Red RC » R Off Road

March 17, 2025

Phi-Long Nguyen defends FEMCA 1:8 Offroad title

Young Kyosho star Phi-Long Nguyen has successfully defended his FEMCA 1:8 Offroad Championship title, becoming the Champion of Asia once again in Vietnam over the weekend. The Far East Model Car Association (FEMCA), the governing body of RC racing that represents 15 nations in Asia and Australasia, on the awarding of last year’s championship made the move that a host track would have the option to run the event two years in a row to help recuperate any investment in putting on the event. After the success of the 2024 FEMCA Championships at Huỳnh Vĩ ‘s L.A track, this year the championship attracted 115 entries. With 6 rounds of qualifying it was 13-year-old Nguyen who secured the TQ topping four rounds with Team Associated’s Hyunkyu Jung his closest rival topping the other two qualifiers. With both drivers winning the respective 30-minute Semi Finals, it was the Vietnamese born & now American based Nguyen who like up on pole for the 45-minute title decider. Setting the fastest lap of the race, Nguyen took his Ielasi Tuned powered MP10 TKI3 to the win with a lap in hand over Jung, who like last year finished runner-up. The podium was completed by the Sworkz of Thai driver Paphon C who had lined up 6th on the grid with the similar buggies of Ryan Lee and Kevin Ho with 2023 FEMCA Champion Jeff Wang’s Ming Yang rounding out the Top 6.

Image: Hyunkyu Jung [Facebook]

March 13, 2025

Bayer joins Matrix Tires

Matrix Tires has announced former European Offroad Champion Martin Bayer has joined its offroad team line-up for the 2025 season. A racer who transitioned from team driver to the role of head designer for Xray’s offroad chassis offerings, on the news of joining the Italian manufacturer the Czech driver posted, ”Thank you for your trust and welcome me to the team’.

Source: Matrix [matrixtires.it]

March 13, 2025

Sparko Racing & Odgen part ways with immediate effect

Less than 2-months after announcing the signing of Cole Ogden, Sparko Racing has announced that it is no longer working with the US 1:8 Offroad driver with immediate effect following last weekend’s Dirt Nitro Challenge. The Taiwanese manufacturer and its US distributor issued the following statement on the matter, ‘Sparko Racing and Power Hobby would like to formally announce that we have parted ways with team driver Cole Ogden, effective immediately. During his short time with us, Cole has been an integral part of our team, bringing his talent, experience, and passion to the track. We are grateful for his contributions and the successes we have shared during our time together. As a professional organization, Sparko Racing is committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and sportsmanship. We expect all team members to align with our core values and code of ethics both on and off the track. While our paths are now diverging, we want to clarify that the consumption of alcohol was not a factor in this decision. We hold nothing but respect for Cole and his future endeavours. His dedication to RC racing is undeniable, and we have no doubt he will continue to be a strong competitor in the industry. We wish Cole the very best in his journey ahead and look forward to seeing him continue to push the limits of RC racing.’

Source: Sparko Racing [Facebook]

March 11, 2025

Donnelly dominates 2025 Keilor Invitational – Report

Australian 4WD National Champion Lachlan Donnelly has won an action-packed 2025 Keilor Invitational. The Reedy Race of Champions-style event, now in its 9th year, brings together the top ten Modified and Stock-class off-road racers from across Australia to battle it out on the unique oiled surface of Keilor Electric Offroad RC Association in Melbourne. competitors battle it out in 5 heads-up races over two days in each of 2WD and 4WD, with only one dropped result from each class. Donnelly headlined a Modified Invite field that featured 9 of the top 10 ranked drivers in the country, driving his Team Associated buggies to the win off the back of a dominant 4wd performance. Team-mates Lachlan Munday and Jordan Isergin rounded out the podium, with Munday earlier leading at the half-way mark after 2wd was completed. It was a powerhouse performance from Donnelly, travelling to the Invitational from Sydney’s Hills Offroad RC where he will next month tackle the IFMAR Worlds Warmup event. The 2025 win marked a defence of his first Keilor Invitational victory in 2024.

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March 10, 2025

Maifield & VanDalen compete Tekno sweep at DNC

US manufacturer Tekno enjoyed a clean sweep at a weather interrupted Dirt Nitro Challenge, Ryan Maifield taking the Nitro Buggy win as part of triple victory while Seth VanDalen took the Nitro Truggy win in Perris, California. The 26th edition of World renowned track builder Joey Christensen’s signature event, Joey and his team putting in some serious night shifts to prep the track after heavy rains, two rounds of qualifying saw Xray’s Dakotah Phend secure the Nitro Buggy TQ ahead of Maifield, Team Associated’s Spencer Rivkin and the Sworkz of European Champion Juan Carlos Canas. In the 45-minute final Phend and Maifield would dual it out in very rough track conditions with Mason Fuller taking a turn at leading before Maifield delivered the victory by 5-seconds over Mason with Phend completing the podium. In eBuggy it was Canas who took the TQ but it was Maifield from ninth on the grid who won 10-minute encounter ahead of Phend while the Spaniard completed the podium. With Maifield also taking the eTruggy win, in Nitro Truggy the defending champion secured the TQ but a great battle with team-mate VanDalen saw the 8th place qualifier take win by just 6/10ths of a second. Spencer Heckert completed the all Tekno podium.

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]

March 3, 2025

Desert Classic wins for Lemieux & Horne

The annual Desert Classic presented By Stick It One took place at Hobby Action where it was Xray’s Chase Lemieux and Team Associated’s Aydin Horne who took the big wins. Attracted 320 entries, this was the 9th running of the event at the 2023 World Championship indoor track. In qualifying it was to be a dominant performance from Horne in 2WD as he topped all four rounds to secure the TQ from Lemieux, Japaneses visitor Kouki Kato and Spencer Rivkin. In 4WD it was also Horne who claimed the overall TQ after going fastest in 2 rounds. Fastest in Q3, Lemieux was again his nearest rival with Schumacher’s Broc Champlin P3 ahead of Dakotah Phend’s Xray which topped Q2. In the triple finals it was Rivkin who took A1 of 2WD as Horne fell to the back of the pack at the start before recovering to P3. In A2 Lemieux took a very close win over Horne which set up a three battle for A3. This time Horne would get the win over Lemieux but on tie-break Lemieux got the overall victory. In 4WD it was a more straight forward affair as Horne took the opening two encounters to seal the overall. Winning A3 from Phend, Lemieux got second with his team-mate completing the podium in Arizona.

Image: Mod Live Media [Facebook]

February 26, 2025

Figueiredo teams up with ProTek RC

AMain Hobbies has announced the signing of João Figueiredo as contracted member of their ProTek RC Race Team. ProTek RC is now sold in Europe via HOECO Distribution, and Figueiredo joins the team as the brand’s first European professional driver for both 1:8 and 1:10 Offroad racing. The 28-year-old all round nice guy will run ProTek RC servos, batteries, tools, and accessories in his race program. A 12-time Portuguese National Champion, Figueiredo, who is a team driver for US manufacturer Tekno, had an impressive 2024 season making the IFMAR 1:8 Offroad World Championship final in Redovan and he will be looking to build on that performance when the the inaugural 1:8 Electric Offroad World Championship is hosted by his home track in Barcelos, Portugal in August this year. On the announcement Figueiredo said, ‘It is very exciting to represent ProTek RC as the brand continues its growth into Europe. ProTek RC has been a proven winner in the United States for many years and now the European racing community will have a chance to see how reliable and competitive the entire ProTek RC product line is. I am really looking forward to running the ProTek RC servos, batteries, and great line of tools and accessories in my race program.’

Source: A-Main Hobbies [amainhobbies.com]

February 17, 2025

Lemieux wins Motorama

Run as part of the largest all indoor racing and live motorsport shows in the US, Chase Lemieux came out the main winner at the annual Motorama event held at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex. With the now electric class only event attracting over 300 entries, in 1:8 eBuggy it was the Xray of Lemiuex that secured the TQ on tie break as he and Tekno’s Ryan Maifield each topped two of the four qualifiers. Behind them Mugen Seiki’s Adam Drake completed the Top 3 ahead Team Associated’s Lee Setser. In the triple 5-minute Mains, Lemieux took the opening two encounters with a comfortable margin to claim the overall victory. Winning A3 ahead of Drake, Setser would claim the runner-up spot with the podium being completed by the Xray of Ethan Mackanick as Maifield and Drake finished 5th and 6th respectively. In Expert Truggy it was last year’s buggy winner Ryan Lutz who took the TQ but winning the opening two A-Main encounters No.2 qualifier Spencer Heckert took the win ahead of 2024 winner Maifield with Joey Bourdon claiming third overall.

Image: Hotrace Tyres [hotracetyres.com]