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April 28, 2023

Ongaro takes Q1 after late Batlle mistake

Davide Ongaro has taken the opening round of qualifying at the Philippine Masters but only after a late mistake from top seed Robert Batlle. The last lap error would not only cost Batlle the TQ but also allow Micha Widmaier to jump him on the timing screen at the end of the 5-minute qualifier. The only driver to lay down a 38-second lap time in the first of the four scheduled rounds of qualifying, Batlle had a comfortable gap over his rivals and was taking a cautious approach to his final lap when he caught some dirt on the track causing the first of two mistakes that left him with a 49-second final lap! Behind the Top 3, Aaron Dexter, who is running in the second fastest heat, would post the fourth fastest time ahead of local Manila driver Dino Jacinto with young Aussie Jak Parsey completing the Top 6.

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April 28, 2023

Batlle sets pace at Philippine Masters

Robert Batlle is the top seed for the Philippine Masters, the factory Mayako driver topping the single round of controlled practice from Davide Ongaro on the challenging Manila track. With Race Director Scotty Ernst making the call to reduce the counting consecutive laps from the traditional 3 to 2 given the challenge of putting together 3 clean laps, Batlle’s best effort was 1:57.225 compared to the 1:58.176 of the race’s former Champion Ongaro. Sworkz Micha Widmaier made it an all European Top 3 followed by local driver Daniel Miranda with Australian Jackson Beale completing the Top 5 from fellow countryman Jak Parsey.

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April 28, 2023

Philippine Masters – Track Focus

The Philippine Masters is back and is live in Manila today with a track best described as ‘challenging’. Located in the capital city, the very 3D looking track is the creation of top Philippines driver Edward Sio, one of the people behind the Philippine Masters since its inception in 2015. Having to move the track location a few hundred metres from its previous home, one of the stand out features of the move is the massive three story driver stand. With the new track built during Covid restrictions, the reason for the massive structure was to meet the then guidelines on the spacing of people so each floor was used as pit area to ensure everyone was spaced apart. Made from the same dirt of the original track, the build took 45-days. Building the track to how Edward wanted it and rolling it to a flat surface, they then dug up around a foot into the top layer to allow for the all important bonding of final race surface. Giving the 30 degree plus temperatures in Manila, just spraying the top layer would not last as the top layer would eventually break and reveal a dusty dry dirt. Instead they soaked the loose 1-foot deep top layer with a mixture of molasses and glue before rolling to the finish they wanted.

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April 28, 2023

Kobbevik makes it 3 in a row in Spring Cup

Schumacher driver Daniel Kobbevik made it 3 in a row at the fourth round of the indoor 2WD Buggy ‘Spring Cup’ hosted by Grimstad RC Klubb in Arendal, Norway. The 18-year-old missed the opening round of the series, but the latest result moves him up to second in the overall standings behind the Team Associated of Halvor Gran who will have to drop a round once 5 of the 7 rounds have been completed. At Round 4, Kobbevik took the TQ with his LRP powered Cougar LD2 in front of Gran and Bastian Andreassen in third. Securing the win in the opening two Mains it was an early win for Kobbevik with his rivals going to A3 to decide the rest of the podium. Halvor had two second places and Bastian had two third places, and Jorgen Sohagen had two four places, so it was all about the win for all those guys. Unfortunately Bastian was unlucky and broke his car with Halvor taking the win while Jorgen Sohagen came second to put his Schumacher on the podium.

Source: Magne Kobbevik

April 26, 2023

Philippine Masters returns & kicks off all new Asian Buggy Championships

The excitement is building in Manila ahead of this weekend’s Philippine Masters which returns following a forced Covid break of more than 2-years. Asia’s premiere 1:8 Offroad race, a capacity entry will battle it out in both nitro Buggy and Truggy to become the latest champion of the established event. Adding to the excitement of the weekend is that the Philippine Masters will kick off the brand new Asian Buggy Championships that has been created by Scotty Ernst, a figure who was instrumental in helping take the Philippines Masters from a local race to one which has brought some of the worlds best drivers to the capital city. This year is no exception with back to back World Champion Davide Ongaro leading the entry for Team Associated. While the Italian will be here to embrace the country’s tagline, ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’, he is also here to win but will have to work for it as he will be joined by former World Champion Robert Batlle.

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April 26, 2023

BRCA 2WD Onroad Nationals R1 Adur – Report

The first round of this year’s BRCA 2WD Onroad National Championships took racers to the Adur circuit. After a nice day practice day on Saturday, overnight rain meant a slight delay to proceedings and with the rain continuing on and off there was likely to be a few surprises. In F1 qualifying it was the Luke Lee show taking all three qualifying rounds with his Xray from brother Michael’s Schumacher with James Greener lining up third with his Xray. The finals saw a repeat performance with Luke taking all three legs for the overall win with young Jonathan Ellis taking third overall with his Xray by virtue of a brace of thirds. In FWD, the first round of qualifying went to a surprised Jamie Donovan with his ARC R12FF from Alex Bold’s Mugen MTC2 FWD and Aaron Rose’s Schumacher. Alex took rounds 2 and 3 to secure pole from Jamie and Aaron. The first leg of the final’s saw Alex take the win from Dale Burr. The second leg saw a 1-2 for the Schumacher duo of Aaron and Jamie Hickin, so all down to the final leg to decide it. It was Alex who took the win with Jamie bouncing back in second and Aaron in third. So, the overall win went the way of Alex and his Mugen from Aaron and Jamie.

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April 24, 2023

Balestri wins EFRA GP

Dario Balestri took the 1:8 win at the EFRA GP race in Leno, Italy, over the weekend, the Infinity driver leading home the ARC of Silvio Hächler and Capricorn of Mirko Salemi. In qualifying, it was Balestri who took the TQ ahead of fellow World Champion Simon Kurzbuch with Francesco Tironi, Hächler and Toni Gruber making up the Top 5 places on the grid. In the 45-minute final it was Balestri who control the race taking victory from Hächler, a late mistake from team-mate Tironi ending the potential for an Infinity 1-2 finish. Having come through from the last chance final to secure P11 on the grid, Salemi came through to complete the podium.

Image: Dario Balestri [Facebook]

April 24, 2023

Phend & Rivkin take ROAR Carpet Offroad National titles

Dakotah Phend and Spencer Rivkin took the three main titles at this year’s ROAR Electric Carpet Off-Road Nationals over the weekend. Hosted by Beachline Raceway in Florida, in qualifying it would be Phend who would take the TQ for both buggy classes, the 2WD pole position decided on tie breaker with Rivkin who would claim the TQ in Mod truck. In 2WD Finals, reigning World Champion Rivkin would get by his rival in A1 and repeat that in A2 to clinch the title early. Behind Phend in second Schumacher’s Broc Champlin would complete the overall podium. In 4WD, Phend, having taken the TQ ahead of Xray’s Ty Tessmann, was untouchable in A1 and 2 securing the title ahead of 4th place qualifier Champlin and Rivkin with Tessmann ending up 4th. In Mod Truck, Phend got the better of pole sitter Rivkin while Champlin made it a trio of podiums in Florida.

Image: ROAR [Facebook]