow.
The rest:Mike Truhe, David Ronnefalk, Darren Bloomfield, Kody Numedahl, Dustin Evans, Rick Howart, Dakotah Phend, Steven Hartson, Travis Amezcua, Kohta Akimoto, Marc Rheinard
I Imagine it feels nice to walk out to the track with your 4WD car knowing this is on the shelf in your pit.
The grounds are still recovering from the rain. The A-Main crew worked all day to rectify the small lake that formed within the parking lot.
Gil Losi Jr. watches over 4WD practice. I bet Gil was keeping an eye on the TLR 22-4 - a car which is the direct result of his creation from 17 years ago, the Team Losi XX4.
Hollie hard at work in the King tire gluing area. With the frantic pace that practice has been run, many drivers are struggling to perform routine maintenance and setup changes. This is when having a good group of helpers can really be an advantage to a driver.
The TLR 22-4 looked like a handful at times, and completely awesome at others. This is the natural progression of any new chassis. Right now the car's biggest issue (from a spectator's view point) seems to be keeping it from tipping over. These guys will get it figured out and dialed in soon.
Darren Bloomfield seemed to have his 22-4 working great. He is definitely an A-main threat this weekend.
Steven Hartson also has his 4WD working well. We've been waiting for a long time for him to utilize his tremendous talent and break through on an international level. Will this be the weekend it happens?
Marc Rheinard and his prototype Tamiya looked surprisingly good today. This week has been the best I've seen Rheinard ever drive an off-road car. The traction may have something to do with that. ;)
We thought Jörn Neumann would have a much better week than he has had thus far. He is already well on his way to rebounding in 4WD. He was the fastest car we saw today.
Lee Martin is impressing the hell out of the LRC crew. He looks like he will contend for the 4WD title the same way he did for 2WD.
Another Brit, another contender- Neil Cragg's 4WD was strong in practice.
Newly crowned 2WD champ Jared Tebo looks the same as he did in 2WD- smooth. He will require a provisional seeding spot due to his early DNF in the seeding round of practice today.
Ryan Maifield looks focused and fast for most of the day. He is in search of his first world title.
Ryan Cavalieri is boring to write about. He never has bad days, and never blows everyone away. He is just fast, all the time. I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but only a fool bets against him this weekend.
Ty Tessmann's Hot Bodies D413 is ridiculous. This car looks like it drives differently than every other 4WD car on the track- in a good way. If he becomes the buttery-smooth, lap-turning robot he was at the nats, he will be hard to beat.
It's
family day here at the IFMAR Worlds! That means there was something here that most of us aren't used to at major races-
civilians! Lot's of them.
A-Main Hobbies has done a great job of promoting this day and getting a large crowd to come out to the track. This is what the hobby needs, and they did it right.
On the track,
Jörn Neumann picked up where he left on on Friday. The German driver quickly
TQ'ed the first two rounds of qualifying making it seem like things would be wrapped up fairly early today. However,
Ty Tessmann took Q3 after Neumann struggled, and
Ryan Cavalieri turned on his worlds-speed and snatched the zeroes in Q4 and Q5 sending the overall TQ to a
tie-breaker which Jörn narrowly won. Mere fractions of a second ended up being the deciding factor in determining the top two grid positions.
In case you're wondering why we've run
Q5 Saturday instead of Sunday morning, IFMAR decided to place the qualifying round at the end of today's racing in order to push up the start times of the mains tomorrow. I hate to say it, but
RAIN is again in the forecast. However,
it looks like it will hold off long enough to race to the world championship.
Here is how qualifying ended up:
FULL RESULTSSurprises: Jared Tebo did not have a good day.
The
TLR cars haven't been as fast as they need to be.
Marc Rheinard may not have made the main, but for much of the day he was causing fits to everyone in the top five.
Tyler Vik continued to impress today. He transferred his heat A reseeding into a spot in the A-mains tomorrow.
NEW STUFF:Kurt Wenger's next project-
We talked with former Associated and Avid engineer
Kurt "Coach" Wenger about what he is up to lately. We were just informed yesterday that he has
left Avid to pursue making products under his own, yet-to-be-named brand. Kurt assures us the products he will be creating will be within the same vein as those he created for Avid.
Wenger says that his company will be making a
mid-motor conversion for the B4.2 in the near future. He also has a
narrow aluminum chassis conversion for the B4.2 that is going to be one of the first offerings from his company (the narrow chassis will also be the foundation for the mid-motor car). Wenger and Jason Corl were racing early prototypes of the car this week. I had a chance to peak under the hood, but wasn't allowed to take pictures. I can say that it is one of the cleanest designs you will ever see on an R/C car. Definitely trick.
Kurt says he will be releasing more info about his new company in the coming months and has targeted early 2014 as the launch date. Stay tuned to LiveRC for more info as it becomes available.
This car is extremely narrow. In fact, it will be the narrowest configuration you can get in the 2WD buggy market. The car is so narrow that Kurt had FTW make a new body for it. I must say, the body is refreshingly awesome looking.
What's going on in there? I see Carbon fiber...
Kurt's ultra-thin aluminum chassis. Look for the conversion kit in early 2014.
VIDEOS:
PHOTOS: 
You know it's going to be an interesting day at the track when stuff like this starts rolling in.
Everyone wants something for free! A-Main was giving out $10,000 worth of door prizes today.
The "Try-Me" track was a hit
That hat.
BBQ and an Jamba Juice right outside the LiveRC trailer? Next level!
Masami "The Sheriff" Hirosaka watches over a qualifying heat.
Tyler Vik updating his new
super-popular Facebook page after a sweet run! In all seriousness, Tyler is using a car he built less than 48 hours ago to whip the asses of lots of guys who have poured endless amounts of time and energy into their 4WD programs. He had some mechanical gremlins that kept him out of the main, but had the pace to contend. Also, contrary to what you may have seen on the Internet this week, he knows how to spell pretty good. ;)
Tyler Vik is also a great painter.
Ryan Lutz was on pace to TQ a few rounds today. He definitely has the speed to run with (or ahead) of anyone here, he just needs to find a bit more consistency. Heads-up race conditions usually breed consistency for all drivers, though.
Steven Hartson made the A-main after a stellar day of qualifying.
Jörn Neumann took it to the field today and ended up TQ. It took winning a tie-breaker with Ryan Cavalieri to do it, though, so don't crown him champion just quite yet. We should have some exciting racing tomorrow.
Once the sun went down, the spectators came out in droves.
This is what R/C needs- races held in public and promoted locations. Everyone has been saying it for years. Kudos for A-Main Hobbies for actually getting a big crowd of people out to watch R/C racing!
The fireworks show was a huge hit both with the local crowds and the racers! I must say, it was at this moment that this worlds was put over the top!
That will do it for today! Tune in tomorrow for the 4WD MAIN EVENTS!
Steven Hartson has won the IFMAR 4WD 1:10 EP Off-Road World Championship! Hartson secured the victory by winning two of three A-main legs.
Hartson, starting from the sixth grid position, used the "smooth and steady" approach in A1 to work his way around several cars that had been pushed too hard, or not driven carefully enough. His steady hand -- combined with the ability to go blazing fast when needed -- allowed Hartson to meticulously drive his way to the front of the pack and hold off a hard-charging Ty Tessmann to take the win.
Hartson wasn't quite as fortunate in A2, however. He quickly moved up into 4th before a mistake took him out of the running for the win. Naoto Matsukura would take A2 from the 8th spot on the grid which sent us to A3 with five drivers still alive for the title.
A3 was a whirlwind of missed and gained opportunities littered throughout the race's five minutes. With half the field knowing they had a chance to win it all, some panicked and tried to push their luck while others stayed patient and let the race come to them- the latter describing Hartson's approach. The Team Associated driver slowly picked off one driver after another while filling their rearview mirrors with steady, mistake-free lines.
Naoto Matsukura, on the other hand, risked it all in the first corner by pitching his car sideways over the first jump section. He collected himself enough to fight his way back to the front by the end of the race which set up an unbelievable last two laps between himself and Hartson. The most dramatic part of which was on the last lap when Naoto took a risky line over a jump section and landed on Hartson sending both cars into a tumble that would require a turn marshall to straighten out. Realizing his error, Naoto waited and let Hartson firmly re-establish himself in the lead position before resuming- a true sign of sportsmanship. Hartson pulled away and cruised to the finish line for the win.
The victory gives Hartson a career-defining win and could serve as his official "break-through" moment. Long known as one of the top drivers in Southern California and the U.S., Steven will now be known around the world as one of the few drivers who can claim they are an IFMAR World Champion.
FINAL RESULTS:PHOTOS:
Steven Hartson's Associated buggy sits on the grid.
Naoto Matsukura's Yokomo would end up dueling with Hartson's B44.2 by the end of A3.
Steven was beyond focused today.
Hartson working his way through the field.
Naoto after winning A2 from the 8th grid position.
Naoto chases Hartson near the end of A3.
A few turns from the title...
Straightening it out after the last corner...
Crossing the finish line. IFMAR World Champion.
Steven's father and mechanic Dan moments after the victory
Associated Team Manager Brent Thielke congratulates Dan Hartson on the win.
Steven and Naoto
Pictured left to right: Naoto Matsukura, 2nd; Steven Hartson, 1st; Ty Tessmann, 3rd
Congrats, Steven!
--
That concludes LiveRC's coverage of the 2013 IFMAR 1:10 Off-Road Worlds! We want to thank you all for tuning into our broadcast and reading our race blog! See you next time!
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