August 9, 2010

Adam Drake wins latest round of Monster Energy Series

Adam Drake wins at Monster Energy Series

This past weekend was round three of the Monster Energy Series. Adam Drake set the TQ in both rounds of qualifying in the 1/8th buggy class with his Novarossi powered Losi 8ight 2.0 buggy. Mugen driver Colby Poh was second on the grid, followed by Matt Schreffler also with a Novarossi powered Losi 8ight 2.0. In the final Adam got off to a clean start and pulled away from the rest of the field eventually winning the twenty minute final by almost two laps. Andy Smolnik finished second running a Losi 8ight 2.0 and Xray driver Chad Nevlin finished third.


August 5, 2010

2010 Byron Fuels Off-road challenge

2010 Byron Fuels Off-road challenge

The 2010 Byron Fuels Off-road challenge will take place from the 30th of September to the 3rd of October at the Nitro Pit in Wittmann, Arizona. Open to Expert and Open buggy and truggy Nitro classes as well as electric buggy, 2wd and 4wd short course classes. With top drivers in attendance and a total potential purse of $10,000 entry is now open and you can find the entry form here.


August 4, 2010

Campbell & Steele win Rd4 in Ireland

Campbell & Steele win Rd4 in Ireland

Shepherd Ireland has continued their winning streak at the 4th round of the Irish Championship held two weekends ago. Velox V8 driver Ian Campbell and Velox V10 driver Chris Steel both again had a perfect weekend taking TQ, winning the A-final and setting the best laptime. At the beginning of the 1/8th final Campbell battled with Mugen driver Clive Connolly, who started from 2nd on the grid. Both held the top two positions until Campbell pitted for tyres at the half-way mark and dropped to 3rd. Connolly retired a few laps later which moved Campbell up to second, before passing Eoin Doran 13 laps before the end to take the win.

Continue reading the report here


August 3, 2010

Nacho López wins Valladolid 1/8th National

Nacho López wins Valladolid 1/8th National

The 1/8th scale Spanish national championship moved to Valladolid last weekend and front running Serpent driver Nacho López sent us the following report. We arrived to Valladolid on Friday before lunch, with many new things to test such as W2 Rear uprights, link set for the radio-tray, and other setup changes in order to adapt the car to the sinuous track of Valladolid. Another important issue of this track was the tyre wear! With new tyres, if we pushed hard the life of the tyres were from 15 to 18 minutes. Anyway, after the two firsts fuel tanks I had good sensations and the car worked very well. The rest of the Friday we were testing minor changes in the car and different engines. We changed from Zytec V1 to Zytec V2 with a big improvement in my laptimes! So we ended the free practice day happy with the setup and also with the engine.

Continue reading the report here


August 1, 2010

Ralph Burch is World Champion

Ralph Burch is World Champion

He was last after the first corner but Ralph Burch didn’t let the opening drama get to him as the Texan climbed his way back through the field to take a convincing victory at the Gulf Coast Raceway to become the 2010 Nitro Touring Car World Champion. Starting from fourth on the gird, the 43-year-old American got spun out at the first corner and was hit by most of the pursuing field dropping him down to tail of the pack. Taking a few laps to regain his composure he set about a stunning recovery that would see him hit the front just before 10-minutes after a thrilling battle with the then leader Marc Rheinard and the sensation of these championships Takumi Matsuda.

View our full event coverage here.


July 31, 2010

2010 World Final Grid finalised

2010 World Final Grid finalised

The second of the Semi Finals has seen another of Japan’s super quick teenagers take victory even with his Novarossi powered Mugen suffering a late flame out.  Takehiro Terauchi won the race with the fastest of time of the two Semi’s recording the only 100 lapper to finish ahead of European Champion Dirk Wischnewski.  The race saw three of the last World Championship finalist eliminated with Paul Lemieux and Christopher Tosolini both running out of fuel.  Getting back into the race they managed to battle their way back to finish 3rd and 4th respectively but with faster race times in the earlier Semi it is Team Shepherd’s Marc Rheinard and Australian Champion Philip Woodbury who get the final two places in the Main.

View our full event coverage here.


July 30, 2010

Joseph Quagraine wins Day 1 of Nitrocross Championship

Joseph Quagraine wins Day 1 of Nitrocross Championship

Joseph Quagraine has won the first day of the Nitrocross Championship in Finland, an event run alongside the Finnish round of the World Rally Championships. In an exciting final Ari Heinonen took second and Jarno Siltanen third. “I haven’t previously driven on this surface with my car. It has been challenging to find the right setup” said Quagraine who is one of the first Finnish manufacturers of RC cars. The final turned to advantage for Quagraine, when runner up driver Heinonen began to suffer drive train problems. “It has been tough with Heinonen during the day. I have to be able to win tomorrow too if I want to take overall win” says Quagraine who is pleased with his effort today. Tomorrow will see the second race in the Nitrocross Championship driven and is similar to today’s, so there will be controlled practice, qualifying, heats and then final.

View some more images here


July 30, 2010

Pietsch is Top Qualifier in Texas

Pietsch is Top Qualifier in Texas

Robert Pietsch has become only the second driver to TQ both nitro onroad World Championships after he was declared Top Qualifier for the IFMAR 1/10th 200mm World Championship at Gulf Coast Raceway in Houston, Texas, late tonight.  Held under flood lights the fifth and final round of qualifying failed to see anyone better the time set in Q4 by the factory Mugen driver who last year was the Top Qualifier at the 1:8 Worlds in Switzerland.

View our full event coverage here.