The KRMCA Korean Nationals took place last weekend and it was Sweep Racing’s very own Ryan Lee that took the win. Driving in the truggy class with a Losi 8ight T and Sweep Exagon tires, Ryan took the top spot in qualifying setting the fastest time of 13/10:43 and in the final never looked back to take the title ahead of Sweep team mate Young Min Jin in 2nd and JoongSeok Oh in 3rd.
Source: Sweep Racing [sweepracing.com]
This year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix was held at Silver Bowl Raceway in Las Vegas Nevada recently and it was Michael Palazzola was looking for his first win with his Mugen Seiki MRX5. Despite cold temperatures and high winds, the car was fast and steady for the entire weekend. On Saturday Michael was top qualifier in the 1st and 3rd round and again showed consistency on Sunday, taking top qualifier spot in the 4th round to wrap up the overall TQ spot. Race day was filled with excitement and anticipation as 10 racers took their positions in the A-Main. Michael starting in 1st position never gave up the top spot during the 45-minute race. By the 1st pit stop, he started to pull away going on to take the win by a full 12 seconds ahead of the 2nd place finisher Ron Gustin, with Steven Jackson in 3rd.
Source: Mugen USA [mugenracing.com]
O’Donnell Racing Fuel is on the move and has made their already impressive team roster even more so with the recent signing of super-fast Josh Wheeler. Wheeler brings countless years of experience to the team and will have invaluable feedback for the O’Donnell Racing Fuel R&D department. When asked about the signing, Josh had this to say.
It is totally cool to be back on the team at O’Donnell Racing Fuel. What they have done with the new Speed Blend fuel is just like they say…a true game changer. The performance of this fuel gives me the confidence to go out there and know I can run a ten-minute qualifier with ease.
In addition to adding Wheeler to the U.S. roster, O’Donnell Racing Fuel has also signed one of the East Coast’s fastest drivers, Chad Phillips. Chad brings a ton of knowledge to the table and will be putting the Speed Blend Fuel on the podium all across the East Coast. O’Donnell Racing Fuel has also started the establishment of an international racing team with the signing of Daniel Vega. Daniel, who will be racing out of the Ebremodel Import Team in Spain, plans to run Speed Blend fuel at all major European events this year.
Source: O’Donnell [odonnellracingfuel.com]
Sunday 8th May saw the first round of the 1/8 Irish Nationals held at the BAD MCC track. Heavy rain on Saturday evening after a long spell of dry weather saw the race track needing water extracted from the race straight and tight corners. During the course of the morning the track conditions changed from damp and loamy to dry and dusty making visibility difficult. The nationals consist of four qualifying rounds and a forty five minute final. The race began with Barkley Abernathy in the lead for the first 25 minutes however whilst coming in for re-fueling he had some issues and was overtaken by Christopher McCauley who would go on to win the race with his M.C.R Sweep tyres XRAY 808. Second place went to Gary Baird and 3rd place to Barkley Abernathy.
Source: Sweep Racing UK [sweepracinguk.com]
Last weekend saw the second round of the Argentinian 1/8th scale offroad National Championships held at the William Tell circuit in Rosario. With a large turnout of drivers, Saturday would see free practice and qualifying followed by the finals on Sunday. Mugen driver Sebastian Recio took the pole position for the final and would go on to win the final from Xray driver Juan P Golobic and Serpent drier Federico Piro. Having won 2 rounds now, Recio is emerging as the main title contender with 2 more rounds still to play for.
Source: Info Buggy [infobuggy.com.ar]
Round 2 of the North Carolina Championship Series drew 159 entries to King R/C in King, NC this past weekend. Racers showed up from Maryland to Georgia to see who would have ‘King’ status at the end of the day. The track was in prime condition after being worked over Thursday by the King track staff. JConcepts driver Jason Smith made the trek from Myrtle Beach, home of the series finale at the Badlands R/C later in October. Although it didn’t come easy, Smith was able to capitalize on a “double down” win, showing that although he missed the first round, he will be a major player in the overall standings.
Continue reading the report here
Round 2 of the British 1/8th scale buggy nationals took place this past weekend at Coventry in the midlands. The weather started out not very nice with rain leaving puddles around the track but the club did a magnificent job getting the track ready for racing. Qualifying would be difficult with unexpected showers at times and it was Associated driver Neil Cragg that would claim the top spot ahead of Durango driver Elliot Boots and TLR team driver Darren Bloomfield. Darren would show great patience in the main by following the front two runners around waiting for them to make mistakes. Moving into second around the half way point of the race he would have a lot of ground to make up to catch the leader with not much time left. Closing the gap to Boots with only a couple of minutes to go, a mistake by the young Durango driver would allow Darren to get by and take the win. Elliot Boots took second and Simon Willets 3rd.
Team JuC Racing Driver, Joe Hwee from Singapore has won round 2 of the Thunder Tiger Buggy Cup. Using a Hotbodies D8 Hara Edition and HB Beams tires, Joe qualified 2nd out of 60+ drivers and in the final managed to get the hole shot and overtook Top Qualifier David Lim driving a Kyosho MP9. Despite some challenge in the beginning, he managed to pull away from the field with the help of some fast fuelling by his pit crew and crossed the line at the end of the 45 minutes in first place.
