Red RC » Eoghain O Briain

January 24, 2020

Haatanen goes fastest in 2WD as Phend maintains 4WD pace

Day 1 of the Reedy Offroad Race of Champions is complete with Joona Haatanen mixing things up in the final run of the day to go fastest in 2WD while early pace setter Dakotah Phend maintain his status as the quickest driver in 4WD when he topped the third of the day’s three practice rounds. Behind Haatanen, Dustin Evans made it a 1-2 for Team Associated as both managed for the first time to outpace Phend who had set the early pace for both classes. In 4WD, which will open the racing action tomorrow at OCRC Raceway, the closest on pace to Phend was Ty Tessmann with Yusuke Sugiura making it three different manufacturers in the Top 3 ahead of his Yokomo team-mate Ryan Maifield. While the Reedy Race’s unique heads up race format means not too much should be read into the practice times, for defending Champion Jared Tebo the day ended with him setting the 7th fastest 2WD time and 8th fastest 4WD time.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

January 24, 2020

Phend sets early pace as 26th Reedy Race gets underway

The 26th running of the Reedy Offroad Race of Champions is underway at the World renowned OCRC Raceway in Huntington Beach, California, with 2016 Champion Dakotah Phend setting the pace in both 2WD and 4WD practice. In 4WD, the class which will kick off the racing action tomorrow, the TLR driver was quickest from Ty Tessmann over 3-consecutive laps with Ryan Maifield completing the Top 3 in front of Spencer Rivkin and World’s podium finisher Yusuke Sugiura. In 2WD, Phend was quickest over 2-time champion Dustin Evans with Associated team-mate Broc Champlin showing good pace in 3rd followed by Joona Haatanen, Rivkin and Maifield. For defending champion Jared Tebo, practice saw him post the 9th fastest time in 2WD and 15th of the 24 car field in 4WD.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

January 10, 2020

An introduction to SGP1

This past weekend at RCI V2 in Shanghai, China, running alongside the OneTen Series for touring cars, the all new SGP1 Formula One series kicked off its inaugural season. An ultra fun, team-based series, running realistically painted body-shells to some very unique and interesting rules, all those in attendance seemed genuinely excited to be taking part and while competitive everyone seemed to be having fun, with teams not only competing on the track but off the track too with light hearted banter in the pits. Bringing fun back into RC and getting people back racing F1 was the goal of Rick Wang and Ben Lai and it has been very well received with the limited team spots selling out and a full grid at the opening round. We talked with the man behind SGP1, Rick Wang, to get a clearer insight into the concept and future plans for SGP1.

Read the complete interview here

January 6, 2020

Clean sweep for Nagashima at OneTen Shanghai

Completing the perfect weekend, topping all sessions over both rounds 5 and 6 of the OneTen Series in RCI V2, Yugo Nagashima took a commanding win in the 8-minute A-main after the battle with JJ Wang failed to materialise, despite the American putting in the fastest lap of the race. Motor King would complete the round 6 podium after Rocket Zhang started to feel unwell near the end of the race while in 3rd, eventually finishing in 4th. While the win looked straight forward, Yugo was quick to say it was ‘not easy’, elaborating by saying that his car was super loose in the opening 2 minutes, while JJ’s car was very competitive at the start. Making a small mistake in the chicane while being chased, when the tires came good he could get his head down and drive a controlled race, winning by a 4.5 second margin.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

January 5, 2020

Nagashima is OneTen Rd6 Top qualifier

Completing the qualifying double this weekend, Yugo Nagashima is once again the top qualifier here in Shanghai, the Serpent driver topping the times in Q2 and 3 to secure his second pole position in as many days. Again he was pushed hard by JJ Wang, the American leading for half of the 3rd qualifier before being passed in the dying stages by the Japanese racer. Rocket Zhang has all but confirmed his 3rd place starting spot for this afternoon’s 8-minute A-main with his 3rd top 3 run of the day, with the remainder of the top 5 also staying the same as Motor King took 4th place for a 3rd time as well as Gary Huang in 5th. Yugo was happy to wrap up the TQ spot earlier, but was quick to point out that he had tried a change in setup which wasn’t to his liking which explained how JJ made it to the front in the 3rd qualifier. Saying the feeling was good but the car now had too much rotation he may have went too far in a direction and will make some more changes to dial back the effect for Q4.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

January 5, 2020

Round 6 starts with first qualifier to Nagashima

Having dominated proceedings yesterday in round 5 of the OneTen Series, Yugo Nagashima made his intentions of a double known early as he took the opening qualifier here at RCI V2. Although kept honest by the following JJ Wang, the American was just not able to match the pace of the Serpent driver and ended up 7 tenths back in the 4-minute encounter. Rocket Zhang was once again the best of the rest as Serpent continue to have a good showing here in Shanghai, with Motor King and Gary Huang completing the top 5 for the round in the Infinity Modified class. Continuing to use the setup he trialed in the last main yesterday evening, Yugo also said that he rebuilt the diff on his Serpent as he found the one he was using was leaking. Asked about the track conditions today he mention that the track feels more free, giving the car a better feeling of rotation in the corners.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

January 4, 2020

Victory for Nagashima at Rd5 of OneTen series

Making it a clean sweep, Yugo Nagashima has won all 3 A-mains at the fifth round of the OneTen series in Shanghai. The Serpent driver was never threatened in the 2nd final and could win easily to take the overall, while in the last final JJ could have a go at Yugo but couldn’t make the pass stick after contact forced him to relinquish the spot, the American eventually coming home 2nd overall. Despite a bad last final, where he finished down in 7th, Rocket Zhang could take the final podium spot in 3rd, winning the tie break with Motor King, thanks to his faster 3rd place finish. Behind Motor King, Gary Huang ended the day in 5th with Stick King, making the trip from Hong Kong, taking 6th. With very little to say about what was an uneventful 3 finals, Yugo was already focussed on tomorrow trying a new shock setup for A3 which he says has potential but needs a bit of work.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.

January 4, 2020

A1 in Shanghai goes to Yugo Nagashima

It was clear win for Yugo Nagashima in the opening A-main here at RCI V2 for the 5th round of the OneTen Series presented by Infinity. The Serpent driver took the lead from the start and was never headed for the remainder of the final. JJ Wang kept him honest for a while as he started to catch him but hit the curbs coming through the chicane and dropped back, coming home in 2nd, some 3 seconds back. Motor King would take third, benefitting from a strange crash on the straight by Rocket Zhang early in the race, the Serpent driver recovering to take 4th just ahead of Gary Huang in 5th. In what was a fairly straight forward race, Yugo described it as ‘Easy’ with ‘no need to push and no pressure’, a ‘very safe run’.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.