April 10, 2013

Rick Vrielijnck wins Rd1 of Dutch 1/8th Nationals

Rick Vrielijnck wins Rd1 of Dutch 1/8th Nationals

The first race of the Dutch nationals was held on the MRG track in Genk, Belgium. With a small line of grip and slippery as ice if you go outside it is a very tricky track, even with the use of tire additives which is legal this racing season. In the NK we had 23 drivers and now following EFRA there is no direct finalists. While this track is a Belgian track it was Dutchman John Ermen setting the fastsest qualification time folowed by RickV and behind them the Belgian drivers Gunther v. Steay and Robin d’Hondt. In the half finals John had a collision and had to retire. The new construction of the finals has directly proven that the normal 4 fastest drivers have to race for a final place and is creating less room for errors. In the other half final it was RickV winning the race without problems making pole position for the final. After an hard race it was RickV taking the win followed by Robin d’Hondt with just 8 seconds distance and with a huge 4 laps distance on the 3rd podium spot Steven Cuypers.

Continue reading the report here


April 10, 2013

Hagberg & Cerny winners at Xray Challenge Italy

Hagberg & Cerny winners at Xray Challenge Italy

Last weekend the Xray Challenge Italy was held at the great facilities of RC Landia, in Scandiano, Emilia Romagna, Italy and Alexander Hagberg sent this report. The event was booked out in few days due the limit of 100 entries maximum. The race was split in three classes: 1/12, Touring Car Stock and Modified. Drivers from Italy and surrouding countries entered the race. Xray had most of its European team present, with team leader Martin Hudy, Marek Černý from the Czech Republic, myself, Magnus Vässmar and Niclas Nilsson from Sweden, Marco Kaufmann from Germany as well as the Italian stars Francesco Martini and Alessio Menicucci.

Continue reading the report here


April 10, 2013

2013 JConcepts Spring Indoor Nats – Announcement

2013 JConcepts Spring Indoor Nats - Announcement

The 2013 JConcepts Spring Indoor Nationals is quickly approaching (19th – 21st April). The first of its kind, the Indoor National Series sponsored by JConcepts will converge in Carrollton, TX, for the 2nd leg of the popular series. For the 2nd year in a row, Mike’s Hobby Shop will host the Spring event and with entries expected to reach a peak capacity, Steven Hartson will look to defend his 2012 titles against some of the nation’s best drivers. Winter round 1 TQ and champion Ryan Maifield, fresh off his Cactus Classic success, will attend the Texas event for the very first time looking to take on last year’s champion Steven Hartson, as well as Team Associated teammate Brent Thielke and challengers from TLR include Dustin Evans, JR Mitch and Taylor Larsen. Red RC will be in attendance bringing you live coverage throughout the event. Signups are available at www.rccarcal.com


April 10, 2013

Nick Gibson RC Pro North Rd1

Nick Gibson RC Pro North Rd1

This past weekend, HobbyTown USA Hobbyplex in Omaha, NE hosted the first round of the RC Pro Series North Division. With a good number of entries to start the series, Team Associated’s Nick Gibson qualified his Team Associated RC8.2 in the number 2 spot behind Jared Tebo. Settling in to second place and overcoming adversity with a bent servo horn, Nick was able to solidify a gap over third place Associated teammate Chad Parks. At the 33-minute mark and with just over 10 minutes to go, leader Tebo flamed out. Gibson capitalized on Tebo’s misfortune, taking the lead and holding off a late race charge by Parks and Tebo, taking the win with just a 5-second margin.

Source: Associated [teamassociated.com]


April 10, 2013

Bruno Coelho wins 2nd Portuguese National

Bruno Coelho wins 2nd Portuguese National

Last weekend the 2nd round of the Portuguese 1/8th offroad Nationals was held in the north of the country and Xray driver Bruno Coelho gave this report. ‘The weather conditions were not so good with a lot of rain during the final. On Sunday, during the morning qualifications we are very close to the T.Q. Bruno was always faster making the fastest laps but the track is hard and very bumpy and a small mistake caused Bruno to lose the top qualifying position and he decided to not push too hard. So after the qualifying we were in third position for semis. Bruno won his semifinal with a very consistent race and two laps ahead of the second driver. Bruno take very careful start at the beginning of the final and started improving his lap times lap after lap. At the end of 4th lap he was in the lead and kept it until the finish. Ricardo Monteiro finished 2nd with TLR team mate Miguel Matias in the 3rd.’

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]


April 9, 2013

Pedro Rombouts wins Dutch 200mm Nats Rd1

Pedro Rombouts wins Dutch 200mm Nats Rd1

The opening round of the Dutch 200mm Nationals took place in the north of the country in Groningen. This class has been struggling for a number of years and even after merging the NK and Nomac classes together could barely reach a dozen entrants. The one day event started cold but got warmer as the sun came out. Qualifying would see  Pedro Rombouts was quickest, in front of Sander Borghoff, Ruud Schuitmaker and Roy Bakker. In the final the order stayed pretty much the same with Pedro winning by 6 laps ahead of Bakker in 2nd, while Schuitmaker was 3rd having been in a comfortable 2nd before a flameout 3 minutes from the end, dropped him down the order.

Thanks to Ruben d’Arco for the update.


April 9, 2013

Andrew Gillott takes 2wd Australian title

Andrew Gillott takes 2wd Australian title

TLR and OMP driver Andrew Gillott has taken the 2013 Modified 2WD EP Australian National Title over the weekend. The Nationals were held in the regional city of Mildura, Victoria, with a fantastic high grip track prepared by the host club and perfect weather throughout proceedings. Gillott took the top qualifying position in the fourth and final round of qualifying with Josh Pain, Ashley Peeler, Matt Griffen and Ray Munday all vying for TQ leading into the final round. The TQ was important leading into the A-finals given the tight and flowing nature of the Mildura facility. Josh Pain had consistent pace all weekend and was always going to make the win harder for Gillott particularly with nerves of P1 in the first leg of the finals, however he managed to hold the lead for the full 5-minutes and take A1. Gillott then managed a fast start in A2 to secure the win in a comfortable victory in the second leg of the three main finals series. Final results saw first place going to Andrew, second to Josh Pain and third place to Ashley Peeler.

Thanks to Andrew Gillott for the report.


April 9, 2013

Cavalieri adds World class to record EOS Finale entry

Cavalieri adds World class to record EOS Finale entry

Reigning 2WD & 4WD Electric Offroad World Champion Ryan Cavalieri will compete in the season finale of the ‘TLR/Spektrum Euro Offroad Series presented by Horizon Hobby’ in Dortmund, Germany, this weekend (12-14 April) with the American super star set for his first experience of European style indoor offroad racing. Cavalieri is part of a strong line-up of Team Associated drivers traveling to the fourth & final round of the 2012/13 EOS which again runs as part of of Europe’s largest consumer hobby show ‘Intermodellbau Dortmund’ and is expected to attract over 85,000 visitors.

Continue reading the announcement here