November 14, 2017

Martin takes penultimate qualifier from Orlowski

Having claimed two P2 result in qualifying yesterday, Lee Martin has opened the final day of the 2WD Offroad World Championships in China with a TQ run in the penultimate qualifier. Running in the second fastest heat, the reseeding after three rounds that would have put the Yokomo driver in the top heat been withdrawn this morning,  Martin’s time would see him post the quickest time ahead of Q1 pace setter Michal Orlowski. Having lead a Yokomo 1-2 last night from Martin in Q3, Ryan Maifield backed that up by posting a P3 run ahead of Chris Sturdy, Dakotah Phend and Jared Tebo.  For reigning champion Spencer Rivkin, the fourth qualifier saw the American’s hopes of defending his title come to an end as he again failed to register a competitive result.

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November 13, 2017

Maifield leads Yokomo 1-2 in Q3 at WC

Ryan Maifield became the third different driver to post a TQ on the opening day of qualifying at the 2WD Offroad World Championship, the American leading a Yokomo 1-2 in China in the third round of qualifying. Having not featured in the opening two qualifiers, with a best run of P9 in Q2, Maifield took set-up direction from team mate Lee Martin for the final action of the day to top the third of the five qualifiers by 0.375 of a second from the British driver who also managed a P2 in the previous round. Behind the Yokomo duo, the round would see another of US Offroad racing’s big name drivers turn around a challenging day as Jared Tebo took his Kyosho to the third fastest time even with an error on his final lap. Having taken Q2, Ryan Cavalieri would conclude a long day, due to morning rain delays, with a P4 ahead of Q1 pace setter Michal Orlowski while TLR’s Dakotah Phend rounded out the Top 6 with his best run of the day.

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November 13, 2017

Cavalieri takes Q2 as TQ is again decided on last lap

Having lost out in the opening round of qualifying with a mistake on his final lap that gave Michal Orlowski the TQ, Ryan Cavalieri got it done on his second attempt in China but it wasn’t without incident with the last lap again being a deciding factor. With Orlowski leading away the field again in Q2, the Schumacher driver would get it wrong at the first double and need marshalling allowing Cavalieri to lead the field from Bruno Coelho. With mistakes from almost every driver come the final lap it was Coelho who was on target for the TQ but running in close proximity to Cavalieri, a mistake by the American would balk the Xray driver and out of his rhythm lead the 4WD World Champion to having a larger mistake in the jumps section that left him with a 31.4-second lap handing Cavalieri the TQ and dropping him to third behind Lee Martin.

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November 13, 2017

Orlowski takes Q1 from Cavalieri on final lap

Top seed Michal Orlowski has taken the opening round of qualifying at the 2WD Offroad World Championships in China. After rain delayed the start of Day 2’s action, the first of the five qualifiers got underway with Orlowski making a cautious start as from the back 10th seed Ryan Cavalieri showed Team Associated had finally found their way on the challenging Xiamen track. Going to the top of the timing screens, Cavalieri looked to have bagged the first TQ with a big enough gap over the recovering Orlowski but contrasting last laps threw up a surprise. With Cavalieri touching the pipe on his final lap, Orlowski would post his fastest lap on his last lap with Cavalieri’s advantage turning to a 1/10th of a second deficit, the duo the only drivers to make 12 laps. Behind, fastest man on the track Bruno Coelho would somehow salvage a 3rd despite a number of crashes, with David Ronnefalk, Lee Martin and Dustin Evans completing the Top 6. For defending champion Spencer Rivkin the first qualifier would net the American the 11th fastest time.

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November 12, 2017

Orlowski top seed at 2WD Worlds

Michal Orlowski is top seed at the 17th running of the 1:10 Offroad World Championships. Having set the fastest time in the first of the day’s two seeding rounds in Xiamen, the Schumacher driver would see that time beaten by fellow European David Ronnefalk, the HB Racing driver running two heats earlier than Orlowski’s group which completed the round.  With Free Practice pace setter Bruno Coelho topping the second last heat grouping but crashing on the last lap of the potential fastest 3-consecutive laps it was Ronnefalk’s time that was the target for Orlowski.  Run under floodlights, with most drivers struggling to to properly see where they were going, Orlowski somehow managed the fastest lap as he put together 3-laps that would leave him 2/10ths quicker than the HB Racing driver to wrap up a successful first day for the Polish driver. With the only other improver in the Top 10 being Coelho, that time good enough for 6th, it was Dakotah Phend who would complete the Top 3 ahead of fellow North American driver Ty Tessmann.  While the result determines the heats in which drivers will qualify and what number they will carry, a third controlled practice remains tomorrow morning that will determine the order in which drivers start Q1, making drivers question the logic of the IFMAR format, feeling that if you have topped seeding them you should lead out the top qualifying heat.

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November 12, 2017

Orlowski goes to the top in first controlled practice

Michal Orlowski has gone to the top of the time sheets in China, the Schumacher driver setting the fastest time in the first round of controlled practice.  Having ended up P2 in free practice behind Bruno Coelho, the Polish driver ran the fastest 3-consecutive laps from TLR’s Dakotah Phend and Xray’s Ty Tessmann as daylight faded at Xiamen ARC International Raceway.  While Bruno Coelho would set the fastest lap being the only driver to run a 24-second lap, he wasn’t able to put three laps together, his best effort leaving him 15th fastest to which he said, ‘the car is there I just drove like a monkey and had too many crashes’. The top American in free practice Ryan Maifield would post the fourth fastest time with reigning champion Spencer Rivkin finally finding pace to make it five different manufacturers in the Top 5.

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November 12, 2017

Coelho tops practice in Xiamen

On the completion of free practice at the 2WD World Championships in Xiamen it is Bruno Coelho who appears to have the early advantage, the Xray driver heading a European trio at the top of the time sheets.  Having set the fastest 3-consecutive laps in the second of the four practice rounds, the reigning 4WD Champion showed his pace was genuine when he topped the final practice with an identical time with a 1:15.929 compared to his FP2 time of 1:15.911. Having not really featured in early practice, sitting P17 after two runs, Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski would go fastest in FP3 with his 1:16.002 time leaving him second fastest overall. Also finding a big improvement in FP3 was David Ronnefalk with his time good enough for 3rd overall, the HB Racing driver the only one to match Coelho with a 24-second lap of the challenging track. The fastest driver counting his time from the final practice, Kyosho’s Kohta Akimoto would end P4 with Ryan Mayfield the best of the offroad power house that is North America in 5th followed by Ty Tessmann.

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November 12, 2017

Coelho leads the way China in early 2WD practice

With the first two rounds of free practice complete at the 2WD Offroad World Championships in China complete it is Bruno Coelho who leads the way. The Xray driver set the fastest 3-consecutive laps on his second run to top the times by a massive 2.5-seconds from Naoto Matsukura after posting a fastest lap of 24.788. With things much more closely bunched from P2 to P6, the five drivers separated by 3/10ths of second it was Jared Tebo, the last 2WD World Champion on dirt who completed the Top 3 ahead of Ty Tessmann, Joern Neumann and Dakotah Phend. With 4WD Champion Coelho fastest in contrast reigning 2WD Champion Spencer Rivkin, who celebrates his 19th birthday today in Xiamen, found himself 13th fastest.

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