2WD finals day was again to be spoilt with rain - this time overnight showers left the track well and truly soaked. The clouds slowly started to drift away and the sun came out One practice round kicks the day off, followed by the last round of qualifying which should shake up the order a little. The practice is back to being very slippy, especially for the marshalls. Drivers have to find their own marshalls for the practice round to marshall their OWN cars only. REEDY have their new motor and latest cells here. The motor is designed by a REEDY engineer but has so far only been seen on the Yokomo range of motors - until now. The as-yet-unnamed motor uses screw-in brushes and has a moulded endbell. The new motor is being used to good effect by Rick Hohwart, Masami, Ryan Cavalieri and Ryan Maifield among many others.

The new REEDY motor here for the first time

The track was soaked before practice. By the end of the practice however the sun was out and with very little cloud - along with a little help from the track staff, the track was raceable.

The ATOMIC CARBON 2 and 4wd cars are here from English company 'Atomic Carbon'. The design principle behind both cars is to keep them as narrow as possible for the best weight distribution. The 4WD is now available to buy and is sold as a conversion for the existing JConcepts BJ4we car. The chassis is a work of art, being completely moulded from carbon fibre laminate. It uses an usual cell layout and BJ4we drivetrain for best balance. The S2 is a pre-production car and not yet generally available. It uses a mid-mounted motor with a 4-gear gearbox which helps with traction.

These cars are owned by UK driver 'Dave Church' but French driver Frederic Pain is also running the cars this week. Dave would like me to add that he was the highest placed Atomic Carbon driver.

Atomic Carbon S4 - 4WD buggy	Atomic Carbon S2 - 2WD buggy

S4 chassis is moulded carbon fibre	The S2 uses a custom 4-gear gearbox

Frederic Pain was using this modified GM brushless motor - modified by 'Team Ptityo'.

SpeedPassion from Hong Kong were here and had a few new things - this 2.5 brushless was a bit quick looking. Apparently only usuable with 5 cells.	AE team driver, Steven Hartson

The new Kyosho 4WD was out today, the latest version having arrived from the Kyosho engineers. The gearboxes and internals are ZX5 but new centre drive shafts transmit the power from the centre slipper unit. The motor mount is from the TF5 touring car. The front of the car is quite different with rear arms up front and prototype hubs. The rear suspension is from the RB5 buggy. The car is very much prototype at the moment but the idea is to create a production version later in the year or early 2008

The rear pivot block is similar to the touring car	Front suspension uses ZX5 rear arms and custom hubs

Centre motor location	The latest ZX5 body which should see production soon

qualifying round 5

Rick Hohwart is 100% a hot guy - apparently!	Masaki Hirosaka was loving his little bike

OVERALL QUALIFYING

Masami gets tangled up	Hayato built a good lead

A Main - Leg One
Hayato got an early lead from pole - pulling a small gap on the field, like he had in practice. Ryan Maifield started catching slowly, building the pressure on the young Japanese driver. Coming down the straight Ryan was right behind Hayato - around the sweeper and coming into the off-camber corner Hayato turned in too early and got hung up. Ryan Maifield took the lead and pulled away a little.
Hayato was being chased by Jared Tebo and Ryan Cavalieri. Hayato made the same mistake again and got out of shape - Tebo and Cavalieri got through. Hayato was fast but made several more mistakes under the pressure and dropped down the order. Ryan Maifield kept his cool and held onto the lead, with Tebo three seconds back in second and Cavalieri third.

Maifield closed on Hayato - putting the pressure on	Hayato made the mistake letting Maifield through

Hayato dropped back with the pressure	Ryan Maifield takes leg one.

A Main - Leg Two
The silence before the second leg was absolute - the tension was immense to see if we could get a winner in the second leg. This time Hayato got away cleanly, followed by Mike Truhe. Mike stuck with Hayato for a while but Hayato was driving his best and didn't let the pressure get to him this time around. Hayato got away from Mike - meanwhile Masami was working his way through the field. A great over taking move coming over the triple got him past Mike and into second - still a long way off Hayato.
Coming into the last few laps Masami was quicker and pulled up to Hayato. The last lap was a nail biter - Hayato kept his cool with a hard charging Masami all over him. Coming over the moguls Masami saw his chance and tried to take the inside line but didn't quite have the pace. Coming down the left hand straight Masami still had a chance but hit some loose ground and the backend was gone - A huge cheer went up and Hayato was able to cruise down the main straight for the leg win.

Hayato with a small gap on leg one	Hayato coming onto the main straight

Masami looks for the inside on Truhe	...And gets it after the triple

Leg one winner - Ryan Maifield had a hard crash	Masami tried hard but couldn't force the error / make the pass

Hayato Matsuzaki on his way to win leg 2

A Main - Leg Three
Hayato went into the lead from pole with Mike Truhe and Maifield. Maifield battled past Truhe and chased Hayato - piling on the pressure. Maifield made a mistake over the moguls letting Truhe back through and losing a couple of positions. Jared Tebo passed Truhe to take second.
Hayato had a little lead but the real entertainment was the battle for second. Truhe and Tebo swapped places several times on the last lap - Truhe would pass on the inside and go wide for Tebo to come back past, and it went on like that right to the line. Tebo edged out Truhe for the win by barely a tenth of a second. Hayato won the third leg and with his win in the second leg takes the World Title.

Hayato from Truhe and Maifield	The race for second was awesome - Truhe follows Tebo

Truhe and Tebo swapped position many times	Truhe

Tebo has the inside and stuck with it all the way to second - and gaining second over all.	Hayato wins!

Second: Jared Tebo - Winner: Hayato Matsuzaki - Third: Ryan Maifield

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