Red RC » Gas

June 19, 2009

Christophe Aygon wins French 8th Nats Rd4

Round 4 of the French 1/8th scale on road Nationals was run last weekend in Limoges, close to the the centre of the country. With the winner of the first 3 rounds, Adrien Bertin busy helping at the Euro ‘B’ Championships in Switzerland, the series would be sure of having a new winner this round. Qualfiying in the Elite class went the way of Serpent/RB driver Anthony Abisset debuting the new 966, followed by Stéphane Bouche, Romain Picard and Laurent Pageneau, while in the National class another Serpent 966 driver topped the time sheets, Arnaud Mathieu, in front of Jérôme Berthelot, Gérald Colinet and Damien Thirion. Following the semi finals, the Elite main final saw Bouche start from 11th having called for a delay. Abisset went off into the lead but on lap 5 came into contact with another car and broke his rim, loosing him a lot of time and dropping him down the order. Romain Picard took over the lead but a better tire strategy from the old guns Christophe Aygon and Serge Christiany saw them take over at the front and claim the win for Serpent and the new 966, with Stéphane Bouche recovering to 3rd by the end. In the National final Arnaud Mathieu sets off at qualifying pace and couldn’t be touched as behind Jérôme Berthelot claimed 2nd and a close battle for 3rd between Damien Thirion and Gérald Colinet is decided on the final corner with Colinet claiming the final podium step by 3 tenths of a second.

Click here for the final results

June 18, 2009

Mickael Pontal wins French 10th Nats Rd3

Round 3 of the French 1/10th scale gas nationals was held last weekend at Bourg en Bresse in the east of the country, close the to Swiss border, with sunny conditions all weekend for the 104 competitors attending. Qualifying for the Elite class saw Thomas Eytard take the top spot ahead of Basile Concialdi in 2nd, Arnaud Chaussard in 3rd and the final direct qualifier was Thomas Desmaries in 4th. The National class qualifying went the way of Anthony Bruyer ahead of Cédric Guillaud in 2nd, with Ludovic Cesar and Benjamin Brasset rounding out the top 4. In the Elite final, it was pole man Eytard that got the holeshot, but problems with his car dropped him out of contention. Concialdi, who was conserving his tires in 2nd, took over the lead but unfortunately some radio problems also dropped him down the leader board. Steady driving and good fortune allowed Kyosho driver Mickael Pontal to take over at the front and bring home the win, by a lap from Mugen Driver Thomas Desamaries in 2nd and Jacky Mouton, with another Kyosho, in 3rd. In the National class the race was all about Benjamin Brasset as pole man Bruyer had problems with his gearbox and dropped down the field. Benjamin was able to pull out a half lap lead by the halfway point, a gap that would be closed up by 2nd placed Julien Colas by the end of the race to only 4/100 of a second. Brasset just managing to cross the line first to take the win from the hard charging Colas in 2nd with Arthur Leclercq in 3rd, the top 6 covered by just over a lap.

Click here to see the final results

June 17, 2009

Francesco Tironi wins Italian Nats Rd2

The 2nd round of the Italian 1/10th scale 200mm Championships took place in Messina last weekend and in the expert class it was Dario Balestri, with the new Team Magic G4 II, that took the pole position. In the race however, Mugen Sirio driver Francesco Tironi won the final by a lap, setting a new track record along the way. In 2nd place was Xray Max driver Giorgio De Felici, with 3rd place going to Mugen SM racer Guiseppe D’angelo, 7 seconds further back. Alessio Mazzeo finished 4th driving the prototype Serpent 733 chassis.

Source: F.V.S.S. Racing Team [fvssrc.com]

June 16, 2009

Steele & Campbell win Irish Nationals Rd4

The fourth round of Ireland’s On road Nitro Nationals took place over the weekend at the St.Annes track near Dublin city where Chris Steele took his third 200mm win of the season and Ian Campbell notched up his first 1:8 victory following a thrilling 30 minute final. Qualifying on pole for the 200mm race ahead of fellow Kyosho driver Chris Lawlor, Steele dominated the race setting the fastest lap enroute to a 7-lap winning margin over the Xray of Eoin Doran with Thomas Ward completing the podium. In 1:8 it was defending champion Clive Connolly who took TQ honours with his IDM powered Mugen over the Kyosho of current championship leader Austin Elliot. A very close final saw four drivers in the hunt for the win but that dropped to three when Elliot flamed out and then to two when Connolly had to make an unscheduled tyre stop five minutes from the end. This left Campbell and 1:8 returnee Steele, winner of the 200mm race, to battle it out for the top spot on the podium. In the end teenager Campbell, whose Matrix tyres equipped Shepherd recorded the fastest lap of the race, took the win by 7 seconds from Steele’s Kyosho with the recovering Connolly a further 7 seconds adrift in third.

Click here to see the 1/8th scale podium

June 16, 2009

Stefan Pregnolato is European ‘B’ Junior Champion

Forgotten at the prize ceremony during the European ‘B’ Championships in Cassino 2 weeks ago, EFRA have confirmed that 14-year old Shepherd driver Stefan Pregnolato is the European B Junior Champion. Already in qualifying Stefano showed great potential by driving the 3rd best time with his Velox V8 and reaching the main final directly. During the final he was on the third place for quite a long time but unfortunately in the last lap he dropped down to 5th position. Nevertheless this was enough to claim the titel of Europe’s best under 17 driver at this years Championships.

Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]

June 16, 2009

Karl-Heinz Meister takes German West Rd6

What a pity! Once again rain hampered the racing action of the Western German Championship I.C. 1/8 – for the fourth time in a row. Practice for the sixth and last round of the Western German Championship was held in Oberhausen under the best possible conditions with blue sky and temperatures around 25 degrees. On Sunday first clouds welcomed the racers and after round three of the heats it started to rain and didn’t stop for the rest of the day. In a drivers meeting it was decided not to continue this disappointing race day and to count the race following the heats order.

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June 13, 2009

Scott Kimbrow dominates Capital Classic

The top 1/8th scale drivers in the country were in attendance last weekend for the 3rd Annual Capital Classic run at the 301 Raceway, which has become one of the largest nitro on-road races of the year. This years race saw over 180 entries in three classes. With qualifying all said and done on this super-fast, fuel hungry track, Scott Kimbrow was able to take the TQ spot in 1/8th scale by 3 seconds over Paolo Morganti in 2nd. The fist half of the 45 minute A-main saw some close racing, but Scott was able to pull away after the halfway point when Scott decided there was no need to change tires. Many of the other racers changed tires or made short pit stops, but Scott had a different strategy and won from the Mugen pairing of Mike Swauger in 2nd and Paul Ciccarello in 3rd. In the 1/10th scale 200mm class it was Xray driver Paul Lemieux that took the win from team mates Ralph Burch in 2nd and Gianni Giorgio in 3rd, while the Masters class was won by Maxy Fuel’s very own Maxy Velazco.

Source: Kyosho [kyoshoamerica.com]

June 11, 2009

Ecuadorian National Championship Rd1

Last weekend, the opening round for the Ecuadorian National Championship took place in Quito, Ecuador. The 40 min final placed driver Pablo Cobos with his Sirio powered V-One RRR Evo2 as the winner of the round. Cobos was closely followed by Alfonso Quirola and Daniel Vela, all finishing on 119 laps on the astonishing Miraflores Track with the A-main final an amazing way to end this 3 day race event. The race started without problems placing the TQ driver Hermann Saa into the lead. His early decision to change tires proved miscalculated when rain starting falling after 30 minuted allowing other drivers to avoid the long pit stop as the tire wear reduced. The sun came back out and saw Cobos, Quirola and Vela emerge as the front runners.

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