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April 27, 2026

Balestri wins Campionato Costruttori at MyCandy Arena

Infinity’s Dario Balestri has won the annual Italian ‘Campionato Costruttori’ which was this year staged at the MyCandy Arena in the north of the country. In qualifying it was new Max Power engines signing Carmine Raiola who took the TQ with a dominant run topping all four rounds. Behind it was Balestri who claimed second on the grid ahead of Jonathan Gandin, Francesci Tironi, Lamberto Collari, and Silvio Hächler. In the 45-minute final however Riola’s form in qualifying wouldn’t continue as he retired 30-minutes into the encounter joining Collari and British visit Alex Thurston as retirees. At the front, putting in the only 13-second lap of the race, it was 2-time World Champion Balestri who took the win by 11-seconds over the Xray of teenager Filippo Domanin. Swiss driver Silvio Hächler would complete the podium for ARC half a lap ahead of Gandin. In the 1:8 GT Nitro Class, it was Genius Racing’s Leonardo Valente who took the TQ ahead of the Sworkz of Austrian Tobias Sutrich but with Valente’s race lasting just 5-minutes it was third place qualifier Adam Izsay who took the win for Xray by a lap over Sutrich.

Image: Infinity [Facebook]

April 26, 2026

Nguyen does double on Asian Buggy Championships debut

Young Kyosho star Phi-Long Nguyen has completed the double on his Asian Buggy Championships debut adding the main Nitro Buggy win to his eBuggy victory from earlier in the day in Malaysia. Starting from second on the grid behind Top Qualifier Pekko Iivonen, the American would benefit from the Mayako driver running out of fuel as the second round of fuel stops approached during the 45-minute encounter. Having built up a 12-second advantage over Nguyen and the rest of the 15 car field, a flame out during Nguyen’s first fuel stop adding to the Finn’s advantage, it looked like it was finally going to Iivonen’s big day. A driver who has looked like he has progressed a step up in his driving every time he took the impressive LAP Paradise RC Raceway track here at the second round of the ABC, unfortunately it wasn’t going to be a case of third time lucky. His third appearance in the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed championship, having raced in the Philippines and Australia last season, he would run out of fuel just before the loop meaning he lost an entire lap on the field. This gave Nguyen, who on taking the win was quick to state his rival was the faster driver in the final despite posting the fastest lap himself, a comfortable lead that he could manage and would never relinquish. 9-seconds back at the finish, Sworkz’s Caleb Noble backed up his win of the season opener in New Zealand with a second place while fellow Aussie Jayden Edmunds completed the podium. Dropping back to fifth after his flame out, a clearly disappointed Iivonen would only be rewarded with a P4 for his otherwise impressive showing with Jared Ment and Ken NG completing the Top 6 on what has been a hugely successful debut visit to a track whose elevation has been a huge hit with racers.

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April 25, 2026

Jones wins high attrition rate ABC Malaysia Truggy Main

Australian Tekno driver Liam Jones has won a high attrition rate Nitro Truggy A-Main at Round 2 of the Asian Buggy Championships in Malaysia. The championship’s first visit to the country and the impressive LAP Paradise RC Raceway, which located just an hour across the border from Singapore, it was expected that the half hour final would be just a formality for Top Qualifier Caleb Noble. The Sworkz driver dominated the opening round of the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed championship last month in New Zealand, and no one would have bet against the Aussie going back to back here in Johor Bahru. Starting on pole ahead of the Sparko of Ken NG, Noble quickly established a lead but as the race approached half way distance the 19-year-old suffered a diff failure, his race was done. This promoted NG to the lead with Jones, who qualified P4, running in second. However he too would hit mechanical problems, losing rear drive after just a few laps out in front – something he said may have been the result of his truggy taking a heavy hit to the rear early on in the final. With Noble down in pit lane cheering on his compatriot, along with Jones’ elated father, the Melbourne driver would stay out front to take the win ahead by 2/3 of a lap over fellow Aussie Jayden Edmunds. Chinese Kyosho driver Francis Guan completed the podium while with only 2WD NG managed to finish down in P6.

April 24, 2026

FEMCA Asia 1:8 GT Championships relocated to Australia

The inaugural FEMCA Asia 1:8 GT Championships, which was originally awarded to Vietnam, will now take place in Australia with England Park Raceway in Brisbane awarded the race. Earlier this month the Asian governing body for RC racing announced that the championships was being relocated from the impressive new X-RC Complex in Lam Dong due to the delayed opening of the area’s new airport. QRCCRA, the club behind England Park Raceway, has secured the race to decide both the GT8 Nitro and GT8E Champions with FEMCA sanctioned championships running concurrently with the SpeedyRC IC QLD State Titles from July 30 to August 2. On the announcement it was also confirmed Sweep Racing will supply their GT2-D40WP as the control tyre for both GT categories.

Source: FEMCA [Facebook]

April 24, 2026

Noble TQ’s opening qualifier at ABC Malaysia

Sworkz’s Caleb Noble has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the second round of the Asian Buggy Championships in Malaysia. The Australian set the pace in the first of the four scheduled Nitro Buggy qualifiers at LAP Paradise RC Raceway by just over a second from Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen. Having topped yesterday’s seeding, Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen would suffer two mistakes on his opening effort, the second of which cost him over 6-seconds. While setting the fastest lap the American wouldn’t recover the loss and finished P3 almost 5-seconds back on Noble. Australian Jared Ment at the wheel of a Team Associated would set the fourth fastest time followed by the Sworkz of Adrian Wicaksono. Having dominated the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed ABC season opener in New Zealand, Noble would do the double in the nitro classes this morning also TQ’ing Truggy ahead of Jayden Edmunds while a clean run in eBuggy saw Nguyen top the times ahead of Iivonen and Edmunds.

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April 23, 2026

Nguyen top seed at Malaysian ABC encounter

Making his Asian Buggy Championships debut as the 1:8 Offroad Championship makes its first visit to Malaysia this weekend, Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen has topped seeding at the impressive LAP Paradise RC Raceway in Johor Bahru. With rain briefly interrupting proceedings during the second of the two seeding rounds, the 15-year-old American talent set the fastest two consecutive laps for both rounds both in Nitro and eBuggy. Behind it was Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen who was the closest challenger, the Finn 8/10ths of a second off in the first & faster of the rounds, driver’s fastest laps being in the 38-seconds. Having dominated the opening round of the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed ABC in New Zealand in March, new 2026 Sworkz signing Caleb Noble completed the Top 3 half a second off Iivonen. In was an another of the championship’s Australian regulars and race winners Jayden Edmunds, also driving an Sworkz in fourth, with Ken NG, a key figure behind Round 2 host track, completing the Top 5 with his Kyosho.

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April 22, 2026

Hobby Expo China – Seeing is believing!

The saying goes that ‘seeing is believing’ and attending the 24th edition of Hobby Expo China in Beijing last weekend definitely endorsed that statement. While the press information highlighted the 70,000 visitors who attended the 3-day expo last year, nothing quite prepared me for the crowds and buzz of this expo. Staged in the Beijing Exhibition Centre, which built in 1954 was alone worth a visit for its architecture, this was Red RC’s first time to visit HEC. Talking to some of our industry friends familiar with the expo prior to making the trip to the Chinese capital, they all flagged that we wouldn’t believe the crowds it attracts. Having been reached out to be Chinese media outlet about doing some videos with them at the show, they too warned me to be prepared for the crowds. While setting expectations high, it was only when I actually arrived on Friday morning that we got the true sense of the scale of the numbers it attracts. With over 300 exhibitors covering two distinct main categories, RC and diecasts, the truth was that it was the latter that had the pulling power but to RC’s benefit. Crowds had started queuing on Thursday night for the Expo’s 09:00 opening time on Friday morning, as collectors sought to get their hands on limited edition static car models, 1:64 the fan favourite. Still while diecast was the big draw, this year’s even bigger visitor count, were also exposed to an impressive display of what the world of RC had to offer and that was another stand out of those exhibiting. Sure many of the exhibitors were unfamiliar brands to us but on taking a look at their offerings I was impressed by both the quality and presentation. There was also plenty of opportunities to try various RC products on numerous demo tracks for onroad cars, drifting, crawling, and construction. Observing the reaction of both young & old as they got their hands on a transmitter was encouraging.

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April 21, 2026

Nguyen to make Asian Buggy Champs debut at first Malaysian encounter

Young Kyosho star Phi-Long Nguyen will make his Asian Buggy Championships debut this weekend as Malaysia hosts the latest round of the Scotty Ernst promoted championship for the very first time. Now in its fourth season, reigning back to back FEMCA Champion Nguyen will join ABC championship regulars at the impressive LAP Paradise RC Raceway for the second of the 4 round Team Cayote/VP Pro backed 1:8 Offroad Championship. The American will be compete against Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen, Sworkz’s Caleb Noble, who dominated the season opener in New Zealand in March, team-mate Jayden Edmunds and Mayako’s Logan Toia. On his Asian Buggy Championships debut the teenager said, ‘The series as I have seen in the past is amazingly organized and well run with Scotty behind the mic the world will be heard. Lap Paradise looks like a perfect track to improve on high traction and we can’t wait to visit Malaysia which is another beautiful Asian country.’

Source: Asian Buggy Championships [Facebook]