While off road and electric on road seems to be flourishing in the USA, it seems that the gas on road classes are not as healthy, forcing the decision to not run 2 seperate nationals for sedan and 1/8th scale this year, but combine them into one event. ROAR President, Dawn Sanchez, together with the Executive Committee issued the following statement on the ROAR website regarding this matter.
Following on from last weeks teaser image from Team Orion, and the subsequent guesses that you guys put in, the Swiss company has announced that Japanese star driver Yuichi Kanai is their newest team member. The Kyosho Inferno MP9 designer is already using the Alpha engines in his car, and this with great success having just won his first race using the new equipment. The former World Champion Yuichi Kanai will not only use all the Team Orion engines and accessories, but will also be part of the R&D process to developing new products. With the addition of Yuichi Kanai, a total of 9 World Champions are actively racing, testing and using Team Orion nitro and electric products to ensure their customers get the best quality and performance available.
Source: Team Orion [teamorion.com]
Serpent driver Frank Schewiola took a well deserved win in the season opener of 1/8 nitro on road in Germany, which was already round three of the 2008/2009 Western German Championship at Dormagen near Cologne. At the demanding track with its unforgivable barriers from concrete and real guard rails you really had to finish first to finish first, following the English saying. Frank Schewiola with his Mega powered Serpent did so as well as Tom Scheffler (Mugen/Mega) on second position did. Frenchman Alain Levy, a regular starter in Western Germany, took the third spot on the podium with his Mega powered Serpent. Others like Michael Salven, Karl-Heinz Meister, Tobias Hepp and Chistian Wurst didn´t manage to come through the 30 minutes finale and hit the wall of shame on the same place.
Taking place from the 4th to the 7th of June, the 1st annual BUMOD Grand Prix will take place in Bursa, Turkey. What is building up to be a great event, the race is open to both 1/8th scale and 1/10th scale 200mm on road classes and will be held at the BUMOD track, the country’s premiere facility 1.5 hours south from the country’s capital Istanbul. Entry is now open for this event and you are guaranteed a warm reception from the Turkish hosts, who will also arrange transport and help find the best accommodation. French EFRA GP winner Robert Pietsch is confirmed, along with European 200mm B Champion and German National Champion Dirk Wischnewski along with front running German racer Dirk Stammler, with more top racers to be announced in the coming weeks. Red RC will also be present throughout the event bringing live reports each day on our Events page.
For more information about the event visit the official site here.
The opening 1/8th scale EFRA GP of the year was held last weekend outside Paris in a town called Aulnay. The 81 drivers, split between 4wd Open and 2wd Classic, were presented with a fast smooth track and the weather, while cool, stayed dry. Qualifying for the 4wd class saw Mugen racer Robert Pietsch take the pole position in front of the Serpent pairing of World Vice Champion Andrea Cristiani and John Ermen, with another Mugen, that of Rick V. taking the final direct qualifying position in 4th. The 45 minute final started with Robert going straight into the lead, but a mistake behind from Cristiani saw him lose a lot of time in the pits to repair a broken crystal. Behind Pietsch the battle was between John and Rick, but then Ermen too had mechanical problems and had to join early retiree Walter Salemi in watching the race from the stands. With the top 2 positions locked out, the battle was for 3rd spot and this was between Shepherd main man Patrick Schaefer and French racer Louis Christophe with the German holding the 3rd spot, but a crash while passing a lapped car lost the Velox driver over a lap and allowed Louis into the 3rd spot to take the final podium place behind Rick V. in 2nd and Robert Pietsch in 1st, a lap clear up front.
Click here to see the final results
The 2nd round of the Buggy Party series in Thailand was held at new RC Mania track last weekend with over 100 buggies in attendance. Following qualifying it was Meen V. that claimed the TQ spot, yet in the 40 minute final it was another victory for Surikarn C. The newly signed Xray factory driver took the win by 10 seconds ahead of his Xray team mate Meen V. with 2008 National Champion Yutthana D., driving a Hobao in 3rd spot. This is Surikarn’s 2nd win in as many races using his Xray XB808, powered by Nosram engine & tires.
The opening round of the Spanish 1/8th scale buggy championships took place this weekend in Alhaurín de la Torre in Malaga. Qualifying saw Angel Roque Gambero take the TQ spot from Dani Vega in 2nd and Robert Batlle in 3rd and following the semi finals it would be Juanma Vera that would start the 45 minute final from pole position with Batlle lining up 2nd and Vega 3rd. After only 1 lap, Robert Batlle was able to take the lead following problems for the pole man and only during his pit stops would he again give up that lead. Robert would go on to win by 15 seconds from eventual 2nd placed finisher Borja Hernandez, with Antonio Jesus Gomez Salmeron taking 3rd, the top 3 all ending the race on the same lap.
Source: News RC [newsrc.es]
Team Losi’s Adam Drake took the win last weekend in both 1/8th buggy and truggy at round 2 of the Team Losi Winter series hosted by Revelation Raceway in Ontario, CA. In the buggy class Adam won by less than a lap from pole man Andrew Kortz who finished 2nd, with Josh Wheeler in 3rd, while in truggy Adam won from pole position ahead of his team mate Kyle Johnson. Losi’s Bill Jeric was on hand to race and support the event and was not only able to TQ, but take home the victory with his Dynamite powered Losi 8ight 2.0 in the buggy beginner class.
