Radio Control Car Action

Typically, the only day off for the event’s fastest qualifiers, lower mains are traditionally run on the penultimate day of racing action, as only the 1/8 and higher finals run on championship day. 2006 World Champion Mark Pavidis was among the former winners who kept his hopes alive, bumping out of the 1/16 Even along with Jorn Neumann, Nicolas Reynaud, and Daniel Vega to race on Saturday, while 2002 Champ Greg Degani was not so lucky; neither was 2002 Top Qualifier Richard Saxton, who missed the bump-up in the 1/16 Odd race behind A Main Hobbies compatriots Chad Bradley, Marty Korn, and Curtis Door. Nuno Rebelo finished fourth behind the freight train of teammates to extend his week at the Worlds.

Day Five

Just seven races were left for the final day, and by the time the program reached the semifinals, it seemed as though the surprises were over— 24 of the fastest drivers on the planet were separated into 30-minute semifinals with the race’s two most dominant drivers, Elliott Boots on the Odd ladder and Robert Batlle on the Even side, leading the charge into the first corner. Only one would survive; a servo failure in the first six minutes of the first semifinal knocked Boots out of the race, who had to watch as Canadian Ty Tessman took control ahead of Team Associated teammates Ryan Maifield and Yannick Aigoin, with teenage Swedish sensation David Ronnefalk, the warm-up top qualifier, in tow. American racer Taylor Peterson was the final of the race’s transfers, with the only two two-time U.S. National Champions, Ryan Cavalieri and Adam Drake, among those not to make it out of the first semi. Batlle

won his semi handily, and with the faster time of the two also earned the first spot on the grid for the final. He was joined by two World Champions, Hara and King, along with Josh Wheeler, Lee Martin, Ryan Lutz, and Dakotah Phend–who raced his way into his first nitro Worlds final.

The competition could have seen it coming, but the 60-minute final was over well before the clock expired; Batlle took advantage of an early mistake by Tessman to force the only lead change on lap 14 of the 76 completed, where he maintained a comfortable cushion and got by for a victory lap as the only car to cross the line for the 76th time. He also clocked the fastest single lap of the event, placing an emphatic stamp on a brilliantly dominating drive. The win was Mugen’s third (1990, 2004) and Novarossi’s second (1990), but the first for tire manufacturer Pro Circuit, for the country of Spain, and for himself.