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August 4, 2017

Batlle takes Q4, 4-way TQ battle to be decided in final qualifier

Robert Batlle has opened the final day of qualifying at the European Championship with a TQ run, the Mugen driver becoming the fourth different driver to top the times to set the stage for a four way shoot out for the overall TQ in Sweden in the fifth & final round of qualifying. After overnight rain, it was Ronnefalk who looked on target to set down the early benchmark but a near perfect run from the Swede would come undone on his last lap as he suffered a broken screw in his steering, handing Juan Carlos Canas the provisional TQ time after the first heat. Riccardo Berton would better that time in Heat 2 but Batlle, even with a 44 second lap, would finally hit the top of the times for the first time at the Gröndal Ring. Just 3/10ths behind the Spaniard, Berton would end up second with reigning champion Elliott Boots completing the Top 3 ahead of Canas, Darren Bloomfield and Martin Wollanka.

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August 3, 2017

Ronnefalk delivers in Q3 to hold overnight TQ in Sweden

Having thrown away potential TQ runs in the opening qualifiers, top seed David Ronnefalk finally delivered on his third attempt as Day 3 of the European Championship in Sweden comes to a close. Second fastest in Q1 & 2, the HB Racing driver would run the fastest time of the day in his third qualifier finishing 3-seconds up on Q2 pace setter Davide Ongaro. A further 2-seconds off, Mugen’s Robert Batlle would break into the Top 3 for the first time having thrown away competitive runs with mistakes on the last lap of both previous qualifiers. Unable to translate his strong showing in controlled practice yesterday into a competitive time in the first two qualifiers, Carlos Durães came good for the end of day run setting the 4th fastest time ahead Q1 top qualifier Elliott Boots.

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August 3, 2017

Ongaro takes second qualifier in Sweden

Davide Ongaro delivered a TQ run in the second round of qualifying at the Euros in Sweden, the Team Associated driver going fastest from top seed David Ronnefalk. Third fastest in the opening qualifier, the Italian would have a 1.5 second advantage over Ronnefalk, the HB Racing star again suffering costly mistakes over the 5-minutes. After almost a 5-hour wait between Q1 and the second of the day’s three qualifiers, Kyosho’s Riccardo Berton would complete the Top 3 as team-mate Elliott Boots had a tough round. The reigning champion would end up 13th fastest after ‘loads of crashes’ with the Q1 Top Qualifier putting part of his struggle down to tyres saying, ‘they worked this morning but not now’. Having opened qualifier with a P4, Mugen’s Juan Carlos Canas wouldn’t have a good Q2 getting a drive through penalty for stopping on track as he tried to allow a gap between himself and Ronnefalk at the start.

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August 3, 2017

Nick & Ethan Lefebvre win at SWCS Rd5

Round 5 of the SWCS was held in Rendon, Texas. The series has been plagued by rainouts, as this is only the third race to be completed out of the seven scheduled races. The track was in great shape, due to the hard work of the RCRCNT crew. It was a very hot weekend in Texas and the racers and cars would be tested. In the 1/8 IC class, it was Nick Lefebvre that would take the TQ spot, followed closely by Bob Ingersol and Jeff Whiting. Nick would get a great start and never loose the lead during the 30-minute final. This main would have its share of incidents. This would change the order of the rest of the field. When the 30-minutes were up, it was Nick taking the win with 102 laps, 8 laps over 2nd place. Pablo Tejada would come in 2nd and Michael Shing in 3rd.

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August 3, 2017

Boots TQs opening qualifier after last lap tangle from Ronnefalk

Elliott Boots has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the 1:8 Offroad European Championships in Sweden. The reigning champion took the first of the five scheduled qualifiers at the Gröndal Ring from top seed David Ronnefalk, the Swede costing himself the TQ after tangling with Neil Cragg on the last lap, the final separation 2/10ths of a second. Behind the two established title contenders, Davide Ongaro would open with a P3 run ahead of fellow up & coming teenager Juan Carlos Canas. The big turn around from his pace in controlled practice yesterday would come from Darren Bloomfield, the former champion posting 5th fastest ahead of 2015 Euro B Champion Riccardo Berton.

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August 3, 2017

Laverychev & Koshcheev win Russian 1/8th Buggy titles

The 2017 Russian 1/8th Buggy National Championship was held at the RCRacer Krylo track in Moscow. Practice and qualifying would be held in hot weather conditions but the final day brought a lot of rain which left the drivers with lots of questions in regards of tyres and setup. In the Nitro class the race for the win was on between reigning Champion, Maxim Laverychev and two-times national title holder, Nikita Pomogaev. The two would battle until the checkered flag but Nikita ran out of fuel only metres before the line, allowing Maxim to take the win from Nikita 2nd and Stanislav Glebov 3rd.

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August 2, 2017

Ronnefalk is Top Seed at 1:8 Euros

David Ronnefalk is the top seed at this year’s European Championships in Sweden, the HB Racing driver topping controlled practice with his time from the first of today’s two runs. Also topping the second 9-minute run, the Swede would end Day 2 of the event fastest from reigning Champion Elliott Boots. Second fastest in CP1, like Ronnefalk, the British driver would also fail to better that time posting third fastest time for the final practice. After a troubled opening seeding run, Robert Batlle would be the only driver in the Top 6 to set their in CP2 posting the 2nd fastest time for the round which was good enough to seed the Mugen driver third. Batlle’s improvement would demote fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Canas Carrasco from third to fourth with Portuguese duo João Figueiredo and Carlos Durães completing the Top 6 ahead of French driver Rayan Medjoubi.

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August 2, 2017

Ronnefalk tops first seeding round in Sweden

David Ronnefalk has topped the first of the two rounds of seeding practice at the 1:8 Offroad European Championships in Sweden. The HB Racing driver would become the first driver to run a sub 2-minute time for their fastest 3-consecutive laps around the Gröndal Ring track with yesterday’s Free Practice pace setter Elliott Boots his closest challenger. Improving on his sudden finding of speed in yesterday’s final practice, Juan Carlos Canas would complete the Top 3. With some of yesterday’s pace setters struggling this morning, Darren Bloomfield 12th and Yannick Aigoin 9th fastest, P4 would come from João Figueiredo followed by fellow Portuguese driver Carlos Durães with Italian youngsters Riccardo Berton and David Ongaro 6th and 7th respectively.

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