February 15, 2007

2007 Winternats, Florida – Wednesday Day 4

2007 Winternats

The 3rd and 4th rounds of qualifying are now over and with all Wednesdays racing run under dry and improving conditions, the tops of the leaderboards have changed quite a lot. In 1/8th scale, Kyosho racer Josh Cyrul has moved up from 4th position overnight to take provisional pole position after 4 rounds, the US driver followed closely by 1/10th US National champion Chris Tosolini, also driving a Kyosho. In 3rd position was Tuesdays overnight pole man, and reigning Champion Mike Swauger, who despite improving by 2 seconds still only ended up in third ahead of the big mover of the day Vincent Jackson, also running with Mugen. Paolo Morganti, driving a Serpent 960 was the biggest loser on the day in 1/8th scale, dropping from 2nd to 6th having not been able to improve on his Tuesday time.

In 1/10th scale its more of the same with Ralph Burch on the debut race for Xrays new NT1 that retains his first position despite not improving his time today. Paolo Morganti, driving the Serpent 720 improved a lot and jumped from overnight 4th to 2nd, only 1 tenth of a second behind with Chris Tosolini, another driver who didn’t manage to complete the 5 minutes on Tuesday, did so today to improve his time and gain 3rd position albeit 3 seconds back on the leading pair. Barry Baker, also with the Xray NT1, moved up from 6th yesterday to end the day in 4th position heading into the final day of qualifying. The biggest loser on the day in 1/10th scale was Mark Green, driving a Serpent 720, who couldn’t manage to improve his time and thus dropped from his overnight 5th position to end up 13th going into the final 2 rounds of qualifying.

Check out some more pictures and the top 10 standings… content

February 15, 2007

Paul Coleman debuts the Robitronic Mantis

Paul Coleman Mantis

Paul Coleman made his debut race with the Robitronic Mantis at last months Team Losi Nitro Winter Championships held in Tampa Florida. The race was a learning experience for Paul, driving the Mantis in its debut Truggy race Stateside, and he could qualify in 6th position with some consistent running and went on to perform well in the race until he was forced to retire with some technical problems. The car however showed its potential and look good on the track, very stable over the jumps and fast through the corners and looks promising for the rest of the season.

Source: Axial Racing [axialracing.com]

February 14, 2007

Racer In the Spotlight – Teddy Syach

Teddy Syach

Serpent.com continue their Racer in the Spotlight series with an interview with Worlds finalist and top Indonesian racer Teddy Syach. In the interview Teddy explains how he got started in RC Racing, his best and worst moments, and if your travelling to Indonesia, which track is the best to visit. Also did you know that Teddy is a very famous actor in Indonesia, thats way cool.

Read the full interview with Teddy here. You can also check out the first interview with Portugese hot shot Ricardo Nogueira here.

Source: Serpent [serpent.com]

February 14, 2007

2007 Winternats, Florida – Tuesday Day 3

2007 Winternats, Florida

Well the rain held off, and the sun came out, to allow the organisers get the scheduled 2 rounds of qualifying in on Tuesday. In the 1/8th class, reigning Champion Mike Swauger, driving his MRT Ninja powered Mugen MRX-R, managed to squeeze the top spot away from Paolo Morganti, the Serpent racer just 1 second behind in 2nd position. Former 1/10th Winternats champ Scotty Gray was a further 3 seconds back in 3rd ahead of a non finishing Josh Cyrul who lines up a very quick 4th despite a DNF on this fastest run.

In the 200mm Sedan class, Ralph Burch, has put the all new Xray NT1 on provisional pole position ahead of Serpent 720 racer Danny Horta who was 9 seconds back in 2nd. But this of course doesnt tell the true story as both Chris Tosolini driving a Kyosho and Paolo Morganti with his Serpent 720 didnt manage to finish their fastest runs, which had they done so would have seen them a within 1 or 2 seconds of Burch. Qualfiying continues on Wednesday with rounds 3 and 4 to be run, we will keep you updated with the results and more pictures.

View some pictures as well as the top 10 after 2 rounds here… content

February 13, 2007

Werks Racing power Ari Heinonen for 2007

Ari Heinonen Werks

Werks Racing have officially entered the European racing scene by sponsoring their first European racer, top Scandanavian racer Ari Heinonen. The Finnish HoBao racer has agreed terms for 2007 and along with running their Werks Teamline B7 .21 Engines he will also use the Werks pipes as well as the companies buggy and truggy tires.

Source: Buggy-Sport [buggy-sport.info]

February 13, 2007

2007 Winternats, Florida – Monday Day 2

2007 Winternats, Florida

The second day of this years Winternats had been rained out in the morning with the track only getting some running on it after lunch and although the weather is not looking like it will stay dry for the rest of the week, we should see a full days running today. Of course drivers who got some practice in on Sunday can now find themselves at an advantage over those that only arrived on Monday but the morning break gave everyone the chance to get their stuff together and catch up with old friends. The Xray team also got some time to build their NT1’s with some drivers only receiving the car in kit form when they arrived at the track.

We have some pictures from Monday at Ft Myers here… content

February 12, 2007

2007 Winternats, Florida – Sunday Day 1

2007 Winternats, Florida - Sunday Day 1

So we move from one big race in Florida to another with the Worlds best RC racers arriving at the Ft Myers track to the north of Orlando where we just had the Snowbirds. Many drivers from this race will make the Journey to race here including most of the Xray team who will give the NT1 its debut International race on this, one of the most unforgiving tracks in the World. As of Sunday, almost every one is there including the large Serpent team from Europe that includes Salven, Green, Keur, Cornella, Tomaschko and Kandelhart. The Mugen team is there already in force with previous multiple winner Mike Swauger ready to defend his 1/8th title and Kyosho will be present with Cyrul and Tosolini, both drivers yet to make it from the Snowbirds race on Sunday, but of course will be there today to get some practice in. The forecast for today is for it to rain but we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out.

In the meantime check out some images from Sunday… content

February 11, 2007

Renaud Savoya wins the 2007 Montpellier GP

2007 Montpellier GP

Renaud Savoya has won the 2007 Montpellier GP after a tough battle with European Champion Yannick Aigoin who finished 2nd. The Mugen driver started the race from the pole spot and after losing out at the start to Aigoin managed to get back into the lead after 35 minutes to finish 11 seconds up on the Xray driver. Jérôme Sartel racing the Crono finished the event in 3rd, while fastest qualifier Nicolas Rodriguez could only bring it home in 6th after some problems in the final.

Click more to see the top ten classification… content