Red RC » International

October 6, 2013

New World Champion to be crowned in Japan

1:8 Onroad is set to crown a new World Champion this week with the news that reigning World Champion Robert Pietsch has not made the trip to Japan for the 18th running of IFMAR’s longest running World Championships. The German has been forced to miss the chance to defend his title due to being struck down with pneumonia. Having attended the Warm-up Race at the Keitune Racing Speedway back in May, the Mugen driver struggled while fellow Mugen driver & World title favourite Takaaki Shimo using O.S. dominated with many rumours circulating since then that Novarossi were struggling to get their engines to suit the specialised track. Having received an e-mail along with a medical cert from Pietsch, his fuel sponsor Jarb Ratanarat of Maxima said its a real shame the strong advocate of onroad nitro racing can’t attend as he feels despite his showing at the Warm-up race he believes he would have had a real chance at a second title.

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

October 3, 2013

Pro-Line is official tire supplier for 2013-14 EOS season

Just a few short weeks ahead of the opening race of the new season in Poznan Poland (October 18th-20th), the organisers of the Euro Offroad Series are excited to announce that for the 2013-14 season Pro-Line will be the Official Tire Supplier, as well as a Primary Sponsor, of the popular indoor electric offroad series. Having recently released a full range of Competition Tires for Indoor Carpet Off-Road, the US company has chosen the EOS to showcase their new line of tires made specifically for this increasingly popular form of racing. The series will be run using Pro-Line’s Pin Point and Wedge tires coupled with their all-new Z3 Compound which will provide excellent traction on the variety of racing surfaces found throughout the course of the series.

View more details on the new EOS season here.

October 2, 2013

Reedy Race of Champions – Driver list announced

Now that the 2013 IFMAR World Championships are completed, the organisers of the annual Reedy Race of Champions announced the qualified Invitational class drivers to fight for the prestigious title. The list contains the creme de la creme of the World’s best off-road drivers such as the new World Champion Steven Hartson, past champions such as Ryan Cavalieri, European champions such as Jörn Neumann and upcoming stars like Wesley van Helmond or Oliver Scholz. Added to the mix for the 20th running of the event are icons such as Brian Kinwald, Matt Francis, Masami Hirosaka and Barry Baker. Beside the Invitational class also the Open class will be held. For more information and to make your entry for the race that will be held from January 23rd to 26th at OCRC Raceway in Huntington Beach, CA visit reedyrace.com.

October 1, 2013

Yatabe Arena to host 2015 Electric Buggy Worlds

The world famous Yatabe Arena will host the 2015 IFMAR Electric Buggy World Championships, returning the same venue which it hosted 18 years ago, on that occasion Matt Francis took the 2WD title for Team Associated and Mark Pavidis bringing home the honours for Yokomo. The race is scheduled to be held from September 26th to October 3rd and we hear that the Yatabe Arena will undergo some expansion work in preparation.

September 29, 2013

Hartson is World Champion following thrilling A3

Steven Hartson is the 2013 4WD Electric Buggy World Champion, the American claiming the 15th IFMAR title in a thrilling 5-minutes of racing at the Silver Dollar R/C Raceway in Chico, California. Having been a surprise winner of the opening A-Main from fifth on the grid, the factory Team Associated driver was one of five drivers in with a shot of the title going into the deciding third A-Main but came out on top to win ahead of Naoto Matsukura and Ty Tessman, the same order as how they would line up on the final podium. Once again Top Qualifier Joern Neumann would drop out of an early lead, a problem with the front shock leaving the German with a very difficult buggy, and the 2011 Runner-up would only end up 7th for the leg to finish 4th overall ahead of outgoing champion Ryan Cavalieri.

View our complete event coverage here.

September 29, 2013

New World Champion to be crowned as Naoto wins A2

Matsukura

A new 4WD World Champion is to be crowned in California after leg 2 of the A-Main saw reigning Champion Ryan Cavalieri retire with a broken car on lap 2 in an incident that also saw his Associated team-mate Ryan Maifield eliminated. Starting from 8th on the grid, it was Team Yokomo’s Naoto Matsukura who took the win 1.5 seconds ahead of Durango’s Ryan Lutz and Joern Neumann. The win puts the 3-time 1:12 World Champion, who was 3rd in A1, in strong contention for the title as A1 winner Hartson could only manage 5th second time round.

View our complete event coverage here.

September 29, 2013

Hartson wins action packed A1

Hartson

Team Associated’s Steven Hartson was a surprise winner of the opening A-Main at the 4WD Electric Buggy World Championships this morning, the American finishing 1.9 second ahead Ty Tessman. On the first lap things looked to have been handed to Top Qualifier Joern Neumann as a fast starting Maifield hit the No.2 starting Ryan Cavalieri delaying the pursuing field with Hartson coming out in 2nd spot. With a comfortable lead Neumann’s reign at the front lasted just a lap as the German rolled his Durango next time round giving former Worlds Finalist Hartson the lead from Ryan Lutz. Taking control of the race while the rest of the drivers fell over one another, such was Hartson’s lead that the 21-year-old was able to get away with rolling his Reedy powered B44.2 onto its roof on the last lap. Requiring it to be marshalled he was still able to hold on for a convincing win. Having worked his way back up to second after a good battle with Lutz, who would break & retire in the final minute, further mistakes by Neumann would see him finish 4th just ahead of defending Champion Cavalieri who would post the fastest lap of the race.

View our complete event coverage here.

September 29, 2013

Neumann is 4WD Worlds Top Qualifier

Despite the best efforts of defending Champion Ryan Cavalieri, Team Durango’s Joern Neumann is Top Qualifier for the 15th running of the 4WD Electric Buggy World Championships. Cavalieri was the only driver going into the fifth & final round of qualifying who could deny Neumann from starting on pole position for tomorrow’s A-Main at Silver Dollar R/C Raceway in Chico, California. TQ’ing the round from Ty Tessman, Cavalieri complete the run in 11 laps in 5:06.990 a mere .135 shy of the time needed to deny the German his first Worlds TQ.

View our complete event coverage here.