Red RC » National

December 11, 2023

Rivkin & Phend turn RC teachers for a day!

They are two of the biggest names in offroad racing and represent two of the biggest manufacturers on the international stage but last week both Team Associated’s Spencer Rivkin and TLR’s Dakotah Phend became RC teachers for a day as part of two different events. Two time World Champion Rivkin was taking part in the launch of Hobbywing Tech Explorers. Held at World Championship venue Hobby Action Raceway, it marked the first collaboration with a school outreach program. Rivkin touched on his journey with RC, overcoming challenges, and dreaming big. He also discussed the mechanics, electrical aspects, and disciplines of the hobby, along with the incredible values it’s brought into his life – from friends, mentors, and unforgettable experiences. On his social media Rivkin said he was ‘So thankful to have had the opportunity to hold my first public gathering and launch a new program with Hobbywing North America called Tech Explorers! Meeting and seeing these kids remind me what it was like when I first laid eyes on RC cars. I want to personally thank Larry and Hobby Action RC Raceway for letting us utilise the track and rental cars. I’m totally looking forward on doing many more of these!’ Phend brought his 1:10 Electric and 1:8 Nitro buggies to a middle school as part of a career day where he shared his story with pupils. On his Facebook page he posted, ‘I was able to be apart of career day earlier this week at Angola Middle School. I went over how I was able to turn a passion into a career. There are a lot of great and unique opportunities in today’s world!’. It is great to see both drivers promoting RC racing in this way and well done to everyone involved in inspiring the future generation.

View Mr.Phend taking his class here

December 11, 2023

Maifield completes clean sweep at U.S. Open Fuel C/ships

Tekno RC’s Ryan Maifield became the first Pro driver to complete a clean sweep at the annual U.S. Open Fuel Championships which held at Adobe Mountain R/C Speedway in his home state of Arizona over the weekend. Attracting almost 250 entries, qualifying would see Maifield take the TQ in the Open classes of Nitro Buggy, eBuggy and Nitro Truggy before wrapping up the perfect weekend with wins in all three finals. In Nitro Buggy he took the win ahead of Kyosho’s Ryan Lutz having a 3-lap advantage at the end of the 1-hour in encounter. Ryan Pavidis would complete the podium driving his Sparko buggy. In eBuggy, the single 10-minute Main saw Maifield led home the Sworkz of Spencer Heckertt by over 7-seconds with Lutz finishing 3rd. In the 45-minute Nitro Truggy Final, it was the Mugen of Frankie Contresas Jr who followed Maifield home.

Image: MOD Media Live [Facebook]

December 5, 2023

Triple win for Drake at 19th Annual Toys For Tots Race

This past weekend Mugen/JConcepts driver Adam Drake and his wife Ronda hosted the 19^th Annual Toys For Tots Race at The Drake Raceway in Palm Desert, CA. With 180 entries, the event had a lot of competition and also brought in some great toy donations for kids in need this holiday season. Qualifying started at 9am that morning and the race program called for two rounds of qualifying to determine each class TQ. There were 12 classes to compete in and only a driver’s best qualifier would be used to determine who made the main events. Drake set the TQ in 1:8 Expert Nitro Buggy, 1:8 Open Electric Buggy, and 1:8 Open Nitro Truggy classes, and he would go on to take the win in all three classes but ultimately the biggest winner was the kids’ charity.

Source: Adam Drake [Facebook]

December 4, 2023

D’Angelo crowned Italian 1:8 GT Nitro Champion

Genius Racing’s Alex D’angelo is the 2023 AMSCI Italian 1:8 GT Nitro National Champion. Top Qualifier at the 1:8 GT World Championship in Australia in October, he secured the title with a second place finish behind Schepis Model driver Rosario Giaimo at the third & final round of the championship at Miniautodromo Vallelunga RC. Going into the season finale, a number of drivers remained in contention for the title including Round 2 winner & Raptor driver Loris Luise, Xray’s Natanaele Senesi and Capricorn’s Alessio Mazzeo. In qualifying it was Mazzeo who took the TQ from Senesi and D’angelo but in the 45-minute final it was Giaimo from p9 on the grid who came through for the race win ahead of D’angelo and Mazzeo, second being enough for the Gimar engine GT8.23 of D’angelo to secure the title. In 1:8 GTe, it was also Mazzeo who also took the TQ honours again from Senesi and he duly converted it into the win after taking both A1 and A2 to secure the overall 2023 title for Capricorn.

Image: Alex D’angelo [Facebook]

December 4, 2023

Lutz does triple at 2023 Fall Brawl

Kyosho’s Ryan Lutz completed a triple victory at the annual Fall Brawl which ran at its new location in Lake Waccamaw, North Carolin, over the weekend. Attracting over 440 entries, the 22nd running of the event saw Lutz master the rough track conditions for the finals to take the wins in both Pro Nitro and eBuggy as well as victory in Open Nitro Truggy. Starting from the TQ in eBuggy and Truggy, Lutz had to start the half hour Nitro Buggy final from P2 behind HB Racing’s Cole Ogden. Unfortunately the expected battle between the duo didn’t materialise as Ogden’s race ended with just over 5-minutes remaining,allowing Lutz to cruise to the win with his Alpha Engines powered MP10. Behind HB Racing’s Collin Weatherholt who take second a result he would repeat also in eBuggy. Sworkz’ David Olsen was the runner-up in Truggy.

Image: Ryan Lutz [Facebook]

December 4, 2023

JConcepts INS Finals wins for Champlin & Batta

The 13th season of the JConcepts Indoor National Series concluded over the weekend with wins for Schumacher Broc Champlin and Team Associated’s Davey Batta. The INS Finals took place at 2023 1:10 Offroad World Championship venue Hobby Action RC Raceway in Arizona, where qualifying would see former World Champion Spencer Rivkin take the 2WD Buggy TQ at his home track ahead of AE team-mate Aydin Horne and Xray’s Tom Rinderknecht. In 4WD the TQ honours went to Batta from TLR’s Dakotah Phend and Rivkin with each having TQ’d a round. In the finals, Horne would win A1 of 2WD before fourth place qualifier Champlin won A2 & 3 ahead of Rivkin to take the overall win from the pole sitter with Horne completing the podium. In 4WD, 18-year-old Barra would make the most of his pole position leading home Champlin in both for the overall win. Winning A3 from Phend, Champlin would take the second step on the podium with Phend taking the final step.

View 4WD podium here

December 4, 2023

Wins for Cavalieri & Kothman at USCOC

Following the 43rd running of the U.S. Indoor Champs Presented by Hobbywing onroad event, it was the turn of the offroad racers to race in Cleveland over the weekend where Schumacher’s Ryan Cavalieri and TLR Aaron Kothman took the wins. The 3rd running of the US Carpet Offroad Champs, in 4WD Buggy it was the Team Associated of Brandon Foote who edged out the field to take the overall TQ spot. Foote would continue with his journey battling with current IFMAR 2WD World Champion, Tater Sontag in A1 to take the first win by less than a second at the finish line. In A2, a familiar name would rise to the front of the pack as 4-time World Champ Ryan Cavalieri would claim the A2 win with a flawless 24-lap run. Cavalieri would do it again in A3 taking the overall win keeping the title for Schumacher which had won the even tlast year with Michal Orlowski. On a tiebreaker Foote would take second with Sontag completing the podium. In 2WD, Kothman took the overall TQ before going on to dominate both A1 and A2 for the overall win. With the win in A3 Cavalieri who claim second with foot also enjoying a podium double in Ohio with 3rd overall.

Source: USCOC [Facebook]

November 28, 2023

2024 JConcepts INS & Dirt Oval Nationals – Announcement

JConcepts has announced the schedule for the 14th season of its very popular Indoor National Series and 2024 Dirt Oval National Events. The INS and NCTS series’ are combining in to one to create a 5 race super series across both dirt and carpet surfaces. The 2024 calendar will consist of 3 dirt tracks and 2 carpet tracks starting the year at the famed Trackside Hobbies and Raceway and ending the festivities at the always amazing Hoosier RC Hobbyplex. The carpet events will take place at the extremely popular RC One Racing facility before heading to the beautiful Island Speedway in Muscatine, Iowa. For the first time, there will be 2 events in the Summer with one being at the superb HobbyTown HobbyPlex in Omaha, Nebraska. JConcepts is also be increasing the emphasis on Dirt Oval racing and moving to 3 Dirt Oval Nationals starting with the Speed Weeks Dirt Oval Nationals at Lil Cochran in February before moving to the Summer Dirt Oval Nationals at Auburn RC in July and finally the Winter Dirt Oval Nationals at PT’s RC Raceway in November. The events provide drivers with an array of classes to choose from to compete nationally or on a race by race basis.

View 2024 schedule & classes here