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May 8, 2011

2011 Midwest Nitro series Rd1 report

The third running of the Midwest Nitro series kicked off with round 1 at Leisure hours raceway in Joliet, Illinois. Despite poor weather relegating the event to the indoor track, that did not dampen spirits with a record 142 entries participating. Heated competition was found in all the classes. Pro Truggy started as a classic Jimbo vs. Sonny’O show as the two battled for top spot. With 5 minutes left in the main event Jimbo Kvidera, after retaking the lead from Ochoa, pits for fuel only to experience a spectacular fuel gun malfunction, leaving the top qualifier of the race a DNF with debris in his fuel tank. Letting Sonny Ochoa continue on with an easy win. Meanwhile Scott Shin, working his way through the field from a bump up starting spot, gains an impressive 2nd place. Kevin Bronner driving a solid race with only a couple bobbles late in the game which would drop him to 3rd.

Continue reading the report here

May 8, 2011

Robert Batlle takes Rd1 in Spain

The first round of the Spanish 1/8th scale buggy Nationals was held this weekend in Antas, Almeria in the very south of the country. Qualifying would see Mugen driver Borja Hernandez take the top spot ahead of reigning champion and fellow Mugen racer Robert Batlle in 2nd with Daniel Bernabe, Ivan Carmona and Andres Marcelino completing the top 5. Following the semi finals, the order up front was reversed with Batlle lining up on pole position for the 45 minute encounter with both drivers winning their respective semis. Robert would go on to win the 45 minute final, leading from start to finish, by nearly a lap in front of Ignazio Candel, with Bryan Bernabe completing the top 3. Despite running in 3rd for much of the race following a crash at the start, Borja Hernandez would end the race in 5th. Stopping one more time than his competitors for fuel, and a tire issue close to the end of the final, put an end to his podium chances.

Source: Merlin [merlinfuel.com]

May 7, 2011

Patrick Nähr wins European 1/10th 200mm ‘B’ title

The 2011 EFRA European 1/10th scale 200mm ‘B’ Championships was held this week at the fast and smooth Rucphen track in the Netherlands, a late venue change after the original host, the MACH in Heemstede, had problems with noise and were unable to run the event. Some 81 drivers from around Europe attended the event and with 4 rounds of qualifying, two on Thursday evening and two on Friday morning, it was Dutch National champion Pedro Rombouts that took the top qualifying spot with his Xray ahead of Shepherd driver Patrick Nähr in 2nd, the top 2 separated by less than a second and well clear of the rest of the field. Adam Catchpole took 3rd spot ahead of Daan Jacobs in 4th.

Continue reading the report here

May 3, 2011

Rick V wins again in Rd2 of Dutch Nationals

The second round of the Dutch 1/8th national championship was held on the very bumpy track at REAL80 in Groningen. With the free practice already started on Friday you could see many people struggling to find the right setup but on Sunday most drivers had found it. Luckily the weather was perfect so there was no need to expect rain. After the first round of qualifying in the NK class it was Steven Cuypers surprising everyone by taking the lead but in the next round it was Rick V taking over at the top and he never relinquished it, ending on pole followed by Steven Cuypers, John Ermen and Arie Manten. At the start Rick struggled for grip but after just 2 laps it came back and he could get his head down. John Ermen was kicked out to the grass and had to climb up from behind. After the 30 minutes it was Rick V taking the win followed by Steven Cuypers and John Ermen on 3rd, the same 3 drivers that were on podium in the last race.

Continue reading the report here

May 3, 2011

Cody King does double at JBRL Rd1

Current IFMAR World Champion Cody King attended the first round of the 2011 JBRL at ARC Raceway in Temecula, CA, USA just 3 days after arriving back from the Neo11 race in England. As the 2010 JBRL Buggy and Truggy Champion, Cody didn’t miss a beat starting off 2011 with a TQ in buggy and winning both Buggy and Truggy by a wide margin. Cody trounced the field in Truggy and in Buggy had an early challenge by JQ’s Chad Bradley and held off a late push by Team Losi’s Matt Castellano near the end to take the buggy win with Mugen driver Travis Amezcua taking 3rd. With the ROAR Nationals just a matter of weeks away, and the ARC surface similar to the Nationals venue, this looks to be a logical warm-up leading into the biggest race of the year for US drivers. JBRL Round 2 is just 2 weeks away, right across town at Revelation Raceway, The Drakes home turf. It should be interesting to see what happens there with drastically different track conditions compared to ARC.

May 3, 2011

European Nitro Challenge – Announcement

Bring back the fun. This is the slogan of the the first European Nitro Challenge held at the world-famous Hockenheim Formula 1 circuit presented by Shepherd Micro Racing in cooperation with Mugen, Serpent, Kyosho, Xray, Motonica and Capricorn. From the 23rd to the 26th of June some of the worlds best drivers will join the race to compete against each other. The race will be open to 4 different classes, 1/8 On-road Open, 1/8 On-road Hobby Cup, 1/10 On-road Open & 1/10 On-road Hobby Cup. The open classes are for racers that want to run against the top team drivers of the participating companies. For the Hobby Cup class Novarossi basic engines with a fixed pipe/manifold combination are mandatory: N21-5T for the 1/8th scale class, N12T1 for the 1/10 scale class. These engines are available for special prices throughout every race partner. Track support from all participating companies will be available and on Saturday evening a banquet takes place in the nearby Hockenheim Ring Hotel (only 200m from the track). Tickets for the buffet are available for €17. After the dinner the party continues with music and drinks. Expect some of the best drivers of the world including several European and World Champions.

Source: Nitro Challenge [nitro-challenge.eu]

May 3, 2011

Klausner heads experienced podium at MORAC Graz

Last weekend saw the first club race of MORAC Graz on their new rebuilt track. Open to several classes including 1:5, 1:8 & 1:10 gas onroad, the event attracted drivers from Hungary, Slovenia and Austria. In 1:8 we saw great battle between reigning Slovenian champion Mihelic Nejc and reigning Austrian champion Michael Klausner for the Top Qualifier spot. Klausner was doing much faster lap times, setting a new track record of 16,259 sec compared to the previous time of 16.589 sec by Marco Müller, but didn’t manage to run 5 minutes without a fuel stop, so it was Motonica racer Mihelic Nejc that took the pole position ahead of the Mugen pairing of Michael Selner and Michael Klausner in 2nd and 3rd. At the very last qualifying heat it started to rain, getting very heavy a few minutes later. After a longer break the finals were started in several classes, but not all drivers wanted to run on the wet track, so in 1:8 they got the very experienced podium of 44 year old Michael Selner with the win, ahead of 64 year old Ewald Prochaska in 2nd and 47 year old Wolfgang Luttenberger in 3rd.

Source: MORAC Graz [morac-graz.at]

May 2, 2011

Trofeo Picco – Announcement

Picco in Italy were in touch to promote their 11th edition of the Trofeo Picco which will take place on the 2nd to the 3rd of July. The race for 1/8th scale and 1/10th scale 200mm will be held at the super fast Mini Racing Ayrton Senna track in Melzo close to Milan. The event will consist of three 4 minute qualifiers followed by finals and there will be a prize lottery during the event. For more information you can visit the track site here.

Source: Picco [teampicco.com]