September 15, 2008

Jason Frost wins UK 1/8th Nats Rd8

Jason Frost wins UK 1/8th Nats Rd8

The 8th round of the BRCA 1/8th scale National championships took place last weekend in Mendip. Qualification was extremely close with 4 seconds separating the top 6 places. Neil Diver and Andy North set the early pace in round 1, just failing to make 20 laps after Mark Green suffered from radio problems. In round 3 with the track slower due to higher temperatures, Mark Green made 20 laps to take TQ. In the final Mark blasted away and created a small gap. Andy North was in second but ended up down to last after a racing incident, while up front Jason Frost was catching Green waiting for a little mistake which happened and dropped him down the order. Tim Wood was then on a charge but just not quick enough to catch Jason who came home first for his second BRCA victor, stopping the Serpent domination of the Championship so far this season, while Chris Heath continued his consistency with a comfortable 3rd place finish.

Thanks to Andy North for the report and pictures.


September 14, 2008

LiveRC at the 2008 IFMAR Buggy Worlds

LiveRC at the 2008 IFMAR Buggy Worlds

LiveRC.com have been in contact to tell us they will be broadcasting the 2008 IFMAR 1/8th Off-Road Fuel Buggy World Championships live to viewers around the world. The broadcast will start on Monday September 15th beginning at 10am EST. LiveRC will be adding many new and exciting features to the broadcast with the purchase of the All Access Pass. Exclusive features for All Access Pass holders for the IFMAR 1/8 IC Off-Road Worlds include:

– Ten LiveRC.com team members on site exclusively for best possible coverage
– Expert announcers Scotty Ernst and Charlie Suangka bringing you live, corner-by-corner action throughout the broadcast.
– Seven fixed-position cameras and three high-definition cameras will be following the action, which allows you to follow the action better than ever – even better than being trackside because you won’t miss a turn!
– Three producers will be rotating shifts on our audio/video switchboards to bring continuous lap-by-lap audio and video coverage throughout the event.
– Two dedicated, redundant servers are reserved exclusively for All Access Pass viewers to ensure the highest broadcast quality and reliability.

All Bonus Lap members will still enjoy the same great features that have always been provided by LiveRC, but if you’re a big fan of 1/8 off-road racing and you want the best coverage of this historic event, don’t miss out on the extra features only available with the All Access Pass.

Full information can be found here.


September 12, 2008

Keisuke Fukuda wins Japanese 10th Nats

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

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

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

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]