The annual Merdeka Challenge was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with about 80 entries from Singapore and Malaysia for the 1/8th and 1/10th scale nitro classes. In the premier 1/8th on-road category it was ARC driver Nelson Lee with the TQ, however after the final it was Xray’s Jade Lim with the win from Nelson Lee 2nd and Mugen racer Afat in 3rd.
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The 2017 EFRA 1/10th IC Track European Championships were held this week in Mulhouse, France. Unseasonal wet weather on Thursday and Friday would have seen many events either struggle to get finished, or not take place at all. Fortunately a track at Mulhouse that dried relatively quickly and, more importantly, speedy and thoughtful intervention by Javier Garcia, the EFRA delegate at the event, including a smart decision to move two qualifying rounds to Wednesday when the conditions were perfect, ensured no racing was lost. Remarkable as Thursday was rained out until 16:30 and the time set aside on Friday for the lower finals was also lost to weather.
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The 2017 Shepherd Cup was held in Hong Kong last weekend and the event saw Gary Hunang (Xray) taking the 1/8th Nitro On-road TQ after the three qualifiers. In the 45-minute main final Gary opted to change tyres around the 25-minute mark and he would take the win some four laps in front of Hui Zhan Hao (Serpent) and Ng Chiu Man (Serpent).
The weather forecast for round 6 of the BRCA 1/8th Circuit Nationals was mainly showers although nearly fifty drivers across the two classes made the trip to Wombwell, near Barnsley. The circuit is likened by many for its combination of high speed straight which utilises the karting circuit and then a medium speed infield with undulations making it very testing. On arrival, the track was damp on Saturday morning which saw many of the electric class runners preparing their wet cars as the forecast was indifferent for the whole weekend. By midday the track was dry. In the electric class, it was Alex Thurston and Adam Catchpole setting the pace with Pete Hastings and Dan Jones not too far behind them. With 17 entrants and times being so close, a place in the A-final would be tight for some. In the Nitro class, Andy Hastings was out to make up for his Halifax poor showing but the man on form, David Spashett, was again going to be the man to beat. Quick as ever were Tim Wood, Neal King and Mark Green, running the new Serpent chassis.
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Last weekend’s round 4 of the popular Nitro-West-Masters series was also the official warm-up for the German 1/8th Nationals, which will take place at the end of August at Bad Breisig, located between Bonn and Koblenz at the river Rhine. A total of 72 nitro racers made their entry for the race weekend and experienced a great warm-up, also for the hosting club MCC Rhein-Ahr who did a perfect job, especially the outstanding kitchen crew. It all started with an additional practice day on Friday with plenty of track time for more than 20 drivers and continued with an intensive practice day on Saturday with a total of 80 sessions of six minutes each. Differently than forecasted, the weather on Saturday was perfect as well as on Friday and Sunday. As usual in the Nitro-West-Masters, a tight schedule on race day included three 7-minutes heats with the best three consecutive laps counting towards the qualifying results, 15-minutes sub-finals and the 30-minutes main events.
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Re-scheduled due to rain, the opening round of the Australian Pro-Line Challenge was recently held in perfect weather conditions. About 80 entries made for a full day and in the end it was Xray’s Ari Bakla with the win in the Nitro Buggy A-main from Kyosho’s Kev Lewis and TLR driver Ronan Thomson. Darren Prior (Agama) and Scott Jones (TLR) rounded out the top 5 result.
Round 5 of the 2017 JBRL Nitro Series was held at Thunder Alley R/C Raceway in Beaumont, California with about 170 entries. Mugen’s Adam Drake was the top qualifier for the Expert Nitro Buggy A-main and he would take a tone-to-tone win in the 15-minute long encounter with Anthony Westergaard (Kyosho) and Austin Pannone (Team Associated) coming in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Round 8 of the Swiss McBest Series was held recently and in the premier 1/8th Nitro On-road class it was Iso Huonder with the win in the main final from Martin Wenger 2nd and Stefan Graber 3rd. Cosimo Sandro Horber and Stefan Kohler would complete the top 5 result.
