The 2019 SoCal Nitro Shootout was held at the Pro-Line Raceway in Banning, California last weekend. The event was held in a heads-up racing format and in Open Nitro Buggy it was Kyosho’s Zachary Rogers, who qualified 3rd, with the win in the 30-minute A-main from 8th place qualifier, Daniel Blalock. Top qualifier, Don Vinkemulder had to settle for 7th overall.
Image: Zachary Rogers
The second round of the Danish 1/8th Off-road Nationals was hosted by the RC Tonder club last weekend. In the Nitro Buggy class, held on Sunday, it was Pelle Culmsee with a clean sweep in the qualifiers to take the overall TQ from Marcel Krüger in 2nd and Peter Harder in 3rd. In the 45-minute A-main event, Pelle was able to conserve his qualifying position as did Marcel, who ended the race two laps down on Pelle on the runner-up spot. Daniel Bubel came in 3rd to round out the podium another lap down.
The 2019 edition of the Psycho Nitro Blast was held at the Walter State Expo Centre in White Pine, Tennessee over the weekend, attracting a record 750 entries. Held in the usual array of Nitro and Electric classes it was Agama’s Ryan Lutz who took the TQ in the premier Pro Nitro Buggy class. In the A-main final however it was TLR’s Tyler Jones who would hold the upper hand, bringing home a popular win from Tekno RC’s Joe Bornhorst in 2nd as Ryan Lutz had to settle for 3rd overall. Team Associated’s Evan Vail came in 4th from TLR’s Tanner Denney in 5th.
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The opening round of the 2019 BRCA 1/8th IC Track season started at the Brooklands circuit in Kent on the south coast. A good entry of drivers descended on the track, which was in its best condition since returning to the calendar. After a solid days testing on Saturday, the race got underway on Sunday morning. Shepherd’s Tim Wood took the TQ honours from Serpent’s Mark Green after two rounds of qualifying before rain halted proceedings. The start of the A-main saw a good battle at the front in challenging conditions as the track was almost dry. At the end of the 30-minute encounter, Tim converted the TQ into his first win and took with it maximum points plus fastest laps in qualifying and the race. ARC’s David Spashett took a strong 2nd place from Shepherd’s Andy Hastings who had a great drive from 10th on the grid.
The Dutch NK 1/8th On-road Nationals kicked off at the fast and scrubby circuit in Rucphen at the MAC Banbrekers club. It was unclear whether some of the usual suspects would show up or not. John Ermen and team-bud Robbin Hertong went off to France which increased the chances of various drivers on an early season victory. Young Jesse Keller took up the challenge against some of the old dogs and proofed to be able the withstand the pressure with a nice pole. As the race unfolded one car after the other ran into a number of problems. While Jesse raced to an early lead he soon had to retire as he trusted his old 451 receiver just one race too many. With Roy Bakker, Arie Manten and Ben Jamini as well as Benny Ciere and Joey Sorber moving up the ranks, Martin Zevenhoven was faced with a rare main bearing failure on his normally trustworthy O.S. engine. After several flame outs he thought “enough is enough” and decided to enjoy the sun while watching the upcoming showdown.
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The 2019 HB Racing European Race Days were held this past weekend at the ARCF42 track near Lyon, France. The event saw the attendance of world class drivers such as David Ronnefalk and Cole Ogden that not only competed but also gave help to racers. Other celebrities included Philippe Neidhart and Didier Boulmier as well as Nano and Jean-Marc Betticher. The track layout was amazing but very challenging even for the international drivers while the weather forecast was quite gloomy but the rain only fell on Sunday for a few minutes. In the Nitro buggy class, the race format was three 15-minute finals. The finals were a 3-horse battle between David, Cole and Hampus Berg. Cole won the opening final as David made a big mistake in the chicane and had to retire with a few minutes to go. After his DNF in A1, David was in control of things and he was able to win the last two finals and secured the overall victory. Cole came in 2nd and Hampus finished in 3rd. Over in the E-Buggy class it was Cole Ogden with the overall TQ, however after the four A-main events it was David with his second win this weekend from Cole 2nd and Hampus 3rd.
The first round of this year’s XRS Alpe Adria was held in Tolmin recently. The race was held in the three classes of Touring Modified, Touring 13.5 XRS and 1/8th Nitro On-road. The weekend kicked off with practice on Saturday with Sunday being race day with two timed rounds of practice as well as four qualifiers for the electric classes and three rounds of qualifying for IC Track. In Touring Stock it was Patrik Pozgaj with the TQ while in Touring Modified Alojzij Osvald came out fastest. 1/8 IC Track saw Nejc Mihelic taking the overall TQ after switching chassis brands during the off season.
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Round 1 of the Dutch IC Track Nationals was held at the Baanbrekers track in Rucphen this past weekend. This year both the 1/8th and 1/10th classes will be run on the same weekend which makes for a busy Sunday for many. Also the Rucphen track will host the May round of the ENS, so many drivers used the event to get some laps under their belt. Saturday’s practice already showed that Milan Holthuis would be the guy to beat. Consistently fast he had quickly adapted to the switch of handout tyre supplier this year. Sunday qualifying would see Milan take the TQ but the gap to Julius Kolff in 2nd was under two seconds so there was room for interesting fights in the final. 3rd on the grid was for Jurmin Etnel. The gap from 4th to 8th position in qualifying was also less than a second so close racing was guaranteed. Noteworthy were the two new drivers this year. Both only 11 years old, they made the step up from the GT class and did very well. Merijn Schipper showed promise, but was held back by some engine tuning issues. Boris Kolff qualified for the A-main on his first 1/10th race and showed smooth lines all day.
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