October 6, 2020

Carmine Raiola is 2020 Italian National Champion

The Club Automodellisitco 5 Colli in Gubbio played host to the single round Italian 1/8th Nitro Nationals this past weekend. With wet weather all weekend affecting running, it was former World Champion Dario Balestri that came out on top after qualifying taking the TQ spot ahead of Michele Romagnoli, Johnathan Gandin and Carmine Raiola. In the tricky wet 45 minute A-final, preserving tires wa key and Carmine Raiola managed it to perfection, going the full race without changing and managed to just edge out his Infinity team mate Dario Balestri by less than 3 tenths of a second at the end to claim the 2020 title. Shepherd driver Luca Romagnoli would round out the podium in 3rd.

Image: Carmine Raiola


October 6, 2020

Lex Tyler takes 17.5 class victory at Cencal Challenge

The 5th Annual Cencal Challenge was held in Fresno, California this past weekend and with 135 entries it was the biggest race for outdoor racing of 2020. The racing format set to Rocket Round and Triple Mains for each class. In the 17.5 TC division, Jaron Bandy took the top qualifying spot ahead of Xray driver Lex Tyler in 2nd with EJ Evans (Awesomatix) ending up qualifying in P3. Lex Tyler was able to clinch the overall win with victory in A1 and A2 meaning he would site out A3. EJ Evans would claim the runner up spot while TQ man Bandy would have to settle for 3rd.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]


October 5, 2020

Burak Kilick double at Messe(Statt)-Cup Leipzig

This year’s Messse(Statt)-Cup Leipzig, normally held indoors as part of the Modell Hobby Spiel fair, was this year taken outdoors as the Corona virus restrictions meant the original plan couldn’t go ahead. Thankfully the weather was good and the 3-day event hosted by MRC Leipzig went ahead without any problems. Qualifying in 1/8th Nitro saw Burak Kilic (Mugen) take the top spot ahead of Aaron Rönick (Associated) and Johannes Klett, while in EP Buggy, it was again Burak, this time ahead of Sophie Müller (Sworkz) and Steve Krause (Kyosho). The top 3 in EP remained the same after the three 10 minute mains with Burak taking the win ahead of Sophie and Steve. In the 30 minute Nitro final Burak Kilic was again the person to beat and he was joined at the front by his brother Berkan (Mugen), the pairing winning their respective semi finals to line up first and second. Burak would win by under a lap over his brother Berkan with Aaron Rönick completing the podium in 3rd.

Thanks to Abdullah Kilic for the report


October 5, 2020

Max Gotzl takes Rd5 & overall Czech Open series

The 5th and final round of the Czech Open series 2020 took place last weekend at the RC Klub Kolin track. The weather forecast was very promising for the race and we had nice sun all day, but the heavy rains in the days leading up to the event made the track wet even for the race, so there were no problems with dust or low traction. In Nitro Max Gotzl managed to take the TQ with the fastest time in qualifying with his Xray XB8, with Jiri Mara (Sworkz) placed 2nd and Jan Horacek 3rd. In the Ebuggy class Jiri Benes took the TQ in front of Jiri Dvorak and Jan Domansky. The start of the 30 minute main final got off to a rough start for pole sitter Gotzl as he made a mistake on the opening lap, but a few laps later he was able to pass Jiri and finish the race in first place with a comfortable gap. Mara took the runner up spot with Jan Hujer finished 3rd overall. In Ebuggy the top 3 after qualifying had the exact same points after the three finals, but Jiri Dvorak with a faster time took the Win in front of Jiri Benes, and Jan finished 3rd.

Continue reading the report here


September 28, 2020

Kurzbuch sets up Swiss title showdown with Rd2 win

Round 2 of the Swiss 1/8th onroad Nationals were run last weekend at Modell Rennsport Club St. Gallen where wet weather greeted racers on Saturday for qualifying. Mastering the difficult conditions it was Rudi Scherer that would come out on top, ahead of multiple ENS Champion Simon Kurzbuch in 2nd with Luca Martinelli and Oliver Krähemann completing the top 4 direct finalists. On finals day, Sunday, the weather had improved and so in the 45 minute main final the pecking order had been restored and so it was Shepherd driver Simon Kurzbuch that would take a decisive victory by over 3 laps. The runner up spot went to Andy Geisser, with veteran racer Jürg Nydegger completing the podium in 3rd place. The final round of the series will be held at Simon’s home track in MRCL Modell Rennsport Club Langenthal, where the title will be decided between himself and Silvio Hachler, the latter having won the opening round of the series.

Image: Susanne Sue Pfeffer


September 28, 2020

Berkan Kilic wins 2020 Deutschlandpokal race

The Deutschlandpokal race was held last weekend at the famous Sand-am-Main track in Germany and it attracted some of the country’s top racers. Despite the weather limiting running early on, it eventually cleared and with qualifying completed it was SWorkz driver Micha Widmaier that took the top spot. In the final it was Mugen driver Berkan Kilic that emerged on top at the end of the 40 minute race, with Widmaier making a mistake that dropped him into the runner up spot, just 6 seconds back, while Burak Kilic completed the podium in 3rd a further 8 seconds back.

Source: Mugen Europe [mugen.eu]


September 28, 2020

Hupo Honigl is double Austrian Champion 2020

The 2020 Austrian EP offroad Nationals was hosted by the RMC Wien track in Ebreichsdorf and due to Covid restrictions was condensed into a single event. Qualifying saw a battle between the Xray trio of Hupo Honigl, Ádám Izsay and Lucas Grainer, with the multiple European Champion Honigl coming out on top in both the 2wd and 4wd classes. In the finals it was more of the same from Honigl as he would take the win in both classes with the podium also identical in both classes as Grainer took 2nd and Izsay 3rd.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]


September 22, 2020

Max Gotzl is double 2020 Czech National Champion

The 3rd and 4th round of 2020 1/8 Czech Nationals took a place last weekend at the home track of Max Gotzl in Horni Jeleni. The nice weather forecast promised a good racing weekend, which it was. On the 3rd round on Saturday Gotzl was able to set the overall TQ with Ebuggy straight after Q1 and Q2, Ales Bidovsky lined up 2nd and Mirek Koutek 3rd on the A main grid. With Nitro Martin Bayer took Q1, but Max managed to win Q2 and Q3 to take the overall TQ in Nitro as well. In the finals Xray driver Gotzl was able to win all three A mains in Ebuggy with at least one lap gap over 2nd placed Ales and Martin Milowsky who took the last step on the podium overall.

Continue reading the report here