2015 Asia Onroad Championship Rd1 – Report

The opening round of the 2015 Asian Onroad Championship series made its way to the Wang racing family owned RCI Raceway in Shanghai, China last weekend. The AOC saw drivers representing eleven countries from many regions of the World, including IFMAR World Champions such as Hayato Matsuzaki and Surikarn Chaidajsuriya. Other drivers in attendance included Nicholas Lee of Singapore, JJ Wang among many others from China, and the North American contingent of Rick Hohwart, Kevin Hebert, Eric Anderson, Felix Law, Tiny Welch, Paul Lemieux and Eric Epp.

The premier class of Modified Touring Car saw Paul Lemieux find pace late in practice and carry it over to qualifying, Paul would take TQ over JJ Wang and Hayato Matsuzaki. Though the finals were eventful, the final result would be qualifying order with Lemieux taking victories in A1 and A2 over JJ in second and Hayato in third overall.

Modified Touring Car result:
1. Paul Lemieux – Xray
2. JJ Wang – HB
3. Hayato Matsuzaki – Yokomo
4. Kevin Hebert – Associated
5. Nicholas Lee – Tamiya
6. Felix Law – HB
7. Rick Howart – Associated
8. Stick King – Awesomatix
9. Rocket Zhang – HB
10.Chau Man Chan – Xray

Though entry count was low, 13.5T Boosted Touring Car was possibly the most competitive class at this round of the AOC. Daryl Thong took home the win but not without a fight from Yaowei Guo who would take the A1 win but eventually have to settle for second overall as Daryl made the best of A2 and A3. Jimmy Qian would round out the podium.

13.5 Boosted Touring Car result:
1. Darryl Thong – Serpent
2. Yaowei Guo – Yokomo
3. Jimmy Qian – Xray
4. Salton Dong – Yokomo
5. Eric Anderson – Xray
6. Lo Lao – Yokomo
7. Jimmy So – Yokomo
8. Fu Xiao – HB

13.5 Blinky Touring Car belonged to Eric Anderson all week. It seemed his result was never in danger. Eric TQ’d and won A1 and A2 in convincing fashion. Yao Guang Tang finished second with Eric Epp “The Shepard Face” rounding out the podium with a great drive.

13.5 Blinky Touring Car result:
1. Eric Anderson – Xray
2. Yao Guang Tang – HB
3. Eric Epp – VBC
4. ZI Lie Huang – Yokomo
5. Jae Ho Yu – Tamiya
6. Kris LO – Spec R
7. O Xiao  – TOP
8. Mihnea Lupu – HB
9. Nate Northrup – Xray
10.Tiny Welch – Yokomo

Kevin Hebert was the pace setter all week in Modified 1/12th scale. JJ Wang came very close at times but Kevin would ultimately TQ and take A1 and A2 Victories to win the event. JJ would end up a well-deserved second place with double digit Worlds finalist Rick Hohwart finishing third overall.

Modified 1/12th scale result:
1. Kevin Hebert – Associated
2. JJ Wang – VBC
3. Rick Hohwart – Associated
4. Martin Skarin – VBC
5. Rocket Zhang – Morotech
6. Fu Xiao – Xray
7. Per-Ola Hard – Serpent

Very much as the 13.5 Blinky Touring Car division Eric Anderson was again the driver to beat in 1/12th Stock. Eric took TQ and a series of A1 and A2 wins in the class. Heng would finish with a strong campaign in second with Hiro Nakatani finishing third.

Stock 1/12th scale result:
1. Eric Anderson – Xray
2. Heng – VBC
3. Hiro Nakatani – Hiro Factory
4. Wen Bo Lu – Xray
5. Bob Peterson – VBC
6. Yao Guang Tang – VBC
7. Rick Wang – Morotech
8. Fang Jie Ding – VBC
9. Marcus NG – VBC
10.AI Lou – AI Special

The TQ and winner in the Formula class was Hiro Factory’s own Hiro Nakatani. He took the win in A1 and A2 over Stick King in second with Tsutomu Arakawa finishing third dispute his push and his exciting A3 victory.

Formula result:
1. Hiro Nakatani – Hiro Factory
2. Stick King – Speed passion
3. Tsutomu Arakawa – Kawada
4. Heng – Saxo
5. Per-ola Hard – Serpent
6. Joe Lo – Speed Passion
7. Nelson Tong – SJ
8. Bob Peterson – SJ
9. Billy Chan – Saxo
10.Jimmy Qian – Saxo

Source: Gravity RC [teamgravityrc.com]