Hara and the D8 Claim a Very Close Second at the Worlds

Atsushi Hara started from pole position for the Finals of the 2010 IFMAR 1/8th Off-Road Worlds, and came within 2.1 seconds of defending his 2008 title after an intense hour-long battle with the top racers from around the world! After starting from pole in his Semi-Final with his D8 Hara Edition buggy, Hara ran the fastest time in both of the Semi-Finals which won him the honour of pole position for the Final. An unfortunate flame-out for HB Teammate Jesse Robbers in his lower final after getting into second place saw him unable to bump up into the Semi-Final, and another unlucky series of events for Ty Tessman forced him to drop out of the running to make it into his second Worlds Final, so Hara would be an 'army of one' in the big show.

In the Final, Hara led at various times during the first half hour, his D8 HE sharing the lead with three American contenders for the win. Around the halfway mark, the race-ending flameouts started happening, with two of the other racers falling out of the race for the win. When a car 'flames out', the engine stops and the car dies on the track - then it has to be rushed by the marshalls to a frantic mechanic, who needs to get the car quickly running again! Needless to say, this costs precious seconds (up to half a minute!) on the track and effectively ends the race for that driver - kind of like a horribly wrong pit stop for a driver in Formula One. In the last ten minutes of the race, American Cody King was leading by a good margin over Hara, who stepped up his pace to close down the lead for the last few minutes. Suddenly Hara was past! But then a bobble forced a rare mistake and Cody was in the lead again, with Hara chasing hard! After a tight, enthralling hour of racing with the 12th fastest off-road racers in the world, Cody crossed the line as the new World Champ with Hara just 2.1 seconds behind him on the same lap. The D8 Hara Edition had survived the most brutal track the Worlds has ever seen! Hara commented after the race that although he was disappointed to not be able to be the first driver to succesfully defend his title from 2008, he felt very happy for Cody, who should be very strong to defend his 2010 title in Brazil in two year's time. The race came down to who made the fewest mistakes, and Cody made just a couple less than Hara this time. Once again, many thanks to Philip at NeoBuggy.net and Eoghain at RedRC.net for the pictures and info from this momentous event! Hara used the new #68176 D8 Hara Edition buggy kit with HB Megabyte tyres in various compounds throughout the event. .