April 8, 2023

Bermudez Top Qualifier at Montpellier GP Brushless

Young French talent Rémy Bermudez will lead away the A-Mains at the Montpellier Brushless GP tomorrow after the Xray driver won the SuperPole battle from Marco Baruffolo to be declared Top Qualifier at the inaugural running of the event.  With the Nitro edition of the Montpellier Grand Prix holding the long standing honours of being the event to kickstart the annual outdoor buggy racing season in Europe, the first electric edition has attracted a strong international field with the Infinity of Italy’s Riccardo Berton topping the ranking after the four rounds of qualifying.  Topping Q2 & 3 he was followed the Tekno of fellow countryman Baruffolo, fastest in Q4, with Bermudez ending up third overall having topped the opening qualifier.  Two time European eBuggy Champion David Ronnefalk would take his Mayako to P4.  In Superpole Bermudez would be the only driver to record a 33-second lap topping the battle from Baruffolo.  The A-Mains will be run over four legs with each driver’s best three to count.

Image: Circuit du MBM [Facebook]


April 4, 2023

Hamon wins 1:8 GT Worlds Warm-up Race

Serpent team driver Jeff Hamon took the win at a rain effect 1:8 GT World Championship Warm-up Race  over the weekend.  The 1:10 and 1:8 Nitro Onroad World finalist, would top 4 of the 6 rounds of qualifying at the John Grant International Raceway in Sydney to secure the overall TQ ahead of another of Australia’s international nitro racers and World finalists Peter Jovanovic.  The Capricorn driver topping Q2 with the Xray of Michael Stone the only other driver to top a round when he was fastest in the final qualifier.  Posting three Top 3 runs Tim Moylan’s Mugen would qualify third and unfortunately the arrival of rain meant racing couldn’t progress passed the Semi Finals and so the result was declared on qualifying.  As well being the official Warm-up Race for the second running of the IFMAR 1:8 GT World Championships which are scheduled for October 08-15, the race was also the NSW Onroad State Title decider.  In 1:10 Brayden Stanley took his Infinity to the win in the 30 minute final ahead of David Chen and Tate Firth while in 1:8 Jovanovic took the title based off qualifying from Leigh Dytor and Tim Moylan.

Image: NSWRCRCC [Facebook]


April 3, 2023

Wood wins British 1:8 Onroad Nationals opener

Tim Wood has won the opening round of the 2023 BRCA British 1:8 Onroad National Championships.  Hosted by the Cotswold Model Car Club over the weekend, the first encounter of the 6 round championship would see the Team Shepherd driver top all four rounds of qualifying but it was his run in Q3 that secured him the TQ honours.  Behind, Andrew Hastings would line-up second with his Capricorn after he posted his fastest time in Q2.  John Carr completed the Top 3 posting his quickest run in the penultimate qualifier.  In the 30-minute final it would be a repeat of last year’s penultimate round visit to the Cotswolds track, as Wood secured a comfortable win with his Hasi Tuned powered Velox V8.2s.  Hastings would finish second while the Serpent of Matthieu Dambrine, fifth fastest in qualifying, completed the podium as Carr retired after 8-minutes.

Image: BRCA [Facebook]


April 3, 2023

Phend & Fuller double at 2023 Psycho Nitro Blast

Dakotah Phend was the big winner of the Psycho Nitro Blast over the weekend, the TLR driver taking the top prize in both Nitro and Electric Buggy.  The 16th running of PNB, the Tennessee indoor event attracted 767 entries meaning just two rounds of qualifying with Phend topping both Nitro rounds from Spencer Rivkin to secure the overall TQ.  Third in both qualifiers Brandon Rose secured 3rd ahead of Ryan Maifield and Jared Tebo.  In eBuggy, Rivkin and Phend took one round each but on tie break it was the Team Associated driver who was the Top Qualifier with defending champion Mason Fuller 3rd from Ryan Lutz.  In the single 10-minute eBuggy final, Phend found his way to the front after four laps after both he and Rivkin lost position early on.  In the end Phend would finish 2.8-seconds clear of Rivkin with the Tekno of 10th place qualifier Seth VanDalen coming through for third.  Concluding the 2023 Psycho Nitro Blast, the 45-minute Nitro Final saw Phend capitalise on his TQ to take the win by 10-seconds from Fuller and Rose with Maifield 4th.   Fuller would do the double in Truggy, the HB Racing driver taking the Nitro win from the TQ ahead of Phend and in eTruggy he lead a Fuller 1-2 from Kaden who had taken the overall TQ.

Image: JConcepts [Facebook]


April 3, 2023

Hebert dominates at ’23 Canadian Onroad Nationals

Keven Hebert completed another double at the Canadian Onroad Nationals, the Xray driver securing both the Touring Car and 1:12 wins at the Seaway Mall in Welland, Ontario. Attracting just shy of 350 entries, Canadian’s best known onroad racer would secure the overall TQ in both classes, setting the fastest time from Leonard Schinzano in 1:12 and Douglas Shewfelt in Mod Touring Car. In the single legs Mains, Hebert would dominate from the front winning 1:12 by a full lap after the 8-minutes from Schinzano with fourth place qualifier JB Catricala completing the podium. In Touring Car, Hebert pulled clear to win from Shewfelt’s Awesomatix with third place qualifier Barrett Morrow also holding station to complete the Top 3.

Image: Keven Hebert [Facebook]


April 3, 2023

Horne does double at Pro-line April Fools Classic

The 34th Annual Pro-line April Fools Classic took place over the weekend with Aydin Horne the big winner in Utah.  In 2WD Buggy, the Team Associated driver secured TQ honours after topping the final 2 of the four qualifiers, his Q4 pace giving him the tie breaker over Schumacher’s Broc Champlin.  Domnic Paccione secured P3 with the second fastest time for both Q3 & 4. In 4WD Buggy it would be Champlin who secured pole for the triple finals after he also set the pace in the third & fourth rounds.  Horne opened quali with a TQ run while team-mate Dustin Evans topped Q2 but had to settle for 4th on the grid behind Kevin Gillespie.  In the 4WD finals, second place starter Horne would get the better of Champlin to take A1 and repeating that again in A2 wrapped up an earlier overall win. Following Champlin home in A3 for a P2 finish, Evans would complete the podium line-up ahead of Xray’s Ty Tessmann.  In the 2WD finals, Horne won A1 while Champlin retired and Evans came through from P5 for second.  Taking A2 ahead of Horne, Champlin forced play to the last final of the event however Horne duly took A3 to complete the April Fools Classic double.

Image: Team Associated [Facebook]


April 3, 2023

Tolomelli & Tassinari secure LMP & GT12 Italian C/ships

The 2023 LMP & GT12 Italian Indoor Championships took place at RC Landia in Scandiano over the weekend.  A race sanctioned on the 2023 National Sporting calendar of ACI Sport, the Italian Motorsport Federation and member of the FIA,  in LMP Open Modified it was Alessio Tolomelli (Team Marka) secured pole position after the 4 qualifiers.   In the afternoon finals he would back his qualifying pace up with a dominant win during the finals ahead of Marcello Galli with Alessandro Bianchi (Team B-Racing) completing the podium.  In GT12, Luca Tassinari (Team Schumacher) showed speed and consistency throughout the day securing both TQ and the overall win in a dominant fashion ahead of Davide Mischiatti (Team Schumacher) and the emerging young talent of Luca Rampini (Team Treerremodellismo).  The activity of the Italian RC Car Racing Federation (ACI Sport) will now move outdoors with the second phase of the National Sporting calendar: the months of May, June and July will see the Italian Cup taking place in Northern, Central and Southern Italy in several classes (8th scale On and Off Road, TOURING EP).  Such races will also serve as Qualifiers for drivers in order to gain access to the 2023 Italian Championships, to be held in September and October.

View GT12 Podium here


April 2, 2023

Tironi & Branson winners at Ielasi Tuned Trophy

Francesco Tironi and British visitor Kyle Branson were the winners of the 2023 Ielasi Tuned Trophy.  First hosted by former World Champion Daniele Ielasi in 2O15, the annual Ielasi Tuned Trophy again attracted a quality international field to the Northern Italian Leno track.  Unfortunately rain meant no finals could be run with the final results being declared on the outcome of qualifying.  In 1:8, it would be the Infinity of Tironi that had the edge over Mugen’s Robert Pietsch over the 4-minute qualifiers.  Former Trophy winner Toni Gruber managed P3 with his Capricorn just ahead of team-mate Mirko Salemi.  In 1:10, it was the Xray of Branson who set the pace in qualifying to be the Top Qualifying ahead of the Serpent of Matteo Passetti and Capricorn of Stefan Chodzynski.

View 1:10 Trophy presentation image here