The 4th and final round of the South African 1/8th off-road championships took place at Mandalay Raceway located in Pietermaritzburg, about one hour north of Durban. The qualifying had Miguel Haasbroek took an unexpected TQ ahead of South African legend Dean Steenmans in 2nd. Warren van der Merwe would round out the top 3.
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HB announce that Andy Moore has signed with HB for another 2 years, to the end of 2016. Andy has been a core member of the on-road racing team since he first joined Team HB and showed his commitment to racing excellence when he gained the ultimate accolade, winning the IFMAR ISTC World Championship in 2006. He is one of the longest-serving members of team HB, and will race the HB Pro 5, R10 and R8 in 2015 and beyond. Here is what Andy has to say about the deal:
I’m extremely happy to be announcing my 2 year contract extension with HB-HPI Racing which will see us working together on- and off-track through until the next On-Road World championships in Beijing, China. Having been a major part of the design, test and development side of our new Pro 5 project, its going to be fun to see customers out there on track after the release and as always Ill be on hand to offer help and support to any racers who need it. Thanks again to Tatsuro Watanabe and Hiro Kasuya for their continued support. See you all at the track.
Source: HPI [hpiracing.com]
Their leading onroad driver since turning pro with the Slovakian manufacturer three years ago, Alexander Hagberg finally rewarded Team Xray by taking his first World title at the 200mm World Championships in Bangkok, Thailand, this evening. Starting from third on the grid, the Swede would drive an impressive 1-hour race to see off strong challenges from both Jilles Groskamp and Top Qualifier Dominic Greiner to win Xray’s second 200mm World title. Starting from 10th on the grid, it was Serpent’s Yuya Sahashi who would finish second 1-lap down with Greiner completing the podium at the Huge RC Circuit.
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After a below expectations qualifying, reigning World Champion Meen Vejrak will defend his 200mm title from 4th on the grid after the 1/4 Final qualifier won his Semi Final to bump up to the 1-hour Main at Huge RC Circuit in Bangkok, Thailand. Starting from 9th on the grid, the KM Racing driver quickly moved his way to the front making a strong pass on fellow 2012 podium finisher Francesco Tironi at the 13-minute mark coming of the sweeper at the end of the straight. Behind, Mugen driver JJ Wang would finish 7.7 seconds in 2nd after a thrilling last minute battle with Tironi, the pair originally battling for the last direct bump up position until Peter Jovanovic had to make a splash & dash on the penultimate lap having been running second. Although the Australian had to wait to see the race times of the second Semi, his pace, as was that of Yuya Sahashi who finished 5th, was good enough to give him one of the 3-fastest race time bump ups.
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Defending World Champion Meen Vejrak is through to the Semi Finals at the 200mm World Championship but it would be a very tense closing minute & a half to the 1/4 Finals for the KM Racing driver. Starting from pole position, due to a disastrous first day of qualifying, the Thai driver had control of the 20-minute encounter leading from man on a mission Peter Jovanovic but as the race reached the closing stages he would struggle to control his H-K1. A heavily loaded 10-car grid, Vejrak’s car would suddenly become nervous to drive, it clear to see he was struggling to keep it on four wheels. Suffering a roll that would lose him over 4-seconds, he would get unlapped by the 3rd place battling pair of Martin Hudy and Robert Pietsch with fastest man on the track Jovanovic going to the front. Tentatively trying to bring the car home, Vejrak would just hold on to finish second ahead of Hudy & Pietsch who such as the World Champion’s loss of pace managed to get the gap down to 2 seconds. One more lap and the outcome could have been very different. Afterwards a clearly relieved Vejrak would find out that the loss of a rear body clip had allowed the body to lift with the opposite side cutting into his rear tyre to cause his handling issues.
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Dominic Greiner is the Top Qualifier for the 200mm World Championships in the Thailand, the Team Serpent driver putting in a stunning drive in the deciding final qualifier at the Huge RC Circuit in Bangkok to secure pole position on his World Championship debut. With just one direct qualifier for the 1-hour Main, the German needed to take Q6 to deny Alexander Hagberg the coveted position and that’s exactly what he did TQ’ing the round from the Swede to tie on points claiming an emotional overall TQ on tie break with the Xray driver. Behind, a strong drive saw Capricorn driver Kyle Branson take the top heat to claim third for the round with his former mentor Mark Green completing the Top 4. For reigning World Champion Meen Vejrak the final qualifier would be his best of the six with the factory KM Racing driver posting the sixth fastest time which leaves him to start his title defence from the 1/4 Finals.
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With the recent addition of Lewis Jones LMR welcome another young talented driver to their team. Lewis has been driving for a few years now and he is getting better each year, in fact so good that he started kicking his dad’s backwards and in doing so, forcing him into retirement and onto the tools for young Lewis. Since then he has improved his driving and his maturity and for 2015 he will pilot an MBX7R along with the range of LMR’s products.
Source: LMR [l-m-racing.co.uk]
Dominic Greiner has TQ’d the penultimate qualifier at the 200mm World Championships in Thailand. The result puts the Serpent driver in contention to become the overall Top Qualifier with him set to go up against Alexander Hagberg in the final round, the Xray driver ending the fifth round second fastest. With Mugen’s Takehiro Terauchi completing the Top 3, the top heat provided plenty of late drama. On a TQ round, Q3 & 4 pace setter Teemu Leino ran out of fuel with 45-seconds still to run. With Dario Balestri taking over at the top of the timing screen he too would once again have run time issues, his Caparicorn coming to a stop on the final lap. This left Mark Green on target to top the round but he would crash out saying afterwards the last lap off was simply down to ‘an old man driving like shit’.
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