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May 27, 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

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

May 25, 2013

Daniel Sieber takes European 1/8th ‘B’ title

Daniel Sieber takes European 1/8th 'B' title

The 1/8th scale EFRA European ‘B’ Championships were held this week at MAV Raceway in Aigen, Austria, the first EFRA Nitro Championship to use single brand hand out tires. With 91 drivers in attendance they had to deal with not only unseasonal single figure temperatures but also on and off rain throughout the event. Qualifying would go the way of Shepherd/Sonic driver Daniel Sieber claiming the only 20 lap run to claim the TQ spot with Maxi Vogl (Shepherd/Sonic) and Rene Püpke (Serpent/Xceed) completing an all German top 3 with Switzerland’s Claudio Pasquin taking 4th. Semi A would see Sieber cruise through to take the pole position for the main while Semi B would see the end of the meeting for Vogl and Pasquin, Nejc Mihelic taking the win. In the final it was to be a close finish with Sieber again being the man to beat, taking the win and European ‘B’ title ahead of Spain’s Nacho Lopez (Serpent/Xceed) in 2nd, 3 seconds behind the winner, with Michael Klausner (Mugen/Novarossi) claiming the final podium spot 3 tenths of a second back for an amazingly close finish.

View the final standings here

May 24, 2013

Wins for Drake at AKA Spring Series Rd4

Chula Vista R/C Race Club hosted round four of the AKA Spring Series last Saturday with the event attracting 100 entries. Adam Drake TQ’d truck and buggy with his Novarossi powered 8ight 3.0 and 8ight T 2.0 equipped with Pro-Line tires. In the buggy class, Mark Pavidis lined up second for the thirty minute final followed by Carson Wernimont in third. Drake took the victory in both finals by more than a lap with Pavidis and fellow TLR driver Don Vinkemulder completing the podium in Pro buggy.

Source: TLR [tlracing.com]

May 22, 2013

Mark Pavidis joins VP PowerMaster

VP PowerMaster would like to welcome our new addition to the team, 2006 IFMAR Nitro Off-Road World Champion, Mark Pavidis. Mark is one of the most widely-known and accredited off-road racers in the R/C racing world. Mark’s name is also synonymous with AKA Products, the championship winning tires and accessory company he co-founded with two other R/C legends, Joel Johnson and Gil Losi Jr. Mark knows a thing or two about R/C and what it takes to win at the highest levels of R/C nitro racing. He chose VP PowerMaster to give him solid performance and incredible fuel economy. In Mark’s first race out on VP PowerMaster he brought home the TQ and win in the 1/8 Buggy Masters class at this year’s 2013 Nitro Challenge race in Arizona and then did it all again at the 2013 Silver State Off-road Challenge in Vegas.

Source: VP [powermasterfuels.com]

May 22, 2013

Apolaro & Swauger win 2013 KO Grand Prix

DJ Apolaro report from last weekend’s Annual KO Grand Prix Race in California where there was a very good turn out with the Nationals being later this year at the same track. ‘They must have had over 140 racers between all classes. Kenny Ives and myself showed up Friday morning like most of the out of towner’s to practice and they also run 1 qualifier on Friday as well. My 1/8 scale felt really good from the start and my sedan was needing some work. With racers like Swauger, Burch, Paolo and others, it was a good time to see how our package compared and what we needed to improve. For sure the racers that make 5 minutes have a great advantage. In sedan I had no issues with run time, but with 1/8 scale the stars had to align to make this happen.

Continue reading the report here

May 21, 2013

Silver Dollar Challenge wins for Blair & Rodriguez

Silver Dollar Offroad Challange wins for Blair & Rodriguez

Last weekend hundreds of racers descended on A Main Hobbies’ Silver Dollar RC Raceway to compete in the Inaugural Silver Dollar Off-Road Challenge on the new Joey Christensen 1/8-scale layout. The track took center stage during the weekend’s race, but when it was all said and done two of A Main Hobbies’ rising stars, Austin Blair and Dylan Rodriguez stole the show. Blair and Rodriguez wrapped up the coveted pro classes proving that the two of them are quickly approaching “elite speed” and becoming contenders at every race they attend.

Continue reading the report here

May 19, 2013

Robert Battle wins rain affected EFRA GP

The French EFRA GP, warm-up for the 1/8th off-road European Championship A, took place in Reims this weekend. The racing was held under terrible weather conditions and had to be cancelled 10 minutes into the first semi final, which was being led by Renaud Savoya, due to pouring rain and a flooded track. The decision was made to base the final results on qualifying awarding 2012 World Champion Robert Battle with the win. Second place went to Jerome Aigoin who was tied on points with Jerome Sartel. Lee Martin and Renaud Savoya ended up fourth and fifth respectively.

Click here for the final result