June 1, 2013

JJ Wang signs for Matrix Tyres

JJ Wang sign for Matrix Tyres

Matrix Tyres in Italy have announced the signing of JJ Wang to their factory team. The young talented 15 year-old is the current reigning Chinese National Champion in both 1/10 and 1/8 GP and a member of the US National team competing in this year’s 1/8 Worlds Championship in Japan. After extensive testing at the Pre-Worlds, Matrix and JJ have formed this new partnership. JJ had this to say about the deal:

I want to thank Cristian at Matrix for his support during the Pre-Worlds and for giving me the opportunity to drive with Matrix.  I enjoy working with Cristian on tyre testing in Japan and feel really good about using Matrix tyres for my 2013 race season as well as the upcoming Worlds.

Source: Matrix Tires [matrixtires.it]


May 31, 2013

Rain postpones Day 1 of ENS

Fri-Track-620

The much anticipated new Euro Nitro Series will start a day later than originally planned as racers woke to a very wet morning in Hockenheim, Germany, leaving organisers no choice but to postpone Day 1 of the event which should have seen 5 rounds of controlled practice. With the weather down for the day and set to improve mid morning tomorrow, Saturday, it is hoped to be able to get the event officially underway at around lunchtime. Sunday’s weather is giving perfect conditions for racing. Despite this morning’s conditions one driver decided he could do with some wet practice, bravely taking to the track with his touring car but his first attempt on the soaked track lasted just two laps before the engine decided it had consumed enough water. Today’s weather is in total contrast to yesterday’s set-up day when the sun shown down on the home of Formula 1’s European Grand Prix with many drivers including most of the main contenders able to get in some track track time as the host club ran a day of open practice.


May 30, 2013

JConcepts 1/8th Spring Nationals report

JConcepts 1/8th Spring Nationals report

JConcepts headed to Nebraska for the 4th annual JConcepts 1/8th Spring Nationals at the HobbyPlex in Omaha. The fabulous indoor track was once again filled with the Alex Sturgeon creation to challenge all drivers. The flowing fun layout was definitely busy to keep everyone on their toes, and going consistently fast with no mistakes would be a challenge. The format was Friday practice. With heavy rain on Thursday night and Friday morning, being inside was awesome. More rain on Saturday followed by 3 rounds of qualifying, racing never missed a beat thanks to the HobbyPlex racing circuit. Sunday would be main day to cap off the event.

Continue reading the report here


May 30, 2013

Jared Tebo double at AKA Mid-America Champs

Jared Tebo double at AKA Mid-America Champs

Speed Monkey R/C hosted the AKA Mid-America Championship on May 24-26 in Dallas, Texas. With a cap of 200 entries, the race quickly filled up to max capacity with the appeal of a $50 entry including a set of AKA control tires (Soft Impacts for buggy/truggy and Soft Enduro 2 for SC). AKA team drivers dominated the field of racers. Jared Tebo led the team with a pair of TQ’s in Pro Buggy and Pro Truggy followed by easily winning both mains by 2 laps on the field.  Josh Wheeler was able to give teammate Tebo some pressure throughout the race and earn himself a pair of 2nd place finishes. Mark Pavidis rounded out the podium in Pro Buggy, and Ryan Lutz would go on to finish 3rd in Pro Truggy.

View the truggy podium here


May 30, 2013

Dave Henry triple at RC Pro Canada Rd1

Dave Henry triple at RC Pro Canada Rd1

This past weekend saw round 1 of the RCPro Ontario provincial series in Canada. The 100+ entry event was hosted by the Durham Offroad Rc Club in Bowmanville Ontario about 45 minutes east of Toronto and the all volunteer track crew did a great job shaping the layout for this, their first big event outside of their own series races. The track offered a good mix of challenging high speed sweepers along with some tricky rhythm sections and a good level of grip under beautiful blue skies. TLR’s Dave Henry took home the top honors in all 3 classes he entered. Dave used Nitrotane fuel to help 2 stop the 30 minute final with the TLR 8ight 3.0, while In 1/8 eBuggy Dave used his freshly built TLR 8ight 3.0 to win the final two mains of the triple main format to secure the win. He managed the same feat in 4wd SC with the TLR 2.0 SCTE to complete the triple.

Source: TLR [tlracing.com]


May 29, 2013

Salven confident ENS will put ‘fun back in racing’

Salven confident ENS will put ‘fun back in racing’

Veteran onroad nitro racer and chassis designer Michael Salven has given the Euro Nitro Series a firm vote of confidence as final preparations are made for the opening race in the all new series for onroad nitro racing which takes place this weekend.  A former World & multiple European Champion, the German said all the racers he has spoken to are very excited that the organisation behind the hugely successful Euro Touring Series are bringing their concept to nitro onroad and while they have high expectations he is confident the ENS will be a success and will put the ‘fun back into racing’ helping to revive the onroad nitro racing scene just like the ETS has done for electric touring cars.

View the complete announcement here


May 29, 2013

2013 Grass Roots Racing Series Rd5 – Report

2013 Grass Roots Racing Series Rd5 – Report

For round 5 of the 2013 Grass Roots Racing Series Rob Jackson and Crew took over the Pro-Line Racing test track for the weekend and invited racers from all over to attend. For those of you not familiar with the Grass Roots Series it’s a 6 round series based out of Southern California that travels through three of the best outdoor tracks in the area. The event is held over a two day period focusing one day on nitro 1/8th scale while the other day is devoted to 1/10th scale electric short course and 1/8th scale electric Buggy. For this time around the nitro crew would kick things off on Saturday while the electric rigs would wrap things up on Sunday. This turned out to be a great thing as the bigger heavier 4WD cars would sweep a fresh layout that had just been built by Sik Track Designs the week before and had not had a chance to be run in yet. The track that was build was of the highest quality and was fairly straight forward yet challenging at the same time. There were a couple large doubles, a fast sweeper, rhythm sections, as well as one of the best whoop sections built to date in RC. It was really neat to see a track designer do such a great job accommodating multiple classes and being able to please them all.

Click here to continue reading


May 28, 2013

Ray Boogie wins GT class at Byron Challenge

Ray Boogie wins GT class at Byron Challenge

The 2013 Byron Challenge took place at the Blue Diamond Raceway in Delaware. The two day event saw a huge GT field and Sweep’s newly promoted Ray Boogie setting an early TQ, followed by another Sweep driver, Phil Trotta. After three more qualifiers Serpent driver Phil Trotta took TQ, followed by Richard Siriano in second place. Ray Boogie held on third with his first day TQ time. Come the A main TQ Phil Trotta flamed out causing him to miss the first two minutes. Richie Siriano and Ray Boogie took advantage of his situation and battled until a screw came loose on Richie’s car causing him to pull off. Ray moved to first while his Sweep team mate Rob Bendall piloting a Team C GT8 moved to second. TQ Phil un-lapped almost the entire field back on its way to a podium spot but had to settled in 4th position. At the top of the field Ray Boogie secured himself the win after the 20 minutes final followed by Rob Bendall.

Source: Sweep [sweepracingusa.com]