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July 25, 2009

Bokor Cup 2009 – Friday report

Follow the long winding road about 1 hour outside of Budapest and it will lead you to a very small village at the base of the mountains named Bokor. Home only to a small cheese factory and about 120 residents, it is the smallest dot on the map, but it is the home to a wonderful race track. Overlooking this small town is the beautiful track of Bokor. The pride of organizer and track owner Laszlo Szebelledi, the track is located on family land that he and his crew have transitioned to a beautiful facility. Laszlo has spared no expense to organize an amazing event that takes care of a racers every wish which includes free bottled water and ice tea to all the racers and mechanics along with the opportunity to take a ride in an actually Dakar Rally vehicle. Laszlo had arranged for the Dakar Hungry team to bring their Opel Vehicle here for the event and everyone has the opportunity to go for a ride in the Bokor countryside for a thrilling rally ride.

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July 25, 2009

Balestri ups pace in Gubbio

He said yesterday evening before leaving the track he would go faster and that exactly what the defending champion Dario Balestri has done here this morning bettering his overnight TQ time by 3 seconds. The factory Team Magic/Novarossi driver said his car was good in the cooler conditions but traffic in the pitlane during his fuel stop cost him some time. Aiming to claim a hat trick of European titles on home soil, the Italian thinks it will be very difficult to improve in the final qualifier as the temperature starts to rise here in Gubbio.

View our full event coverage here.

July 24, 2009

Champion ends 1st day of qualifying on provisional pole

Dario Balestri is the overnight TQ holder here in Gubbio, Italy, thanks to his time from the first of today’s two qualifiers. The reigning champion said that cooler conditions made for higher traction in the second heat and during his warm up laps he had to adjust the front camber on his Team Magic to avoid traction rolling. The change reduced the amount of steering and as a result he was unable to better his earlier time although he did come close with a time less than 4/10ths off. Very happy to be returning to his hotel this evening as the provisional pole sitter, the factory Novarossi driver paid tribute to his mechanic Danilo Pucci who’s very fast refuelling helped him to achieve the time in what is very close competition. With one second separating the current Top 3, Balestri is confident he can better his time tomorrow.

View our full event coverage here.

July 24, 2009

Balestri off to a good start in EC Qualifying

Dario Balestri has got his quest for a hat trick of European titles off to a good start by TQ’ing the opening round of qualifying for the 2009 EFRA 1:10 200mm Euros. The defending Champion recorded a run of 26 laps in 07:12.928 to beat the Serpent 733 of Jilles Groskamp by 7/10th of a second but the Dutch ace, along with Robert Pietsch and Adrien Bertin, was later disqualified for his bodyshell being under the minimum permitted height. Balestri said his Team Magic G4RS 09 felt good but in the later part of his run the clutch loosened causing his car to be very slow out of the corners.

View our full event coverage here.

July 24, 2009

Groskamp tops timed practice in Italy

Drivers have just completed timed practice here in Gubbio and it is Serpent’s Jilles Groskamp (26/07:10.527) who set the pace over 7 minutes finishing 2.5 seconds ahead of impressive Euros debutant Alexander Hagberg (26/07:13.009). Groskamp, who also posted the fastest lap of the one and only timed practice with 16.044, said he was happy with his pace but felt the traction was much lower today most likely as a result of people walking on the track at last night opening ceremony. The Dutch ace ran 37/40 Xceed tyres on his Max powered 733 but plans to run a harder rear in the qualifiers.

View our full event coverage here.

July 24, 2009

Cragg & Martin take Southport BRCA National

oOple are reporting on the 4th round of the 2009 BRCA 1/10th off road National Championship series held last weekend at the popular Southport buggy track. After a domination by XFactory drivers during the 2WD series thus far, it was looking a similar story with XFactory cars taking the first couple of qualifiers in the hands of Phil Sleigh and Mark Stanley respectively. Round three saw Neil Cragg’s Associated B4 on top and to make it four different drivers from four, Danny McGee put his Losi/Atomic Carbon hybrid CR2 in the top spot. Despite some great pressure especially from Mark Stanley, Neil Cragg dominated the finals – winning all three legs to take his first 2WD National of the season. Reigning 4WD champion for the previous two years, Lee Martin, went out meaning business in the wet early morning of the 4WD event – taking the first three rounds of qualifying before Neil Cragg took the final round. Like Neil had done in 2WD – Lee Martin took all three legs to take the victory after some intense and exciting racing.

Check out the full report, with video and lots for photos, here.

Source: oOple [oople.com]

July 23, 2009

Defending Champion goes fastest in Italy

After being somewhat off the pace, defending champion Dario Balestri (15.950) has got it together topping the last controlled practice here in Gubbio. The Italian had struggled in the opening four sessions but reverting back to his set-up from yesterday he was able to take his Novarossi powered Team Magic around the track in a sub lap record time. Running 37 shore tyres all round, Balestri said the car was now very good and he can look forward to tomorrow’s qualifiers.

View our full event coverage here.

July 23, 2009

Spataro tops 3rd practice in Italy

He was tipped as one to watch when we arrived in Gubbio and so far Biagio Spataro is living up to the hype by setting some super fast times topping the third round of controlled practice with a 15.956. The 15-year-old was helped by running very soft 35 shore tyres which he said made his Xray very fast but he admitted tyre wear was high. Very happy with the consistency of the JP powered NT1 he plans to run the same set-up again in the fourth of today’s five controlled practice sessions.

View our full event coverage here.