March 24, 2011

Short Course Showdown Nationwide Tour

This weekend brings the much anticipated start to the Short Course Showdown Nation Wide Tour. The Tour, being promoted and organized by Scotty Ernst, is a 4 event tour that will bring Short Course racing to 4 different tracks across the United States. Tour date number 1 will be held at RC Excitement located in Fitchburg Massachusetts which is about 1 hour outside of Boston. Some big names racers and industry support are scheduled to participate in the event this weekend including Team Losi’s drivers Mike Truhe and Richard Trujillo. From JConcepts it will be Paul ‘P-Dubb’ Wynn and ‘Double D’ Dave Duncan. Spektrum will be represented by Sonny Brown. Viper RC will be there to display and represented by Nick Malato and the latest edition to the Showdown Nation Wide Tour is one of the biggest and most well respected names in all of RC. Team Associated’s newly signed Ace, Multi time National and World Champion Brian Kinwald. Brian and Team Associated have committed to all 4 tour events and it will be great to add him to the bill for the tour. The industry has embraced the Tour as we all know what Short Course racing has done to the racing world and our goal is to bring our style of events to different areas of the country. At each event the sponsors will be in attendance setting up a Manufacturers row displaying their products and being onsite to answer questions, help racers and enjoy in the fun of Short Course racing. This is a great chance for racers and spectators to interact with the sponsors and getting first hand setup advice from these top pro’s.

For more information visit the official series site here.


March 24, 2011

Kyosho enter Adachi for EOS pilot event

Kyosho enter Adachi for EOS pilot event

Kyosho are the latest manufacturer to put their support behind the new ‘Euro Offroad Series’ concept by entering Japanese ace Shin Adachi for the April 1-3 pilot event in Tomelilla, Sweden. The seven time Japanese National off road champion joins a host of top international drivers for the three day indoor clay surface event that will see official factory representation from Team Associated, Losi, Tamiya, Durango and Kyosho. Responsible for the development of Kyosho’s electric competition cars, Adachi will join a strong local Kyosho squad. Teenagers Mikael Johansson and David Ronnefalk both hold European Junior Off Road titles and are the reigning Swedish national EP champions – Johansson the title holder in 2WD and 15-year-old Ronnefalk the champion in 4WD. Both up & coming talents will be hoping to put their knowledge of the Tomelilla track to good use and make their mark in one weeks time.

Read the full release here


March 23, 2011

Mikael Johansson wins both classes at VBC Cup

Mikael Johansson wins both classes at VBC Cup

The Swedish Kyosho drivers continue to dominate the Swedish offroad racing. Last weekend Team Kyosho Sweden driver Mikael Johansson TQ and won the final race of VBC Cup. With this win Mikael also took overall victory in both the 2WD and 4WD class. In 4wd it was Associated driver Niclas Månsson that took 2nd ahead of Kyosho driver Fredrik Peters in 3rd place, while in 2wd it was Associated racer Robert Gustafsson who took 2nd ahead of Niclas Månsson in 3rd.

Source: Team Kyosho Sweden


March 22, 2011

Video – 2011 Cactus Classic finals day action

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDaH2hKPhc[/youtube]

Having reported on last week’s Cactus Classic in Arizona at Scottsdale RC Speedway, we have finally got some more action videos online, this time from finals day. Above is leg 2 of the 2wd modified A-main, while below we have the 4wd modified A-main leg 2, the 2wd Short Course modified A-main leg 2 and another bonus video showing some racers trying to pass the time.

View the other videos here


March 22, 2011

Kyle McBride claims Australian National title

Kyle McBride claims Australian National title

Kyle McBride took his Team Durango DNX408 to National Championship glory this weekend, at the National Titles in Australia. In qualifying, Kyle set the pace in round one and was the only car on 18 lap pace during the round.  A hiccup in round two saw a slightly disapointing second in round after hitting traffic. After the disappointment, Kyle was determined to win and after rounds three and four had already secured TQ and didn’t have to run the last qualifier – but of course, he did.  Kyle set about the final qualifier driving faster than ever and missed out on lapping second place by only 7 seconds. It wasn’t the way any racer wants to win a big title but due to rain the finals had to be called off and so the results were called on qualifying with Kyle taking the National Title for Durango/OS/AKA/Byron at just 15 years old.

Source: Durango [team-durango.com]


March 22, 2011

Mark Stiles & Andy Griffiths win BRCA 12th Nats Rd6

Mark Stiles & Andy Griffiths win BRCA 12th Nats Rd6

The 6th and final round of the 2010/11 BRCA 1/12th Scale Nationals took place at Chesterfield last weekend. Most of the regular front runners were in attendance, with the only exception being Elliott Harper who was away in Poland contesting the Euro Touring Series. On Saturday in the stock class Andy Griffiths took pole position driving his Nosram powered V-Dezign. Andy just needed to finish inside the top 3 to secure the British championship, and with his only competitor Chris Kerswell qualifying down in 4th, Andy’s job in the final looked to be relatively straightforward. Matt Varah and Mark Stiles qualified 2nd and 3rd respectively to make it a V-Dezign 1-2-3.

View the complete report here


March 22, 2011

Mike Truhe wins Pro-4 Class at Cactus Classic

In 2011 the Short Course scene continues to grow and become increasingly popular. We are now seeing a big increase in the Pro-4 Class also known as 4-Wheel Drive SCT. Earlier this year Losi announced the Ten SCT-E 4wd SCT and the race results speak for themselves as the truck has won the first two major events of the year. Last weekend, Team Losi Racing Driver Mike Truhe piloted his Losi Ten SCT-E  to the win in the 4wd Short Course Truck Class at the 25th Annual Cactus Classic in Scottsdale, AZ. Mike’s excellent driving skills and his superior handling Losi truck allowed him to take the overall win in the double A-main event.

View our full Cactus Classic coverage here.

Source: Losi [tlracing.com]


March 22, 2011

Maifield takes 3 at 2011 Cactus Classic

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With qualifying for this year’s Cactus Classic completed on Saturday, Sunday saw the all important mains day with race favorite Ryan Maifield looking to convert his 4 TQ spots into victory. At the end of Saturday’s qualifying, all of the racers in the Pro-4 class were called to the announcer’s booth for a meeting. I was slightly confused why, then I asked Ryan Maifield what was going on? He said a lot of the guys were worried about “nuking” their motors in the scheduled 10-minute main. Their compromise was to run double 5-minute mains. In A1, top qualifier, Ryan Maifield held his lead for the first three laps then let Mike Truhe and Hupo Honigl slip by.  The Durango duo of Jorn and Hupo did some swapping of positions with Maifield while Truhe ran away with the win.

Continue reading the report here