Crispy Critters recently had their season opener race and with a fresh layout, there was a surprising amount of grip already in the track, and it got progressively higher as the track was more broken in. Jared Phair took a double TQ and would also win both the 2WD Buggy and 4WD Buggy classes with Stephen Maizer coming in 2nd in both categories. Barry Goodwin and Ken Lee would round out the 2WD and 4WD podium respectively.
The 2018 XRS Indonesia was held at Sunter International Speedway recently in a single 13.5T Touring Blinky class. To make the race more enjoyable the organisers customised the layout with a tight chicane and some fast sweepers so all drivers could optimise the motor power with their car setups. Racers from cities around Indonesia and Singapore participated in this last leg of the South East Asia XRS Series. Ultimately it was P. Y. Tang who took the overall TQ and eventually also took the overall win with M. Izza Karunia and Christian Abang completing the podium.
Source: Xray [teamxray.com]
The final round of the Spanish 1/8th IC Track Nationals was held in Sevilla last weekend. Adrian Santerio was on fire the whole weekend, taking the overall TQ with Nacho Lopez securing himself the 2 spot on the grid after the super pole race. The start of the main final was a clean affair and Adrian was able to jump into the lead, closely followed by Nacho. However Adrian had a small bobble some minutes into the race that allowed Nacho to take the lead and from there he tried to manage the gap as he was on a tyre saving strategy. Later Adrian had to retire due to radio issues which allowed Nacho to keep it a bit easier and to bring home the win after the 45-minute A-main.
Source: Serpent [serpent.com]
The final round of the UK 1/8th Circuit championship took place at the Brooklands Circuit in Kent in the South East. Saturday saw all racers have good track-time perfecting their setups for Sunday. After four rounds of qualifying John Carr (Shepherd) took his first ever TQ, followed by newly crowned 2018 Champion Tim Wood (Shepherd) and Neil King (Capricorn). A busy start of the Main final saw Tim take the lead which he never relinquished – completing his sixth victory of the year. John Carr finished 2nd with Andy Hastings 3rd making a Shepherd lockout podium.
Last weekend the JConcepts Indoor National Series made its way into the great Northeast for the Fall Edition of the highly anticipated nationwide series. Now in the 8th year hosting the JConcepts INS, RC Excitement’s staff in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and local racers go all out to welcome travelers from all over the US for a great race weekend. Known to be the biggest race in the Northeast, Todd Anderson made this one special with all new LED lighting and fresh paint to add wonders to the feel of the event. This year’s track had terrific flow and was a great challenge to all racers as it featured two, very difficult to master, triple jumps that kept everyone in check. Miss the jump by just a little meant losing a lot of time on the track. With the tire choice being of very soft compound slick tires, staying in the line was paramount. Traffic awareness was crucial to your overall run as the key jumps required commitment and precision.
Continue reading the report here
The annual Cup of Portugal took place at CRB with 22 drivers in attendance. As a special guest, Xray’s Bruno Coelho made an appearance with the World Champion taking the opportunity to race on home soil. As expected Bruno showed a blistering pace with newly-crowned national champion, Serpent’s Hugo Miguel coming in 2nd and Mario Miranda following in 3rd. The start of the opening A-main was smooth, however a couple of corner later Hugo made a pass on Bruno with the latter trying to regain the position later which resulted in a crash of both. After loosing a lot of time the two tried to recover with Bruno ultimately bringing home the A1 win as Hugo had to settle for 3rd. A2 was a less stressful affair as Bruno brought home the win on new tyres easily, taking the overall with one leg to spare as Hugo came in 2nd this time. To not disturb the fight for the remaining podium spots Bruno wanted to sit out A3 but the other drivers asked him to take part anyway. Following a clean start Bruno later had a bobble over a curb, making way for Hugo Miguel. The now-leader drove his heart off but Bruno closed the gap in the closing stages and tried to find a way past, however holding tight lines Hugo was able to bring home the win and with it the overall runner-up spot from Nuno Duraes (Mugen) in 3rd.
Thanks to Hugo Miguel for the report.
The 2018 US Open Championship was held at Sun City RC Raceway in Canutillo, Texas on an old school, loamy dirt track. It was packed well and smooth and the shape of the track was a little different from the usual as it was 180 x 180 which made the back lanes far away and a little challenging to get through because of the distance. In the Nitro Buggy class and after the semifinals it was Mugen’s Ryan Maifield with the pole position for the main final from Ty Tessmann (Xray) 2nd and Cole Ogden (HB Racin) 3rd. The main was 60 minutes, so to would be good practice for the worlds. As the main started Ty was feeling pressure from Cole while trying to stay with Maifield and Tessmann started to push a little bit too hard and was hitting ruts that he shouldn’t have been. Cole would get by him, but then Ty settled down and just drove clean lines and slowly caught up to Cole again and passed him, then Maifield made a big mistake and Tesmann got by him and he would continue to create a bigger gap throughout the race and was able to hold onto the lead for the remainder of the race for the win in front of Cole Ogden and Ryan Maifield.
The annual Messe Cup was held as part of a hobby fair in Leipzig, Germany last weekend. The race saw the running of several classes and it was Carsten Keller who took a double victory in the 1/8th Nitro Buggy and E-Buggy categories. Carsten took the TQ in the Nitro Buggy class and he also came out on top after the 20-minute A-main to take the day’s win from Sebastian Winterstein in 2nd and Laurin Czypulowski in 3rd. Over in the E-Buggy category it was again Carsten with the TQ and with a clean sweep in the semifinals and dual A-mains he took his second overall win of the weekend, leaving behind Aaron Rönick and Yanic Grieger in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Source: Mugen [mugen.eu]
