July 4, 2013

Simon Balk wins Mid-German regionals Rd2

Simon Balk wins Mid-German regionals Rd2

The second round of the Mid-German nitro on-road regionals took place in Ettlingen. The event was planned as a two day affair, but unfortunately there was heavy rain on Saturday and no driver had a chance to complete even one lap in dry conditions, but come Sunday the rain stopped and the sun came out. Qualifications started right after one round of practice and it was Simon Balk who took TQ followed by Hartmut Rose, Holger Kraft and Dennis Sting who rounded up the all-Xray top 4. The low traction made for high tyre wear and everyone in the main final was unsure about the right tyre strategy. Simon Balk opted for a change around the 15 minutes mark but the remainder of the field tried to bring home the cars on one set of tyres. After the start, Simon was able to pull away quickly and build a big gap on the rest of the field, which was necessary for his strategy. After a fast tyre change, Simon had a comfortable lead in front of Hartmut Rose and Dennis Sting, who was fighting with Michael Holla directly behind him. At the last corner of the race, a wheel nut came off and sadly Dennis lost his third position handing Michael Holla the remaining podium spot.

Click here to view the final result


July 4, 2013

Jansa wins 200mm class at Czech Republic champs

Jansa wins 200mm class at Czech Republic champs Rd3

The third round of this year’s Czech Republic nitro on-road championship was held at the Blansko circuit, a tight and technical track that was prepared with sugar water in order to improve the traction available. The 45 minutes final saw a hard battle between the top 4 drivers with the KM driver Pavel Jansa coming out on top, after being able to grab the first place with only 30 seconds to go.

Source: KM Racing [km-rc.com]


July 4, 2013

Hung Cheung Hang doubles at HK Novarossi Cup

Hung Cheung Hang doubles at HK Novarossi Cup

The 2013 Hong Kong Novarossi Cup took place at the TRC track and it was KM Racing driver Hung Cheung Hang who took the pole position in both the 1/8th and the 1/10th 200mm  on-road classes. Come the A mains, TQ Hung secured the win one lap ahead of second placed Ng Kwok Fai with his KM K8 prototype car in the 1/8th class and some six laps in front of his second placed KM team mate Leung Chun Wai in the 1/10th 200mm class.

Click here to see the 200mm podium


July 3, 2013

Laszlo Kiss-Orban wins Hungarian 200mm nats Rd5

Laszlo Kiss-Orban wins Hungarian 200mm nats Rd5

The fifth round of the Hungarian on-road national championship series took place in Oroshaza and it was Team Xray Hungary’s Laszlo Kiss-Orban who secured himself the pole position in the 1/10th 200mm class with his Reds-powered NT1. At the start of the 30 minutes long main final Laszlo was able pull away first but he slowed down to save on tyres as the track with its high speed left hand corners was tough on the black gold. The slower pace cost him two positions but around the 10 minutes mark he was back on top again and started to build a 10 lap gap on second placed Gergo Lehner until the end. Balazs Bihari rounded up the podium in third place. Due to the win Laszlo is now leading the series with 16 points on team mate Zsolt Bajusz with three rounds to go.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]


July 2, 2013

Daniele Ielasi wins final round of Italian Champs

Daniele Ielasi wins final round of Italian champs

The final round of the Italian nitro on-road championship was held at Cassino last weekend. New Capricorn signing Daniele Ielasi took the win in the 1/8th expert class with his Lab C801 car from the second spot on the grid after his team mates Dario Balestri and Lamberto Collari hit trouble during the final. Carmine Raiola and Andrea Pirani completed the podium one and three laps down respectively.

Source: Capricorn [capricornrc.com]


July 2, 2013

Control tires for IFMAR 1/8th Worlds

Control tires for IFMAR 1/8th Worlds

IFMAR have made a surprise announcement that they will run control tires at this year’s 1/8th Worlds in Japan. This is in response to the ongoing tire treatment story which it says “…is a poison that keeps drivers at home and for sure also the reason a lot of drivers stopped in 2012. Although we are able to detect the majority of the products that are available there is still a market and this market tries to make products that are more and more difficult to detect. It is like doping in all sport activities, there will always be people that want to try it and people that produce it.” It will however not be a single brand control tire but in fact a control tire from multiple manufacturers as long as they will be supplying at least 10 drivers at the event. All tires from all brands must be identical in diameter as well as shore and they will be accepting applications from tire companies in the next 2 weeks. Read the full statement here (PDF).


July 1, 2013

2013 Nordic Championships – Announcement

2013 Nordic Championships - Announcement

This year’s Nordic Championships for 1/8th offroad will be held in Vantaan Vauhtikeskus, Finland from the 2nd to the 4th of August. Your standard Nordics format, best 2 from 4 rounds of qualifying with EFRA style finals, the track has a clay surface with approximately 5 jump combinations with lap times of about 39-40 seconds. Entries are open until the 27th of July so if you wish to compete against the best Scandinavians then get signed up. You can find more information here (PDF).


July 1, 2013

Robert Batlle wins 2013 Trofeo Novarossi

Robert Batlle wins 2013 Trofeo Novarossi

Last weekend was the annual Trofeo Novarossi took place on the fantastic Gussago track in Italy and World Champion Robert Batlle (Mugen/Novarossi/ProCircuit/Nitrolux) sent us this report. ‘We arrived on friday morning to visit Novarossi Factory as every year, amazing factory for one of the best engine manufacturers in the world. The weather on Thursday was terrible and we had to wait until Friday afternoon to start practice. We could make only 4 or 5 tanks due to the day was finished. Saturday was sunny and the race could start. There were a lot of good drivers like the well known 2013 French champion Jerome Aigoin, the 2013 European B Champion Marco “Vale tutto” Baruffolo, Italian Champion Davide Tortorici, the young Italian star Davide Ongaro, Alex Zanchettin, Alessandro Stocco, Novarossi’s engineer Federico Sala, and more… also Mrs Grazia, Mr Cesare Rossi and all Novarossi crew were watching us during the race. Qualyfing was a fight for TQ between Jerome and myself, the first round was won by Jerome, second, third and fourth went to myself, and the last round was the Italian driver Del Petre who got it. Sunday was even warmer than Saturday so we had to drive on hard compounds to be able to make a whole semi or final. There was a fight during almost all Semi A for the win between Tortorici and myself, he had a mistake which allowed me to win so Davide finished second. In Semi B the two fast guys were Aigoin and Baruffolo but both had problems so they couldn’t win, even though they were able to bump up to the main final. In the final we started really well with no mistakes while all the others got together, so we could take advantage which allowed us to win this race. Second spot went for Jerome Aigoin and third the young Ongaro.’

Thanks to Robert Batlle for the report.