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February 24, 2007

Dirt Nitro Challenge – Qualifying

Dirt Nitro Challenge

This weekend also sees the running of the Dirt Nitro Challenge in the Dirt racing facility in Phoenix, Arizona. Attracting an incredible entry of 390 racers in 3 classes this race is one of the premier off road races in the United States. The track looks awesone but was flooded in recent rains and this disrupted the practice schedule for all racers, but they got it sorted and got straight into the racing. Qualifying for the trucks took place on Thursday and that was led by Losi racer Travis Amezcua with his team mate Mike Truhe close behind in 2nd. Taylor James is next up in 3rd, the Futaba Nitro Challenge winner placing ahead of 4th place Cody King racing a Kyosho.

The buggy qualifying took place yesterday, Friday, and that was once more dominated by the Losi 8ight, this time in the hands of Mike Truhe who got the better of his well known and extremely fast team mate Adam Drake who ended up 2nd. Taylor James once more ending up 3rd fastest with his Jammin buggy just in front of his team mate Chad Bradley. European Champion Yannick Aigoin is also at the event, racing both classes with his Xray, but despite making the A-main in the truggy class, he is struggling in buggy and lines up in the B-main hoping to be able to bump up and take part in the main event. Also of note is that Team Associated have placed two of the RC8 buggies in the A-main with Ryan Maifield in 6th and Ryan Cavalieri in 9th while O’Donnell, whose buggy we showed you pictures off this week, is struggling in the hands of the 1/10th truck pole man Jared Tebo and will only start in the B-main in 1/8th buggy.

Finals starts Saturday but you can check out the top qualifiers here… content

February 23, 2007

Stewart Wilcox joins Team Losi

Stuart Wilcox

Top British off road racer and long time Mugen driver has made the switch to Team Losi to race the all conquering 8ight. Powered by Novarossi, with additional backing from KO Propo and LRP, Stewart will join the Helger Racing team to contest the National championship this year with his new ride.

With the start of the season only just around the corner time is short but Stewart feels confident he can be up to speed and ready for the first national. Not only do we benefit from Stewarts driving skill and technical knowledge but also customer support trackside from Models in motion.

Source: Helger Racing [helgerracing.com]

February 21, 2007

Xray on their NT1 debut

Xray on the NT1 debut

Although we already covered the Winternats I thought it was interesting to get an insight on how the Xray team felt they had performed, considering the hype surrounding the event and the debut of their new 200mm racer, the NT1. While the car definitely performed, it suffered from some off track problems when it mattered most such as poor pit stops as well as the problem that got Jilles Groskamp disqualified after the B-main, but they showed some good speed in the A-main but suffered major tyre wear problems as the track conditions on the finals day changed.

Despite using the harder tire compounds the tires were wearing more than expected and with only a few minutes remaining the rear tires on both Martin and Ralph’s cars wore down almost to the rims making the car more difficult to handle; in the last laps, both lost their 2nd and 3rd position respectively.

You can read the full report here.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

February 20, 2007

JR Mitch wins Buggy class at Rd3 Florida State Series

JR Mitch

Yesterday we told you about Gene Hickerson winning his 3rd straight truggy race in a row at round 3 of the Florida State series. Well this race was attended by nearly 200 racers in a number of different classes and in the buggy class it was JR Mitch driving a Werks powered Thunder Tiger that won the race ahead 2nd place Jason Rouna whilst the 3rd position went to Ryan Eckert.

Source: Neo-Buggy [neo-buggy.net]

February 19, 2007

Gene Hickerson wins Rd3 Florida State Series

Gene Hickerson

Buggy-Sport are reporting that Gene ‘The Machine’ Hickerson has won the 3rd round of the ROAR Florida State Series held last weekend. Racing in the truggy class, Gene powered his way to his 3rd TQ and win from 3 rounds, an amazing record for him and his Mega powered CEN Matrix Arena TR. Jeff Keeton, racing a Kyosho came home in 2nd just ahead of 3rd place finisher Kyle Sokol, also running a Mega powered CEN Matrix.

Source: Buggy-Sport [buggy-sport.info]

February 19, 2007

Martin Pater wins Czech Kyosho Masters

Czech Kyosho Masters

Xray have a report on their site about last weekends Kyosho Masters race in the Czech Republic. The event attract around 100 racers from all around Europe and included many top international racers like former World Champion Daniel Reckward. In qualifying it was Michael Jonsson that got the fastest time ahead of Thomas Passmann and Martin Pater. After the semi finals were run it was on to the main final were Martin Pater was able to pull out a lead and keep it to the end despite heavy pressure throughout the race.

Martin was able to get a good lead which allowed him to take one extra fueling to keep a safe run. Despite having World Champion Daniel Recward pushing hard and trying to catch the leader, Martin stayed calm the whole race and was able to bring the XRAY XB8EC to the final win of this prestigious race.

Read the full event report here.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]

February 18, 2007

Race Announcement – Handy Models Grand Prix

Cotswold track

We received a mail from the race organisers at the Cotswold Model Car Club asking us to plug their upcoming Handy Models Grand Prix and we were happy to oblige, after all thats what we’re here for. The Grand Prix will take place on the 17th and 18th of March on their fast looking new track and is open to Stock, 19T and Modified Electric touring, Gas foam and rubber as well as 1/5th bikes. It should be a good event and a good chance for gas and electric racers to mingle and see each others racing class up close.

Click here to find out more information… content

February 18, 2007

Morganti & Tosolini win 2007 Winternats, Florida

2007 Winternats, Florida

The 2007 Florida Winternats is in the bag and it has produced some very exciting racing, none more so than the A-mains which were packed with talented racers and the best machinery. In the 1/10th scale A-main, the class with the most big names and most varied manufacturers, Paolo Morganti could easily convert his pole position into a much deserved win. The Serpent 720 racer could pull away from his pole position starting spot to win the race 6 laps ahead of 2nd placed racer, Chris Tosolini, driving for Kyosho. The final podium step went to Ralph Burch driving the Xray NT1, who finished only 3 seconds down on 2nd place Tosolini. Danny Horta and Martin Hudy had a close race for 4th with the Serpent driver getting the position by 1 seconds from the Xray racer after 45 minutes racing. It was worth mentioning that Jilles Groskamp managed to win every final from the H-main to the B-main, only to be disqualified after his car failed scrutiny stopping him from bumping up into the A-main.

In the 1/8th scale class it was Chris Tosolini, driving a Kyosho Evolva, that took the win, moving up 1 place from his grid spot to power his way to a 1 lap advantage in the end over 2nd place Rick V, who driving a Mugen MRX4-R had managed to bump up from the B-main after a difficult qualifying. An interesting thing to note was that while everyone else in the final had changed their tyres mid race Chris had left it until the 43rd minute of the race to change his tyres and ensure he was over the weight limit when his car went into race scrutiny. The final step of the podium went to Kyosho racer and pole position sitter Josh Cyrul who ran into some problems and had dropped back to 3rd spot finishing 8 laps clear of 4th placed finisher, Italys Marco Vanni driving a Mugen. Morganti and Salven were out early and this left Scotty Gray to uphold honours for Serpent but he then tangled with last years winner Mike Swauger and Kyoshos Joel Johnson causing damage to all 3 cars and effectively ending their races.

Red RC and The-Border wish to thank the race organisers and fellow racers for making this years event another action packed, well run and enjoyable event.

Click here to view the final A-main results for each class as well as some more images… content