The Finals
The format of this meeting allows the first 3 drivers from lower
finals to progress to higher finals in their series, A or B. Nine
drivers progress from Semis to the Final.
If you will see that Marc Ibars
(qualified 63rd) first appears in the 1/32nd A Series
as winner, wins the 1/16th A Series, is second in the 1/8th
A Series, is second to Daniel Reckward in the 1/4
A Series, is 5th in the Semi A Series (and gets to the
Final as fastest 5th) finally finishing 7th in the Main
Final. His car raced 196 laps over 2 hours and 40 minutes,
plus warm up and practice. I haven't done the full analysis yet but
I don't think anyone did more work over the weekend than Marc and
his pit crew. There were others who "bumped up", and this
is what makes this format of finals so exciting.
Here is the Bumpers Table
| Driver
(number of bumps) |
Qualify
position |
Number
of bumps |
| Marc
Ibars (5) |
63 |
1st
1/32, 1st 1/16, 2nd 1/8, 2nd 1/4, 5th Semi, 7th Final |
| Austin
Gossard (4) |
130 |
2nd
1/1024, 2nd 1/512, 2nd 1/256, 2nd 1/128, DNS 1/64 |
| Marco
Grandesso (3) |
37 |
3rd
1/8, 3rd 1/4, 4th Semi, 10th Final |
| Jerome
Aigoin (3) |
95 |
1st
1/128, 1st 1/64, 3rd 1/32, 5th 1/16 |
| Danny
Conway (3) |
86 |
1st
1/128, 2nd 1/64, 2nd 1/32, 7th 1/16 |
| Tim
Long (3) |
105 |
2nd
1/256, 3rd 1/128, 3rd 1/64, 8th 1/32 |
| Flavio
Elias (3) |
128 |
1st
1/1024, 1st 1/512, 1st 1/256, 10th 1/128 |
| Daniel
Reckward (2) |
19 |
1st
1/4, 2nd Semi, 2nd Final |
| Miguel
Matias (2) |
28 |
2nd
1/4, 1st Semi, 3rd Final |
| Derek
Furutani (2) |
14 |
1st
1/4, 3rd Semi, 6th Final |
| Davide
Tortorici (2) |
57 |
3rd
1/16, 1st 1/8, 7th 1/4 |
| Doug
Von Mosh (2) |
109 |
1st
1/256, 2nd 1/128, 10th 1/64 |
| Steven
Drygalla (2) |
127 |
3rd
1/1024, 3rd 1/512, 5th 1/256 |
I think we can give Marc the Bumper's
Crown! The EFRA Drivers were particularly successful in the bump.
Half the finalists bumped from the 1/4s or lower. Paco Raap has
given an account of the Final on his aptly named Worlds Finest web
site. Graphs from the
backup system
The
backup timing system was also recording Sector times and times from
the speed trap. The location of the sector and speed trap loops is
shown on the insert. Note that the backup system was recording the
start of the lap at the start/finish loop. The finals were timed
from the drop of the flag, so when the cars reached the start/finish
line for the first time they had completed their first lap, but the
backup system started timing them from that point. This was fine for
verification purposes, but is a little confusing when comparing laps
between the race results and the graphs. The
graphs show each lap by adding the two sector times and the speed in
the speed trap. The speed trap was 11 meters long and speed was
recorded in Miles per Hour. For reference, 30Mph is about
50Kph.
Here is the route the Finalists took. Car
1 Mark Pavidis (Qual 1) 4th Overall
Mark dominated qualifying, TQing the first 4 rounds, breaking in the
5th and scoring 152 points as 3rd in the final round. Having sat for
a day and a half watching the rest run their finals, he seemed
determined to destroy the rest of the Finalists. His opening pace
was fierce. Laps 9 -62 were spent fighting places 3-6. lap 63 say
him back in 2nd and charging at Kanai and but for a breakdown a few
minutes from the end, he may have been the first American 1/8th IC
Off-Road World Champion. The graph shows a marked lack of
consistency in the first 25 laps while he fought for places. The
middle third was less frenetic. Car
2 Jeremy Kortz (Qual 7) 1st Semi, 8th Overall
Qualifying was progressively better for Jeremy, scoring 45,
127,141,150,143,153 in the 6 rounds. In his Semi he was car 3 and although
he dropped as low as 7th on lap 6 (only 11.68 seconds from the
leader) he gained first place by lap 11 and never looked back,
finishing with a 13 second lead over Daniel Reckward. In the Final
he maintained second after the opening laps until a setback on lap
49 and a major loss of some 4 minutes on lap 55, after which he
maintained 8th place until the end. Car
3 Miguel Matias (Qual 28) 2nd
1/4, 1st Semi, 3rd Overall
Qualifying was up and down with a good Tuesday and variable 2nd and
3rd days 146, 144, 26, 115, 24, 128 being the points scored. Clearly
capable of better things he demonstrated this by climbing steadily
from 7th on the grid in the 1/4 B Series Final, hitting 2nd place on
the final lap and from 9th on the grid in the Semi held first place
from lap 3, dropping to second on lap 24 from Kania, regaining the
lead on the next lap and winning. In the final he was clearly car 3,
holding that place more or less all the way through, taking a short
spells in 1st place on laps 48-52 and 55-61. Lap 62 was the crucial
lap, with most time (and 3 places) lost, but 3rd was regained 3 laps
from the end when Pavidis retired. The graph shows that speed
is not that important. Look at laps 12,13,14. Sector 1 & 2 times
are more or less level, but the speed varies 20-28mph. Car
4 Yuichi Kanai (Qual 2) 2nd Semi, World Champion
Excellent Qualifying, 151, 151, 146, 152, 150, 155 telling its own
story. He was in the same heat as Billy Easton, who helped set the
pace. Kanai had a hard Semi, dropping as low as 9th, but with 5 or
the top 7 laps, clawed his way back to the lead, settling for 2nd
place. The Final was a different story. He hit the front on lap 5
and stayed there, briefly sharing the lead with Matias from lap
48-61, then never faltering until the chequered flag. A confident,
measured drive and a worthy World Champion. The graph clearly
shows most of the fuel stops (regular slower sector 1 roughly every
9 laps). Consistency suffers in the second half, when Matias put him
under pressure. Car
5 Daniel Reckward (Qual 19) 1st
1/4, 2nd Semi, 2nd Overall
The defending World Champion was clearly not satisfied with
qualifying 145, 134, 124, 108, 146, 26 showing a lack of
consistency. In his 1/4 Final he held a clear lead from lap 11. In
the Semi he had a fight on his hands, only getting to 2nd place by
lap 18 and then not being able to eat into Jeremy Kortz's lead. The
Final was a similar story, with the first 48 laps spent in the lower
order. the breakthrough came on lap 49 (5th) followed by a steady
climb hitting second place on lap 72 after the Pavidis demise. The graph
shows Daniel to be Mr. Consistency in the speed trap and despite
running in the lower orders early, there were some very swift fuel
stops.. Car
6 Greg Degani (Qual 9) 3rd Semi, 5th Overall
Qualifying was a gradual improvement, 23, 111, 138, 147, 147, 150.
The semi was comfortable, with a brief lead on lap 9. The Final was
going well (4th place) up to lap 55, only 30 seconds from Kanai, but
a series of slow laps say Greg drop to 6th (with only 8 cars
running), recovering to 5th on lap 66 and holding this until the
end. Car 7 Derek Furutani (Qual
14) 1st
1/4, 3rd Semi, 6th Overall
Qualifying was steady, but not spectacular until the last round
(130, 125, 139, 125, 130, 148). The 1/4 Final was a battle for the
lead with Yannick Aigoin (who had a disastrous last lap of 55
seconds, falling from 1st to 4th and missing the bump). The Semi saw
a gradual rise from a low position, securing the bump by lap 21. In
the Final Derek ran in the lower half for most of the race (6-9,
mostly 7th) securing a 30 cushion in 6th on lap 66 when Marc Ibars
lost 90 seconds. Car 8 Jason
Ashton (Qual 6) 4th Semi, 9th Overall
Jason saved the best till last in qualifying (95, 145, 142, 151,
148, 145). The Semi came good on lap 10, when he hit 2nd, yielding
first to Julle Pederson then the charging Yuichi Kanai, finally
Derek Furutani. In the Final Jason rose as high as 5th on lap 5 but
by lap 25 was a secure 9th, where he stayed until he withdrew on lap
53. Car 9 Marco Grandesso (Qual
37) 3rd
1/8, 3rd 1/4, 4th Semi, 10th Overall
A burst of form in Rounds 2,3 gave us a glimse of the ability that
got Marco to the Final (-, 138, 149, 22, 106, 107). Marco rose
quickly in the 1/8 to 3rd by lap 9 and fought with Austin Dvorak
until Dvorak lost 8 seconds on lap 23. The 1/4 was a little more
secure with Marco running in 2nd for most of the last 10 laps, Marc
pushing him back to 3rd for the last 2 laps. He had his revenge over
Ibars in the Semi, staying ahead of him all the way. He hit 4th on
lap 11, losing it to Reckward on lap 13, regaining it when Billy
Easton fell over on lap 22. Car
10 Marc Ibars (Qual 63) 1st
1/32, 1st 1/16, 2nd 1/8, 2nd 1/4, 5th Semi, 7th Overall
I think Marc Ibars was delighted to make it in to the Final, the
culmination of 2 days hard work. His qualifying was clearly fraught
with disaster (21, 114, 136, 14, 27, 141). The 1/32 Final was
comfortable, 2nd after the first lap, 1st by lap 5 and staying
there. The 1/16 was the same, except it was lap 6 before he gained
1st. The 1/8 was tougher, as he had Davide Tortorici to contend
with. Davide held him to 2nd, finishing 10 seconds ahead. In the 1/4
it was tougher still with Reckward and Grandesso joining the fight.
The semi was even tougher, the bump only becoming possible by lap
23. By now Marc's car had raced in Finals for 1 hour and 40 minutes
plus! There was still 60 minutes of the Final. This proved to be
similar to the Semi and the 1/4 with a steady climb. He topped at
5th on Lap 63, loosing this on lap 66 when over a minute was lost.
By now there was no one running lower than Marc so 7th was secure.
If I had to point to one driver as an example of sheer determination
it is Marc. He gets my "Man of the Meeting" award. The graph
seems to suggest fewer fuels stops than the others (or VERY quick
ones). The
routes that some of these drivers took to the Final demonstrates the
excitement of IC racing with long races and bump ups. In this scale,
it is definitely not over until the fat lady sings....
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