Yusuke Sugiura takes back-to-back Nitro Buggy title
The RC Land 23 track in Matsuzaka, Japan played host to the 2018 1/8th Off-road Japan Nationals this past weekend. Defending champion, Yusuke Sugiura (Kyosho/O.S. Engines) took the overall TQ and he also went on to win the A-main final to take a back-to-back title. Yusuke dominated the 60-minute final such that he already had a 1-lap lead some ten minutes into the race and he was able to stretch the lead to two laps with ten minutes to go. Mugen/Ninja’s Kenji Tsuruta would snatch the runner-up spot as Kyosho/O.S. Engines’ Juliya Kajiwara came in 3rd to round out the podium.
Source: O.S. Engines [os-engines.co.jp]
Simon Kurzbuch will defend his Euro Nitro Series title tomorrow at the Season Finale in Italy from pole position. The Shepherd driver made it a clean sweep of qualifying for the 2018 season as he wrapped up his fourth TQ from the championship’s four races. Having suffered a broken front belt in Q3 and title rival Dario Balestri getting the TQ for that round, Kurzbuch had to wait until the final round to bag himself the extra championship point which could prove vital at the end of tomorrow’s 45-minute final. He took the final qualifier ahead of Robert Pietsch and Toni Gruber after a hard pushing Balestri had a mistake in the second half of the qualifier. The Italian will start 2nd with Pietsch third while Andrea Pirani makes it four different manufacturers at the head of the grid. Kurzbuch’s TQ today eliminates Gruber from the title fight, the WRC driver at best being able to equal the leaders points tally with a win but losing out on the tie break. Between himself and Balestri, however, if the Italian wins he must be sure to finish on the podium with a 3rd place giving him his 3rd consecutive title on tie break with the only driver who has previously denied him becoming champion.
