A brief report from the 1/12th 13.5 GTP class at last weekend’s Snowbird Nationals in Orlando, Florida. It was On Point Racing’s German team driver Markus Mobers that took the top spot in qualifying, doing so in the final round to start on pole ahead of Larry Fairtrace and World Champion Naoto Matsukura in 2nd and 3rd respectively. In the final Markus drove his Team Orion powered OP12C to the win by just 1.3 seconds ahead of Andrew Knapp in 2nd, with Mike Blackstock completing the podium in 3rd.

Source: On Point Racing [onpointracing.com]

The 2012 Snowbirds were held at the World Gate resort in Orlando Florida. The format of this race is special due to the racing of both On-road and oval. The racing goes on for almost 24hrs a day with a track change between on road and oval every day. This year the attendance and competition was large do in part to the international attendance, several EU countries were represented along with Japan and obviously North America. In Mod TC it was Alex Hagberg showing good early pace, Alex had just come from the ETS race where he showed good speed so he was rightfully on everyone’s radar. Not to anyones surprise also showing speed at the beginning was Naoto Matsukura and Kevin Hebert.

Continue reading the report here.

Image: Jill Dorp

This past weekend in Shenzhen, Southern China, the newly built KRC track hosted the annual China Fortune (Fa Cai) Nitro Championships for 1:10 sedan.  The race saw drivers from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan and is considered one of the major nitro races in China as well as the first race of the nitro season in China. 14 years-old Mugen driver JJ Wang driving his Novarossi powered MTX5 won the 45-minute “A” Main final by 2 laps over second place Xray driver Li Jia Wei from Guangzhou, and in third place was Taiwan’s Xray driver Howard Zhuo.

Results:
1. JJ Wang (Mugen MTX5)
2. Li Jia Wei (Xray NT1)
3. Howard Zhuo (Xray NT1)
4. Huang Jun Qu (Xray NT1)
5. Gary Zhuo (Xray NT1)
6. Huang Jiu Fa (Xray NT1)
7. Fei Zai Wei (Mugen MTX5)
8. Huang Jun Hao (Mugen MTX5)
9. Li Cong (Mugen MTX5)
10. Jiang Dong (KM HK1)

The Mini Outlaw Class championships at the Chippenham Winter Indoor Series concluded last weekend, with over half the entrants using the TOP Mini Sabre FD chassis. The top 5 positiions in the A-main were filled with Sabre drivers, with TOP Racing UK and Lesro Models team driver, Mark Williams taking the overall win from 2nd place John Pryor. In 3rd, was TOP UK and Lesro Models team driver Stuart Parnell with Bob Styles in 4th and Tim Woron in 5th. In the Mini Formula class, a tie on points at the top meant a count back to the ninth round was needed to give Muchmore UK team driver David Allen the championship ahead of Joe Keaveney in 2nd place.

Source: TOP Racing UK [topracinguk.com]

The fifth round of the South Swedish Indoor Cup was held on an indoor track, in Växjö, southern Sweden. The track saw some low grip and a fairly easy layout but it was hard to drive fast on. After three rounds of qualifying Niclas Nilsson took TQ followed closely by Markus Hellquist and Daniel Carlsson, only 2 seconds separating those 3 drivers. In the opening final there was a good race between Niclas, Markus and Daniel. None of them was able to stretch the lead or overtake so the order stayed the same though Daniel was only 4 tenths of a second from taking second.

Leg two Niclas had a bad start which allowed Markus and Daniel to come through, Markus won in ront of Daniel and Niklas who took third. Leg three would decide the race victory and it now stood between Niclas and Markus, who both had 1 win each, But the third final saw a great start, all three cars on a row all the way into the 4 minute mark where Markus hit Niclas and waited for him and Daniel go through to take the win followed by Niclas and Markus. After three thrilling finals it was not just Niclas and Markus that was fighting for the win, All top three drivers had one win, one second and one third each. The deciding fact would be who had the fastest run. And there Niclas won, on fastest win, Markus second after fastest win by only 9 tenths. Super tight and super fun race with a good atmosphere.

Final standings with all top three drivers on same points.
1. Niclas Nilsson – Xray/LRP/Thunder Power/Thunder Power
2. Markus Hellquist – Xray/GM/GM/GM
3. Daniel Carlsson – Yokomo/LRP/LRP/LRP

Thanks to Daniel Carlsson for the report.

Round 2 of the Snowman Series was this past weekend at ARC Raceway. The event had 10 heats and it was TLR, Novarossi, Pro-Line driver Adam Drake who TQ’d both rounds of qualifying in the 1/8th Pro Buggy class in front of teammate’s Drew Moller and Colby Poh. Drew Moller TQ’d the 1/8th Pro turck class. In the 30 minute buggy final Adam Drake won followed by teammates Cody Smith and Colby Poh making it a 1, 2, 3 sweep for TLR, Novarossi and Pro-Line.  Drew Moller won the 20 minute truck final followed by TLR teammate Andy Carillo in 2nd while Cody Smith won the 10 minute 1/8th electric final with his TLR 8ight E.

Source: TLR [tlracing.com]

Last weekend Round 4 of the Israeli League took place at the Speed racing track in southern Israel. Top drivers from all over the country came to participate in the event and the weather was excellent for racing and after qualifying it was Adir Zvolony that took the TQ position with his Kyosho MP9 WC. The A main final started with Zvolony taking the lead, a bad start for Yaniv Sivan who started from second position meant he had to work his way through the field. With fast driving he managed to take back the second position and a few second behind Sivan was Meir Azolay. Two minutes to the finish, Adir Zvolony hit clutch problem and lost valuable time allowing Yaniv to come through to take the win followed by Meir Azolay and Itay Atedgi.

Source: RC Zone [rczone.co.il]

The first round of Finnish 12th scale nationals were held in the city of Seinajoki, close to Vaasa city where 1/10 electric offroad were held last summer. This year’s famous FinTrack Tour has been divided in to both 12th and touring car series separately, which means both classes get more suitable tracks to race on. The 12th scale national championship series consists of 4 races held from January to April. Also new for this year is 10.5t blinky class which is now run as its own and not combined with modified like last year.

The practice saw regular faces on top with V-Dezign drivers Vesa Yli and Panu Vehniainen driving the new Carpet Ripper V as well as current Euro champ Simo Ahoniemi and many others, very high level action was to be seen. After 4 rounds of qualifying it was Team V-Dezign’s Vesa Yli who took the TQ by dominating every round of the qualifying session. In stock class team mate Janne Valtanen took the TQ ahead of another Carpet Ripper V driver Janne Aspinen, who just did his first ever 12th scale race! Janne is well known and fast guy from electric offroad.

In modified A mains Vesa kept his cool and took the overall win by leading from start to finish in the first two final legs to ensure the victory in this years first nationals. Simo Ahoniemi took 2nd and Teemu Saarinen finished 3rd. Another top V-Dezign driver Panu Vehniainen took 5th with some unlucky finals.

In stock A mains Janne Valtanen also took the win in the first two final legs and ensured the double TQ&Win for V-Dezign.

Source: V-Dezign [v-dezign.net]

The 18th running of the Reedy International Off Road Race of Champions showcases the best drivers in the World with both an Open and Invitational category. Both categories only have two classes, 2WD and 4WD buggy. With a total of nine podium spots available, Team Associated drivers occupied a stunning seven positions and took the win in two of the three classes. In the 2WD Open class, third qualifier and Team Associated/Reedy/LRP driver Chad Due claimed his first major victory by winning the tie-breaker over Team Manager and teammate Brent Thielke. Due’s finishing positions of 3-1 in the two 10-minute main events beat Thielke’s score of 2-2 and earned him an invitation to the prestigious Invitational class for 2013.

In the 4WD Open class, it was Team Associated/LRP/Reedy’s Josh Numan who started on pole and was never challenged during the 20 minutes of A-main competition. With a wire-to-wire victory, Numan also earned a position in the 2013 Invitational class. This is Numan’s third time winning an open class at the Reedy Race; two in onroad and one in offroad. Rounding out the podium spots in 4WD Open were Team Associated/Reedy/LRP teammates Michael Schoettler (second) and Rob Gillespie, Jr, (third).

Source: Associated [teamassociated.com] / Image: LiveRC.com

Round 4 of the FSEARA (Florida State Electric Auto Racing Association) took place at Minnreg in Largo, FL. Minnreg is an indoor carpet track, one of the few in Florida. Every year, Mike Boylan hosts this race as the warm up to the annual Snowbird Nationals in Orlando, FL and this warm up race attracted many locals & out of town racers. From Friday to Sunday, there are both oval & on road events to prepare for the 400+ entry Snowbird Nationals. This on road event alone had about 70+ entries, making this an important on road race to attend.

In Stock Touring, the 2010 ROAR National Champion Mark Burt was able to use his “very old” equipment to grab the TQ over the current Stock Touring point leader Kyle Eden. Mark Burt’s smooth driving style allowed him to set the bench mark in qualifying, but Kyle was just a couple of seconds behind Mark. In the A final, Mark Burt was able to hold off Kyle’s intense charges. Kyle had the faster car in both speed & cornering, but every time Kyle got close to Mark, the smallest mistake cost Kyle. In the end, it was Xray 1 & 2, with Mark winning the race, Kyle in second place, just 3 seconds behind and Eddie Shaffer finishing 3rd.

In Pro Stock Touring, it was another battle of the Xrays. Young Xray team driver Cory Parsons set a blistering pace in qualifying with a 32 lap run, taking the TQ. Cory was followed closely by 2nd qualifier Austin Harrison and 3rd qualifier Dave Bowser, another Xray team driver. In the A final, the top 3 qualifiers had a great start, with a tight battle between all 3. While the back of the pack were having some issues, Bobby Horan slipped by for the 4th position. Out in front, Cory continued to lead, while Austin made a mistake and got stuck on a pipe, Dave took advantage and moved to 2nd. A few laps later, Austin made another mistake and flew off the track, allowing Bobby to grab 3rd. Cory Parsons took the win, beating his own TQ run from qualifying, with Dave Bowser finishing 2nd and Bobby Horan finishing 3rd.

In Modified Touring, it was the battle between Austin Harrison vs Hot Bodies team driver Felix Law all weekend. In qualifying, Austin was able to put down an impressive run in the 2nd round of qualifying, taking TQ honors with a 4 second lead on Felix Law. Michael Bruce qualified 3rd, with a gap between him and Felix. In the A final, Felix was bumper to bumper against Austin. 4 laps into the race, both drivers hit lapped traffic. Felix saw an opening while Austin dodged traffic, and Felix made a pass after the switch back. Around the same time, Xray team driver T.J. Lathrop made a pass on Michael Bruce for the 3rd position. After passing Austin, Felix continued to pull away from the field. By the 4 minute mark Austin made a charge to catch Felix but a small mistake didn’t allow him to get by Felix. In the end Felix Law finished 1st with Austin Harrison 2nd and T.J. Lathrop 3rd.

Source: Hobby Crap [hobbycrap.com]