Japan strikes back with 1,2: Naoto Matsukura 4WD TQ, Kyosho 1-2-3
After a low key 2wd qualifying (Masatsugu Ido being the highest ranked Japanese driver in 5th), 4wd turned out to be a different story. Kyosho’s new signing Naoto Matsukura TQ’d all 4 rounds of qualifying in very dominant fashion. Not only is Naoto amongst one of only 3 drivers to manage 16 laps, but he did it in 3 out of the 4 heats of Qualifying, while the two others (XRAY’s Martin Bayer and Kyosho’s Jared Tebo) could do it only once.
Second on the grid is super fast college student Yusuke Sugiura who secured two top 2 with his orange wheeled ZX6. In third, ’07 4WD World Champion Jared Tebo came back from the abyss with a super fast 16 lapper in the final Q4.
After a bitterly disappointing 2WD day yesterday (qualified 20th), Tebo looked like he might repeat that in 4wd, getting confused with all the astro setups his Japanese teammates were using. Only to revert to his Cactus Classic setup (!) before Q4 and suddenly finding the pace he had been lacking since day 1.
Fourth place Xray’s Martin Bayer is the only other 16 lapper. Martin’s day didn’t start the best way as he unfortunately DNF’d during the all-important re-seeding round which put him in the second slowest heat. Still, the Xray driver set some blistering times despite having to get through some very very messy traffic.
A strong force in 2wd yesterday, the AE team had a poor 4wd result, with Cavalieri the sole Associated representative making it into the A-main in a lowly 9th.
The yokomo boys never looked in contention in any of the TQ rounds, though they still have 4 cars in the A-main, with their star driver Lee Martin the highest placed in 5th, Ido in 7th, Rheinard in 8th while Kai Kikuchi squeezed his red fluorescent his Trion powered car into the 10th and final A-main spot.
4WD Qualifying Overall
