3 out 3 for Matsukura in Florida

At a somewhat subdued 1:12 World Championship, only 44 drivers contesting the longest running electric category World Championships, Naoto Matsukura made it three out three in qualifying at the Florida event. Round 3 of qualifying saw the Yokomo driver again top the times as he became the first & only driver to run 53-laps over 8-minutes to put himself on provisional pole for his quest for a fourth consecutive title. With 3 from 6 rounds to count the only way the Japanese driver can now be denied becoming Top Qualifier is for one driver to top all three remaining qualifiers, the last of which takes place tomorrow morning. Behind Matsukura the continually improving Marc Rheinard, who was 4th in Q1 and 3rd in Q2, set the second fastest time with Hideo Kitazawa completing the Top 3.

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Matsukura opens 1:12 Worlds with TQ run

Defending Champion Naoto Matsukura opened qualifying at the 1:12 World Championship in Florida with a TQ run, the Yokomo driver setting the pace over fellow Japanese driver Hideo Kitazawa and Masatsugu Ido. Having convincingly stamped his authority on practice yesterday to be top seed for qualifying, an early crash put Alexander Hagberg out of contention, the Xray driver eventually ending up 11th at the end of the first of the six 8-minute qualifiers.

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International Carpet Challenge 2015 – Announcement

The organisers of the ICC have confirmed that the event will return in 2015. Building on the success of last year’s event, which saw the UK’s Kyle Branson narrowly beating top German drivers Freddy Sudhoff and Yannic Prumper, the event will return across the weekend of the 20th to 22nd February 2015. The format will remain largely unchanged for 2015, being held at the same location in Essex, South-East England, and organised by the world-famous EWS Team and RC media personality Oli Meggitt. There has been a slight tweak to the classes for 2015 – the Open Modified and HPI Vintage Challenge classes return, but the Stock and Pro Stock classes have been combined into the new Super Stock class – for 13.5T motors with zero timing (“blinky”) speed controllers. More details and sign-up for the event can be found here.