October 25, 2018

Matusukra opens Day 2 of qualifying with first TQ run

Naoto Matsukura has opened the second day of qualifying at the 1:10 20mm World Championships in Miami with a TQ run.  Having opened qualifying with a P2 but having had issues in Q2 and 3 yesterday, the Infinity driver bounced back in the 4th round to top the times from team-mate Andy Moore.  Continuing Infinity’s reign at the top of qualifying, Matsukura’s TQ is the first 24-lap run of the Homestead RC Raceway with his advantage over Moore over 2-second.  Unfortunately having TQ’d the opening two rounds of qualifying and ending the day with a P2, Dario Balestri could not continue his form as he got his car hooked up in a corner board which cost him over 6-seconds.  Third fastest would be Dominic Greiner, the reigning champion posting a new fastest pitstop of the weekend of 4.2-seconds as pitman Klaus Lechner bettered the previous record set in the heat before by Moore’s pitman Trin NungGai. The big improver of the Q4 would be Teemu Leino, the European Champion who had a best of a P10 from yesterday setting the fourth fastest time ahead of Tadahiko Sahashi and Francesco Tironi.

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


October 25, 2018

Moore TQs third round at World Championships

Having impressed with a P2 in the second round of qualifying at the 200mm World Championships, Andy Moore went one better in Day 1 of qualifying’s final round to TQ Q3 ahead of reigning champion Dominic Greiner by 15/100ths of a second.  Running the second fastest heat, the Infinity driver took advantage of the cooler track conditions to set the fastest time of the day bettering Dario Balestri’s best time from the opening two qualifiers by 3-seconds and just missing out on completing 28-laps of the Homestead RC Raceway.  Third for the round would go to Balestri, the Italian having an impressive day to hold the overnight provisional TQ with two fastest runs and a P3.  After problems in the opening two qualifiers, Robert Pietsch ended the day with P4 ahead of Tadahiko Sahashi with Francesco Tironi completing the Top 6.

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


October 24, 2018

Another TQ run from Balestri in Florida

Dario Balestri has produced another TQ run at the 1:10 200mm World Championship in Florida.  Having admitted himself to being surprised at taking the opening round of qualifying this morning, the Infinity driver once again topped the second of the 7-minute qualifiers by 2/10ths, this time round ahead of team-mate Andy Moore.  Having been disqualified from Q1 after setting the fourth fastest time, Shoki Takahata would keep his time this time round to complete the Top 3.  P2 in the first round, an early mistake put Naoto Matsukura out of contention while Top Seed Lamberto Collari continued to have engine issues only this time they meant he did not even take the start.  For reigning champion Dominic Greiner it was to be another 4th for the round with improvements from Toni Gruber and Jilles Groskamp seeing them complete the Top 6.

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


October 24, 2018

Balestri takes opening qualifier at 200mm Worlds

Dario Balestri has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the 1:10 200mm World Championships in Miami, Florida.  Only 10th in seeding, just making it into the top heat, the reigning 1:8 World Champion topped the first of the six qualifier by 4/10ths of a second from Infinity team-mate Naoto Matsukura.  With the 8th running of the nitro touring car Worlds now featuring 7-minute qualifier, an impressive run from Simon Kurzbuch saw him take P3 after he ran the full distance without stopping for fuel. For Dominic Greiner he opened his title defence with a P5 run which later became P4 when Shoki Takahata was disqualified.  The Japanese driver fell foul of the body ruling that no two openings can be closer than 5mm and in his case he had only a 4mm gap between the rear window and roof hole for the glowplug.  Jesse Davis would set the fifth fastest time with Tadahiko Sahashi completing the Top 6.  Having topped seeding on his 200mm Worlds debut, Lamberto Collari could only manage the 12th fastest time in Q1 reporting afterwards that he had a glowplug issue that meant he couldn’t get a good tune on his engine.

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


October 24, 2018

Cragg & Austin win at EMAS Series Rd2

The second round of the EMAS series was held at NDOR in the East Midlands. This series is a joint venture between the Deerdale Off Road and NDOR club and is local series for local drivers. The day’s racing consisted of a round of practice and then three rounds of qualifying. The Nitro Buggy A-final was an intense race with battles going on throughout the whole race. However after 15 minutes Neil Cragg took the win with an impressive time of 24/15m 26.33. Kieran Cox took 2nd place with an equally impressive time of 24/15m 40.51, Dave Bailey took 3rd place with a time of 22/15m 0.93. In the E-Buggy A-main Dan Austin took the win a entire lap in front of the rest of field. David Corden took 2nd place and Matt Bridge took 3rd place overall. The third round will be at Deerdale Off Road on the 25th November.

View the E-Buggy podium here


October 24, 2018

Collari is top seed at 1:10 200mm Worlds

Lamberto Collari is the top seed for qualifying at the 1:10 200mm World Championships in Miami, Florida.  Making his Worlds debut in the nitro touring car class the legend of 1:8 Onroad secured the top seeding after both he and Infinity team-mate Naoto Matsukura, another class rookie, set identical times in the today’s fourth & final round of controlled practice. With Collari’s CP2 topping time quicker than that of Matsukura’s fastest time from CP1, it was the Italian who got the tie break over the Japanese driver.  Behind, Tadahiko Sahashi made it an Infinity 1-2-3 in seeding with another Top 3 run in CP4 while Robert Pietch also matched his best run of the day, a 4th, in the cooler evening conditions of the final round to be seeded 4th. Former champion Meen Vejrak ended the day 5th overall in front of reigning champion Dominic Greiner who after CP4 seemed a lot happier than he was earlier in the day.

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


October 24, 2018

Takahata sets CP3 pace at Homestead

Shoki Takahata has put his Mugen at the top of the time sheets in the 3rd round of controlled practice at the 1:10 200mm World Championships in Homestead, Florida.  The Japanese driver posted the 2nd fastest time of the day over 3-consecutive laps to top the round from fellow countryman Naoto Matsukura by 7/100th of a second.  Behind, Simon Kurzbuch made a big improvement to set the third quickest time ahead of Teemu Leino who also made a big step forward in terms of pace.  With his CP2 time still standing as the fastest of the day with one round of controlled practice remaining, Lamberto Collari would end the third round 17th fastest with a body change causing his Infinity to become unstable in the rear.  It would also be a difficult round for reigning World Champion Dominic Greiner who was only marginally quicker in P15.

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