May 28, 2018

Davide Ongaro takes early Italian Nitro Buggy title

For round 3 of the Italian 1/8th Nitro Buggy National Championship racers travelled to the Balocco track over the weekend. In the Expert class Team Associated’s Davide Ongaro continued on his great 2018 form with a TQ and win, with the later also secured him the overall title after winning three out of three rounds so far. Davide ended the 45-minute A-main encounter some two laps in front of Xray’s Marco Baruffolo as Mugen Andrea Trevisan came in 3rd, another lap down. Tekno’s Alex Zanchettin lead the best of the rest in 4th.

Source: ModellismoRC [modellismorc.net]


May 28, 2018

Robert Batlle wins challenging Spanish Buggy Nats Rd2

Round 2 of the Spanish 1/8th Nitro Buggy National Championship was held this past weekend at the El Alamo track in challenging conditions. Heavy rain in the build-up to the event meant the club had to work hard to make the race happen but ultimately and after using a lot of sawdust to making the track race-worthy, the event would take place. The opening rounds were held on a very muddy track and the qualifiers would see three different winners in the form of Bryan Baldo, Daniel Vega and Juanma Guillen, however due to incidents on and off the track and penalties given after the qualifiers, none of the three would take the overall TQ that was handed to Robert Batlle from Oscar Baldo 2nd and Ricard Monteiro 3rd. Following a couple of controversies after the semifinals, the 45-minute main final would ultimately take place and in the end it was Robert Batlle with a tone-to-tone win one lap ahead of Oscar Baldo as Oscar Navarro rounded out the top 3, some ten seconds short of Baldo.

View the final results here


May 27, 2018

Rheinard closes on 7th Reedy title as Volker suffers DNF

Marc Rheinard is looking good for his 7th Reedy Race of Champions title after the 10th round of racing saw the Infinity driver claim a 2nd place while rival Ronald Volker suffered a mechanical DNF.  Having eked out a 1-point lead with a win in the previous round, the duo lined up in the same race with Volker starting third and Rheinard 7th but unfortunately for Volker his race would last only 7-laps while he was running 2nd.  Having just put in the fastest lap of the race, the Yokomo driver suffered a front drive shaft failure, the World Champion conceding afterwards the his title hopes are now over despite two races remaining.  For Rheinard, who just ran out of time to put a move on race winner Rick Hohwart, the result gives him a two point point advantage meaning Volker needs to win the remaining two races.  In the other battle of this, the final running of the Reedy Race at the iconic Tamiya Raceway which will no longer be after September, it was also a bad round for Volker’s team-mate Christopher Krapp. In a fight with Viktor Wilck for the final podium place, he momentarily took the lead from Akio Sobue only to make a mistake and end the race 6th. Sobue would take the second win of the morning ahead of Wilck, moving the Infinity driver into contention for the overall podium.  In the opening race of the round Brandon Clements took full advantage of his pole starting position to register his first win of the event ahead of fellow Americans Julian Wong and Sam Isaacs.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.


May 27, 2018

Contrasting morning for Rheinard and Volker

It was a contrasting start to the final day of racing at the 21st Reedy Race of Champions for joint overnight points leaders Marc Rheinard and Ronald Volker. Reigning Champion Rheinard would have the perfect start coming up the grid to claim his fifth win of the event while Volker dropped to third from a front row starting position.  In the first race of the day, early contact at the front of the grid allowed Rheinard to shoot into the lead and pull clear of the field with his race time now giving the Infinity driver the tiebreaker – the combined time of his fastest three races.  For Volker, he started alongside pole sitter Jan Ratheisky but the Xray driver drove a great race keeping the World Champion at bay.  Ratheisky’s second win of the event, this one clearly meant a lot to the friendly German. Struggling with his Yokomo in the cold overcast morning conditions at Tamiya Raceway, Volker then got off line allowing team mate Christopher Krapp to slip through for second.  The result means with three races left, and drivers two permitted drops taken out, Rheinard holds a 1-point advantage.  In the other race of Round 9, Akio Sobue took his second win of the event ahead of a Brandon Clements who had a great battle with Randy Caster, Ryan Cavalieri and David Jun.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.


May 27, 2018

Volker & Rheinard tied going into final day at Reedy Race

The stage is set for the Reedy Race of Champions to bid a thrilling farewell to Tamiya Raceway tomorrow, with today’s action ending with two of the legendary race’s most successful drivers tied on points.  Having eked out a one point advantage with a win over Volker in Round 7, the 8th & final round of racing today saw Volker reverse that result but only after an unfortunate Akio Sobue went out of the race while leading.  Starting from pole, the Infinity driver had a comfortable lead over Volker and Rheinard, who both survived separate crashes in the opening corners of the race, but with a minute to go his camber link worked its way loose coming off in the kink to end the Japanese driver’s chances of a second win.  This left Volker who started 5th to take the win ahead of Rheinard who started from the back and going into the final four races tomorrow they both have four wins each to share the lead on 8 points although on current tiebreaker it is advantage Volker.  Looking more podium contenders rather than outright title winners, the final race of the day would see Viktor Wilck and Christopher Krapp go up against one another, both starting from the back row. A delighted Jan Ratheisky would get his first win of the event ahead of pole sitter Sam Isaacs with Wilck getting 3rd and Krapp fourth, a result that both drivers have as a counting drop in the latest standings.  In the other race, Ryan Cavalieri added a second win to his tally with a dominant victory ahead of Meen Vejrak and Keven Hebert.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.


May 27, 2018

Rheinard goes to the top at RROC with win No.4

Marc Rheinard has moved to the top of the points standings for the first time at the Reedy Race of Champions, the Infinity driver notching up his fourth win at the 21st running of the legendary race in the seventh round of racing.  Starting from pole, it was another important win for the reigning champion as both Ronald Volker and Christopher Krapp were in the same heat.  Even better for Rheinard was the fact his main challenge came from Krapp as Volker was delayed getting through the field and could only manage 3rd, his lowest finish so far.  As a result of the win, Rheinard now holds a 1-point lead over Volker going into the final race of Day 2’s action.  The other significant result from the round came in Race 3 as Viktor Wilck saw off a challenge from Jilles Groskamp to register his third win moving him back up to third in the points ahead of Krapp.  Having taking a popular win the day’s opening round of racing, David Jun claimed another in Round 7 becoming only the 5th driver with multiple wins, the Team Associated driver joking afterwards ‘they are two wins more than I was expecting’.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.


May 26, 2018

All square at the Reedy Race halfway mark

It is all square at the end of the first half of racing at the Reedy Race of Champions with reigning champion Marc Rheinard and Ronald Volker on the same points when dropped rounds are taken into account.  The sixth of the 12 rounds of heads up racing at Tamiya Raceway, would see Rheinard take a win to match Volker’s tally of three wins.  With Volker lining up in a separate race, the duo having went up against one another in the previous two rounds, the Yokomo driver couldn’t find a way passed Viktor Wilck getting a P2 from 7th on the grid.  For Wilck his win would see him join the list of multiple winners along with Meen Vejrak.  After a rough Day 1 of racing, Vejrak made it two out of two in California this morning winning ahead of Jilles Groskamp to move up to third in the points equal with Christopher Krapp who maintained his run of Top 3 finishes despite starting P8.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.


May 26, 2018

Volker starts Day 2 with another important win ahead of Rheinard

Ronald Volker has started off the second day of racing at the Reedy Race of Champions with an important win, the Yokomo driver clocking up win No.3 ahead of arch rival Marc Rheinard.  Lining up on the front row for the Round 5 encounter with Rheinard and Akio Sobue also on the grid, Volker took two laps to find a way passed pole sitter Andy Moore before pulling clear of the field.  Looking on target to cruise to the win as Rheinard worked his way through from his P5 starting position, Volker then had a spin in the kink but such was his lead all still seemed to be under control for the World Champion, but it wasn’t.  A few laps later he would have an even bigger moment which was Rheinard’s opportunity but as the Infinity driver went for the pass he rolled allowing Volker to resume his lead as Rheinard found himself under attack from team-mate Sobue but the order remainder unchanged to the finish.  Ending the first day of racing 3rd in the standings, Christopher Krapp would come through from the back row to finish second in the opening race of the day as 2015 podium finisher Meen Vejrak posted his first win of the 2018 event.  In a somewhat crazy Race 3 in which the kink lived up to its infamous reputation, David Jun showed the youth how it is done to take the win, despite being in a last lap pile-up, ahead of Ryan Cavalieri and points contender Viktor Wilck.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.