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November 16, 2019

First qualifier in Guangzhou goes to Sawada

The opening round of qualifying for the 3rd round of the OneTen Series presented by Infinity has been completed and it was Jin Sawada, winner of the opening two rounds of the series in Shanghai that was again fastest following the first qualifier. A low turnout at AMA, in 2nd place it was Chinese National champion Gary Hunag in 2nd with two up and coming Chinese Xray racers Marco Ma and Minhao Lao in 3rd and 4th respectively. Yugo Nakashima and Stick King both had problems in their heat with both suffering servo failures, the former during the run and the latter before the 6 minutes even started. Speaking to Sawada, the Infinity driver described the run as super difficult, comparing the ultra-high traction to that of teammate Akio Sobue’s home track back in Japan. Not a fan of the conditions, he said that just a tiny input on the transmitter resulted in huge steering, admitting that it was super difficult to complete the 6 minutes without a mistake.

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November 8, 2019

Sawada leads competitive field at OneTen rounds 3 & 4

With the second stop of the 2019/20 OneTen Series presented by Infinity set to take place next weekend (November 16-17) at the Amazing Indoor Arena in Guangzhou, the organisers are very pleased to announce some big name drivers set to attend rounds 3 & 4 of the series. Winner of the opening two rounds, and current points leader in the Modified class, Jin Sawada will once again head the Infinity team’s challenge as he aims to extend his perfect scoring record as the series heads south. Guangzhou native, and current Chinese national champion, Gary Huang will be Xray’s lead driver at AMA as he returns to his preferred track surface having struggled somewhat on carpet at the opening round at RCI in Shanghai. Serpent have made a big push for what is essentially their home event with lead driver Yugo Nagashima making the trip from Japan to join Stick King from Hong Kong as they aim to go one place better than team mate Rocket Zhang achieved in Rd1 & 2 of the series and get a first win for the Chinese brand with their all new car. More information on the event can be found here and entry for all classes, Modified, Stock and FWD can be submitted here or directly with the Amazing Indoor Arena.

November 4, 2019

Takahata crowned World Champion as Matsukura denied once again

‘To finish first, first you must finish’ was a phrase that rang true at today’s 1:8 Onroad World Championships in California as a rather sedate Main was turned on it’s head with 12-minutes to go with Mugen’s Shoki Takahata eventually crowned the new World Champion. The 1-hour encounter started out with Top Qualifier Dario Balestri leading from Infinity team-mate Naoto Matsukura but during his second fuel stop defending Champion Balestri would collect a badly released Greiner, the impact braking the body on the Italian’s car and ending his quest for 2 in a row. This allowed Matsukura to take control of the race. Having shown the world the class of driver he is when he led in France on his nitro debut two years ago before a flat battery denied him the title, everything looked perfect for the reigning 1:10 Nitro World Champion to make history and hold both titles consecutively but it wasn’t to be. With just two fuel stops separating him from winning, a rear pulley stripped and once again there was heartbreak for the Japanese driver and his mechanic Masayuki Miura, his race was done. Graduating to the lead it was another 1:10 World Champion who looked on target to finally match Adrien Bertin’s record as the only double champion in nitro onroad. Having found himself almost a lap down at the start following contact at the on the first lap and then receiving a stop & go for his bad release in the pits, Dominic Greiner was out front. Counting down the minutes he then hit trouble with just a little over 5-minutes left on the clock – the watching crowd in disbelief at the unfolding drama. Always within sight of the lead, Takahata was now the fourth different race leader, well clear of now second placed Takaaki Shimo. The manufacturer’s sole representative in the final, to the chants of ‘Mugen’ the 25-year-old crossed the loop to take a very popular first World title, while Balestri salvaged the final step on the podium behind the bridesmaid of nitro racing, Shimo.

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November 4, 2019

2019 Masters of Foam – Report

The annual Masters of Foam race was held at the Racing Arena Limburg this past weekend, attracting nearly 90 entries for the 1/12th scale Modified, Stock 13.5T and Stock 17.5T classes. In the fastest class of the weekend, Modified, it was Roche driver Ollie Payne with the overall TQ some six seconds in front of Project Godspeed’s Markus Mobers while Roche driver Jacques Libar came in 3rd. The opening two A-mains saw Ollie walking away with pretty dominant wins for an early overall victory as Markus Mobers and Jacques Libar ended the day in 2nd and 3rd respectively. Destiny’s Vesa Yli and Tim Altmann (KaTi) rounded out the top 5.

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November 4, 2019

Baruffolo & Canas win at IBR Winter Cup

The 2019 Winter Cup was held at the IBR Padova dirt indoor track in Padova, Italy over the weekend. The event attracted some of Europe’s fastest 1/8th off-road racers as well as guests from abroad such as Agama’s Ryan Lutz who came over from the U.S. to compete in the Nitro Pro and E-Buggy classes. Over in the Nitro Pro class it was Xray’s Marco Baruffolo with the overall win as Kyosho’s Riccardo Berton came in 2nd overall. A lap behind the two it was SWorkz’s Leonardo Valence who would round out the podium in front of Kyosho’s Mattia Polito. In 4th SWorkz’s Elliott Boots was the highest ranked non-Italian driver with TLR’s Renaud Savoya coming in 6th overall.

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November 2, 2019

Stunning drive puts Kurzbuch in final after start-line flameout

A stunning drive has put former Champion Simon Kurzbuch in the 1:8 Onroad World Championship Final in California. Suffering an engine flame out on the grid, the pole sitter for the second of the Semi Finals missed the start and had to be returned to the pits to be restarted as the rest of the field got underway and the general feeling of the stunned onlookers was the Swiss ace’s event was done. Kurzbuch however defied the odds, driving at 110% he started to put himself back in contention for a bump up spot as the crowd watch on in awe. Setting the fastest lap of the race he crossed the line in 3rd position to ensure he gets another chance to do battle with his great rival and reigning champion Dario Balestri. Up front in the Semi Odd, Jesse Davis made the race his own, leading home fellow Australian Jeff Hamon to secure both drivers their first 1:8 Worlds Final start. In the first of the Semi Finals, Dominic Greiner led from start to finish despite struggling with his engine with Shoki Takahata a close second and Toni Gruber third. Unfortunately for Lamberto Collari he fell just three minutes short of making the Main Final on the 10th Anniversary of his last World title after he suffered an engine flame out. With the second Semi the faster the finals, the two drivers to book their place in the main event at the 22nd running of IFMAR Worlds would be Takaaki Shimo and Carmine Raiola.

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November 2, 2019

Salven calls time on WC career

Michael Salven has called time on his World Championship racing career, one of nitro onroad racing’s best known figures made the announcement that having made his World Championship debut in California in 1987, that the 22nd running of the IFMAR 1:8 Worlds here in Fontana, California was the right time to take a step back from racing. The 58 year-old German, who has enjoyed all of his professional career with Serpent, a company which was instrumental in the early development of the class, Salven bowed out of the Worlds competition here this morning at Steel City RC Speedway when he failed to finish the 1/16th finals. Asked about his decision, he said, ‘The Pro guys turn up with everything sorted. I turned up here with three engines that still needed to be run in and it turned out none of them are very good. I will still race, I probably have a few more Euros in me, but its important I race because as the designer of our cars I need to know what’s going on’.

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November 1, 2019

Matsukura blitzes rivals in Super Pole

Naoto Matsukura effectively blitzed his rivals in Super Pole needing just three laps to set the fastest lap and book his direct starting position in the final alongside Infinity team-mate and Top Qualifier Dario Balestri. Only the second time Super Pole has been held at the 1:8 Onroad World Championships, the 2nd through 5th placed qualifiers had the opportunity to avoid racing in the Semi Finals with the process comprising of a 3-minute warm up following by 6-timed laps of which each drivers fastest was counted. With three of the drivers participants of Super Pole in France two years ago, first up was Jesse Davis with his best attempt a 14.640. Next to go was Dominic Greiner who was making his first 1:8 Super Pole. Timing issues however meant his run was restarted and after much deliberation between officials on how he could continue the run he was forced to start his timed run from the pit lane with just a single warm-up lap. Despite the disruption he improved on Davis’ time by 1/10th of second. Qualifying third overall, next up was Simon Kurzbuch who pushed Greiner off the top spot by 0.003 of a second. Last to go and knowing what he needed to do, Matsukura duly delivered a 14.449 lap to go quicker than Kurzbuch by 0.084.

Continue reading this report here or view our complete event coverage here.