July 26, 2012

Martin Bayer defends large-scale EC title

Last weekend saw the Large-scale Touring Car European Championship at Valencia. Starting from Pole Position with a dominant drive Martin Bayer/RS5 was able to defend his European Championship title he took in Leipzig/Germany last year. After a clean start Bayer stayed in front followed by Arnaldi. Then during the first lap Arnaldi tried to overtake Bayer and both cars touched with the result of a rolling RS5 of Martin and a stop and go penalty for Arnaldi. With his move the French lost his chance to fight for the title. Martin was able to pull away in the first minutes of the race and never looked back from that point on. Markus Feldmann was the only real competitor for Bayer and always stayed within a distance of five to eight seconds but ran out of fuel with two minutes to go. This gave Arnaldi handed Arnaldi the vice championship with Andrea Catalani completing the podium.

Click here to view the Top 10 result


July 26, 2012

Boots wins BRCA National Rd3

Round 3 of the BRCA 1/8th rally cross took place at HNMC with both days full and drivers waiting on the reserve list this class is very strong in the UK. With semis completed it looked like the top four would fight this out, Boots, Cragg, Bloomfield and Martin. This indeed was the case in the final with Boots and Bloomfield pulling away and Martin and Cragg fighting hard. At about 30 minutes left Bloomfield tried to stretch another lap but ran out on track leaving Boots out front with Martin second and Cragg third. The win also meant the 2012 BRCA title for the Kyosho driver.

Thanks to James Thompson for sending the report.


July 24, 2012

Matsukura takes 3rd consecutive World title

Team Yokomo’s Naoto Matsukura has joined a very elite group of drivers after the 18-year-old secured his third consecutive 1:12 World Championship title in the Netherlands ahead of CRC’s Andy Moore, the result going to a tie break that was decided by Matsukura’s faster Leg 1 winning race time.  Winning the third & final A-Main ahead of the defending champion, Ronald Volker completed the podium at the 16th running of the IFMAR event.

View our complete event coverage here.


July 24, 2012

Hot Rod Hobbies Shootout 2012 report

For the 15th year in a row, Hot Rod Hobbies in Saugus, CA played host to the Off Road Shootout. As has become the custom, racers were greeted with the desert heat and triple digit temperatures throughout the event. However, given the track layout, surface and competition it didn’t seem to damper the racing any. With entrants from across the Nation and World, many of the top 1:10 electric off-road racers challenged for the wins.

Click here to continue reading the report


July 24, 2012

Leg 2 injects life into 1:12 Worlds

The 1:12 World Championships, which so far has been a rather dull affair, was given a much needed injection of excitement in the second A-Main after Andy Moore won the second A-Main ahead of CRC team-mate Marc Rheinard while Leg 1 winner Naoto Matsukura finished back in 7th.  The result means that now all three drivers have a chance of being crowned the 16th World Champion of the 2WD pan car class.

View our complete event coverage here.


July 24, 2012

Matsukura dominates Leg 1 in Holland

There was no real surprise in the opening leg of the A-Main at the 1:12 World Championships as defending champion & Top Qualifier Naoto Matsukura dominated the race to take the win comfortably ahead of Andy Moore and Rick Hohwart despite the young Japanese star’s prototype Yokomo getting knocked around as he was lapping the mid pack three laps from the finish.  Running wide at the first corner, an opportunity that the No.2 starting Associated of Ronald Volker failed to exploit, the 18-year quickly got into his rhythm to break clear of the pack. As if he needed it, that gap was further extended as the chasing pack tripped one another up on more than one occasion.

View our complete event coverage here.


July 24, 2012

Bill Likaris wins Greek 200mm nationals Rd2

The second round of the Greek national championship took place at the Arena Race Track. After the four qualification rounds three Shepherd drivers were placed into the A final and three into the B final. In the A final Sidiropoulos and Likaris took second and third place at the grid. After some thrilling 45 minutes the winner of the A final was Bill Likaris some three laps ahead of Sotiropoulos in second place with Christodoulou completing the podium in third place. The win brings Bill Likaris a good position for the 2012 Greek championship with Costas Sidiropoulos currently holding second place.

Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]


July 24, 2012

Moore takes final ‘Rocket Round’ qualifier

Team CRC driver Andy Moore set a new outright fastest run time in this morning’s final qualifier for the 1:12 World Championships in the Netherlands, the sixth round turning out to be the ‘rocket’ round. Knocking 2-seconds off the previous fastest time held by defending World Champion Naoto Matsukura, the former European Champion ran 39 laps in 8:06.635 to top Q6 by just 6/10th ahead of Ronald Volker as 5 drivers finally broke past 38 laps runs something only Matsukura had achieved yesterday to secure him honour of being Top Qualifier for a third consecutive Worlds.

View our complete event coverage here.