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October 12, 2013

Perfect race nets Sahashi World title

A perfect 60-minute display of driving netted Tadahiko Sahashi the 1:8 Onroad World title this evening in Japan. Making his World Championship final debut, the Serpent driver cruised to victory to becomes the 11th driver to lift the biggest prize in the sport’s oldest category taking a comfortable win over the Mugen/OS pairing of Takaaki Shimo and Atsushi Hara. The 19th running of the World Championship, Sahashi’s win marks Italian manufacturer Picco’s first World title in the sport’s Formula One category and the first title for Serpent since 1997. In the pitlane it was Picco’s Eduardo Picco and Serpent designer Michael Salven who ensured perfect fuel & tyre stops en route to the 24-year-old taking a hugely popular win.

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October 12, 2013

Sahashi on pole for World Championship Final

Team Serpent’s Tadahiko Sahashi will start the 1:8 Onroad World Championship final at KeiTune Racing Speedway in Japan from pole position after the Top Qualifier took a faster win in the second Semi-Final than Takaaki Shimo managed in opening 30-minute encounter. Starting from the front Sahasi lead from start to finish, the only blotch in the near perfect run being the loss of a rear wheel off his Picco powered 977 when he was released from his tyre stop. Such was the Japanese drivers lead however once the rest of the field completed their tyre stops he was back in front eventually taking the win by over a lap from Atsushi Hara and HB’s Teemu Leino. The story of the race however was the recovery drive from European Champion Jilles Groskamp.

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October 12, 2013

1:8 Onroad to crown all new World Champion

The sport’s oldest and founding class is to crown an all new World Champion this evening in Japan as the only former World Champion Adrien Bertin exited from the event in the first of the Semi Finals. Starting from 5th on the grid the KM Racing driver lasted just 2 and a half minutes of the half hour final when he was forced out with a broke steering servo saver. Up front and booking his place in the race that will decide the 19th World Champion, Mugen/OS driver Takaaki Shimo controlled the race from start to finish only dropping from the top of the timing screens when he made a full tyre change.

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October 11, 2013

Worlds Semi final line up complete

The line up for tomorrow’s Semi-Finals at the 1:8 Onroad World Championship is complete as Day 6 in Japan ended with a dramatic 1/4A Final that saw Atsushi Hara claim the final bump up spot to progress to the big day at the misfortune of Serpent’s Michael Salven. A controlled race from the pole position starting HB of Teemu Leino saw the 200mm World Championship Top Qualifier take a very comfortable 12 second win over the Shepherd of former finalist Oliver Mack.

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October 11, 2013

Argentina loses 200mm World Championship

IFMAR Sign

Argentina will not be hosting next year’s 1:10 200mm Nitro Touring Car World Championship. The decision was made this morning at the IFMAR AGM which is taking place at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships in Japan. With only a single application from a track not too far from venue of last year’s troubled 1:8 Offroad World Championship, the Pros & Cons of hosting the race near Buenos Aires were discussed with it decided that in the best interest of the class the race be relocated. With no FAMAR representative traveling to Japan to attend the AGM it was voted that the WC would be awarded to FEMCA. Hosts of last year’s Worlds in Thailand, where Meen Vejrak claimed the title, FEMCA accepted and will now start to gather applications from the 15 countries which they represent. 1:10 Nitro Touring Car is at a critical point with numbers struggling and moving the race should be viewed positively by the small number of manufacturers still supporting the class.

Continue reading for more IFMAR AGM matters here

October 10, 2013

Tadahiko Sahashi is Worlds Top Qualifier

Team Serpent’s Tadahiko Sahashi is the Top Qualifier at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships in Japan. The 24-year-old claimed the honour thanks to his time set on the opening day of qualifying as yet again conditions for the sixth & final qualifier left the Keitune Racing Speedway slower than Tuesday evening’s Q2 rocket round. With Mugen’s Takehiro Terauchi the only driver to run 36 laps in Q6, there was no improvement from the top 24 drivers with top US racer Paolo Morganti the biggest mover for the round with a time that moved him from 39th to 25th to book himself a place in the 1/4 finals.

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October 10, 2013

RB/Xray Cup – Report

The RB/Xray Cup took place at the SAMC club in La Motte Servolex in France. 65 drivers attended in 1/8 Buggy Open and Promo as well as 1/8 E-buggy. Friday allowed for a lot of track time but come Saturday the heaven opened its gates ruining most of the day. Fortunately the club was well prepared offering good lighting to continue running in the evening. The qualifiers and finals were run on Sunday in an electric race format with 6 minute qualification runs and three 10 minute finals. The short runs made for lots of action on the track and especially the Open class saw hard battles between Miguel Matias, Marco Baruffolo and Lorenzo Crolla. At the end the three came in in the aforementioned order handing Matias the Open class win. In Promo Tanguy Vandre took the winning honours in front of David Restani and Joel Santos. The E-buggy class saw Yannick Brozzini taking the win with Corentin Precoma and Youssef Lesbir in tow.

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October 10, 2013

Adam Drake triples at Southern Nationals

The 2013 Southern Nationals and R/C Expo took place at the Ike Hamilton Expo Center in West Monroe, LA. The event was a huge success with over 300 entries. Three rounds of qualifying were run on Saturday, followed by lower nitro mains and the first round of electric mains. The remaining two rounds of electric mains and upper nitro mains were run on Sunday. Adam Drake had a mechanical issue in the first round of nitro buggy, but TQ’ed round two and three to take the top qualifying honours in 1/8th nitro buggy. At the start of the 45 minute nitro buggy final, Drake was hit and sent to the rear of the field but he was able to quickly move his way back to the front and had a good battle with Taylor Peterson and Ryan Lutz before taking control of the race and settling into a comfortable lead. Drake took the victory followed by Lutz and Peterson.

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