October 6, 2020

Lex Tyler takes 17.5 class victory at Cencal Challenge

The 5th Annual Cencal Challenge was held in Fresno, California this past weekend and with 135 entries it was the biggest race for outdoor racing of 2020. The racing format set to Rocket Round and Triple Mains for each class. In the 17.5 TC division, Jaron Bandy took the top qualifying spot ahead of Xray driver Lex Tyler in 2nd with EJ Evans (Awesomatix) ending up qualifying in P3. Lex Tyler was able to clinch the overall win with victory in A1 and A2 meaning he would site out A3. EJ Evans would claim the runner up spot while TQ man Bandy would have to settle for 3rd.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]


October 5, 2020

Burak Kilick double at Messe(Statt)-Cup Leipzig

This year’s Messse(Statt)-Cup Leipzig, normally held indoors as part of the Modell Hobby Spiel fair, was this year taken outdoors as the Corona virus restrictions meant the original plan couldn’t go ahead. Thankfully the weather was good and the 3-day event hosted by MRC Leipzig went ahead without any problems. Qualifying in 1/8th Nitro saw Burak Kilic (Mugen) take the top spot ahead of Aaron Rönick (Associated) and Johannes Klett, while in EP Buggy, it was again Burak, this time ahead of Sophie Müller (Sworkz) and Steve Krause (Kyosho). The top 3 in EP remained the same after the three 10 minute mains with Burak taking the win ahead of Sophie and Steve. In the 30 minute Nitro final Burak Kilic was again the person to beat and he was joined at the front by his brother Berkan (Mugen), the pairing winning their respective semi finals to line up first and second. Burak would win by under a lap over his brother Berkan with Aaron Rönick completing the podium in 3rd.

Thanks to Abdullah Kilic for the report


October 5, 2020

Max Gotzl takes Rd5 & overall Czech Open series

The 5th and final round of the Czech Open series 2020 took place last weekend at the RC Klub Kolin track. The weather forecast was very promising for the race and we had nice sun all day, but the heavy rains in the days leading up to the event made the track wet even for the race, so there were no problems with dust or low traction. In Nitro Max Gotzl managed to take the TQ with the fastest time in qualifying with his Xray XB8, with Jiri Mara (Sworkz) placed 2nd and Jan Horacek 3rd. In the Ebuggy class Jiri Benes took the TQ in front of Jiri Dvorak and Jan Domansky. The start of the 30 minute main final got off to a rough start for pole sitter Gotzl as he made a mistake on the opening lap, but a few laps later he was able to pass Jiri and finish the race in first place with a comfortable gap. Mara took the runner up spot with Jan Hujer finished 3rd overall. In Ebuggy the top 3 after qualifying had the exact same points after the three finals, but Jiri Dvorak with a faster time took the Win in front of Jiri Benes, and Jan finished 3rd.

Continue reading the report here


October 2, 2020

Ronald Völker joins Mugen Seiki

Having dropped the bombshell on Wednesday that he was leaving Team Yokomo, Ronald Völker has just been confirmed as a Mugen Seiki driver. The former World, European, ETS & Reedy Race Champion will now head Mugen’s EP onroad race team, a move that shows very clearly the ambitions of the Japanese company within this category. Having only entered the ultra competitive touring car class for the first time back in 2017, they have always had a competitive platform but up until now were lacking a tier-1 driver, which they now have with Ronald. Völker, who is currently leading the ETS standings after 3 rounds, will have to adapt quickly to the all new MTC2 if he is to maintain that lead with the 4th round of the series taking place in less than 2 weeks. Mugen had this to say about the new deal:

Mugen Seiki is very proud to announce, that former IFMAR World Champion and multiple European-, National- and ETS-Champion Ronald Völker has joined their electric on-road team! Ronald will bring his amazing speed and all his knowledge into the team and he will campaign the all new MTC2 platform at all upcoming races. We are looking forward to a successful long term partnership with him. “Welcome to the Mugen family Ronald!”

Source: Mugen Europe [mugen.eu]


September 30, 2020

Ronald Volker shock departure from Team Yokomo

In big driver market news, Ronald Volker has announced his shock departure from long time sponsor Yokomo. The German was with the Japanese brand for 11 plus years and won everything there was to win including his World title in China in 2016. Yokomo has gone through some major changes in the passed 12 months with the famous marque changing owners and with Volker handling the onroad team activities alongside driver duties, this will leave a big hole in their team. Ronald gave the following statement:

After more than 11 years, from now on I am no longer part of Yokomo anymore! It was my decision to leave and my decision to look for a new challenge. I can not really describe how thankful I am for taking the opportunity back in 2009 to join Yokomo under Mr. Yokobori and to be able to stay for so many years. I grew in that period as a better driver and person in our wonderful RC World. Together we came a long way which personally highlighted in winning a World Championship and multiple European and ETS Championships, Nationals and many other events. Additionally we had developed some amazing cars within a great team and I had the chance to meet tons of people worldwide and collect so much experience which I never even have dreamed of.


September 30, 2020

Kev Lee joins Schumacher Racing

Schumacher Racing have announced that Kev Lee has joined their offroad team. Kev brings vast experience and great speed to the table, being a previous EFRA Euro’s A finalist, multiple BRCA National winner and regular top 10 performer. Kev will be seen at popular UK events including Worksop, Silverstone, BRCA Regionals and Nationals, all subject to COVID restrictions and he had the following to say.

I last raced for Schumacher in the late 90s and early 2000s and have fond memories of the team and cars of the time, so I’m really excited to return. The cars on offer at the moment are strong contenders in all classes, and with the continual development, from the factory and the team, I’m certain they will continue to be so. I’m looking forward to getting stuck in.

Source: Schumacher [racing-cars.com]


September 28, 2020

Hupo Honigl is double Austrian Champion 2020

The 2020 Austrian EP offroad Nationals was hosted by the RMC Wien track in Ebreichsdorf and due to Covid restrictions was condensed into a single event. Qualifying saw a battle between the Xray trio of Hupo Honigl, Ádám Izsay and Lucas Grainer, with the multiple European Champion Honigl coming out on top in both the 2wd and 4wd classes. In the finals it was more of the same from Honigl as he would take the win in both classes with the podium also identical in both classes as Grainer took 2nd and Izsay 3rd.

Source: Xray [teamxray.com]


September 22, 2020

Max Gotzl is double 2020 Czech National Champion

The 3rd and 4th round of 2020 1/8 Czech Nationals took a place last weekend at the home track of Max Gotzl in Horni Jeleni. The nice weather forecast promised a good racing weekend, which it was. On the 3rd round on Saturday Gotzl was able to set the overall TQ with Ebuggy straight after Q1 and Q2, Ales Bidovsky lined up 2nd and Mirek Koutek 3rd on the A main grid. With Nitro Martin Bayer took Q1, but Max managed to win Q2 and Q3 to take the overall TQ in Nitro as well. In the finals Xray driver Gotzl was able to win all three A mains in Ebuggy with at least one lap gap over 2nd placed Ales and Martin Milowsky who took the last step on the podium overall.

Continue reading the report here


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