Red RC » Racing

June 16, 2009

Steele & Campbell win Irish Nationals Rd4

The fourth round of Ireland’s On road Nitro Nationals took place over the weekend at the St.Annes track near Dublin city where Chris Steele took his third 200mm win of the season and Ian Campbell notched up his first 1:8 victory following a thrilling 30 minute final. Qualifying on pole for the 200mm race ahead of fellow Kyosho driver Chris Lawlor, Steele dominated the race setting the fastest lap enroute to a 7-lap winning margin over the Xray of Eoin Doran with Thomas Ward completing the podium. In 1:8 it was defending champion Clive Connolly who took TQ honours with his IDM powered Mugen over the Kyosho of current championship leader Austin Elliot. A very close final saw four drivers in the hunt for the win but that dropped to three when Elliot flamed out and then to two when Connolly had to make an unscheduled tyre stop five minutes from the end. This left Campbell and 1:8 returnee Steele, winner of the 200mm race, to battle it out for the top spot on the podium. In the end teenager Campbell, whose Matrix tyres equipped Shepherd recorded the fastest lap of the race, took the win by 7 seconds from Steele’s Kyosho with the recovering Connolly a further 7 seconds adrift in third.

Click here to see the 1/8th scale podium

June 16, 2009

Stefan Pregnolato is European ‘B’ Junior Champion

Forgotten at the prize ceremony during the European ‘B’ Championships in Cassino 2 weeks ago, EFRA have confirmed that 14-year old Shepherd driver Stefan Pregnolato is the European B Junior Champion. Already in qualifying Stefano showed great potential by driving the 3rd best time with his Velox V8 and reaching the main final directly. During the final he was on the third place for quite a long time but unfortunately in the last lap he dropped down to 5th position. Nevertheless this was enough to claim the titel of Europe’s best under 17 driver at this years Championships.

Source: Shepherd [team-shepherd.com]

June 16, 2009

Grainger & Jefferies win 2009 MMUKGP

This years running of the annual Much More UK GP took place last weekend at the Stonehaven circuit in Scotland. Qualifying for the modified class went the way of current British National Champion Chris Grainger, just in front of Olly Jefferies in 2nd and Dutch driver Niels Koenekoop in 3rd, while in the Pro Stock class, it was Graham Kenny up front followed by Tom Jefferies and Scott Kenny. Conditions remained dry for most of the day, however a rain shower after the first leg of mains mixed things up a bit but dried quickly. Schumacher racer Chris Grainger carried through his pace from qualifying to take the overall title with 2 leg wins, with Niels Koenekoop driving the TOP Photon won leg 3 and took 2nd overall. Team Associated driver Alan Bickerstaff completed the podium in 3rd. In the Pro Stock class, Graham Kenny won the first leg but struggled in the next two, while Tom Jefferies won the final 2 legs to take the overall class title from Scott Kenny in 2nd and Mark Musgrove in 3rd.

Click here to see the final results & pro stock podium

June 16, 2009

Karl-Heinz Meister takes German West Rd6

What a pity! Once again rain hampered the racing action of the Western German Championship I.C. 1/8 – for the fourth time in a row. Practice for the sixth and last round of the Western German Championship was held in Oberhausen under the best possible conditions with blue sky and temperatures around 25 degrees. On Sunday first clouds welcomed the racers and after round three of the heats it started to rain and didn’t stop for the rest of the day. In a drivers meeting it was decided not to continue this disappointing race day and to count the race following the heats order.

Continue reading the full report

June 16, 2009

Groskamp wins Luxembourg International TC race

Jilles Groskamp has made his intentions clear for this summer’s European Championships by winning last weekend’s International Touring Car race held on the Mini Circuit de la Ville, the same track as the main event in August. The race which attracted top drivers from around Europe looking to get extra track time ahead of the official warm-up, saw Groskamp take a clear pole position, winning all 5 rounds to line up ahead of team mates Yannic Pruemper, Marc Rheinard and Viktor Wilck. In the finals Jilles could take the win in the first leg, with World Champion Rheinard taking the 2nd leg to keep the race alive going into the final leg. Jilles could again take the win in the 3rd and final leg to take the overall win from Rheinard in 2nd, with Wilck moving up 3rd overall after a bad first leg.

Source: RCCM [rccm.lu]

June 15, 2009

Südhoff wins German Summer Champs

Last weekend saw the German Summer Champs take place outdoor in Hann, Münden. More than 100 drivers met in various categories and is aiming to become one of the biggest annual events in Germany. Qualification saw Freddy Südhoff take the pole position in Modified, while in the Stock category it was Stefan Paßlack on top and in Sports it was Näther Oliver taking the top spot. The races saw little change to the starting order with Südhoff winning Mod from Sebastian Lein in 2nd and Dennis Fadtke 3rd, with the last leg being run in the damp conditions as the rain began to fall. The Stock class was won by Stefan Paßlack from Christian Wehrmann and Thorsten Schmidt, while in the Sports class it was Näther Oliver taking the victory ahead of Thomas Mirke and Thomas Musial.

June 15, 2009

Polish Tamiya Championship Rd3

We received a brief report from last weekend’s 3rd round of the Polish Tamiya Championship for off road that took place in Warsaw. After a night of rain on Saturday, Sunday’s first run was still a bit wet but with the sun beginning to shine, it soon dried up and the from the 2nd round of qualifying the track was dry. Qualifying for the 2wd class was headed up by 8 year old Michal Orlowski, with Bartosz Maciejewski in 2nd and Patryk Rybarczyk in 3rd, while in 4wd it was Artur Kramza that TQ’d from Morris Indovino. After the 3 leg 2wd finals it was Rybarczyk that ended up taking the win following 2 leg victories, with pole man Orlowski in 2nd and Maciejewski taking 3rd. In the 4wd finals, touring car regular Morris Indovino took the overall win from Artur Kramza in 2nd and Lukasz Kowalczyk taking the last podium step in 3rd.

Click here for more event images

June 13, 2009

Scott Kimbrow dominates Capital Classic

The top 1/8th scale drivers in the country were in attendance last weekend for the 3rd Annual Capital Classic run at the 301 Raceway, which has become one of the largest nitro on-road races of the year. This years race saw over 180 entries in three classes. With qualifying all said and done on this super-fast, fuel hungry track, Scott Kimbrow was able to take the TQ spot in 1/8th scale by 3 seconds over Paolo Morganti in 2nd. The fist half of the 45 minute A-main saw some close racing, but Scott was able to pull away after the halfway point when Scott decided there was no need to change tires. Many of the other racers changed tires or made short pit stops, but Scott had a different strategy and won from the Mugen pairing of Mike Swauger in 2nd and Paul Ciccarello in 3rd. In the 1/10th scale 200mm class it was Xray driver Paul Lemieux that took the win from team mates Ralph Burch in 2nd and Gianni Giorgio in 3rd, while the Masters class was won by Maxy Fuel’s very own Maxy Velazco.

Source: Kyosho [kyoshoamerica.com]