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February 15, 2010

Tosolini & Swauger take victory at Florida Winternats

The 2010 Florida Winter Nationals are over and it was Sedan TQ Chris Tosolini that took the win in the 45 minute A-main, while in 1/8th scale it was class TQ Mike Swauger that also came out on top. Tosolini, who was driving the new Capricorn LAB-C01, was made work hard for his victory after stalling at the start, meaning he had to come back from 2 laps down to take the win. Made a little easier by drivers ahead of him making mistakes or flaming out, Chris’ outright pace was the deciding factor and when long time leader Ralph Burch started to run low on tires forcing him to change close to the end, Chris was able to get out in front and pull a 3 lap lead by the flag. Xray driver Ralph finished up in 2nd only 2 seconds ahead of a recovering DJ Apolaro, driving the Serpent 733. In 1/8th scale, Mugen driver Mike Swauger was able to convert his pole position into a 3 lap victory, with Serpent driver Paolo Morganti in 2nd and Italian racer Marco Vanni in 3rd. Like the Sedan final, it too was a race of attrition with only 5 drivers running at the end.

Click here for the final results

February 14, 2010

Meen Vejrak wins Buggy Pre Worlds

Thai driver Meen Vejrak has won the Pre Worlds race in Pattaya today, following a hectic 60 minute main final which saw the Hot Bodies team hit trouble, leaving them down the order. The Semi finals went as planned for event TQ Ty Tessmann and team mate Jesse Robbers, both winning their respective finals to line up 1 and 2 on the grid for the main final, with Atsushi Hara to start from 3rd ahead of an ever improving Renaud Savoya. In the main final it was a complete reverse of fortunes that saw Robbers the first retire after 22 minutes, while Tessmann would be the next to hit bad luck, dropping out with electrical problems at the 33rd minute. The remain half of the race saw the lead change multiple times as the front running drivers all hit trouble until local Mugen driver Meen V emerged at the front, himself recovering from an earlier problem, to take the win by 18 or so seconds from one time race leader Teemu Leino, while former Touring car World Champion Surikarn C. took the final podium position in 3rd.

Click here for a video of Meen in action

February 13, 2010

Tosolini TQs Sedan at 2010 Winternats

This week sees the annual Winternationals take place at the Ft. Myers track in Florida. Despite the international entry being down on previous years, the National entry is still pretty strong with a lot of the top saloon and 1/8th scale drivers in attendance. Making his US debut with the new Capricorn LAB C01, with Capricorn engines and tires, Chris Tosolini managed to stick it on the pole position running his fastest time in the final heat, which despite a touch with DJ Apolaro where he lost 2 seconds was still able to break the qualifying record by 3 seconds. Paolo Morganti with the Serpent 733 and Paul Lemieux with the Xray NT1 line up 2nd and 3rd, while Mike Swauger makes it 4 manufacturers in the top 4 as he lines up in 4th. In the 1/8th scale Open class it was Mike Swauger that took the pole position for Mugen, in front of the Serpent 966 pairing of Paolo Morganti in 2nd and DJ Apolaro in 3rd.

Click here for the A-main starters

February 12, 2010

Ty Tessmann TQs Worlds Warmup race

17 year old Hot Bodies star Ty Tessmann has taken the top qualifying spot at the 1/8th scale buggy Worlds Warm up race in Pattaya, Thailand. Having TQ’d 2 rounds yesterday, TY took rounds 5 and 6 today to cement his place at the top and lead home a Hot Bodies 1-2-3 in qualifying with Jesse Robbers TQ’ing round 4 to leap frog World Champion Atsushi Hara to line up 2nd, with the Japanese driver having to settle for 3rd. Losi driver Yannick Aigoin managed to improve with a 3rd place in the final round to jump up to 4th, ahead of Dani Choi, Teemu Leino and Meen Vejrak. Lining up 8th after improving from yesterday is current European Champion Renaud Savoya who took 2nd in round 4. Jerome Aigoin and Martin Bayer complete the top 10. Lower finals start tomorrow with the big finals starting on Sunday, giving the top drivers a chance to relax and enjoy their surroundings.

Click here to see a video from qualifying

February 12, 2010

Shepherd extend deal with Jilles Groskamp

Shepherd are happy to announce that they have agreed a deal with world-class driver Jilles Groskamp to extend his contract for a further two years. The top-qualifier of the last 1:10 200mm Nitro World Championship, and current Electric TC European Champion, will continue to race the Velox V8 in 1/8th scale and the Velox V10 in nitro touring car. Jilles had the following to say about the new deal:

Signing an additional two year contract is really a step forward in our close relationship and will bring both parties close together testing and improving Shepherd products. I’m really looking forward for the upcoming events such as Worlds warm-up, Worlds and Euros. Much additional tests here in Thailand can help a lot as we will face the same hot conditions as there will be in Houston during the World Champs.

Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]

February 11, 2010

Ty Tessmann heads qualifying at Worlds Warmup

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLs8tngxrEo[/youtube]

With the first day of qualifying over at the 1/8th scale buggy Pre Worlds in Pattaya, Thailand it is the current World Champions Hot Bodies that are leading the way after 3 rounds. Heading the current standings is young Ty Tessmann who has taken the TQ in rounds 1 and 2 and backed it up with a 3rd spot in round 3, while current World Champion Atsushi Hara popped in a TQ run in round 3 to line up in 2nd and leapfrog his other team mate Jess Robbers who is currently sitting in 3rd. Best of the non Hot Bodies is Teemu Leino driving the Xray in 4th, with Korean Mugen racer Dani Choi in 5th with former European Champion Yannick Aigoin in 6th. Joseph Quagraine, Alex Bayer, Surikarn and Meen Vejrak complete the top 10. Current European Champion Renaud Savoya, whom we interviewed prior to the event, is not have a good time and is currently placed in 20th place with a best finish of 8th in the 3rd round. Tomorrow’s final day of qualifying sees 3 more rounds for everyone to try and improve their positions.

Source: RC Blood [rcblood.com]

February 10, 2010

Matrix tires sign Martin Hudy

Matrix racing tires have announced that Martin Hudy will join their team for 2010. Having used their tires during the European Championships in Gubbio last year and having checked the quality and consistency, he has chosen to use them on his Xray NT1 chassis this season. The Slovakian finished on the podium at the World Championships in Portugal in 2008 and took 4th place in Gubbio last summer and will be a strong title contender at both the Worlds in Houston and Euros in Gothenburg later this year.

Source: Matrix Tires [matrixtires.it]

February 10, 2010

Sabrina Lechner joins Savox team

Fast lady racer Sabrina Lechner has inked a deal with Asian servo manufacturer Savox to use their products in her car for next year. The World Championship quarter finalist has been testing the products since the event in Lostallo and has been happy with the results and will now use them in her cars for 2010 as she plans to attend the European 1/8th and 1/10th scale Championships later this year. Savox joins Sabrina’s other sponsors Serpent, Max Power, IDM tires and MLC fuel.

Source: Savox [savoxtech.com.tw]