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April 23, 2026

Nguyen top seed at Malaysian ABC encounter

Making his Asian Buggy Championships debut as the 1:8 Offroad Championship makes its first stop in Malaysia this weekend, Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen has topped seeding at the impressive LAP Paradise RC Raceway in Johor Bahru. With rain briefly interrupting proceedings during the second of the two seeding rounds, the 15-year-old American talent set fastest two consecutive laps in both Nitro and eBuggy. Behind it was Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen who the closest challenger, the Finn half a second off on a track with 38-second lap times. Having dominated the opening round of the Team Cayote/VP-Pro back ABC in New Zealand in March, new 2026 Sworkz signing Caleb Noble completed the Top 3 just 0.08 of a second off Iivonen. In was an another of the championship’s Australian regulars and race winners Jayden Edmunds also driving an Sworkz in fourth with Ken NG, a key figure behind Round 2 host track, completing the Top 5.

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April 22, 2026

Hobby Expo China – Seeing is believing!

The saying goes that ‘seeing is believing’ and attending the 24th edition of Hobby Expo China in Beijing last weekend definitely endorsed that statement. While the press information highlighted the 70,000 visitors who attended the 3-day expo last year, nothing quite prepared me for the crowds and buzz of this expo. Staged in the Beijing Exhibition Centre, which built in 1954 was alone worth a visit for its architecture, this was Red RC’s first time to visit HEC. Talking to some of our industry friends familiar with the expo prior to making the trip to the Chinese capital, they all flagged that we wouldn’t believe the crowds it attracts. Having been reached out to be Chinese media outlet about doing some videos with them at the show, they too warned me to be prepared for the crowds. While setting expectations high, it was only when I actually arrived on Friday morning that we got the true sense of the scale of the numbers it attracts. With over 300 exhibitors covering two distinct main categories, RC and diecasts, the truth was that it was the latter that had the pulling power but to RC’s benefit. Crowds had started queuing on Thursday night for the Expo’s 09:00 opening time on Friday morning, as collectors sought to get their hands on limited edition static car models, 1:64 the fan favourite. Still while diecast was the big draw, this year’s even bigger visitor count, were also exposed to an impressive display of what the world of RC had to offer and that was another stand out of those exhibiting. Sure many of the exhibitors were unfamiliar brands to us but on taking a look at their offerings I was impressed by both the quality and presentation. There was also plenty of opportunities to try various RC products on numerous demo tracks for onroad cars, drifting, crawling, and construction. Observing the reaction of both young & old as they got their hands on a transmitter was encouraging.

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April 21, 2026

Nguyen to make Asian Buggy Champs debut at first Malaysian encounter

Young Kyosho star Phi-Long Nguyen will make his Asian Buggy Championships debut this weekend as Malaysia hosts the latest round of the Scotty Ernst promoted championship for the very first time. Now in its fourth season, reigning back to back FEMCA Champion Nguyen will join ABC championship regulars at the impressive LAP Paradise RC Raceway for the second of the 4 round Team Cayote/VP Pro backed 1:8 Offroad Championship. The American will be compete against Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen, Sworkz’s Caleb Noble, who dominated the season opener in New Zealand in March, team-mate Jayden Edmunds and Mayako’s Logan Toia. On his Asian Buggy Championships debut the teenager said, ‘The series as I have seen in the past is amazingly organized and well run with Scotty behind the mic the world will be heard. Lap Paradise looks like a perfect track to improve on high traction and we can’t wait to visit Malaysia which is another beautiful Asian country.’

Source: Asian Buggy Championships [Facebook]

April 20, 2026

Pariente brothers 1-2 at Spanish Nationals Round 2

The Pariente brothers achieved a special 1-2 finish at the second round of the AECAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy Spanish National Championship, while Adrian took the TQ honours it was Daniel who took the win by 5-seconds over his sibling. Racing at the Circuito CARTT Fuencarral in Madrid, host track of this year’s European Championships, qualifying would open with the Sworkz of Robert Batlle taking Q1 but fastest over the next three rounds it was Adrian’s Sparko that secure the overall TQ ahead Daniel’s Tekno. Batlle would end up P3 ahead of Round 1 winner and defending Champion Juan Carlos Canas. With no major dramas in the Semi Finals, in the 45-minute final the brothers executed a perfect race with a flawless drive from Daniel netting him the win from Adrian, who won last year’s season finale. Finishing on the same lap as the brothers Canas couldn’t take the challenge to them but adds valuable championship points with a podium finish. Mugen’s David Todd Nieto would finish P4.

Image: Adrian Pariente [Facebook]

April 20, 2026

Zalewski dominates EOS finale, Orlowski double series Champion

Having taken the 2WD win on Friday, Xray’s Bartek Zalewski made it a dominant weekend at the second & final round of the Euro Offroad Series by also taking the 4WD TQ and win. Claiming his first ever EOS win in 2WD, the switch to 4WD at the Hudy Arena hosted event saw the young Polish racer continue his form as he took 3 of the 5 qualifiers to secure pole position. Lining up behind him, having topped two rounds, would be EOS Daun double winner Michal Orlowski with his Schumacher team-mate Daniel Kobbevik completing the Top 3. In the finals on the long 30-second lap times polished dirt track, A1 would see Zalewski win from Kobbevik who got ahead of his team-mate. With both Zalewski and Orlowski dipping into the 29-seconds with their fastest laps in A2, the latter couldn’t do anything to deny his countryman the double as he again took the win. Orlowski would win A3 from Kobbevik and this was the order they would join Zalweski on the podium. Overall, it was Orlowski who became the overall series Champion of both 2WD and 4WD.

Image: Michal Orlowski [Facebook]

April 20, 2026

Champlin & Lemieux win ROAR Carpet Offroad Nationals

Schumacher’s Broc Champlin and Xray’s Chase Lemieux are the 2026 ROAR Carpet Offroad National Champions, Champlin defending his 4WD title while Lemieux becomes the new 2WD Champion. Racing at Maximus R/C Raceway in Seabrook, New Hampshire, it was Champlin who came into the event as the double back tp back defending Champion and qualifying would see the 2WD World Champion line-up P3 for both classes. In 2WD it was Phend who took the TQ over the four qualifiers ahead of team-mate Lemieux. In 4WD, it was Schumacher’s Brennan Schimmel who took the TQ on tiebreak with Lemieux, them both recording two TQ runs each. In 2WD it was Lemieux who took the A1 win ahead of Champlin as Phend dropped to P4 and again getting to the front to win A2, this time aheads of Phend, Lemieux locked in his first National title. With Phend second, Schimmel completed the podium. In 4WD Schimmel converted TQ into an A1 but winning A2 & tasking a later A3 win it was Champlin who tok the overall to retain his title. Despite a rough A2, Schimmel fnished runner-up with Phend taking the final step on the podium.

Image: ROAR Racing [Facebook]

April 19, 2026

Hagberg claims record 9th European 1:12 title

Alexander Hagberg has claimed his 9th EFRA 1:12 European Championship title, the Xray driver surpassing David Spashett as the championship’s most successful driver today in Messina, Italy. In qualifying, Hagberg would open with a TQ run adding three more over the 5 rounds. Topping the third round, defending Champion Marc Rheinard put his Awesomatix second on the grid ahead of Mathias Nedrebo, Simon Lauter and Martin Hudy. A1 would see Hagberg set the fastest lap as he pulled away out front to win the 8-minute encounter by over 4-seconds from Rheinard. A2 would see a lot more action with traffic playing crucial roles in the results. The first incident at the mid point of the race saw Rheinard get collected by Hudy’s car as it bounced off the outside boards on the straight and into the path of the German who was 1-second behind Hagberg at the time. This promoted Norwegian Nedrebo to second 3-seconds back from Hagberg, the Swede looking like the remaining 4-minutes would just be a formality to him taking a record 9th win. Hitting traffic on the penultimate lap, unfortunately contact with 1:8 GT World Champion Alessio Mazzeo would lead to a series of crashes for Hagbeg allowing Nedrebo through along with Jan Ratheisky. Unable to get the places back over the final lap, Hagberg finished P3 and the title race was still open. The final encounter however would see Hagberg lead home Rheinard and Nedrebo and lock in his ninth title 12-years after claiming his first one, also in Italy. Nedrebo would make it an Xray 1-2 with Rheinard completing the podium. It was to be a double title weekend for Xray as Adam Izsay became the new European Spec Champion. Starting from P2 behind the Excelerate of defending Champion Ollie Payne, the Hungarian would win the title thanks to his A1 winning time which gave him the tie-breaker over A3 winner Payne. Winning A2 from P3 on the grid, the Schumacher of Andrea Torregiani completed the podium at Raradise RC Arena.

Image: Alexander Hagberg [Facebook]

April 17, 2026

Zalewski takes first EOS win in Slovakia

Xray’s Bartek Zalewski has taken his first Euro Offroad Series win, the Polish driver securing the 2WD victory today at the Hudy Arena in Slovakia. The back to back 2026 MIBO International 2WD Champion and MKGP double winner, would secure the overall TQ for the second of the 2 races that make up the 2026 EOS. Behind him it was the Schumacher of Round 1 double winner Michal Orlowski with Martin Bayer who became the reigning European 2WD Champion at Xray’s home track completing the Top 3 from Team Associated’s Joona Haatanen. In the finals, the pack could do nothing about Zalewski pace on the polish indoor dirt and he took A1 convincingly. He repeated in A2 to finally secure a win he had been edging closer & closer to. Winning A3 Orlowski made it a Polish 1-2 while second in the closing 2WD encounter allowed Haatanen to complete the podium ahead of David Ronnefalk and Bayer.

Image: EOS [eos.racing]