Red RC » International

August 21, 2016

Sobue takes opening qualifier in China

Akio Sobue has taken the opening round of qualifying at the 1:12 World Championships in China. The CRC driver topped the first of the six scheduled qualifiers after a blistering fast run from Naoto Matsukura came undone in the final two minutes as the former champion ran out of tyres. The top seed for qualifying, Matsukura quickly pulled clear of his rivals building up an advantage of over 6-seconds, but with a lap time that was 3/10th faster than anyone else his pace took its toll on the Roche drivers tyres leading to a the first of a number of huge crashes coming off the main straight. With the crashes leading him to finish almost a lap down on Sobue in P8, it was reigning champion Marc Rheinard who would be closest to Sobue’s time with JJ Wang, who is running in the second fastest heat, completing the Top 3.

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August 21, 2016

Matsukura top seed for qualifying

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Picking up where he left off in free practice yesterday, Naoto Matsukura has topped controlled practice to put himself top seed for qualifying at the 1:12 World Championships in China. Chasing a fourth World title in the class, the Roche driver was considerably faster than his rivals over 3-consecutive laps, his time a 36.462 compared to the next best of 37.000 set by a much improved Keven Hebert. With Toto Ebukuro completing the Top 3 it wasn’t the best of mornings for reigning World Champion Marc Rheinard. Having had his time, a P5, for the first of the two controlled practices disallowed for his tyres not being marked, CP2 didn’t start out well as he had to pull off to have his rear tyres tightened. Rejoining he would eventually get three laps that would leave him 7th quickest one spot ahead of reigning European Champion Alexander Hagberg.

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August 20, 2016

Matsukura tops opening day at 12th Worlds

Naoto Matsukura has topped the opening day’s action of the 1:12 World Championship in China where the biggest story is the lack of traction. Setting his fastest time in the fourth of the 8 rounds of free practice around the large technical indoor track in Beijing, the Japanese driver was fastest from Alexander Hagberg and Marc Rheinard with none of the top three able to improve over the second half of the day. The final practice would see slight improvement from Akio Sobue ad Keven Herbert, Sobue maintaining fourth and Hebert moving up to fifth but it was JJ Wang who would find the most time with a strong time in the penultimate practice that saw him complete the Top 6.

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August 20, 2016

Matsukura sets early pace in China

3-time 1/12th World Champion Naoto Matsukura set the early pace in free practice at the 1:12 World Championships in Beijing, China. With 6 of the 8 practices runs that make up the opening day of the 18th running of the championships completed, the Roche driver was fastest over three consecutive laps from reigning European Champion Alexander Hagberg and defending World Champion Marc Rheinard. While the track layout is proving popular with drivers, the big complaint is the lack of traction something that isn’t being helped by the low 56 entry count.

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August 17, 2016

Ralph Burch departs Xray

2010 IFMAR 200mm Sedan World Champion, Ralph Burch has announced his departure from long-term sponsor Xray. The veteran on-road racer gave Xray a maiden World Championship title along with many national victories. Leaving Xray and US distributor RC America behind, Ralph will now focus on new challenges and opportunities.

I would like to thank RCAmerica and Xray for the last 15 years. Together we celebrated our first world title and many national titles. I would like to also thank the team drivers and retailers for there support over these years. With that being said, I have decided to take on a new challenge and explore other opportunities.

US Xray distributor RC Amerika has this to add:

RC America would like to thank Ralph Burch for his tremendous contributions over the last 13 years. We feel privileged to have celebrated so many great and special moments with Ralph and all of his successes both on and off the race track. We wish “WG” all the best.

August 15, 2016

Ben Sterling part of Dragon Stone Champs line-up

The organisers of the 2016 Dragon Stone Asian Nitro Buggy Championship in Liaoyang City, China, have announced the confirmation of Australia’s Ben Sterling to be part of the international drivers line-up. Ben is a multi-State Champion and is ready to join some of the World’s best in China from September 1st to 4th. Full event details are available here.

August 15, 2016

Video – 2016 IFMAR 1/10th 200mm Worlds Final

All the action from the 60 minute Main Final at the 2016 IFMAR 1/10th 200mm World Championships in Gubbio, Italy. With full race commentary from the legendary Oli Meggitt.

August 15, 2016

Greiner deserving World Champion after faultless race

Dominic Greiner is the new Nitro Touring Car World Champion. Widely regarding one of the world’s fastest 200mm drivers the German finally took the sport’s biggest prize heading a Serpent 1-2 in Gubbio, Italy. Starting 3rd on the grid, he quickly made the race his own with a faultless drive eventually crossing the line one lap up on his rivals for a much deserved win. With Top Qualifier Dario Balestri’s race lasting just 9 laps due to diff failure, Super Pole winner Alessio Mazzeo would briefly take over the lead when the problem sent his fellow countryman’s Capricorn on the grass with only 2-minutes on the clock. Staying out front for 2-laps, Alessio couldn’t match the pace of his team-mate and once Greiner went to the front the attention of the race was on who would fill the podium. With less than 10-minutes to go, that would be decided in an epic three way battle between crowd favourite Mazzeo, Simon Kurzbuch and Bruno Coelho. On the last lap it looked like Mazzeo would throw away 2nd but while Kurzbuch would get him into the corner the Italian had better traction to the line snatching the runner-up spot by 6/100ths of a second and sending the large attendance into a frenzy. Covering a race distance of 209 laps of the fast Miniautodromo Internazionale M.Rosati track, a bad last lap would result in Coelho missing the podium by 1.7-seconds. The best non-European finisher Takaaki Shimo would complete the Top 5 with only one car failing to finish the race.

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