Kyosho’s David Ronnefalk is the early pace setter at the 1:8 Offroad European Championship as the Swede’s combined three fastest laps of the Fehring track put him top of the time sheets at the end of the first day of action in Austria. The reigning European Junior Champion headed a Kyosho 1-2 as Jérôme Aigoin set the second fastest time just ahead of TLR’s Darren Bloomfield.
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There was a very dusty start to 32nd running of the 1:8 Offroad European Championships as drivers took to the Fehring track in Austria today for the first of two free practice runs that make up the opening day’s action for the 5 day event. Forced to abandon the Main final at the Warm-up event back in April due to rain, conditions this time round are extremely dry with a constant cloud of dust hanging over the track. Having also hosted the 1:10 Electric Offroad European Championships just over 3-weeks ago, drivers who competed at those championship said brushes where left at each marshaling post so as the track could be cleaned after each run and this worked well and they are cant see why the same process could not be used this week. Instead the plan for now is to water the track at the end of each night but having been watered last night by the local fire brigade the hot conditions will most likely see any benefit quickly evaporate.
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This week saw EFRA’s annual 1/8th onroad European Championship held in Vila Real, Portugal. Approximately 80 drivers made the trip to the huge track in Vila Real. Built about 10 years ago by the local Government near the local Football stadium this is quite a unique place. The track is long, very fast and very demanding on tires. The average driver has probably spent 22-25 pairs of tires even before the final day. The weather in Vila Real was nice and not too hot with temperatures between 22 and 25 degrees with a nice breeze from time to time.
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Last weekend was the Bill Bridges Benefit Race hosted by “The Track”. The attendance and atmosphere was great. Practice was cut short on Friday due to rain. On Saturday racers enjoyed three rounds of qualifying and main events for both nitro and electric. Adam Drake and Dakota Phend of TLR were in attendance to show their support for good friend and teammate Bill Bridges. Adam TQ’ed both nitro buggy and nitro truggy. Dakotah Phend TQ’ed 2wd modified buggy and qualified second in nitro buggy. Drake won truck and led the buggy final until just before the start of the final lap where he ran out of fuel after having a fifteen second lead. Dakotah took the win and Drake finished second. Dakotah also won 2wd modified buggy. Everyone had a great weekend of racing and hanging out with Bill and his family. Thanks to all the sponsors and Larry from “The Track” for being such a great host.
Source: TLR [tlracing.com]
Reds Racing USA have announced that Californian Brian Thomas has joined their team. Brian will be running the M7T engine for 2012 in 1/8 on-road and most recently finished 3rd at the KO Propo Grand Prix. He also qualified 2nd in both Sedan and 1/8th at the Airtronics Grand Prix where he went on to finish 2nd in Sedan and was leading 1/8th until car issues got the best of him. The Mugen driver brings years of experience to the Reds Factory Team and which will be a huge asset going forward.
Source: Reds Racing [reds-racing-usa.com]
JQ Products is now 3 time Finnish National Champion, having won the first championship back in 2010 with the first THE Car prototype, which included winning the very first race with the JQ Car. Last Year Ari Heinonen won with THE Car, and this year, even though JQ missed the first race of the year, he was able to race the last 3, winning 2 and finishing 3rd in the last one, which was enough to secure the overall Championship. Ari Heinonen was 2nd overall with Kyosho and Teemu Leino 3rd with HB.
Source: JQ Products [jq-products.com]
Round 4 of the 1/10th 200mm Dutch Nationals took place at the MBC de Sluis in Gouda recently. The weather forecast for Saturday was bad with lots rain expected, the Summer in Holland has still to begin. Between the showers on Saturday there was a little time to do some set-up work and driving. A number of drivers, who made the journey despite the forecast had the luck of a dry morning run and after some heavy rain a few drivers could do some practice in the final hour. The forecast for Sunday would give the drivers hope for drier racing on this tight and technical track. During qualification on Sunday morning, drivers were able to do their first rounds in really sunny conditions, however due to limited track action during the past weeks due to bad weather there was little grip on the track. Unfortunately the drivers only had two qualification rounds in the dry to set their best times.
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The last round of the German regional championships took place in Munster last weekend. The race was set to be a thriller with three youngsters, Lars Hoppe, Merlin Depta and Timo Schroeder, with almost the same points in the overall ranking and all in with a chance to take the title of the north German regional champion. Having won the last two rounds, Merlin only had to prevent his two title competitors from winning to take the title. Starting from pole Merlin had Lars behind him and pushing hard from the beginning. Lars flipped his car at the end of the straight and also broke his engine which increased the gap to second. Unfortunately Merlin hit engine problems again, his Max powered Serpent 966 stopping on the main straight. With only Timo Schroeder the only title contender left in the race, he flamed out, which opened the way for ‘1/10th guru’ Ralf Krause to win in front of Friedrich Roehrs and Timo Schroeder. This result would give Merlin Depta the title ahead of Lars Hoppe in 2nd and Timo Schroeder in 3rd.
Source: Serpent [serpent.com]
