July 24, 2012

Hot Rod Hobbies Shootout 2012 report

For the 15th year in a row, Hot Rod Hobbies in Saugus, CA played host to the Off Road Shootout. As has become the custom, racers were greeted with the desert heat and triple digit temperatures throughout the event. However, given the track layout, surface and competition it didn’t seem to damper the racing any. With entrants from across the Nation and World, many of the top 1:10 electric off-road racers challenged for the wins.

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July 24, 2012

Leg 2 injects life into 1:12 Worlds

The 1:12 World Championships, which so far has been a rather dull affair, was given a much needed injection of excitement in the second A-Main after Andy Moore won the second A-Main ahead of CRC team-mate Marc Rheinard while Leg 1 winner Naoto Matsukura finished back in 7th.  The result means that now all three drivers have a chance of being crowned the 16th World Champion of the 2WD pan car class.

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July 24, 2012

Matsukura dominates Leg 1 in Holland

There was no real surprise in the opening leg of the A-Main at the 1:12 World Championships as defending champion & Top Qualifier Naoto Matsukura dominated the race to take the win comfortably ahead of Andy Moore and Rick Hohwart despite the young Japanese star’s prototype Yokomo getting knocked around as he was lapping the mid pack three laps from the finish.  Running wide at the first corner, an opportunity that the No.2 starting Associated of Ronald Volker failed to exploit, the 18-year quickly got into his rhythm to break clear of the pack. As if he needed it, that gap was further extended as the chasing pack tripped one another up on more than one occasion.

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July 24, 2012

Moore takes final ‘Rocket Round’ qualifier

Team CRC driver Andy Moore set a new outright fastest run time in this morning’s final qualifier for the 1:12 World Championships in the Netherlands, the sixth round turning out to be the ‘rocket’ round. Knocking 2-seconds off the previous fastest time held by defending World Champion Naoto Matsukura, the former European Champion ran 39 laps in 8:06.635 to top Q6 by just 6/10th ahead of Ronald Volker as 5 drivers finally broke past 38 laps runs something only Matsukura had achieved yesterday to secure him honour of being Top Qualifier for a third consecutive Worlds.

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July 23, 2012

Matsukura is Top Qualifier at 1:12 Worlds

Naoto Matsukura will for the third 1:12 World Championships in succession start from pole position after his rivals failed to run the magical 39-laps in the penultimate qualifier this evening in the Netherlands. With three 39-lap heats to his credit and two rounds counting towards the grid, the young Japanese star’s combined time can’t now be beaten despite one round of qualifying remaining in the morning. Like in Q4, when Rheinard was challenging Matsukura TQ pace, Q5 saw the Yokomo driver face another strong and more surprising challenge from factory Serpent driver Marc Fisher.  Unfortunately for the German as the heat came up on 5-minutes his electrics overheated causing the car to shut down.

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July 23, 2012

Rheinard just misses 39-lap Q3 run in Holland

Marc Rheinard just missed out on becoming the only driver other than defending World Champion Naoto Matsukura to complete a 39-lap run at the 1:12 World Championships in the Netherlands when he took his Speed Passion powered prototype CRC to a 38/8:00.858 run in the third round of qualifying.  While Matsukura produced his third TQ run of the day with a new fastest time and outright fastest lap, all the attention is on the battle behind him which is building up between regular Touring Car rivals Rheinard, Jilles Groskamp, Ronald Volker and Alexander Hagberg.

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July 23, 2012

No surprise as Naoto TQs opening qualifier

There was no surprise in the opening round of qualifying for the 1:12 World Championships with Naoto Matsukura topping the 8-minute heat by a considerable margin from the CRC’s of Marc Rheinard and Simo Ahomiemi.  Like in yesterday’s practice, the reigning World Champion was the only driver to record a 39-lap run with his Yokomo once again setting the fastest lap with a 12.203 which was near on identical to his 12.202 record set in controlled practice.

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July 22, 2012

Day 1 of 1:12 Worlds just a formality for Matsukura

Team Yokomo’s Naoto Matsukura stamped his authority on the opening day of the 1:12 World Championships in the Netherlands, the reigning champion topping the time sheets in controlled practice with the only 39-lap run of the day.  Making today’s practice look like just a formality in his quest to securing a third consecutive World title, the closest challenger to the Japanese star was his Yokomo touring car team-mate Ronald Volker, while a strong final practice saw a big improvement from 2010 European Champion Juho Levänen who ended the day third fastest.

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