August 5, 2013

5th annual Summer Showdown – Report

5th annual Summer Showdown – Report

The fifth annual running of the Summer Showdown was at Clark RC Park just outside of Reeseville, WI. Running the show and on the microphone once again was the one and only Scotty Ernst, who ran a flawless program. The combination of a well groomed track and perfect weather all day made for great racing from qualifying to the A-Main. Qualifying was close and many TQ’s were set in the final round. 1/10 2wd Buggy saw Cole Tollard put on a display of amazing driving with his Associated buggy and take the TQ as the only driver to get a 9 lap run in the class. The main was not much different with Cole out pacing the field to take home the win. 2nd place would go to Michael Meister and 3rd place would be Ted Schmidt.

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August 3, 2013

SouthWest Championship Series Rd5 report

SWCS Rd5

The first-ever R/C onroad race event at the famous Circuit of the Americas F1 track in Austin, Texas took place over last weekend. Coordination on the part of HobbytownUSA Austin, the SouthWest Championship Series Committee, and several R/C racing enthusiasts at the Circuit of the Americas made this event possible.  Both nitro and electric classes were run, which made for an exciting and unique experience.

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July 31, 2013

Carsten Keller wins EFRA GP in Bischofsheim

Carsten Keller wins EFRA GP in Bischofsheim

The well-known Rhein-Main-Circuit in Bischofsheim played host for the German EFRA 1/8th nitro buggy GP. The race was set as a pre-warm-up for the club and the German RC car association as the track will be the place of next year’s EFRA European Championship. Just before the meeting the track received some make-overs here and there in the form of a new pit exit and some updated curbs but overall the Rhein-Main-Circuit was well known for most of the driver that came from all over Europe including Finland, the UK, Switzerland, Austria and of course Germany. Friday was set a the practice day and most of the drivers made good use of the chance to adopt their cars, engines and tyres to the scorching hot temperatures. Saturday saw the qualifiers and at the end it was JQ Products’ own Joseph Quagraine who took TQ in front of Kyosho’s Martin Hansen who had Simon Esser (Xray) and Carsten Keller (Kyosho) in tow.

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July 31, 2013

Nitro-West-Masters mid-season report

Nitro-West-Masters mid-season report

The second half of the Nitro-West-Masters 2013 will start with round four held at the Velp track in the Netherlands this coming weekend. Located close to the German boarder the Velp track is of a challenging layout and 260 metres long. It is the fifth year of this popular championship mainly run in Western Germany and it is only the second time this nitro series is going abroad of Germany. With no official licence being needed the Nitro-West-Masters is a class for everybody and the tyres are open with additives strictly forbidden. The racing format is the same as in previous years with three seven minute heats and the three best consecutive laps to count for the qualifiers. The race format sees four direct qualifiers and the race is run in Sunday with the Saturday being the official practice day.

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July 30, 2013

Adam Drake doubles at Top Notch Tour Rd1

Adam Drake doubles at Top Notch Tour Rd1

The first stop of the Top Notch Tour took place at Thunder Alley Raceway. Sik Track Designs put in fresh layout for the event and TLR/Novarossi/Pro-Line driver Adam Drake TQ’ed both rounds of qualifying in the Pro Buggy class. Drake took the victory in the 30 minute final followed by Mark Pavidis and Colby Poh. In the Money Buggy class Drake didn’t run the qualifiers and start in the back for the 25 minute final, but quickly moved his way to the front and took the win followed by Jeremy Kortz and Colby Poh.

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July 29, 2013

Drake double at Bring the Heat race

Drake double at Bring the Heat race

The third annual Bring The Heat Race was held at Flowood R/C Indoor Park in Flowood, Mississippi July 19-21. TLR’s Adam Drake TQ’d and won both Buggy and Truggy. Adam’s tire of choice for qualifying was Pro-Line’s M3 Holeshot 2.0 in buggy and M3 Holeshot in truck. For the 45 minute finals Adam switched to Pro-Line’s M3 Blockades in both classes. Adam’s engine of choice was Novarossi’s Keep Off 4 in the buggy class and the Keep Off 7 in truck. Both engines provided great power, runtime and consistency for the 45 minute finals.

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July 29, 2013

Baird & Rennick win at Irish off-road nats Rd2

Baird & Rennick win at Irish off-road nats Rd2

Round two of the Irish 1/8th off-road nationals was held on a new track to the Irish calendar in Southern Ireland, Cork. The qualifying consisted of four seven minute heats and in the nitro buggy class Bradley Baird (JQ/nVision) TQ’d all four rounds and locked up qualifying. In the electric class JQ Products’ driver Andrew Rennick put in three consistent runs which put him third in the electric main. In the 45 minute nitro main, Bradley got off to a clean start and within the first 15 minutes he managed to pull a one lap lead over second place. As the final went on the tricky Cork surface began to rut up and become like a motocross track which made great racing and caught out the unprepared. Bradley kept it together to the end and claimed round two victory followed by Gary Baird (Kyosho/Bullett) and Alan Scroggie (Agama/Bullett). In the electric final it was a three battle for the lead with great racing right to the buzzer which saw Andrew Rennick take his JQ E car to the top step of the podium.

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July 28, 2013

Groskamp wins 2013 1/8th European Championships

Groskamp wins 2013 1/8th European Championships

Jilles Groskamp has become the 2013 1/8th Track European Champion here in Halifax after a thrilling final saw him take the win after a race long battle with Brit Kyle Branson, Dario Balestri completed the podium. The finals day in Halifax began with a dry track, something that hadn’t happened many times during the week. Hot temperatures began the day but by the time the semi finals were out on track, it had cooled slightly. In the first semi final, Dario Balestri took a dominating win ahead of his Capricorn team mate Daniele Ielasi and Simon Kurzbuch’s Shepherd. Balestri finished on 78 laps in 1208.48 seconds with Ielasi on 77 laps in 1205.55 seconds with Kurzbuch just .91 seconds behind. Adrian Bertin took the final definite place with the new KM prototype car but Patrick Schafer would have to wait and see if he had made the final.  The second semi final proved to be a much closer affair with Mark Green taking the win just .32 seconds ahead of the Shepherd of Groskamp. 3rd and 4th in the Semi A, to definitely book their place in the final, were Motonica’s Robin D’Hondt and Mugen’s Kyle Branson. A noticeable person missing from the final would be Robert Pietsch with the German taking his Novarossi powered Mugen to 8th position. Green’s run of 78 laps in 1201.95 seconds proved to be a whole 7 seconds faster than Dario’s winning time in the Semi B, putting Mark on pole for the 45 minute main final.

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