Red RC » Racing

April 25, 2026

Jones wins high attrition rate ABC Malaysia Truggy Main

Australian Tekno driver Liam Jones has won a high attrition rate Nitro Truggy A-Main at Round 2 of the Asian Buggy Championships in Malaysia. The championship’s first visit to the country and the impressive LAP Paradise RC Raceway, which located just an hour across the border from Singapore, it was expected that the half hour final would be just a formality for Top Qualifier Caleb Noble. The Sworkz driver dominated the opening round of the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed championship last month in New Zealand, and no one would have bet against the Aussie going back to back here in Johor Bahru. Starting on pole ahead of the Sparko of Ken NG, Noble quickly established a lead but as the race approached half way distance the 19-year-old suffered a diff failure, his race was done. This promoted NG to the lead with Jones, who qualified P4, running in second. However he too would hit mechanical problems, losing rear drive after just a few laps out in front – something he said may have been the result of his truggy taking a heavy hit to the rear early on in the final. With Noble down in pit lane cheering on his compatriot, along with Jones’ elated father, the Melbourne driver would stay out front to take the win ahead by 2/3 of a lap over fellow Aussie Jayden Edmunds. Chinese Kyosho driver Francis Guan completed the podium while with only 2WD NG managed to finish down in P6.

April 25, 2026

Iivonen holds off Nguyen to win eBuggy A1 at ABC Malaysia

There was an exciting finish to the opening A-Main of eBuggy at the Asian Buggy Championships in Malaysia as Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen held off a recovery charge from the Kyosho of Top Qualifier Phi-Long Nguyen. The 8-minute encounter, A2 & 3 on tomorrow’s race program at LAP Paradise RC Raceway, saw Nguyen and Nitro Buggy Top Qualifier Iivonen quickly pull clear of the field. Looking to be holding station, as the race hit mid distance a mistake from the American teenager would see the order switch. Charging to close down the Finn, traffic would delay his attack, but setting the fastest lap of the race on his penultimate lap he looked poised to challenge for the lead on the final lap. In the final quarter of the lap, Nguyen would set-up a pass over the double into the downhill section but landing partly on the leader his buggy ended up on its roof allowing a very relieved Iivonen to take his Cayote powered MX8E-26MPC to the win – the 23-year-old punching the air as he crossed the finish line. Nguyen would cross the line 3.2 seconds back in 2nd with Sworkz’s Caleb Noble coming through from 5th on the grid to finish 3rd ahead of Jared Ment and third place qualifier Jayden Edmunds.

April 24, 2026

First big TQ for Iivonen at ABC Malaysia

Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen is the Top Qualifier at the second round of the Asian Buggy Championship, the Finn taking the final round of qualifying to win the shot out with Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen and Sworkz’s Caleb Noble. The battle for pole between the drivers from three different continents was set as they each posted a TQ run over the opening qualifiers but laying down the fastest time to take the fourth round it was Iivonen who claimed his first major international TQ honours. His third appearance in the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed Championship, the Finn drove a near perfect final qualifier in a close battle with ABC debutant Nguyen until on the last lap. With Iivonen running just behind him on track, the teenager made a mistake that sealed the deal for Iivonen. The American will line-up P2 for the 45-minute final with ABC race winners Noble and Jayden Edmunds starting 3rd and 4th respectively. Nguyen would get the better of Iivonen in eBuggy taking the final round in the fastest time to become the Top Qualifier on tie-break, both drivers having two TQ runs each. In Nitro Truggy, with Noble having already secured pole position in Q3, Ken NG would take the final round and his Sparko truggy will line-up second on the track which he has been a key figure in developing into an impressive facility.

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April 24, 2026

FEMCA Asia 1:8 GT Championships relocated to Australia

The inaugural FEMCA Asia 1:8 GT Championships, which was originally awarded to Vietnam, will now take place in Australia with England Park Raceway in Brisbane awarded the race. Earlier this month the Asian governing body for RC racing announced that the championships was being relocated from the impressive new X-RC Complex in Lam Dong due to the delayed opening of the area’s new airport. QRCCRA, the club behind England Park Raceway, has secured the race to decide both the GT8 Nitro and GT8E Champions with FEMCA sanctioned championships running concurrently with the SpeedyRC IC QLD State Titles from July 30 to August 2. On the announcement it was also confirmed Sweep Racing will supply their GT2-D40WP as the control tyre for both GT categories.

Source: FEMCA [Facebook]

April 24, 2026

Nguyen & Iivonen add TQ runs at Asian Buggy Championships

With three rounds of qualifying in the books at the Asian Buggy Championships, the LAP Paradise RC Raceway in Malaysia has given us different TQ runs from three different drivers representing 3 different manufacturers, Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen topping Q2 and Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen delivering in Q3. With Sworkz’s Caleb Noble opening nitro buggy qualifying with the fastest time, the stage is now set for an exciting fourth & final qualifier with all three drivers in the hunt for the overall TQ honours. After a mistake in Q1, Top Seed Nguyen made amends with a cleaner run to take a close TQ ahead of Iivonen and Noble, the three covered by just over a second. In Q3 it was Iivonen’s turn to execute a clean 5-minute run and he took the round by a significant 4.2-second margin over his Australian and American rivals who both had mistakes resulting in costly seconds lost. In eBuggy, Iivonen would make it back to back TQ run in Q3, while in Nitro Truggy, ABC New Zealand winner Noble locked in the overall TQ with a third consecutive TQ run allowing him to sit out Q4 and focus solely on buggy.

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April 24, 2026

Noble TQ’s opening qualifier at ABC Malaysia

Sworkz’s Caleb Noble has TQ’d the opening round of qualifying at the second round of the Asian Buggy Championships in Malaysia. The Australian set the pace in the first of the four scheduled Nitro Buggy qualifiers at LAP Paradise RC Raceway by just over a second from Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen. Having topped yesterday’s seeding, Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen would suffer two mistakes on his opening effort, the second of which cost him over 6-seconds. While setting the fastest lap the American wouldn’t recover the loss and finished P3 almost 5-seconds back on Noble. Australian Jared Ment at the wheel of a Team Associated would set the fourth fastest time followed by the Sworkz of Adrian Wicaksono. Having dominated the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed ABC season opener in New Zealand, Noble would do the double in the nitro classes this morning also TQ’ing Truggy ahead of Jayden Edmunds while a clean run in eBuggy saw Nguyen top the times ahead of Iivonen and Edmunds.

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April 23, 2026

Rocket-RC electronics for Yam

Surpass Hobby, under its flagship electronics brand Rocket-RC, has announced an official strategic cooperation agreement with Hong Kong 1:10 Electric Touring Car racer Kimi Yam. The 19-year-old Xray team driver will for 2026 officially wear the Surpass Hobby colours and fully represent the Rocket-RC brand in top-tier racing events both domestically and internationally. In 2025 Yum claimed the overall HKRCSA Modified Championship, was runner-up at the Hudy Asian Grand Prix, and became Champion of the China Elite Group at the Sunpadow International Grand Prix (SIGP).

Source: Surpass [surpass-hobby.com]

April 23, 2026

Nguyen top seed at Malaysian ABC encounter

Making his Asian Buggy Championships debut as the 1:8 Offroad Championship makes its first visit to Malaysia this weekend, Kyosho’s Phi-Long Nguyen has topped seeding at the impressive LAP Paradise RC Raceway in Johor Bahru. With rain briefly interrupting proceedings during the second of the two seeding rounds, the 15-year-old American talent set the fastest two consecutive laps for both rounds both in Nitro and eBuggy. Behind it was Mayako’s Pekko Iivonen who was the closest challenger, the Finn 8/10ths of a second off in the first & faster of the rounds, driver’s fastest laps being in the 38-seconds. Having dominated the opening round of the Team Cayote/VP-Pro backed ABC in New Zealand in March, new 2026 Sworkz signing Caleb Noble completed the Top 3 half a second off Iivonen. In was an another of the championship’s Australian regulars and race winners Jayden Edmunds, also driving an Sworkz in fourth, with Ken NG, a key figure behind Round 2 host track, completing the Top 5 with his Kyosho.

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