Robert Battle takes Spanish buggy nats Rd1

The 1st round of the Spanish nitro off-road nationals took place at the challenging Antas track. In qualifying, to the surprise of many, multi-national champion, Robert Battle (Mugen/Novarossi) only placed himself in 2nd position as Neo14 Junior champion, Oscar Baldo (Mugen/Novarossi), took the overall TQ. Oscar then also went on to win the semi A while Robert successfully ended the semi B but but with a slower time, handing Oscar the pole position for the final.

Right from the start of the final Oscar took off and never looked back while Robert struggled and later on also lost several positions as his Mugen suffered a flameout after the first pit stop for fuel. With only 10 minutes into the race Robert had already lost nearly a lap on Oscar and it took him over half an hour to reduce the gap so he could start to challenge his Mugen team mate. Then, with 30 seconds to go in the 45 minute final, the reigning World Champion found a way past Oscar to hand him the win in round 1 of the Spanish nationals. Oscar came in 2nd while Ignacio Candel (Kyosho/RB) completed the podium in 3rd.

Final result
1. Robert Battle – Mugen/Novarossi
2. Oscar Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi
3. Ignacio Candel – Kyosho/RB
4. Bryan Baldo – Mugen/Novarossi
5. Agustin Illanes – Mugen/Novarossi
6. Antonio Almalda – RB/RB
7. Alberto Garica – SWorkz/RB
8. Juanma Vera – Kyosho/Alpha
9. Dani Vega – Agama/Reds
10.Daniel Barnabe – JQ Products/Soar
11.Andres Marcelino – RB/RB
12.Borja Hernandez/Alpha

Source: InfoRC [inforc.net]