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Down Under - Thursday Day 8 (13/09/2006)
- By:
- Michael Salven
Moving forward...
Racing is all underway and everybody is busy preparing his/her car and tires for the last day of qualification at this IFMAR World Championship in Brisbane.
Heat 15-9 have already finished their 5th round of qualification and we have seen an impressive performance of Kyosho driver Chris Tosolini racing 35 laps in 10:17.14 minutes. Next to him also Takaaki Shimo was able to improve his time with driving 34 laps in 10:03.26 minutes. Francesco Tironi definitely got a boost from his birthday party yesterday. He has improved his results by now racing 34 laps in 10:05.28 minutes. Last person in the top 4 is now Keisuke Fukuda with 34 laps in 10:08.41 minutes.
Within our own team we have seen improvements from Toshiyuki Iwamoto (34 laps, 10:09.43 min), Masao Tanaka (34 laps, 10:09.85 min) and Jilles Groskamp (34 laps, 10:10.30 min). All three racers are now qualified within the top 10. Well done, way to go! Other team member were experiencing problems such as Michael Salven still having traction rolling and Mark Green running out of fuel in the last lap. So for those racers it is getting exciting in the last run… We will keep you posted!
Interview with Michael Salven
Off course I also interviewed my 'man', so let's have a look on what he told me this morning.
Interviewer: How are you doing today?
Michael: I am really excited and also very nervous because we changed the car to get it better. I want to try it today but the weather is unstable so I am not even sure if I can race today.
Interviewer: How is racing until now?
Michael: I expected us to be better. So actually racing has been not too good until now. Besides being not really comfortable with the track I had some bad luck within the first heats. So now I am on the 37th position… I think… so there is a lot room for improvement.
Interviewer: How do you like the track?
Michael: The track is really nice on the layout but it is really difficult for us. It has a lot of traction but it also changes a lot during the day. And it is very difficult because it has a lot of camber changes in the corners. Some corners are banked, some others are cambered to the outside. But the facilities are incredible and the organizer is doing a great job.
Interviewer: Who is your biggest competitor?
Michael: I would say all the other brands because all competitors come from the other brands.
Interviewer: Who is going to win these Worlds?
Michael: I have no idea, I hope a Serpent.
Interviewer: What are you going to eat tonight?
Michael: We will have a Serpent party tonight… so probably it will be chips and snacks and beer (I heard it has a lot calories..).
Getting bored - Part 3
Another way to spend long times of waiting....playing with Manx (this is the name of the dog!!).
Cool - Part 3
A close-up of the Concourse D'Elegance winning bodyshell of Jilles Groskamp..check it out, definitely cool!
Results after all qualifications
All qualifications have just been finished and here are the results of the first 18 positions.
1. Chris Tosolini 035/10:11.312 Final
2. Dario Balestri 035/10:16.837 Final
3. Adrien Bertin 035/10:17.185 Final
4. Takaaki Shimo 034/10:00.012 Final
5. Hideo Kitazawa 034/10:01.961 Semifinal
6. Masao Tanaka 034/10:04.339 Semifinal
7. Francesco Tironi 034/10:05.282 Semifinal
8. Simon Nicholson 034/10:07.093 Semifinal
9. Keisuke Fukuda 034/10:08.412 Semifinal
10. Chris Reade 034/10:09.374 Semifinal
11. Toshiyuki Iwamoto 034/10:09.429 Semifinal
12. Scotty Gray 034/10:09.540 Semifinal
13. Michael Salven 034/10:09.993 Semifinal
14. Jilles Groskamp 034/10:10.302 Semifinal
15. Ric Bartolozzi 034/10:12.932 Semifinal
16. Peter Jovanovic 034/10:14.706 Semifinal
17. Mike Swauger 034/10:16.545 Semifinal
18. Ken Furukawa 034/10:16.844 Semifinal
The last run has been very exciting with a lot of racers improving their times. Especially the last heat was incredible to see with three racers putting in a ‘35 lapper’. Best Serpent is Masao Tanaka who improved his time in the last run. Great to see that he could push it even harder and show the potential of the car in the last round. We are very proud of Scotty Gray who has shown an impressive performance on his first Worlds ever. Well done, Scotty! Next to the ones just mentioned also Toshiyuki Iwamoto, Michael Salven and Jilles Groskamp have made it to the semi final. Way to go boys!
Serpent barbecue
While I am still writing all this there is a big Serpent party going on outside... All racers are enjoying drinks, bread and a good piece of meat. So remember RC racing is not just about small cars but also about having fun :-) !
Thanks to our Australian Serpent distributor Steward Grant who has organized a perfect BBQ for all Serpent racers. Well done, Steward!
Masao Tanaka discussing
Michael Salven
It's time to play!
Wow...
Top Qualifier Chris Tosolini
Steward Grant BBQ
Enjoying the BBQ - Part 1
Enjoying the BBQ - Part 2
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