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September 12, 2008

Keisuke Fukuda wins Japanese 10th Nats

The Japanese 1/10th scale 200mm Nationals took place last weekend at the Hokusei circuit track in the centre of the country. Practice was hampered by rain with drivers getting very little running prior to the start of qualifying, which was held in dry conditions. It was Kyosho racer Takaaki Shimo that took the TQ spot ahead of former World Champion Keisuke Fukuda in 2nd, Yuya Sahashi in 3rd and Shinnosuke Yokoyama 4th. The 40 minute Open class final saw a very close battle at the front between the top 2 qualifiers and it was Fukuda who eventually came out on top for Mugen, taking the win and finishing less than 2 seconds up on Shimo who finished 2nd, while Xray driver Hiroki Fujita took 3rd.

Source: Central RC [centralrc.co.jp]

September 11, 2008

Abernethy wins Rd4, Harron Champion

Abernethy wins in Navan, Harron Champion

The fourth & final round of the Irish 1:8 Buggy Nationals took place over the weekend at the Navan Nitro Nuts track and where championship came to a thrilling climax with a tie break required to declare the 2008 Champion. After 45 minutes of racing it was Xray driver Barkley Abernethy who just took the win from the Hot Bodies of Mark Harron. Seperated by just four seconds the result left the pair tied on points and with both having recorded the same number of wins and second place finishes the title would be decided on each drivers qualifying results handing Harron the title. Completing the podium at the all astro turf track, which also hosted the opening round back in May, was Crono driver David Curtis.

Click more to see the final results… content

September 9, 2008

Kimbrow & Ezrow win ROAR Fuel Nats

Kimbrow & Ezrow take ROAR Fuel nats

Kyosho are reporting that their factory driver Scott Kimbrow TQ’ed and won the Open Class at the 2008 ROAR 1/8 Fuel On-Road Nationals held at the 301 Raceway in Brandywine, Maryland. The start of the A-main saw him jump straight into the lead which he held onto easily in the first half of the race. A long pit stop that included a tire change cost him 47 seconds, which shuffled him back to 2nd place behind Mugen’s Mike Swauger but Kimbrow managed to close to within five seconds after being nearly 16 seconds behind. The building anticipation of a door-to-door dash for the finish was scuttled however when Swauger made a mistake around the 50-minute mark and broke his car. Kimbrow cruised to the finish nearly a lap and a half ahead of 2nd, scoring the title of National Champion, his 3rd in a row. In the Masters class it was Eli Ezrow, who was also running a Kyosho Evolva M3, that TQ’ed and won the title in that class. Ezrow started on the front row but within two laps was relegated to 3rd place but was back into 2nd place by lap 21. Bowerman, who got through the first lap cleanly, wasn’t going to be as easy to catch, but with Ezrow about 14 seconds behind Bowerman ran into trouble handing him the position and allowing him to take top honors.

Source: Kyosho [kyoshoamerica.com]

September 8, 2008

Kai Rønning takes Norwegian truggy title

Last Sunday saw the final round of the Norwegian truggy Nationals held at the Kodal track. With some rain falling the track was muddy and slippery but the drivers present managed to drive very fast around this tight and technical track. Following the main final it was Svein Erik Håland who took the first place ahead of Patrick Mørk in 2nd, while Erik Fink took the final spot on the podium in 3rd. The results meant that in the championship it was Kai Rønning that took the National title in front of Svein Erik Haland in 2nd and Erik Fink 3rd.

Click more to see the championship podium… content

September 8, 2008

The Drake dominates SoCal SS Rd6

This past weekend saw round 6 of the Southern CA. Nitro Series held at Thunder Alley Raceway. The event was one of the biggest turnouts of the series with everyone getting ready for the 1/8th Off-Road Worlds next week in N.C. Scott Hughes was running the new MBX6, Cody King was driving the MP9 and Adam Drake and Matt Castellano were running some new parts from Losi. In the 1/8th Open Buggy class there was a great battle between two Losi drivers Don Vinklemulder and Kyle Johnson with Don ending up taking the win with Kyle in 2nd. In the 1/8th Pro Truck class Adam Drake started 1st on the grid and never looked back, finishing more then a lap ahead of 2nd placed Levi Jackson, with Kyle Johnson taking 3rd. In the 1/8th Pro Buggy class Matt set the early TQ in round one, but Adam was able to improve the time in round two and start from the pole position. Adam and Matt were the only two drivers to complete 11 laps in qualifying and Adam was able to accomplish 11 laps in both rounds of qualifying. Levi Jackson was 3rd on the grid running the MP777 and Cody King was 4th with the MP9. In the final Adam and Matt picked up where they left off in qualifying and finished 1st and 2nd over a lap in front of 3rd placed Scott Hughes. Adam Drake claimed the overall title in both Pro Truck and Pro Buggy.

Click more to see the truggy podium… content

September 8, 2008

Marco Vanni wins Trofeo Novarossi

Last weekend saw the annual Trofeo Novarossi race take place at the Fiorano track in Italy and it was attended by the big names like Collari & Balestri. While it was cloudy throughout the weekend it didn’t rain and following qualifying it was young German Shepherd racer Erik Dankel that put his car on pole position ahead of Marco Vanni, Mattia Rinaldi and Dario Balestri. The main final got off to a bad start for the pole man with him being dropped back to last after a collision on the 3rd corner, which left Vanni to take over the lead. Dankel got his head down and managed to pull himself back up to 2nd spot by the end of the 30 minute final, beating Corrado Lotti who finished 3rd, but it was Vanni who took home the win after a trouble free run.

Source: Novarossi [novarossi.com]

September 8, 2008

Daniel van der Drift wins Dutch GP

The Dutch 1/10th scale 200mm EFRA GP took place last weekend at the MACH track in Heemstede and it saw competitors from a number of different countries battle it out on this challenging track. Following limited running on Thursday and Friday due to rain, Saturday’s qualifying sessions took place under dry conditions and it was Mugen racer Rick V who took top honors during a commanding performance that saw him 8 seconds quicker than 2nd placed racer Jerome Renaux, while Maarten Van Lierop and Daan Jacobs secured the final 2 direct qualifying positions. Sunday’s finals were hit with rain from the very start of the day and this meant a lot of racers didn’t participate, instead deciding to preserve their cars for another day. Following the running of the lower finals that saw a number of drivers move their way up through a number of finals the main final got underway, albeit without Rick V and Daan Jacobs who chose not to start. The start of the 45 minute final saw Renaux initially take the lead, but heavy rain and standing water meant his engine started to die and this saw him drop down the order despite being very quick when his car was going. Another Belgian Michel Tomagra then took over and started to pull out a large gap to the following group but he too hit problems later in the race and would eventually finish in 3rd. Bert Aerts who drove a steady race was rewarded for his efforts with 2nd position but would finish 10 laps behind the eventual winner Daniel van der Drift who overcame some early problems to claim the top step of the podium.

Click more to see the final results… content

September 7, 2008

2008 Picco Cup Asia – Announcement

2008 Picco Cup Asia - Announcement

Hobbypro has announced that it is organizing the 1st Picco Cup Asia in Hong Kong on the ACO racing track on the 1st – 2nd of November. It will be open for both 1/10 & 1/8 classes and they wish to welcome any driver that wishes to attend this event. So far Alberto Picco, New World Champion Daniele Ielasi, Patrick Schaefer and Robert Pietsch will come to HK and attend this event together with more than 120 drivers already confirmed from Hong Kong, Macau, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan & Singapore.

More information can be found here.