Race Report

 

Hayato Matsuzaki and Jared Tebo - IFMAR World Champions!

Event: 1:10 Electric Off Road IFMAR World Championships
Location: ICIRNO HAKOSAN-Shi, Ishikawa, Japan
Dates: Sept. 9-17, 2007
Vehicle Class: 1:10 Electric Offroad, 2WD, 4WD
Report from AssociatedLive.com / Oople.com

Synopsis: 2WD

Jared Tebo, left, Hayato Matsuzaki, winner, Ryan Maifield, right

2WD A Main - Leg One
Hayato got an early lead from pole - pulling a small gap on the field, like he had in practice. Ryan Maifield started slowly catching up, building the pressure on the young Japanese driver. Coming down the straight Ryan was right behind Hayato - around the sweeper and coming into the off-camber corner Hayato turned in too early and got hung up. Ryan Maifield took the lead and pulled away a little.

Hayato was being chased by Jared Tebo and Ryan Cavalieri. Hayato made the same mistake again and got out of shape - Tebo and Cavalieri got through. Hayato was fast but made several more mistakes under the pressure and dropped down the order. Ryan Maifield kept his cool and held onto the lead, with Tebo three seconds back in second and Cavalieri third.

Hayato's B4

2WD A Main - Leg Two
The silence before the second leg was absolute - the tension was immense to see if we could get a winner in the second leg. This time Hayato got away cleanly, followed by Mike Truhe. Mike stuck with Hayato for a while but Hayato was driving his best and didn't let the pressure get to him this time around. Hayato got away from Mike - meanwhile Masami was working his way through the field. A great over taking move coming over the triple got him past Mike and into second - still a long way off Hayato.

Coming into the last few laps Masami was quicker and pulled up to Hayato. The last lap was a nail biter - Hayato kept his cool with a hard charging Masami all over him. Coming over the moguls Masami saw his chance and tried to take the inside line but didn't quite have the pace. Coming down the left hand straight Masami still had a chance but hit some loose ground and the backend was gone - A huge cheer went up and Hayato was able to cruise down the main straight for the leg win.

2WD A Main - Leg Three
Hayato went into the lead from pole with Mike Truhe and Maifield. Maifield battled past Truhe and chased Hayato - piling on the pressure. Maifield made a mistake over the moguls letting Truhe back through and losing a couple of positions. Jared Tebo passed Truhe to take second.
Hayato had a little lead but the real entertainment was the battle for second. Truhe and Tebo swapped places several times on the last lap - Truhe would pass on the inside and go wide for Tebo to come back past, and it went on like that right to the line. Tebo edged out Truhe for second place by barely a tenth of a second. Hayato won the third leg, and with his win in the second leg takes the World Title.

Hayato Matsuzaki, 2WD winner

2WD

Place	Name	Vehicle	Nation
1	Hayato Matsuzaki	B4	Japan
2	Jared Tebo	B4	USA
3	Ryan Maifield	B4	USA
4	Masami Hirosaka	B4	Japan
5	Mike Truhe	XXXCR	USA
6	Ryan Cavalieri	B4	USA
7	Mark Pavidis	RB5	USA
8	Paul Bradby	B4	UK
9	Lee Marvin	B4	UK
10	Travis Amezcua	B4	USA

 

Synopsis: 4WD

Ryan Maifield, left, Jared Tebo, winner, Ryan Cavalieri, right

4WD A-Final Leg 1
Drama from the start when Joern Neumann's motor moved on the warmup lap. Gerd Strenge sprinted off with the car back to the pits to fix it and only got back with 30 seconds before the start of A main number one - quite entertaining.

Jared got away cleanly, chased by Maifield and Cavalieri - Masami meanwhile was having terrible time of it, getting marshaled twice on the opening lap and dropping way back. Tebo and Maifield started to pull away slightly from the rest, and Tebo had a little breathing room. Coming toward the end of the race, these two were flying - Ryan Maifield started to close the gap. Into the last lap and coming up the second straight Ryan Maifield rolled - Jared was almost gifted the race but then rolled himself, so the two came out of the moguls like nothing had happened.

Jared Tebo managed to keep Maifield behind despite the pressure to take the first leg of the A main.

Tebos' B44

4WD A Final Leg 2
Jared Tebo already had a win, so another would give him the Championship - no pressure there then. Jared got off to a good start, with Maifield and Masami right behind. Coming around to complete the first lap Ryan Maifield was looking for a way past Tebo.

Masami Hirosaka mounted the next challenge to Tebo - keeping with the American Team Associated driver for a few laps before a roll gave Tebo a little breathing room. Jared Tebo was in full-on cruise mode and had no one to challenge him - Cavalieri and Masami Hirosaka had a short battle before Cavalieri fought his way past, pushing Masami into third.

Jared Tebo wins the 2007 IFMAR 4WD title.

4WD A Final Leg 3
Jared Tebo had already won, so sat this one out, allowing Ryan Maifield to step up to pole position. Ryan got off to a great start with Cavalieri in tow. Cavalieri was driving hard to try and make a pass on Ryan Maifield but a roll coming over the mogul section cost him time and gave Maifield some breathing room up front.

Ryan Cavalieri was now on a mission and driving harder and faster than anybody, jumping the triple and double in as straight-a-line as possible. It was the last two laps of the World Championships, he had little to lose - he was driving like he stole it, you might say. On the last lap Cavalieri had caught up to Maifield coming over the small jump on the central/diagonal straight leading up to the triple.

Coming over the triple and double, Cavalieri had the throttle planted and closed any remaining gap to challenge Maifield for the win in leg 3. Only the sweeper before the finish line was left and Cavalieri came up on the inside of Maifield and the spectators went crazy, Cavalieri couldn't stick it though and the back end stepped out, sending Cavalieri spinning over the finish line in second. Ryan Maifield took the win and second place overall.

Team Associated – Champions By Design

Jared Tebo, 4WD winner

4WD

Place	Name	Vehicle	Nation
1	Jared Tebo	B44	USA
2	Ryan Maifield	B44	USA
3	Ryan Cavalieri	B44	USA
4	Masami Hirosaka	Yokomo	Japan
5	Billy Easton	Serpent	USA
6	Atsushi Hara	HB D4	Japan
7	Rick Hohwart	B44	USA
8	Hayato Matsuzaki	HB D4	Japan
9	Naoto Matsukura	Yokomo	Japan
10	Joern Neumann	Serpent	Germany