The MCM RC indoor track in Bergamo, Italy will play host to the Ruddog Cup Italy on the 13th and 14th of October. The event will be held in the five classes of Touring Modified, Touring 13.5T Stock EFRA, Touring 13.5T Handout, Formula and On-road Truck, with top drivers attending in all classes. Ruddog’s Andreas Myrberg will be present to support all attending Team Associated drivers and more information can be found on social media here.
Dario Balestri is the 2018 Euro Nitro Series Champion, the Infinity driver lifting the title with victory ahead of team-mate Carmine Raiola at the season finale in Fiorano, Italy. The World Champion came into the weekend as one of three drivers in contention for the title but with reigning champion Simon Kurzbuch taking the TQ bonus point that eliminated Toni Gruber from the battle. With Balestri qualifying P2, the final would be a straight up battle at the front for the race win and the title. Pitting together Balestri would find a way passed Kurzbuch after the second round of fuel stops with a pass on the out lap and then began to gap his rival. Unfortunately for the Shepherd driver, his race was to go downhill, a sticking one-way bearing causing an off that would end his quest for a hat trick of titles. The worsening problem delaying him further later in the race and leading to his retirement just inside the final 10-minutes. With his rival in trouble Balestri took charge of the 45-minute race with the attention now on the battle for who would join him on the podium. Riola, Andrea Pirani and 3rd place qualifier Robert Pietsch all took part but there was cruel luck for Pietsch as he battled with Riola over second. Entering the pits together for their final stop, Pietsch led them out of the pits but at the other end of the pits Alberto Picco’s car was released and collected by Pietsch’s Mugen which from the opposite end of the pit was already running in 2nd gear. The impact destroyed Pietsch’s car ending his race on the spot, allowing Riola in to second for an Infinity 1-2 while Pirani inherited his second ever ENS podium finish.
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Dominic Greiner did exactly what was asked of him at the season finale of the Infinity Euro Nitro Series securing the TQ and the win in Fiorano but a strategic drive to second place by Jilles Groskamp sees him crowned the 2018 Champion. The Infinity driver came into the weekend leading the points with Greiner his only challenger for the overall title. The Serpent driver’s first obstacle was the bonus TQ point which he needed to have to go into the 45-minute A-Main in contention for the title. He did that in style, his pace one notch above everyone while Groskamp found himself P4 on the grid. A track that has played into the hands of the Dutch driver’s skill of playing the long game, his 2015 title coming about thanks to doing to final without a tyre stop that secured him second place which was enough for the overall win, he again played that card today getting the second place which gives him the title on tie-break. There would be a dramatic start to the final as second place starter Teemu Leino tried a move down the inside of Greiner into the second corner that result in contact and the World Champion going flying off the track. Cutting the track, Greiner was then forced to wait dropping him back to the back but the German quickly proved why he is the benchmark for 1:10 racers as he needed just 10-minutes to get back to the front where were he took total control of the race. A single side tyre strategy, that came early in the race, was Groskamp’s strategy and knowing he didn’t need to finish ahead of Greiner he drove a title winning race to second. Leader for a time after the first corner clash, engine tuning issues ended former winner Alessio Mazzeo’s bid for glory with contact with a slower car then finishing any hope of getting by Groskamp for second with the Xray driver eventually finishing in the final podium position, half a lap back.
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The RC Land 23 track in Matsuzaka, Japan played host to the 2018 1/8th Off-road Japan Nationals this past weekend. Defending champion, Yusuke Sugiura (Kyosho/O.S. Engines) took the overall TQ and he also went on to win the A-main final to take a back-to-back title. Yusuke dominated the 60-minute final such that he already had a 1-lap lead some ten minutes into the race and he was able to stretch the lead to two laps with ten minutes to go. Mugen/Ninja’s Kenji Tsuruta would snatch the runner-up spot as Kyosho/O.S. Engines’ Juliya Kajiwara came in 3rd to round out the podium.
Source: O.S. Engines [os-engines.co.jp]
The last UK regional race of the Summer season was held in the form of the the final round of the SWORDS series at the brand new Plymouth track. The days winners were Josh Graham 1st, Matt Roberts 2nd and Sam Cobley 3rd. This mean that the series was then won by Sam Cobley and his HB Racing buggy, Matt Roberts (Agama) was 2nd and young Maxim Cook (Agama) was 3rd.
Source: BRCA [brca.org] | Image: Nemo Racing [nemoracing.com]
The 2018 ROAR Fuel On-road Nationals were held at Nuggets Ranch Raceway in Arcadia, Florida this past weekend. The 1/8th Open class saw Serpent’s Joaquin Desoto Jr. taking the title from the TQ spot with Infinity’s Christian Lopez coming in 2nd after the 45-minute A-main, some 26 seconds down. Shepherd’s Michael Palazolla rounded out the top 3 podium result in front of Ralph Burch and David Blakeney.
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The third round of the Spanish Nitro Buggy National Championship was held at the Valladolid track this past weekend. Mugen’s Robert Batlle was in control of things on the slippery track with the Kyosho duo of Brian Baldo and Joao Figueiredo coming in 2nd and 3rd respectively after the qualifiers. Mugen’s Juan Carlos Canas, who had a troublefull qualifier, would start the A-main from the pole position and he would also bring home the win in the 45-minute A-main from Robert Batlle on the 2 spot, a lap down. Robert felt less comfortable in the main compared to the previous days and he opted to just bring home the runner-up spot and thus valuable points for the championship. Another lap down it was Oscar Baldo who would round out the podium result for Kyosho, also suffering minor issues.
Simon Kurzbuch will defend his Euro Nitro Series title tomorrow at the Season Finale in Italy from pole position. The Shepherd driver made it a clean sweep of qualifying for the 2018 season as he wrapped up his fourth TQ from the championship’s four races. Having suffered a broken front belt in Q3 and title rival Dario Balestri getting the TQ for that round, Kurzbuch had to wait until the final round to bag himself the extra championship point which could prove vital at the end of tomorrow’s 45-minute final. He took the final qualifier ahead of Robert Pietsch and Toni Gruber after a hard pushing Balestri had a mistake in the second half of the qualifier. The Italian will start 2nd with Pietsch third while Andrea Pirani makes it four different manufacturers at the head of the grid. Kurzbuch’s TQ today eliminates Gruber from the title fight, the WRC driver at best being able to equal the leaders points tally with a win but losing out on the tie break. Between himself and Balestri, however, if the Italian wins he must be sure to finish on the podium with a 3rd place giving him his 3rd consecutive title on tie break with the only driver who has previously denied him becoming champion.
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