The 2012 South African off-road nationals was held at the Meyerton track just outside Johannesburg. Current SA champion Miguel Haasbroek (Mugen) won the final from the TQ spot followed by Mugen team mate Warren vd Merwe and Shaun Haasbroek (Associated).
Source: Novarossi [novarossi.it]
Bremerton R/C Raceway in Bremerton, Washington hosted round 1 of the 2nd annual Pacific North West Showdown. The Pacific North West Showdown travels to four of the best racing facilities the Northwest has to offer. Round 2 will be held at the all new Top Gear Hobbies in Portland, Oregon on December 8th. Modified buggy was dominated by JConcepts/Team Associated driver Luke Smith who TQ’d and won each of the double A-Mains with his B4.1 WC running Gold Bar Codes. Luke also dominated 2wd Modified short course in the same fashion with his SC10 running Gold Bar Codes in the rear and Gold Pressure Points up front.
Click here to view the SC podium
This past weekend was the final round of the eight race JBRL Nitro Series held at Hot Rod Hobbies in Saugus, CA. In the Expert buggy class qualifying would be extremely close on the small high bite track. Team Losi Racing driver Adam Drake would take round 1 TQ in the early morning but would see that TQ slip away in round 2 as the track got much faster and a few problems would see The Drake starting in the runner up position for the 25min A-main. The start of the A-main was quite exciting as some of the pit guys were not ready for the start but the tone went anyways and all you saw were a bunch of cars getting thrown onto the straightaway. Fairly clean start for the circumstances and the top three on the grid had a great battle for the first half of the race. Adam Drake would take the lead at the halfway mark with his great fuel mileage and never look back taking the win by just over 12 seconds.
Source: TLR [tlracing.com] / Image: Rugspin Graphix
The final round of the Malaysian Nationals was held at the famed RCC track in Malaysia. The series was all tied up with 3 drivers aiming to be champion. Ben Panic (Kyosho/Novarossi/JConcepts), David Lim (Kyosho/OS/AKA) and Daniel Law (Losi, Orion, Sweep) were all tied on points in the best 3 of 5 race series so this final round would prove crucial in deciding the champion. 110 drivers attended the fifth round of the Malaysian nationals, with guest appearances from factory Team Associated driver from Australia Jason Dyckhoff and compatriot Jacob Wilson.
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The annual Pierrefeu GP recently took place in mixed conditions with the questionable weather forecast kept away many of the international drivers. After a dry Friday rain was predicted from Saturday noon on meaning a rocket round qualifier was held in the morning and it was dominated by Xray’s Renaud Savoya. Come Sunday the track was soaked with water but thanks to the effort of the club members the surfaces was well prepared for the final that saw Renaud taking the lead closely followed by Jerome Aigion. Both drivers changed positions a couple of times and after 30 minutes Renaud crossed the finish line in first position followed by Jérôme Sartel and Rayan Medjoubi.
Source: Xray [teamxray.com] & Automodelisme [automodelisme.com]
The fourth round of PEMKAR series race was held at the Stadium Rc Raceway outdoor tarmac track in Brunei. Run in anti-clockwise direction and in blistering hot weather conditions the qualifiers were dominated by Serpent driver Wirawan who easily took TQ. For the finals the heaven opened its gates and heavy rain poured down leaving the race director no choice but to cancel the racer after the first finals. The only A main was won by polesitter Wirawan handing the defending champion the 2012 title with two races left as he already TQ’d and won the first three races of the season.
Source: Serpent [serpent.com]
The Norwegian electric off-road championship was held in Moss, Norway with around 40 participants in the 2WD buggy class. After qualifying TQ was held by Niklas Bjørkås Roos in front of 2011 champion Martin Sorlie and Andreas Daving. Come the finals Niklas was able to conserve his form by taking the first two A finals. Joakim Nicolaisen took the runner-up spot with Magne Kobbevik completing the podium.
Thanks to Niklas Roos for sending the report.
For 2012 the Victorian State Championships were held at the Keilor track in Melbourne with just under 200 entries received from all around Victoria as well as from Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Tasmania. The Keilor club had prepared a high grip track with an abrasive surface and had chosen the JConcepts Bar Codes as the control tyre (in Orange compound). With temps reaching close to 30c, this was the perfect tyre choice for the track with high grip and good wear. JConcepts / Associated / Novak factory driver Ray Munday calls this track home and was looking to add more state titles to his tally, however he was facing stiff competition from the likes of Ashley Peeler (Kyosho), Leigh Cheeseman (JC / Associated), Jody Denner (Associated), young guns Glen Bonetti (JC / Associated) and Logan Symes (Losi), and 2011 National Off-Road Champ Josh Pain (Yokomo). After a long weekend of racing, Ray would walk away with victories in 4wd Open and 2WD SCT, with Glen Bonetti taking a surprise win in 2wd using his JC equipped B4.1. In Mod truck, Leigh Cheeseman would finish a close second to Ash ‘king of truck’ Peeler.
Source: JConcepts [jconcepts.net] / Image: Pete Brady
