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April 28, 2009

Puerto Rico Championships Rd4

After been dedicated full time to the off-road class, Mugen Team Driver, Tory Santiago return to the on-road this weekend at the 4th round of the Puerto Rico Championship at Barceloneta. Qualifying in the 5th position in the A-Main, Tory was able to win the class by five laps over Kyosho Driver Pedro Alvarado in 2nd, while finishing in 3rd place was Jesus Rivera driving a Serpent. In the outlaw class was Edgar Betancourt driving a NT1 who TQ’d, but had mechanical problems in the main giving Edgar Tirado and his Serpent 720 the win, while in 3rd place was Jose Salas, also with a Serpent. In the 1/8 class, Kyosho Team Driver, Pedro Alvarado took TQ and won the class, six laps over 2nd place Carlos Fuentes with his Power Racing with Amaury Alvarez taking 3rd with a Kyosho.

Click here for the other A-main podium shots

April 27, 2009

Renaud Savoya takes Rd2 in France

The 2nd round of the French 1/8th scale buggy Nationals was held at the Angouleme track in the west of the country. Qualifying for the Elite class went the way of European Champion Renaud Savoya, lining his Mugen up ahead of Yannick Aigoin and Guillaume Vray in 2nd and 3rd respectively. In the hour long race it was a battle of attrition that Savoya won, taking the chequered flag 4 laps ahead of Losi driver Y. Aigoin, whose had hit troubles during the race losing him a lot of time. Mugen driver Nicolas Reynaud took the final podium step in 3rd.

Source: RC Mag [rcmag.com]

April 27, 2009

Neil Cragg wins BRCA Nationals Rd2

The Tiverton Model Car Club played host the round 2 of the BRCA 1/8th Off Road series and their fast Astroturf track provided a very difficult challenge. The high speed nature of the circuit, coupled with the very high traction levels on this surface, made for a un-forgiving combination. Mistakes were punished heavily, either by time loss or breakages. The qualifying sessions were also slightly affected by light showers, with the early and middle heats both having a blow out round where the track was too slick for quick times. At the end of qualifying it was round 1 winner Elliott Boots driving his Mugen MBX-6 who took the pole with 3 round wins and some very impressive runs. Neil Cragg took 2nd on the grid with his Associated RC8B ahead of Simon Willetts and Dave Bailey. The main final saw an early battle between Elliott and Neil until the first round of stops. After that Elliott started to make a series of errors in trying to keep up with Neil and dropped back into the chasing pack. This left Neil to put the hammer down and build a massive lead which he maintained until the end to record a comfortable victory ahead of Losi man Darren Bloomfield in 2nd, with Simon Willetts taking 3rd.

Source: CML [cmldistribution.co.uk]

April 27, 2009

Batlle takes Victory at Spanish Nats Rd2

The 2nd round of the Spanish 1/8th sale buggy Nationals was run at the weekend at the Montjuic track in Barcelona, close to the Olympic Stadium. 107 drivers attended the race and following qualifying on Saturday, it was Associated driver Robert Batlle that took the TQ spot from Javier Puché in 2nd and Jesús Gómez Salmerón in 3rd. On Sunday during the 1/16th final, the sky suddenly turned dark and the rain started, flooding the track. Due to this the organizers cancelled the race and the results were called from the qualifying positions, which gave Batlle the win from Javier Puché and Jesús Gómez Salmerón.

Source: Merlin [merlinfuel.com]

April 26, 2009

Mark Green wins Dutch 1/8th EFRA GP

Mark Green has won the 2009 EFRA 1/8th scale Dutch GP held at the MACH track in Heemstede. Rain on Sunday caused chaos on-circuit as those racers who had actually decided to run risked it all on a very slippy and wet track. Following the semi finals it was John Ermen, Rick V., Christian Wurst, Oliver Mack, Arie Manten and Joey Sorber that would join the top 4 direct qualifiers Mark Green, Michael Salven, Jordy Blok and Jilles Groskamp in the main final. In the build up to the 45 minute final, the track appeared to be drying, and while still damp no longer had any standing water and this made the tire choice very difficult.

April 26, 2009

Josh Pain takes NT Nitro buggy Champs

The Australian Northern Territory Nitro buggy Championships held this weekend at OCR Raceway. Following his win at the AINC09 last weekend, Team Associated driver Josh Pain picked up the TQ, setting up a huge battle with dual Australian Champion Wayne Walker, and no one was disappointed with what ensued. Despite some drama on the start line with Pain flaming out, the very talented driver had it all to do to chase down Walker in the 45 minute Main, and on lap 55 managed to take the lead when Walker himself had a flame out. The super quick driver never relinquished the lead for the next 38 laps finishing 8 seconds ahead after a grueling 45 minutes on the super fast circuit, both Pain and Walker the only drivers getting into the 26 seconds bracket. With such an exciting battle going on at the front, the rest of the field was left in their wake, Andrew Dun driving the Mugen MBX6, visiting from Queensland, put up a big fight to hold onto 3rd place.

Click here to see a video from the race

April 25, 2009

Mark Green TQ’s Dutch EFRA GP

This weekend sees the Dutch 1/8th scale EFRA GP take place at the World famous MACH circuit in Heemstede, close to Amsterdam. Following 2 days of practice on the Thursday and Friday of the event, competitors took to the track on Saturday for qualifying to decide the starting grid for Sunday’s finals. With drivers from Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and England taking part it was multiple World Championship finalist Mark Green that took the top qualifying spot leading home a Serpent top 4 block out on their home track. In 2nd place was Serpent 966 designer Michael Salven, 2 seconds behind, with Jordy Blok and Jilles Groskamp, who is on a one race deal with the Dutch company, in 3rd and 4th. First of the non direct qualifiers was Motonica racer Robin D’hondt, just ahead of Mugen front man Rick V, with positions 3 to 6 covered by less than a second after 7 minutes. The finals will be run tomorrow and we will bring a full report from the days activities tomorrow evening.

Image: Serpent [serpent.com]

April 25, 2009

The Drake wins RCX Truggy

The Drake was in touch to tell us about his success at last weekend’s RCX show put on by U.S. magazine RCCA. Presented by ‘The Dirt’, a small but challenging track was built to allow some of the best off road racers put on a show for the crowds at the show and in the truggy class it was Adam Drake, driving his Novarossi powered Losi 8ight T 2.0, that took home the win and with it the $500 cash prize.