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January 16, 2023

Clean sweep for Phend at Southern Indoor Championship

Dakotah Phend has completed a clean sweep of the first major on the 2023 1:8 Offroad calendar winning Buggy, Truggy and eBuggy at the the RaceTime Entertainment organised Southern Indoor Championship in Alabama. Having already opened his 2023 electric programme with a triple victory at the ‘Clash of Champions’ at Hoosier RC Hobbyplex in Indiana last weekend, in qualifier at SIC the TLR driver would secure the TQ in Nitro Buggy from last year’s triple champion Ryan Maifield. In Truggy, Phend would start from 3rd with Mayako’s Jared Tebo the Top Qualifier while eBuggy saw him qualify P2 behind Maifield’s Tekno. In the finals, Phend kicked off yet another impressive race day with Truggy victory over Tebo and Sworkz’ Joe Bornhorst. Next up was Nitro Buggy and from the front he controlled the half hour encounter finishing over 18-seconds up on Maifield with the Kyosho of Ryan Lutz completing the podium. To cap off yet another star performance from the ‘Phenom’ he won eBuggy but this one went to the wire. Winning A1 by a comfortable margin, in A2 it was Top Qualifier Maifield who lead home the 15-cars with Phend 3rd leaving the pair tied on points. With A1 just fractionally faster, Phend completed the triple while HB Racing’s Mason Fuller completed the overall Top 3.

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]

January 15, 2023

2 in a row as Branson wins EWS Round 3

Round 3 of the popular British based Essex Winter Series took place over the weekend with reigning Champion Kyle Branson making it two in a row. Runner-up at the opening the season opener when Xray team-mate Bruno Coelho took the win on the series’ return following Covid, Branson would qualify on pole for the latest encounter taking all four round of qualifying. Xray team-mate Harley Eldridge qualified second but found herself defending from Capricorn’s Alex Thurston in the single leg final allowing Branson to take the win. Eldridge kept Thurston at bay reversing their finishing order of the previous round. Following his rejoining of the Schumacher team last week, Chris Grainger qualified & finished 4t ahead of his new car’s designer Andy Murray. Continue reading here

January 15, 2023

Freeman takes Mod win at RC Chili Bowl

Running alongside its full size oval racing counterpart, the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals, it was Zachary Freeman who came away with the SC Modified win at the ninth edition of the RC Chili Bowl held in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Attracting over 500 entries, the Scotty Ernst organised event is one of the biggest in the industry with its tented indoor pit area packed with manufacturers involved in the R/C oval racing scene. Concluding the 2023 edition of the RC Chili Bowl was the final of SC Modified presented by HobbyWing. All throughout qualifying it had been Zac Rose and Addison Krol, throwing down the heat for the ladies, going back and forth for the top spot with Rose edging out Krol to take the TQ honours. It would be a super smooth start for the 10 car field with all drivers holding their starting positions for the opening laps. A huge pile up in turn 4 however collected almost all the cars and would shake up the entire order creating a completely new race. Third place qualifier Zachary Freeman would come out on top in the lead holding that position to the end with Krol finishing on the same lap fpr second. Dropping back to sixth, Rose would recover to come through to complete the podium.

Image: RC Chili Bowl [rcchilibowl.com]

January 14, 2023

Phend Top Qualifier at Southern Indoor Championship

TLR’s Dakotah Phend has secured the big TQ at the Southern Indoor Championship in Alabama. The first big major on the annual US 1:8 Offroad calendar, the Racetime Entertainment organised indoor event is a big weekend in terms of new driver/manufacturer pairings following some significant driver announcements over the New Year break. In Nitro Buggy, it was Phend who kicked off qualifying with the fastest time ahead of the Ryans, Maifield’s Tekno taking P2 followed by Lutz’s Kyosho with third. Q2 would see Maifield top the time sheets from Sworkz’s Joe Bornhorst with Lutz again completing the Top 3. For Phend it was a bad round 2 as he ended up P5. All coming down to the third & final qualifier, Phend was back to form laying down the outright fastest time of qualifying to secure the overall TQ, 2 rounds from 3 to count. Maifield locked in 2nd overall from Lutz, Team Associated’s Lee Setser and Joe Bornhorst with new team-mate Brandon Rose rounding out the Top 6. In Nitro Truggy, it is Jared Tebo who is Top Qualifier. As the reigning SIC Champion, winning both Buggy & Truggy last year from the TQ, Maifield took the first qualifier from Sworkz’s Camden Lime, Phend and new Mayako signing Jared Tebo. Runner-up last year in Truggy, Tebo would find his stride in the next two qualifiers topping them both for the overall TQ. Again Maifield ends up P2 with Phend 3rd ahead of Lime, Lutz and the TLR of youngster Phi Long Nguyen.

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]

January 11, 2023

2023 Desert Classic – Announcement

Hobby Action in Chandler, Arizona have announced the date for the 2023 Desert Classic with the 7th edition of the annual event taking place from March 1st to 5th. An event that has established itself as a major fixture in the early part of the international 1:10 Offroad calendar after filling the void left after the demise of the Cactus Classic. Again sponsored by Stickit1 Racing, the 2023 edition is set to have even more significance on the calendar as a preparation race for the IFMAR 1:10 Offroad World Championships that Hobby Action will host in September of this year. Entries for the Desert Classic are open from the 22nd of this month and the race will be open to all the usual classes.

View event flier here

January 8, 2023

Phend does triple at ‘Clash of Champions’

Dakotah Phend has got his 2023 season off the perfect start with a triple TQ & Win at the 1st Annual ‘Clash of Champions’ at Hoosier RC Hobbyplex in Indiana. Qualifying for 1:10 indoor electric offroad dirt event saw an untouchable Phend take the 2WD Mod Buggy TQ from Team Associated pairing Spencer Rivkin and Dustin Evans. In 4WD Buggy it was Xray team-mates Tom Rinderknecht and Ty Tessmann who filled P2 and 3 on the grid behind the TLR star. In Mod truck took all three rounds of qualifying for the TQ ahead of Tessmann, Rivkin and new TLR signing Cole Tollard. In the triple main finals, Phend wrapped up all three classes by winning the opening two A-Mains of each. In 2WD Buggy, the A3 win gave Rivkin second from Rinderknecht in third. While Tessmann won A3 of Mod Truck second places in A1 & 2 was enough for Rivkin to hold the overall runner-up spot. In 4WD, with Phend again able to sit out A3, it was Rinderknecht who took the win to secure second overall with Tessmann completing the podium.

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]

January 8, 2023

Herbert wins Hudy Indoor Champs

Keven Hebert has won the Hudy Indoor Champs at ProLevel RC in Chesterfield, Missouri. Attracting more than 150 entries over the classes, in Modified Touring Car it was a battle between the factory Xray drivers of Hebert and Alexander Hagberg. Setting a fastest time of 32/5:00.870 in the fourth & final round of qualifying, Hebert would secure the TQ from Hagberg who put in his best run in Q3 when the Swede set a time of 32/5:02.688. Behind, the Awesomatix of Kemp Anderson secured third ahead of Donny Lia, both also posting their fastest times in Q3. In the single Main, the top three remained unchanged with Hebert having a 2.3 second advantage over his team-mate at the finish. Behind Anderson, Andrew Ellis got passed Lia for fourth. In 1:12 Mod, it was a reverse of the TC podium with Top Qualifier Anderson taking the win from former World Champion Hagberg and Hebert. In Stock Touring Car Billy Sydor took the win while in Stock 1:12 Fabio Evangelista was the victor.

Image: Xray [teamxray.com]

January 8, 2023

Polito wins ‘OneRace OneMan’ at IBR Padova

Having only announced his move from Kyosho to Sworkz just after Christmas, Italy’s Mattia Polito has opened the 2023 season with the Pro Buggy victory at the annual ‘OneRace OneMan’ event at IBR Padova in Italy. In qualifying it was Mugen’s Berkan Kilic who claimed the overall TQ, but winning his Semi from Berkan’s brother Burak, Polito took pole for the 45-minute final. Finishing second to Berkan in the other Semi, Kyosho’s Renaud Savoya would split the German brothers on the grid with 3rd. In the final it would be Burak who would prove to be Polito’s closest challenge moving up to finish 2nd with Berkan completing the podium. Behind HB Racing’s Theo Lemaire took fourth from Max Hesse and fellow Frenchman Savoya. For defending champion Riccardo Bertin, it was a tough opening to the new season as he had to win the LCQ final to make the A-Main. Despite setting the fastest lap of the final, the Infinity driver would finish P13 and last. In E-Buggy it was again Berkan who took the TQ, this time being able to convert that into the win ahead of his brother and the Tekno of former Champion Marco Barufollo.

Image: Burak Kilic [Facebook]