April 20, 2024

Neumann takes Q2 at Philippine Masters

Day 2 of qualifying at the Philippine Masters kicked off with another of this year’s event rookies posting a TQ run as Sworkz’ Joern Neumann topped the second of the four qualifiers from Q1 pace setter Alex Bernadzik.  Having seen his Q1 run derailed when he collected another buggy that was on its roof and dropping him back to a P6, the German would have a similar scare in Q2 as he came upon a broken buggy towards the end of the qualifier but this time he got round it without much delay.  At the finish he had 1.7-seconds from a very quick Bernadzik who put in a strong recovery drive following his copybook mistake to the one he survived at the end of his Q1 run yesterday to hang on to the TQ.  Backing up his P2 from yesterday, Atsushi Hara would complete the Top 3 followed by defending Philippine Masters Champion Davide Ongaro, the double World Champion still yet to find his rhythm here in Manila.  The two Ryan’s completed the Top 6, Lutz finishing ahead of Pavidis.

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April 19, 2024

Bernadzik takes opening qualifier at Philippine Masters

Alex Bernadzik got his Philippine Masters debut off to the dream start, the Australian Team Associated driver TQ’ing the opening qualifier at Asia’s biggest annual 1:8 Offroad race.  The 2023 Australian National Champion claimed the first of the four scheduled qualifiers as the only driver to record 9-laps of the challenging Manila track despite a late driver error.  Behind it would be Atsushi Hara who set the second fastest time as he makes his return to 1:8 Buggy competition at the event he has won on previous occasions.  With the 12th edition of the Philippine Masters counting as the second round of the Asian Buggy Championships which kicked off in New Zealand in February, it was Round 1 winner Ryan Lutz who complete the top 3 for Q1 ahead Davide Ongaro and Philippine Masters’ rookies Ryan Pavidis and Joern Neumann.

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April 18, 2024

eSIC 2024 – Announcement

After the successful inaugural running of the Electric Singapore International Challenge (eSIC) last year, the organisers have confirmed the dates for the 2024 edition of the electric touring car races will be 14-15th September.  One week before the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix,  eSIC, which is headed up by Singapore’s top international touring car driver Nicolas Lee and JK Chhua, is jointly organised by the Marine Parade Radio Control Modellers Club and chassis manufacturer Infinity.   With the aim of eSIC to bring back racing in style in Singapore with the creation of one big exciting weekend for the onroad racer, last year’s event saw the Mugen Seiki of former World Champion Ronald Volker take the win ahead of Nicholas Lee and multiple World Champion Naoto Matsukura.  Following the success of the first eSIC race, with with Jilles Groskamp, Viktor Wilck, Simon Nicholson and Gem Chavit among the 100 plus entries in 2023, the 2024 edition is expected to include an even stronger international field.

Source: eSIC [Facebook]


April 17, 2024

2024 Philippine Masters – Preview

Having established itself as Asia’s biggest annual 1:8 Offroad race, the Philippine Masters takes place this weekend in Manila with the 12th edition of the famed race also counting as the second round of the ambitious 4-round Asian Buggy Championships.   Almost 200 entries from 16 countries will battle in out in the capital for top honours in Nitro & Electric Buggy and Nitro Truggy with Team Associated’s 2023 winner Davide Ongaro leading the entry.  The back to back 1:8 Offroad World Champion returns to the Philippine Masters for a fourth time but with his schedule means he’ll arrive just in time for the final seeding round and will have a little bit of catching up to do on his rivals.  After a superb opening round to the Asian Buggy Championships at Counties RC in New Zealand, the best of Asia and Australasia, are joined by drivers from around the world including American Ryan Lutz, the Kyosho driver having taken the win at the season opener in February.  This will be Lutz’s first time to attend the Philippine Masters with Sworkz’ Jorn Neumann, Sparko’s Ryan Pavadis and Team Associated’s Alex Bernadzik also rookies of the Circulo Verde track.  Legend of the sport and former winner of the race Atsushi Hara makes a hugely popular return as does 2023 podium finisher Christian Wolhuter with both drivers running Sworkz buggies.  Others expected to feature over the weekend include Tekno’s Jackson Beale, together with the finds of ABC Round 1, Kiwi duo Logan Toia and Jayden Jamieson.

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April 15, 2024

2024 Speed King Tour Rd1 – Report

The opening round of the Speed King Tour 2024 was held recently at Super RC Omiya indoor tarmac track in Saitama prefecture Japan with Infinity driver Jin Sawada taking the main win from Axon’s Hayato Ishioka.  The popular and competitive electric touring car series is now in its 11th year sand consisting of six rounds travels to circuits across Japan.  Host of Round 1,  the Super RC Omiya track is known for its high bite and the Speed King Tour specific rules specify controlled tyres and prohibit the use of tyre warmer, which are highly favoured by racers in Japan.  A major boost for the series was the participation of RC legend Atsushi Hara at the controls of soon to be release limiteds edition Xpress Execute XQ11 Hara Edition.

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April 15, 2024

Cragg & Hall win at British Championship opener

Chasing his 28th British National Championship title, reigning BRCA 1:10 2WD Offoad Champion Neil Cragg made the perfect start to his quest with victory at the season opener held at Robin Hood Raceway.  In 4WD it was reigning Champion and Team Associated team-mate Tommy Hall who took the win for the perfect start to the 6 round championship.  In 2WD qualifying it was Schumacher’s Josh Holdsworth who secured the TQ from Hall, both drivers topping 2 round each, while behind Cragg secured P3 on the grid ahead of Schumacher’s Lee Martin.  While Holdsworth took A1 from Cragg, the rest of his day didn’t fair well and he ended up 5th overall.  A2 saw a win for Cragg while Hall led them home in A3 but with a 1st & P2 it was Cragg with the overall win from Martin with a pair of second places while Hall’s win and P4 from A1 saw him complete the podium.  Switching to 4WD, it was former European Champion Hall who secured the TQ from Martin, both drivers posting two TQ runs each with Cragg again lining up P3 ahead of Ben Smith.  Despite Martin’s best efforts in A1, Hall took the first two encounters to wrap up the win with Martin get the A3 win to finish runner-up ahead of Cragg.

Image: Schumacher [racing-cars.com] 


April 15, 2024

Ment & Bakla win NSW State Titles

Boasting one of the largest entries for a state titles event in Australia, the 1:10 Offroad NSW State titles took place over the weekend at 2025 IFMAR Offroad World Championship host track Hills Off Road RC Car Club where Team Associated’s Jarod Ment (2WD) and Xray’s Ari Bakla (4WD) took the two big titles up for grabs.  A low/med grip level track using molasses to bind the surface to maintain consistency throughout the day whilst reducing the need for water/blowing of the track, the State Titles attracted in excess of 220 entries with 60+ Mod drivers spread over the 3 day event.  In Saturday’s 4WD action it was Bakla who secured the TQ ahead of the Q1 topping Team Associated of Lachlan Donnelly after he took the remaining 3 of the four rounds as Ment completed the Top 3. In the triple finals Bakla maintained that form to secure the title in A2 with the rest of the podium order ending up the same as how they qualified.  Switching to 2WD on Sunday, qualifying saw three different drivers TQ a round but with his Q4 it was again Bakla on pole followed by Donnelly and Ment.  In the finals however A1 would Donnelly force a pass in the final 30-second to snatch the win from the Top Qualifier.  A2 would see the Top 2 again go at it but contact would drop them both down the order with Ment taking late win.  With all on the line in A3, Bakla would make some early mistakes dropping down the field and releasing the 3 young talents of Donnelly, Ment and Jordan Isergin.  With just over a minute remaining Ment would pull off one of the best passes of the weekend finding a line up the inside after the doubles. Donnelly would hassle Ment for the position right until the final lap where a small mistake would allow Jordan Isergin to take second.  The result gave Ment the title ahead of Donnelly and Bakla.

Source: Mitch on the Mic [Facebook]


April 14, 2024

Orlowski takes back European 1:12 title

Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski has taken back his 1:12 EFRA European Championship title in Sicily, Italy.  Having lost his 2022 title to 8-time Champion Alexander Hagberg last year in Great Britain, the reigning World Champion put in a pretty dominant performance at the Paradise RC Arena securing the TQ ahead of team-mate Ollie Payne as Hagberg’s Xray lined up third for his title defence.  Winning A1 by a convincing margin over former World & European Champion Marc Rheinard, Orlowski wrapped up the title with another win in A2, this time over Hagberg.  With A3 a battle for the other two podium placings, it initially looked like Hagberg would finish runner-up ahead of Rheinard as he crossed the line first but an earlier incident in the race with Payne was reviewed with race officials handing Hagerg 5-second penalty that promoted Rheinard to the A3 win and demoted the Swede to third on the overall podium.  In 1:12 Spec, Simon Lauter secured the TQ with his Awesomatix from Payne and Jan Ratheisky.  In the finals, Ratheisky’s Xray took the first 8-minute encounter.  Lauter was able to convert his pole position into a win in A2 but it was then Payne who won the decider.  In the end, Lauter got the title on tie break from Payne with Ratheisky completing the podium.

View 1:12 Spec podium here