Team Xray Slovenia has announced that Jernej Vuga has joined their team for the 2011 season and will run the all-new RX8. The 2008 European 1/8th scale Champion had this to say about the deal:
I’m very happy and enthusiastic of this new adventure! The materials used are just fantastic and the potential of the new RX8 is huge. I would like to thank XRAY for their trust and support! I’m confident that together we will do a very good job!
Source: Xray [teamxray.com]
Earlier in the month the first Italian Shepherd Trophy was held at the very nice Black Tarmac track in Mesero near Milan. For new Team Shepherd member Ronald Völker, who was accompanied by Shepherd mechanic Armin Weihert, it was the first official race with the Velox V10. Also attending was Daniele Ielasi racing the new Velox V8 “eleven” and supporting Völker. With the help of Daniele Ielasi Völker’s feeling with the V10 was excellent, both drivers worked together very well and Ielasi will continue to assist Völker on his way to the European Championship in Ettlingen later this year.
Continue reading the report here
In his first race with Xray, after seven years with Team Magic, Mario Spiniello won the first round of the Italian championships in Locorotondo ahead of Biagio Spataro and Fracnesco Tironi. Qualifying saw former European Champion Dario Balestri take the top qualifying spot with a new lap record, while Mario could only manage ninth place but was able to find the right setup for the final. For the final Mario opted not to change tires starting with one 45 and three 42 shore tires and after the first minutes of the race he had moved up to fourth. Race leader Balestri then had an accident which took him out of the race and so after about 20 minutes Mario took the first place and managed to keep it until the end. Fellow Xray driver Spataro was only 3 seconds behind at the end with Mugen driver Tironi 10 seconds further back. The second round of the Italian Championship will be held in Mesero on June 25.
Thanks to Mario Spiniello for the report.
Robitronic have announced that Swiss driver Shasa Lackner has joined their team to run the KM H-K1 1/10th scale 200mm chassis. The former 1/8th scale on road Junior European Champion, and multiple winner at national level in his home country, Lackner will compete in the Nationals in both Switzerland and Germany as well as the World and European Championships in 2012, while still looking for a place for the 2011 Euros.
Source: Robitronic [robitronic.com]
The KBRL nitro series made its final stop at the Fear Farm rc facility in Glendale AZ. Racers from all over the state did battle through 8 championship rounds of racing at various tracks around the state. Team Losi Racing vehicles stood atop all classes available including expert buggy, intermediate buggy, Intermediate Truggy and electric buggy. In the Intermediate Buggy class it was Brandon Akiyama who shut down the class with a hot streak of 4 straight wins in the last 4 races to secure the overall win. Brandon picks the 8 2.0 buggy as his race weapon of choice along with Dennis Munteen who finished 2nd with his 2.0 as well.
Continue reading the report here
The 2nd round of the Indonesian 1/8th scale National championship and 1/10th scale Jakarta GP series Rd2 was compressed into one day on the newly surface Jakarta International Twin Circuit. Following the new asphalt, the track had awesome grip with the best lap going to be 1 second lower than the times with the previous track surface. In 1/8 qualifying, it was Bowie Ginting with his brand new Xray RX8 in TQ spot, followed by Sadikin Sutrisno also with Xray RX8 2 seconds behind. Toni Kundjung placed his Mugen MRX5 in 3rd spot, 0.4 seconds behind Sadikin. Ricardo Carnadi (Mugen) and Sani Nugroho (Kyosho) completed the top 5.
Continue reading the report here
We received a short note from Singapore that Shepherd/Novarossi racer Nelson Lee has won the first round of the Singapore RCMC National Series. The season opener got underway last weekend and will be the first race out of 8 in total. During qualifying Nelson placed his Novarossi powered Velox V10 on the second place of the starting grid, behind TQ Erwin Luhur. After the final the result was the other way round, with Nelson crossing the finishing line first, 1 lap ahead of second placed Erwin.
Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]
EFRA have today confirmed that the European 1/10th scale ‘B’ Championships, due to be held from the 2nd to the 7th of May in Heemstede, The Netherlands has been relocated to another track in the south west of the country due to newly enforced noise restrictions at the track. These restrictions have seen 1/8th scale on road unable to run at the track at all and it now seems to have affected the 1/10th scale class as well. The new host for the event will be the MAC De Baanbrekers track in Rucphen, who have hosted some major championships in the past. To view the full statement click here (PDF).
