The opening round of the Spanish 1/8th Nitro Buggy national championship was held in Lebrija this past weekend. Rainy weather made for some challenging racing conditions and the event was also cut short and in the end it was Mugen’s Juan Carlos Canas who took the win in the 45-minute A-main from record national champion, Robert Batlle (Mugen) with HB Racing’s Ignacio Candel coming in third.
Carrying on the momentum from the end of the last season when he completed his full sweep of the Euro Nitro Series, it was reigning World Champion Simon Kurzbuch to open the 2017 season with a TQ at the first official international race of the year. After topping both free and controlled practice, the Swiss Shepherd driver claimed the first three rounds of qualifying on the RME Cassino track to secure the overall TQ with two attempts to spare, Dario Balestri taking the last two rounds while producing very convincing performances with his Infinity to settle second overall, ahead of ARC’s Andrea Pirani and his Infinity teammate Collari.
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O.S. Engines have announced the signing of Silvio Hächler for the 2017 season. The Swiss frontrunner will use O.S. Speed power plants during his campaign that will include the national championship, major international races and also the IFMAR World Championships.
Source: O.S. Engines [os-engines.co.jp]
The Australian 1/8th Off-road Nationals were hosted by the South District Model Car Club down in Adelaide, South Australia. Kyle McBride would set the TQ in the Nitro Buggy class and by the time for the semi final the track had gotten pretty difficult, along with loads of dust on the track. Still, Kyle had a very smooth and clean race and managed to lap the whole field by over 30 seconds to put him on pole for the A-Main final. By the end of the one-hour race Kyle had almost lapped the entire field up to second twice over to take his seventh Australian National Championship in a row. Aaron Stringer would come in second from Craig Laughton third.
Source: Team Associated [teamassociated.com]
Southside RC of Lake City, Florida recently held a club race and in the Nitro Buggy class it was Blake Raulerson (Xray) who took the TQ for the 20-minute A-main. He would then also sweep the final to take the day’s win from Mikey Griffin (Kyosho) who had to settle for second and Travis Adams (TLR) third. In the E-Buggy class Mikey Griffin (Kyosho) stroke back, taking the win from Blake Raulerson (Xray) second and Joe Barbara (TLR) third.
The 2017 Philippine Masters will be held from the 28th to 30th of April at the Circulo Verde race track in Quezon City, Philippines. The 3-day event will see Nitro Buggy, Nitro Truggy and E-Buggy racing with drivers from all over the world attending including Pro drivers such as Adam Drake, David Ronnefalk, Ty Tessmann, Kyle McBride and Atsushi Hara. More information can be found on social media here.
The South American All-Terrain Championship was held at the La Candelaria RC in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. In the 45-minute Nitro Buggy main final Xray’s Nicolas Bregante came out fastest from Mugen driver Eduardo Rossi and Stefan Koblitz in third.
Source: Xray [teamxray.com]
The 2017 Australian 1/8th Off-road National Championships were held last weekend in Morphett Vale, South Australia with over 220 entries. In the 60-minute Nitro Truggy A-main top qualifier, Aaron Stringer and Kyle McBride would fight for the lead in the opening stages but a crash of McBride and following mechanical problems would give Stringer room to breathe. Behind him Andrew Foord, Alex Bernadzik and Josh Pain were in the mix for the remaining podium spots and while up front Aaron Stringer would bring home a maiden national title, Andrew Foord would snatch the runner-up spot from Josh Pain in third.
Source: AKA [raceaka.com] | Image: Aaron Stringer
