May 28, 2013

Fabrizio Teghesi wins Italian nitro buggy champs

Fabrizio Teghesi wins Italian nitro buggy champs

The second round of the Italian off-road nationals was held at the Panico Model Team track in the centre of Italy. Kyosho’s Fabrizio Teghesi took the win in the 45 minutes final handing him the national championship title early with one race to go. This meant the triple for Fabrizio who also won the 2011 electric buggy and 2012 truggy title. Second placed Alex Zanchettin (TLR/Novarossi) secured himself the vice championship title with Riccardo Perin (HB/OS) completing the podium of the second round of the series.

Click here to view the final result


May 28, 2013

Teemu Saarinen wins Finnish nitro touring nats Rd1

Teemu Saarinen wins Finish nitro touring nats Rd1

The first round of the Finnish nitro on-road nationals was held in Kuusankoski on a tight and demanding track. The drivers had to cope with a low traction surface in the beginning but at the end of the qualifying the grip came up. Teemu Saarinen was able to take TQ with a 19 laps run in front of Tony Raikas, Sami Munck and Matias Kuusinen with the latter three only being separated by 0.6s. The semifinals were used to test different tire strategies for the 45 minutes final and to the big surprise of everyone TQ Teemu lost some serious pace compared to his qualifying runs ending up in third position for the finals.

Continue reading the report here


May 28, 2013

36th Annual Texas Biggie – Report

36th Annual Texas Biggie – Report

The 36th Annual Texas Biggie took place at RCRCNT in Rendon, Texas and the race attracted racers as far away as Florida, Ohio, and Arizona. On Friday there was to be open practice followed by two rounds of qualifying, however rain forced the cancellation of qualifying and left what little daylight remaining for practice. On Saturday, the rain gave way to warm Texas sunshine, and four rounds of qualifying took place for the 1/8 GT, 1/10 Nitro Sedan, and 1/8 Open classes. The top qualifiers for each class were Chad Kiffe, Chris Metheny, and Terry Brown, respectively. On Sunday, it was time for the mains. The lower ones were 20 minutes, and the A-mains, 40 minutes. In 1/8 Open the top qualifier, Terry Brown, led from start to finish. Greg Esser and Bob Ingersoll placed 2nd and 3rd, respectively. In 1/10 Nitro Sedan, just as in the 1/8th Open race, top qualifier Chris Metheny never looked back, leading the entire race. Christian Jones and Brad Toffelmire rounded out the top three. In 1/8 GT, Shawn Bucklin took the win with top qualifier Chad Kiffe and Shawn Moore placing 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

Click here for the final results


May 27, 2013

Robert Battle wins Spanish buggy nats Rd2

Robert Battle wins Spanish buggy nats Rd2

2012 World and multi-time national champion Robert Battle took home the win at the second round of the Spanish nitro off-road nationals at the Montjic circuit near Barcelona. Robert completed the final one lap ahead of Mugen team mate Oscar Baldo in 2nd with Bryan Baldo completing an all Mugen/Novarossi/Procircuit podium in 3rd. Best non-Mugen driver was Dani Bernabe (SWorkz/RB) in 4th followed by Serpent’s Alberto Garcia and RB’s Andres Macelino in 5th and 6th respectively.

Click here for the top 12 result and a video of the final


May 27, 2013

Reno Savoya wins French buggy nats Rd3

Reno Savoya wins French buggy nats Rd3

Xray’s Reno Savoya took the win at the third round of the French nitro off-road nationals held at the Reding track near Strasbourg. The race again was affected by heavy rain and had to be cancelled after the semi finals. The Aigoin brothers accompanied Reno on the podium with Yannick taking the runner up spot followed by Jerome in third position.

Source: Automodelisme [automodelisme.com]


May 27, 2013

Czech nitro on-road nats Rd1 – Report

Czech nitro on-road nats Rd1 - Report

The first round of the Czech nitro on-road nationals was hosted by the Brno  Bosonohy club. The weekend also saw the second round of the Nitro Czech Cup which is run as a replacement for the Kyosho World Cup. With some 50 racers in four classes attending everyone was looking for some serious racing action and after overnight rain qualifying started with the NCC Stock class that is run with Sonic Pro Stock engines. Richard Škola took TQ with 29 laps, 1 lap ahead of Alexander Žvak, with Roman Hradecký taking third and Zbyněk Krasl fourth respectively. In the 1/10th class the Jansa brothers once again excelled on their home track with Michal taking TQ followed by Pavel. Michal Abrahamek qualified third with Tomáš Cibulka in tow. Jiří Vyšín took fifth place. The 1/8th class was lead by Michal Abrahamek followed by Martin Zvara junior and Martin Zvara senior. In the Veterans class, run with vintage cars, Zdeněk Svidrnoch tool TQ followed by Dvořák Ondra and Číp Jarda.

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May 27, 2013

Mike Swauger continues with Xray through 2013

Mike Swauger continues with Xray through 2013

Xray have announced that former EP World Champion and multiple US National Champion Mike Swauger has confirmed he will continue to race with the Xray team through 2013. Mike will continue to run the RX8 and NT1 at all major onroad races including this year’s World Championships in Japan. He had this to say about the deal:

I would like to thank Ralph Burch and everyone at R/C America and Xray for the past two years of racing. I’m excited to have signed with team again for the 2013 season and looking forward to having a great year of racing with the Xray Team. See you at the next race.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]


May 26, 2013

Takaaki Shimo wins 1/8th Pre Worlds

Takaaki Shimo wins 1/8th Pre Worlds

The official 1/8th Pre Worlds race took place this weekend at the Keitune Racing Speedway close Tokyo with a number of foreign racers taking part, including current World Champions Robert Pietsch, Meen Vejrak & Jilles Groskamp. Mostly treated as a test session to learn this difficult track and get some valuable setup information ahead of the event which will be held in October, there was also some bragging rights up for grabs. Qualifying would be a Japanese domination with the locals taking 16 of the top 20 spots including the top 5 with Groskamp the fastest of the rest in 6th. Doing well in qualifying would be down to who could make 5 minutes and it was new Mugen signing Takaaki Shimo and his OS engine that took pole position with fellow Mugen/OS driver Shinnosuke Yokoyama in 2nd. Tadahiko Sahashi would take third for Serpent with Picco team mate Keisuke Fukuda 4th with the all new KM car.

Continue reading the report here