Saturday-Lower Mains

Lower semi-finals (20 races) were run today, all the way up through the 1/16 finals. The top 50 race tomorrow starting with the 1/8 semi's at 8:00AM. Martin Bayer (Losi/GRP) from the Czech Republic was the only Losi driver to advance of the eleven that competed today but several Losi drivers had good performances, with Alan Burton bumping up three times before finally finishing below fourth place in race 18. Casey Peck, Lars Johnson and Travis Dupree each did well in their respective races and bumped up once. The star of the entire day had to be Chad Bradley, whose Jammin' X2 seemed to bump up at least 4 or 5 times today. He is in the 1/8 finals tomorrow after a great job all day.

There are eight Losi cars in the top 50 that will run tomorrow. Clint Wachter, Martin Bayer and Matt Castellano will run in the 30 minute 1/8 final at 8:00AM tomorrow morning. Billy Fischer will run at 8:45 in the other 1/8 final. The top 4 in each 1/8 final advance to the 1/4 finals at 10:00AM and 10:45AM and will compete with Adam Drake and Phillip Attondo. The two 30 minute 1/2 finals are at 12:30 and 1:30 respectively, where Mike Truhe and Yannick Aigoin will compete for a spot in the one hour A final at 4:00PM.

Today we had a "meet and greet" where fans could meet Losi team drivers, take pictures, get an autograph or even questions about the new car! It was gratifying to see the appreciation on the faces of people young and old when they had the chance to meet and speak with Mike, Yannick, Adam, Billy, Phillip or other favorite Losi driver. There was a country music radio station that had a display next to us and there was a good crowd with a lot of energy. One picture shows people on roofs to obtain a good view of the racing, another shows Ignacio Madrid from Madrid Modelisomo, our Losi distributor in Spain and Portugal. A big thank you to Tonya Geese, the nice lady in the orange shirt that donated her time to coordinate, prepare and cook for the team, mechanics, and other guests at our Losi Nitrotane hospitality area.

I am very proud of all the Losi drivers, the entire event and look forward to tomorrow's races to crown a new World Champion.

Bill

Truhe TQ's the Worlds

Mike Truhe laid down another TQ run in the 5th round this morning making it three rounds in a row he set fast time. Late in round 6 it became clear that XRay driver Josh Wheeler needed to TQ and Truhe finish 6th or worse for the round in order for TQ to be lost. When Wheeler did not win his heat, Truhe's run became a test session as his overall TQ had already been secured. Yannick drove consistently fast in each of his qualifying runs to qualify 6th overall and directly into the 1/2 final. Adam (23rd) and Philip Atondo (27th) earned Saturday off and both are in the 1/4 odd final. Other notable Losi qualifiers were Clint Wachter (33rd), Matt Castellano (37th), Billy Fischer (44th), Martin Bayer (49th) and Derek Weatherhold (63rd). I am very proud of the entire Losi Racing Team for their qualifying results and look forward to bump-up day tomorrow.

Pictures from the day include Marco DeMarchi from TQ Models in Italy who is the Losi distributor in that country along with his friend Piero Cresta, Losi Team Manager Kevin Gahan, Stefano Gandini and Mario Rossi from GRP and Mike Truhe.

I will check in again tomorrow with results from the lower semi-finals.

Bill

Truhe awesome Thursday

Mike Truhe was awesome today, TQ'ing rounds 3 and 4 of qualifying with his GRP-powered Losi 8ight 2.0 Of particular note was his performance in round 4. In spite of crashing on each of his first two laps, Mike ran quick enough the rest of the run to set TQ. In fact, he was so fast that I could only get a picture from behind him! Yannick Aigoin also had two excellent runs today to put himself solidly in Sunday's semifinal race with a total of four good finishes. Adam Drake also had a fast run in round 4, setting third-fastest time. Yvonne DeFrancesco stopped by to say hello and visit, she and her brother Louis run Air Age Publishing, the company the produces R/C Car Action and other enthusiast magazines. Yvonne and I have known each other a long time and have seen the sport of R/C racing and the hobby industry as a whole grow from what would be considered today as pretty humble roots.

Today was all Truhe, but the level of competition from Associated, Jammin', Mugen, Kyosho etc etc is intense. Tomorrow brings the final two rounds of qualifying, and at the end of the day we'll know the top qualifier as well as the list of drivers that get to take Saturday off from racing and prepare for Sunday!

Bill

Wednesday Qualifying-a muddy mess!

Today was the first day of qualifying, and all drivers scheduled to run early in the round (races 1-8) faced some treacherous conditions during both rounds, but specifically in round one. The track was devastated from yesterdays' continuous rain and I hope these pictures provide some idea of how difficult these conditions were on the cars. Losi pilots Jonny Wachter (race 1), Billy Fischer and Casey Peck (race 2), Adam Drake and Todd Hodge (race 4) and Mike Truhe (race 5) were caught out by the luck of the draw. Truhe had a good top-10 run in round 2 after a throwout in round 1. Fischer, Wachter and Drake each struggled during both their runs. Yannick Aigoin (FR) was second qualifier behind Ryan Cavalieri in round one and coupled with solid second round effort will end up in the top 10 after the two rounds run today. Martin Bayer (CZ) was also solid in both of his runs. 13 year old Losi driver Derek Weatherhold also had a solid top-20 run in round two. It was truly amazing to see cars start their run at 7.5 lbs and end up weighing more than 12 lbs after their turn in the mud. Tomorrow's weather promises to be better and the track will only get faster as the week wears on. A unique format is used at the Worlds and no drivers transfer directly into the A-final after qualifying. Everyone must run in a semi and bump their way into the A. Therefore, qualifying is a race for the top 25 places who get to sit out Saturday's lower semi's and transfer directly into Sunday's 1/2-semis. The beauty of this format is that even the last place qualifier has the opportunity to bump his way all the way up and into the A final event! I'll have additional details after rounds 3 and 4 tomorrow.
Bill

Tuesday washout

Today it rained most of the day, with heavy showers making the track a mudpit in several sections. Several drivers ventured out for runs in hopes of helping their heat positioning for tomorrow's qualifying, but many decided to save the wear on their cars by not running in the torrid conditions. There were significant periods of time when heavy rains prevented anyone from venturing out on the track. Hopefully the weather will cooperate tomorrow and qualifying begins in better conditions.

2008 Worlds

Greetings from the IFMAR Worlds!

This is Bill Jeric saying hello after the first day of practice at the 2008 World Championships. Lance and the entire crew at the Farm II track have done an incredible job with the track and entire facility, and today's weather cooperated with just enough cloud cover to keep temperatures down. Tomorrow's forecast is not optimistic, however, so competitors may have the opportunity to run for the first time in the rain. Drivers were able to complete one timed practice session of ten minutes today, with the full round taking over a little over 5 hours to complete. Two rounds of controlled practice are scheduled for Tuesday. Today was encouraging as Losi drivers completed their first practice run. Mike Truhe's car looked very smooth and set fast time of the practice round and was the only driver to complete 14 laps. Adam Drake's car was also handling well, and his time was good for 5th overall time. Notable that Americans took 8 out of the top 10 times, but I expect that will change as European and Asian drivers get used to the track. I've included a few images from the track today and I look forward to updating you tomorrow.