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July 14, 2024

Noble sweeps Asian Buggy Championships Rd 3

Tekno driver Caleb Noble has dominated finals day at the third round of the Asian Buggy Championships, winning Nitro Truggy, EP Buggy and the premier Nitro Buggy class at Pine Hills Dirt Racing in Brisbane, Australia. In Nitro Buggy the talented Australian overcame Top Qualifier Alex Bernadzik, hitting the front early with his NB48 2.2, a lead he would hold almost throughout in a powerhouse display. Bernadzik’s Team Associated RC8B 4.1 challenged mid-race, leading briefly before dropping back over the last ten minutes, almost caught by Christian Wolhuter in the SWorkz – the podium dominated by Australian drivers. Having missed two rounds of qualifying due to food poisoning, Ryan Pavidis drove through the field from his 12th place starting spot, having earlier transferred through the B final, to an excellent fourth from Team Associated’s Jayden Edmunds. Noble had early completed the win in the triple-leg EP Buggy finals, second in A1 to fellow Tekno driver Walker Spinrad before winning A2 in a thrilling battle with Bernadzik. A3 went down to the wire, Kyle McBride (Kyosho) getting to the lead late when Noble and Bernadzik clashed, Caleb’s second place enough to ensure he would take the overall win from McBride and Bernadzik. Completing the swept, Noble completely dominated the Nitro Truggy class, leading throughout ahead of local Jackson Beale (also Tekno) and New Zealand’s Shane O’Connor (HB). The championship now heads to West Side Raceway in Jakarta, Indonesia in late September where the 2024 season concludes.

Source: Scott Guyatt/Asian Buggy Championships [Facebook]

July 14, 2024

Hoppe wins ENS Round 2 in Austria

Shepherd Micro Racing’s Lars Hoppe took the win at the second round of the Euro Nitro Series, the German winning the final in Aigen, Austria, ahead of reigning Champion Toni Gruber. In qualifying it was the Mugen Seiki of 2024 Championship leader Simon Kurzbuck who took the TQ. Winner of the season opener in Ettlingen, Germany, the former World Champion topped 3 of the 4 qualifiers with Hoppe the only other driver to top a round with the fastest time in Q2 to secure P2 on the grid. In the 45-minute final, Kurzbuch looked to have the race under control leading from Hoppe and the Capricorn of third place qualifier Gruber however the Swiss driver’s engine would stop approaching the 20-minute mark. Taking over the lead, Kurzbuch losing over 4-minutes in the pits, Hoppe would see off the challenge of Gruber eventually winning by 3/4 of a lap from the Gruber with the Infinity of Teemu Leino completing the podium a further 8-seconds back. Kurzbuch would finish P8. In 1:10 it was the Infinity of Jilles Groskamp who took the win from the TQ spot ahead of the Capricorn of reigning Champion & Round 1 winner Melvin Diekmann. Infinity’s Milan Holthuis completed the podium.

Image: Lars Hoppe [Facebook]

July 14, 2024

Huge RC in Thailand new hosts of Nitro Touring Worlds

Following the cancellation of the 1:10 Nitro Touring Worlds in Costa Rica due to noise issues earlier this week, IFMAR has announced that event will now take place in Thailand at the Huge RC Circuit in Bangkok. With the FAMAR Blok informing the World Governing Body that it was unable to host the 10th running of the Worlds for the category, previous hosts FEMCA, as per IFMAR’s own General rules, was contacted about staging it. As a previous host of the championship, former Electric Touring Car World Champion and Huge RC track owner Surikarn Chaidajsuriya quick off the mark in offering to take on the event which is less than 5-months out, the original dates remaining unchanged. The decision to award the championship to Huge RC is a safe option for IFMAR who have had a challenging 2024 season in terms of World Championship events. Earlier in the year Brazil failed to get permits to run the 1:8 Offroad Worlds resulting in its cancellation before the Redovan track in Spain, hosts of the previous Worlds, was awarded the race – a first in the history of the sport of a track hosting back to back Worlds for the same category. Last week IFMAR also had to deal with the complete cancellation of the Large Scale Worlds. This will be the fourth time Thailand and the city of Bangkok has hosted the 1:10 Nitro Touring Worlds. RC Addict hosted the 2012 & 2022 editions and now Huge RC, where in 2014 Alexander Hagberg took the title , will run the race for the sport’s greatest prize for a second time.

View IFMAR announcement here

July 13, 2024

Bernadzik TQs at Asian Buggy Championship Rd 3

Alex Bernadzik has dominated qualifying at the Australian round of the Asian Buggy Championships, driving his Team Associated RC8B 4.1 buggy to the top qualifying spot for the third hosted at the Pine Hills Dirt Racing track in Brisbane. Bernadzik, a two-time Australian Champion and breakout star at the 2024 Philippine Masters will lead away from fellow Australia’s Caleb Noble (Tekno) and Jayden Edmunds (Team Associated). Kyle McBride overcome a difficult Friday to ensure he’ll start the 14-car final from fifth, while US driver Ryan Pavidis suffered illness to miss two rounds of qualifying, meaning a B final start to battle for one of the three bump-up spots that will complete the field for the 45-minute Championship final. Compatriot Walker Spinrad (Tekno) and New Zealand’s Jayden Jamieson (Xray) also qualified directly to Sunday’s A final. In EP Buggy, Bernadzik took three from four to make it a sweep of both buggy classes, qualifying #1 in front of Kyosho’s Kyle McBride. McBride took a win from Bernadzik in Q4 – the only driver so far this week to do so, with Caleb Noble third. Impressive performances from young Australian drivers Tejay Craperi (TLR) and 10-year old Phoenix Eggleton (Sworkz) to make the 14-car field along with Ryan Pavidis and Walker Spinrad. New Zealand’s Logan Toia and Jayden Jamieson emerged late in qualifying to also be a threat once the triple A finals get started.

Source: Scott Guyatt/Asian Buggy Championships [Facebook]

July 11, 2024

Bernadzik Top Seed at Asian Buggy Championship Rd 3

Team Associated’s Alex Bernadzik will start Nitro buggy qualifying as the top seed at the third round of the Asian Buggy Championship which is taking place at Pine Hills Dirt Racing’s unique oiled-surface track in Brisbane, Australia. 2023 Australian National Champion Bernadzik, who posted a TQ run at the previous round of the Scotty Ernst promoted championship in the Philippines, took the seeding top spot with a last-chance run ahead of Round 2 podium finisher Ryan Pavidis. Pavidis, who is making his first visit to Australia, has switched chassis brands since the Philippine Masters and is now running Mugen. Christian Wolhuter (Australia) took his Sworkz to third in seeding, followed by Tekno twins, Australia’s Caleb Noble and US driver Walker Spinrad. A podium finisher at the season opener in New Zealand, Kyosho’s Kyle McBride returns to the series and will start qualifying sixth. Bernadzik made it two-from-two when he topped eBuggy seeding, this time ahead of Noble and Pavidis with Spinrad, Australian TLR pilot Aaron Dexter and McBride rounding out the top six. Caleb Noble topped seeding in a small Nitro Truggy field, with Nathan Healy (Tekno) going fastest in eTruggy. Paul Ciccarello brought his Xray all the way from the US to dominate the two 45+ buggy classes. Qualifying kicks off Friday morning local time with the first of four rounds of qualifying.

Source: Scott Guyatt/Asian Buggy Championships [Facebook]

July 11, 2024

Japanese Champion Kato joins Infinity Offroad Team

Reigning Japanese 1:8 Offroad National Champion Kouki Kato has announced he has joined Infinity for his nitro offroad programme. The 18-year-old, who last month successfully defended his 1:10 2WD Buggy National title, had already been racing for Infinity in onroad achieving impressive results including making the final at the 2023 IFMAR 1:8 Onroad World Championships. Winning the 2023 JMRCA 1:8 Offroad title without a chassis sponsor, following the recent release of Infinity’s long await first ever 1:8 Buggy, the IFB8, the deal between Kato and the Japanese manufacturer is a logical one.

Source: Kouki Kato [Facebook]

July 11, 2024

1:5 Large Scale FEMCA International – Announcement

New South Wales Radio Control Racing Car Club has announced the inaugural running of the 1:5 Large Scale FEMCA International at the John Grant Raceway in Sydney on October 23rd to 27th. The club, which did a superb job of hosting the 1:8 GT World Championships last year, was due to host this year’s IFMAR Large Scale World Championship however due to low numbers of entries the race was cancelled. A major disappointment for the Asian Large Scale scene, the club approached FEMCA with the idea that with all the fantastic tracks located throughout the Asia/Pacific that they would try to build 1:5 scale throughout the region, and allow their side of the world to travel to a championships with a lot less cost. Making use of the racing facilities throughout the Asia/Pacific that would only otherwise be chosen on the IFMAR rotation cycle, and, as shown over the past 14 years then get underutilised as the European countries due to cost etc. As a result NSWRCRCC will host the inaugural 1:5 FEMCA International at its track on the week the Worlds was due to be held, providing all competitors who booked tickets/ accommodation a big race meeting.

Continue reading here

July 9, 2024

1:10 Nitro Touring Worlds in Costa Rica – CANCELLED

The IFMAR 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship which was due to be staged in Costa Rica in November has been cancelled. In the last few hours FAMAR informed the World governing body, IFMAR, that due to issues surrounding noise from the track effecting local residences that the government will not permit the running of the event. Red RC was aware of the noise issues but was informed that host club ADDAP had planned to build a sound barrier wall after concerns were raised about the high noise levels for the duration of the Worlds. IFMAR is now scrambling to seek an alternative host so the 10th running of the Worlds for the category can hopefully still go ahead this year. As the last host of the 1:10 Nitro Touring Car World Championship in Thailand in 2022, the FEMCA Blok has been offered the opportunity to host it again but with the date only 5-months out this could be a challenging time frame for any tracks interested. It has been a very challenging 2024 for IFMAR, first with the 1:8 Offroad Worlds in Brazil being cancelled before being moving to Spain and then last week the Large Scale Worlds in Australia was cancelled.

View IFMAR statement on cancellation here