June 20, 2023

Sivan crowned Israeli 1:8 Nitro Buggy Champion – Report

Yaniv Sivan is the 2023 Israeli 1:8 Nitro Buggy Champion, the title being decided at the final round of the seven championship at Omer Ring racing track near Tel-Aviv.  After 6 races the situation in the championship was that Sivan was leading the championship by 4 points, Harel Senderov in second had to win the seventh race to win the championship.  The 35 min A-final started while Yaniv Sivan (TQ) with his Kyosho MP10 TKI3 opened a 15 secs gap on Second place Harel Senderov with his Mugen MBX8R which had early battle with Ido Carmon on second spot.  However, when Yaniv’s car exit the first pit stop another car was lowered in the same time and crashed at him, Yaniv lost valuable time and the gap went down to 5 secs.  Nevertheless, Yaniv managed to keep the gap safe till 15 min to the end of the race Yaniv Sivan made a mistake at far downhill and Harel passed him.  The two drivers battled for the first back and forth till one and half minutes to the end Harel Senderov crashed at the end of the straight and Yaniv Sivan passed him but still the gap between them was less than a second. On the last Yaniv Sivan managed to hold the first position and passed the start finish line first and become the 2023 Israeli 1:8 Nitro Buggy Champion.  In  eBuggy Senderov took the title from Round 7 winner Yoni Cozac.

View eBuggy podium & results here


June 18, 2023

Tessmann wins Visions RC Offroad Championships

Ty Tessmann completed a double at the Visions RC Offroad Championships in Oklahoma, his Nitro Buggy and eBuggy wins netting the Xray driver $6,000 in prize money.  Part of the Visions Off-Road 2023 event that brings together all form of full scale off road racing at the 750 acres Mid America Outdoors offroad adventure park, the RC race attracted all the big names in US racing.  Racing on a bigger Joey Christensen built track than last year, qualifying for the event breaks from tradition and see three rounds of heads up racing with the result of Q1 determining the grid for the first of the triple finals.  Q2 would decided Leg 2’s starting order and Q3 the closing race’s grid.  With Tessmann winning Q1 he would start pole for the first final from where he took the win despite a late crash.  HB Racing’s Phi Long Nguyen took Q2 with team-mate Cole Ogden winning Q3.  In the second final, it would be Tekno’s Ryan Maifield who came through for the win with Team Associated’s Spencer Rivkin winning A3 however with Tessmann second on both occasions it gave him the overall victory and $5,000 winner’s cheque.  Getting $3,000 for his efforts, Rivkin was second with Maifield completing the podium to collect $2,000.  In eBuggy, Tessman took the more traditional TQ ahead of TLR’s Dakotah Phend and that was how they would finish at the end of the single 7-minute A-Main.  Sworkz Joe Bornhorst completed the eBuggy podium.

Image: Ty Tessmann [Facebook]


June 17, 2023

Gruber wins second European 1:10 Nitro title

Toni Gruber is the new EFRA 1:10 Nitro Onroad European Champion, the Capricorn driver retaking the title he previously held in 2017 with the win at Naxos World in Italy today.  The only driver to better Dario Balestri in qualifying, taking the first of the five rounds after which the Italian topped every round, the German would go on to take Super Pole to lock in his direct No.2 starting position in the final behind the Top Qualifier.  Locked in battle with Infinity team-mates Balestri and 3rd place qualifier Jilles Groskamp, as the race entered its final 8-minutes Balestri would suffer a flame out ending his chances of a 3rd European title in the class.  While Groskamp would chase Gruber, the Dutch driver ran out of tyres and couldn’t match the leader.  At the end of 45-minutes Gruber took his Ielasi Tuned powered C04 to victory by just over 4-seconds.  Carmine Raiola would complete the podium, one lap down.  Unfortunately Balestri would suffer a DNF, retiring in the final 3-minutes of the race.

Image: EFRA [Facebook]


June 16, 2023

Balestri Top Qualifier at 1:10 European Championship

Infinity’s Dario Balestri is the Top Qualifier at the 1:10 Nitro Onroad European Championships in Sciliy, Italy.  The 17th running of the EFRA championships, Thursday presented drivers with some weather issues that stopped the action.  Friday they managed to get all 5 rounds of qualifying completed and it was Balestri who reigned at the Naxos World track.  Posting four TQ runs, the 2006 & 2007 European Champion secured pole for the final from Toni Gruber, the Capricorn driver fastest in opening round from Carmine Raiola who would end up third ahead of Infinity team-mates Jilles Groskamp and Francesco Tironi.  With these four drivers going into Super Pole to try secure a direct starting place in the Main final with Balestri, it was Gruber who posted the fastest lap.  The rest of the grid will be decided by the Semi Finals.  With back to back reigning 1:10 Champion Dominic Greiner not making the trip to Sciliy, a new champion will decided in tomorrow’s final.

Image: Dario Balestri [Facebook]


June 6, 2023

Copa America Race Announcement

RCtarget has announced the Copa America Race on September 14-17, 2023, selecting Perú to host the inaugural running of the Nitro Onroad event.  The idea behind the concept is to provide a world class annual event in the Americas.  The intention is to host a yearly race in a different country in order to enable the racers and their families to experience different places, discover new cultures and create exciting memories.  Perú, located in the west coast of South America, offers history, culture and many natural features. The Historic District of Lima, Machu Picchu and the Nazca Lines are just a few of the many landmarks worth visiting. Perú has also being awarded several times as a world leading culinary destination.  All in all, Perú is able to cater to all type of tourist and we welcome all to visit this beautiful country.  The host track, The Miniautodromo Polo Bracale, is located in the Magdalena del Mar district, next to the beach and very close to the most popular districts of Lima.  The driving line has a total length of 280 meters, with a 50 meters straightaway and an average width of 5 meters with the surface is made of fine grade asphalt.  Copa America will cater for 1:10 Nitro, 235mm TC, 1:8 Onroad, 1:8 GT Nitro and Electric.

Source: RCtarget [rctarget.com]


June 5, 2023

Balestri wins EFRA GP at Lostallo

Infinity’s Dario Balestri has made it two from two after winning the latest EFRA GP International race which took place at the iconic Lostallo circuit in Switzerland over the weekend.  Winner of the EFRA GP in Leno, Italy back in April, the former World Champion was fastest in qualifying with a best time of 12/4:00.363 set in the final of his three attempts.  His closest rival would be team-mate Carmine Raiola whom he held over a 1-second advantage.  Lamberto Collari, who claimed the most recent of his record nine 1:8 Onroad World Championship titles at the same circuit back in 2009, would qualify third ahead of Capricorn’s Mirko Salemi.  In the half hour final, Balestri posted the fastest lap of the race on his way to victory with Collari in second just 4-seconds back.  With Riola retiring after 10-minutes, Salemi would complete the podium ahead of the Mugen of Massimo Aliprandi.

Image: Dario Balestri [Facebook]


June 4, 2023

Phend & Maifield lift ’23 ROAR Fuel National titles

Dakotah Phend and Ryan Maifield lifted this year’s ROAR 1:8 Fuel Offroad National titles, Phend successfully defending his Buggy crown but hitting late issues that denied a repeat of the TLR driver’s 2022 double Tekno’s Maifield would take the Truggy win.  Hosted by AMain Hobbies’ Silver Dollar RC Raceway in Chico, California, qualifying saw Phend secure the overall TQ honours for both categories.  In Buggy it was Xray’s Ty Tessmann who was his closest challenger as the only other driver to register a TQ run in the four rounds.  Truggy saw Seth Vandalen secure P2 after coming out top of a three way tie-breaker with Spencer Rivkin (P3) and Jared Tebo (P4).  With the 45-minute Truggy Main up first, Phend was on target to retain his title but clutch issues in the final two laps dropped him to third allowing 5th place qualifier Maifield, who mounted a challenge for the lead earlier in the race, to come through to lift his 7th National Truggy Championship 4.7-seconds ahead of Tebo.  After the disappointment of Truggy, Phend was able to convert his qualifying form into victory winning the 1-hour encounter from Maifield with the Team Associated of Rivkin completing the podium.  In the 1:8 Buggy Junior Final Team Associated’s Jonah Wilson took the win from Top Qualifier Andrew Beauchamp with Phi Long Nguyen third.

Image: JConcepts [Facebook]


May 30, 2023

Hong Nor sign large scale World Champion Grenenger

In this 1:8 GT World Championship year, Hong Nor has made a significant signing in Australian driver Russell Grenenger.  In collaboration with with Speedy RC, the 2015 IFMAR Large Scale World Champion joining the Hong Nor Factory Team and will drive the new Hong Nor X3GTS 2023 World Edition at future Australian state and national events to prepare for the GT 2023 IFMAR World Championship in Sydney, Australia.  Commenting on joining Hong Nor, Grenenger said “I’m delighted to join the team and take on this new challenge. Hong Nor has been amazing to deal with, and very supportive of feedback and testing. I look forward to seeing how my many years of on-road large-scale, and more recently 1/8th IC on-road transfers over into the 1/8 GT class. I would like to thank Hong Nor and SpeedyRC Online Store for this opportunity”.

Source: Hong Nor [hongnor-racing.com]


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