Following some apparent confusion over the new EFRA ruling that sees the length of European Championship and Grand Prix qualification heats to 7 minutes, EFRA 1/10th section chairman Franky Noens has issued a clarification on the rule 2.4 of these new guidelines. The updated ruling states that ‘a pitstop, refuelling is mandatory’ in a 7 minute heat, wording that was not initially included in the rule.
Click here to read the full clarification
Gene Hickersen sent us the following report from the 3rd round of the ROAR Florida State Off Road Series hosted by Hurricane R/C Club in Lutz Florida. This is usually the largest race in FL every year and 2009 was no exception with 196 entries. All of the best drivers in the South East were there to test their skills on the tight & technical layout at the world famous Lake Park track. Thursday night brought some rain, which kept the moisture in the track all weekend for the blackest blue groove I have ever seen. Team VP Pro USA was in attendance with myself, Joey Perez, and even Ryan Lopez driving down all the way from Georgia. Jason Rouna and JR Mitch from J-Concepts were there as well as Leon McIntosh from Pro-line and Ryan Eckert from AKA Tires and many other fast drivers from various manufactures.
Team Orion have announced that Cody King has joined their factory team. Cody has been a long running force to be reckoned with in the world of off road and can be generally found in the A-main at any race he chooses. Cody will be running Team Orion Alpha engines and Marathon receiver packs, as well as the company’s award winning LiPos and Vortex brushless motors in his various Kyosho buggies and trucks.
Source: Team Orion [teamorion.com]
Following on from Saturday’s exciting truggy final in which the winner was decided in the very dying moments of the race, Sunday saw the turn of the buggy racers to have their finals. Starting off from pole position in the main Jared Tebo battled early on with Mike Truhe and Ryan Maifield, until Truhe made a break for it with his Losi 8ight. Mike controlled the race for a long time until Tebo managed to claw his way to the front in the late stages forcing the 2 of them to battle it out. With 5 minutes to go, disaster struck for Truhe having to retire with technical issues and following this it looked as if the Kyosho/Orion driver had it in the bag. Ryan Maifield had other plans though and was catching the leader, and when Tebo flipped the car and lost time, Ryan was right on his tail and after some close racing Maifield snatched the lead away and won by just over a second, with Tebo 2nd and truggy winner Ryan Cavalieri in 3rd.
Source: Neo Buggy [neobuggy.net]
The finals for the truggy racers took place on Saturday, following their qualifying runs on Thursday which saw Team Associated//Orion driver Ryan Cavalieri take pole position. The start of the A-main saw trouble for 6th placed starter Ryan Maifield, whose Associated RC8 required some attention just prior to the start, but even so was able to jump into the lead early in the race, with pole main Cavalieri giving chase. The final stayed in this order until the last lap when RC, who had pulled in a substantial gap, was able to make the move, which stuck, and led the most important lap of the race to take the win, with Maifield taking 2nd and Losi driver Adam Drake coming up to 3rd.
Source: Neo Buggy [neobuggy.net]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpwws-Q9Ens[/youtube]
Following Thrusday’s truggy qualifying at ‘The Dirt’ Nitro Challenge, the buggy guys got on the track for their qualifying runs on Friday and it was Kyosho/Orion racer Jared Tebo that took the top qualifier spot, having topped the timing sheets in the first 2 of 3 rounds of qualifying. Losi driver Mike Truhe, who was quickest in round 3 placed his GRP powered 8ight buggy on the 2nd spot for Sunday’s A-main, ahead of Associated driver Ryan Maifield in 3rd and Cody King 4th. Saturday sees the truggies take to the track for their finals day and we hope to bring you a round up as we get the information.
Click here to see the final buggy standings
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5LAJAMUNSo[/youtube]
Pro Truggy qualifying has been completed at ‘The Dirt’ Nitro Challenge in Arizona, and it was last years double winner Team Associated/Orion racer Ryan Cavalieri that has taken the TQ spot ahead of Losi/GRP racer Mike Truhe in 2nd, while Travis Amezcua, driving the not yet released Hot Bodies D8T is sitting in 3rd. RC had been setting the pace all through qualifying and sealed the deal after 3 straight rounds topping the time sheets. Today, Friday, sees the buggy qualifying get underway and we hope to get a report from Team Associated when its all wrapped up.
Click here to see the final truggy standings
This week sees the best buggy and truggy racers in the US, as well as some competitors from Europe, come together for ‘The Dirt’ Nitro Challenge, which takes place on the large and incredibly technical Nitro Pit in Wittmann, Arizona. Team Associated are reporting from the event and have already spotted the new JConcepts Hi-Flow RC8 body shell as used by Ryan Maifield. Also on show for the first time were the new Revolver truggy tire from Pro-Line, who also have a new molded foam insert and new lightweight wheels. Associated themselves are debuting new Factory Team blue anodised shock towers on their RC8.
Click here for more photos and a video from truggy practice
