Italian company Mon-Tech Racing has announced the signing of 2015 4WD Offroad World Champion and 2014 Touring Car Vice World Champion Bruno Coelho to their team. Bruno will use Mon-Tech’s bodyshells in his 2016 campaign that will include all major national and international races.
Source: Mon-Tech [mon-techracing.net]
F.T. Line have announced the signing of Dutch racer Rick Vrielijnck for the 2016 season. Finalist at the 2009 World Championship in Lostallo, Switzerland, Rick came back to racing in 2014 after quite a long hiatus and proved strong in his 2014 and 2015 ENS outing. In 2016 Rick will use the “F.T. Line” version of the XRD engines to power his Shepherd Velox V8 throughout the racing season.
Source: XRD [facebook.com]
Austrian frontrunner Hupo Hönigl has announced his departure from chassis sponsors Serpent. Having only joined the team in January 2015 and despite being pretty successful at the Austrian Nationals while lacking impact at an international level, Hupo has issued the following statement:
I would like to thank Team Serpent for the support over the last year. We had ups and downs together and I can look back to a great year of racing. Unfortunately the time together was shorter then expected – I do not want to got too much into details here – it just did not work out as planned … More news coming soon …
Mugen Seiki Racing have announced the signing of former Serpent driver Mike Truhe. Mike brings a tremendous amount of experience in racing and development and will be a huge asset to Mugen Seiki Racing’s off-road and on-road team. Mike Truhe has won countless ROAR National Championships, The Dirt Nitro Challenge, Silver State Nitro Challenge, was an IFMAR Worlds top qualifier and multiple podium finishes at the IFMAR World Championships. Mike had the following to say about the deal which sees him team back up with former TLR team mate Adam Drake.
Mugen Seiki Racing has always produced the highest quality vehicles and their commitment to racing is outstanding. It’s an honor to be racing for Mugen Seiki Racing in 2016 and beyond.
Source: Mugen Seiki Racing [mugenracing.com]
The 2015 Masters of Foam race was held this past weekend at the RC Arena Limburg in Belgium. The event attracted both internationally experienced top drivers as well as local talent to race in the three classes of 1/12th Modified, 10.5 Stock and 17.5 Stock. The 10.5T class had UK’s Tim Wood coming out fastest after the qualifiers with Steven Koiter and Ollie Payne in tow. The finals then proved to be a very entertaining affair with Tim winning the opening leg from Joey Sorber while in A2 Steven Koiter came out successful from Rico Claeys. Pole-sitter Tim Wood only ended the race on the fourth place behind Ollie Payne. The third and final A-main then had Rico Claeys coming out fastest from Tim Wood meaning both would end tie on points, but the better tie-breaker handed Tim the win from Rico with Steven rounding out the top 3 result.
US front runner and former World Champion, Jared Tebo has announced his departure from long-term tyre sponsors AKA. The Kyosho factory driver has yet to announce his new destination but for now, he has the following to say:
I will be making a big change in 2016, I will no longer be running for AKA tires. I started my relationship with AKA in 2009 when I made my HUGE career change, and they have been great the entire step of the way. Of course, you have ups and downs, like any relationship, but my memories are great working with them. We won countless races together, IFMAR World Champion, ROAR National Champion, The Dirt Nitro Challenge Champion, Silver State Champion, NEO Champion, Cactus Classic Champion, we had a great run for sure. I would like to thank them all, Joel, Mark, Gil, Brent, and Pres for all the hard work that must happen to create great products and win on the biggest stages. I wish AKA well, and I will never forget what we did in those 7 years together. We are ending on good terms, sometimes you just need a little change. 2016 will bring a new challenge and a new tire sponsor for me, I’m excited and ready to get back racing!
The organisers of the Reedy Race have announced that Pro-Line and JConcepts will continue to be the official tyre and insert suppliers for the 22nd running of the Reedy International Off-Road Race of Champions that will take place from the 2st to 24th of January at OCRC Raceway in Huntington Beach, California. The following will be the only combinations allowed at the event:
2WD Buggy
Front: JC Gold Dirt Webs (#3077-05) & PL Closed Cell Inserts (#6185-03)
Rear: JC Gold Dirt Webs (#3076-05) & PL 12 Rib Closed Cell Inserts (#5400-14)4WD Buggy
Front: PL MC Electron (#8240-17) & PL Closed Cell Inserts (#6185-02)
Rear: PL MC Electron (#8238-17) & PL 12 Rib Closed Cell Inserts (#5400-14)
More information on tyre preparation, the control tyre additive and a complete list of tyre rules can be found here.
Source: Team Associated [teamassociated.com]
The Buggyparty Farewell Race was held at the iconic PRC track in Pattaya, Thailand with drivers from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Korea and Australia in attendance. For the first 30 minutes of the 60 minute main final Jason Nugroho would be in the lead but he lost a lot of time during marshalling after a flip and the following flameout cost him dearly. Jason tried to get back in the lead but he lost his pace and so Australia’s Zac Ryan would bring home the win from Jason in second and Korea’s Ryan Lee in third.
Source: Xray [teamxray.com]
