December 12, 2016

World Champion David Ronnefalk departs AKA

Following a first wave of departures and new sponsorship announcements things got a bit more quiet the recent days but the silly season is still in full swing with many high-class drivers jumping ships weather it be chassis, engines or fuel. The latest Pro to announce a change in his sponsorship package is HB Racing’s David Ronnefalk. The 2016 IFMAR Gas Buggy World Champion has just announced his departure from long-term tyre sponsors AKA. So far there are no words on his new deal but in the meantime he had the following to say:

To all friends, fans and followers that have supported my racing, earlier this year I decided 2016 would be my last year with AKA. I’ve been with AKA since the start and just felt like it was the right time for something new after 8 happy years racing together. I will forever be thankful for everything the guys at AKA have done for me and to my racing career. Big thanks to Joel, Mark and Gil for always supporting me to the fullest with great products that made us win those titles together. I would also like to thank Greg, Pres, Jeremy and Brent for their hard work during these years together. I’m delighted that I was able to win the big one a second time for AKA, as well as the 2 Euro titles and many other accolades together as a team in my racing career. I wish them the best in the future and also look forward to a fresh start in 2017!


December 9, 2016

Felix Law signs with Reds Racing

Italian company Reds Racing have announced the signing of Felix Law to their team. The newly-signed Serpent Asia driver will be running the engines in both his 1/8th on-road and off-road cars and also at select 1/10th scale events.

Source: Reds Racing [reds-racing.com]


December 9, 2016

2016 Serpent Asia Cup – Report

The recent 2016 Serpent Asia Cup was run along side the season finale of the Serpent GT Cup and held at the Hong Kong based TRC track. 52 drivers signed in for GT Modified class while over 100 entries were received for the GT RTR category. The Serpent Asia Cup then added two more classes to the special event in the form of the 1/10th Nitro Touring class and 1/8th Nitro on-road class. Current 1/10th Nitro Touring World Champion, Dominic Greiner as well as former IFMAR A-main finalist Takumi Matsuda made the trip as special guest as did Serpent’s Michael Salven and Billy Easton who raced in the 1/8th on-road and GT Modified class respectively. The Asia Cup also attracted driver from America, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippine, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. With more then 100 drivers all on Serpent chassis, the races were intense with a friendly atmosphere around the pit area.

Continue reading the report here


December 9, 2016

Baldo brothers Picco-propelled

Shortly after walking away from former long-time sponsors Mugen and Modelix and signing a contract with TLR and Horizon Hobby, Spanish front runners Bryan and Oscar Baldo now also secured a new engine deal. The two will use the Italian-made Picco engines in their 2017 campaign that will include appearances at the Spanish national championship, the Euros and other major events.

Source: Picco [teampicco.com]


December 7, 2016

Serpent sign Felix Law

Serpent have announced the signing of Felix Law to their Asian team. One of the friendliest and loudest in the pits, Felix, also known as “More Powa” will be driving both on-road and off-road classes throughout Asia. With the knowledge of multi-platform racing Felix will also support all Serpent customers and stage some race clinics too. Felix has the following to say about the deal:

After a long thinkover, I have finally decided to join Team Serpent for upcoming seasons and start this exciting adventure. I have to thank Serpent and Mr. Lau for giving me the chance to work with Team Serpent to expand all of their upcoming projects and ideas.  For anyone out there, feel free I contact me on Facebook if you have any question, I will do my best to help.

Source: Serpent [serpent.com]


December 7, 2016

Ryan Lutz wins Pro Nitro Buggy at 2016 Fall Brawl

Ryan Lutz wins Pro Nitro Buggy at 2016 Fall Brawl

The 2016 edition of the popular Fall Brawl race was held this past weekend at Badlands in Myrtle Beach with over 550 entries. The track was very fast overall with lap times dipping to 21 seconds and the surface stayed very smooth. The conditions however were ever changing and the paramount tire choice was the hardest part of the racing. In Pro Nitro Buggy Mugen’s Cole Ogden would take the overall TQ from Tekno RC’s Ryan Lutz. Main day Sunday started at 7am and the program was shortened throughout with shorter mains so the organisers and driver could try to beat the incoming rain. The A-main started and Ryan Lutz crashed after shorting the first double and fell to 9th on the first lap. He quickly moved up to 4th and then both third and second let him by as he came up on them and Lutz set his sights on Ogden who was 5 seconds up. A couple laps later Cole got into a crash and Ryan just moved past him into the lead. Ogden eventually had to come in for a tire change as his was coming unglued so now Ryan worked up a 5 second lead ahead of Noah Dickerson about 7 minutes in and that seemed to be the same cushion for the next 10 minutes as Noah stayed on Ryan’s pace. After the last stop though Ryan suddenly had a 14 second lead and eventually he found himself right behind Noah on the last two laps. Lutz wanted to put him a lap down and he knew Noah wanted to stay on same lap and Dickerson fought him off hard and Lutz couldn’t get past and so Ryan Lutz came home with just under a lap victory from Noah Dickerson (Mugen) second and Griffin Hanna (Serpent) third while top qualifier, Cole Ogden had to settle for fourth overall.

Source: Ryan Lutz [facebook.com]


December 6, 2016

Baldo brothers team up with TLR & Horizon Hobby

Baldo brothers team up with TLR & Horizon Hobby

Following their departure from long-term sponsors Mugen and Modelix Racing, Bryan and Oscar Baldo have announced TLR and Horizon Hobby as their new home. The two Spanish 1/8th buggy specialists will use TLR’s 8ight buggies in their campaign and they have the following to say about the move:

We are very excited to collaborate with Horizon Hobby and we want to thank everyone who made it possible, Jerome Sartel, Kevin Gahan and Todd Hodge, besides the own company for this opportunity. After 8 years with minor changes in our brands, we face this new challenge very excited and looking forward to start the season to start racing with this great team.


December 5, 2016

Rafael Panayi wins at RCE Championship Rd5

Rafael Panayi wins at RCE Championship Rd5

The recent fifth round of the RCE Championship saw Rafael Panayi walking away with the TQ and win. Rafael would also pull the fastest lap of the day while Pantelis Makrides came in second from Rafael’s teammate Savvas Savva.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]