February 16, 2009

Riccardo Rabitti claims Montpellier GP victory

Riccardo Rabitti claims Montpellier GP victory

The annual Montpellier GP took place last weekend in the French town in the south of France. With all the best French drivers, as well as a number of front runners from around Europe, in attendance it was Yannick Aigoin that took the TQ position after qualifying with his Novarossi powered Losi 8ight 2.0. Following the semi finals it was the Mugen RB combination of current European Champion Renaud Savoya that took the pole position for the main final, with Yannick lining up in 2nd. The main final started with a close battle between Savoya and Aigoin with Yannick managing to pull away, a gap that would increase following problems for the Mugen man. This left Italian Losi racer Riccardo Rabitti in 2nd but quite a distance behind the leader, but in the closing stages Aigoin hit troubles and this allowed the Italian through to inherit the lead and with it the win. Xray driver Sartel took 2nd, while a recovering Savoya took the final spot on the podium in 3rd.

Source: RC Mag [rcmag.com]

February 16, 2009

Honigl & Trauner win Vienna Winter Champs

Honigl & Trauner win Vienna Winter Champs

The Vienna Off road Winter Champs were run last weekend by RC Carpet Fun at the Arena Nova in Vienna and the event attracted 117 racers over 4 classes, 2wd, 4wd, truck and 1/18th buggy. In the 4wd class it was multiple European Champion and Tamiya team driver Hupo Honigl that took the top qualifier spot with his new 511X. In the race, the Austrian had an easy leg 1 win, but finished 2nd in leg 2 to setup a last leg battle between himself and Peter Pinisch, but Honigl was able to come through to win the final leg and overall title, with Pinisch taking the runner up spot, while German racer Bernhard Bachmann took 3rd overall. In 2wd it was a clean sheet for Rene Trauner who took the TQ spot and then won the first two A-mains to secure the overall with one leg left to run. Hupo took the win in the 3rd leg, but 2 bad runs in leg 1 and 2 meant he was out of contention and so Roli Hauleitner took 2nd and Peter Pinisch 3rd. The truck class was won by Roli Hauleitner, with Kreil Martin 2nd  and Peter Wirthner 3rd, while in the 1/18th class Hupo Honigl won from Oli Holczer in 2nd and Andreas Knott 3rd.

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February 16, 2009

Morganti & Apolaro take Winternats victory

Morganti & Apolaro take Winternats victory

Last week saw the 2009 Winternats run at the Ft Myers track in Florida, always the opening international gas race of the season. Qualifying saw Serpent racer Paolo Morganti TQ the 1/10th scale class while in 1/8th scale it was Mugen team driver Mike Swauger that had some serious pace in 1/8th scale to line up first. In Saturday’s finals it was Paolo Morganti that took the win in the 1/8th scale class with the new Serpent 966, finishing ahead of another Serpent driver Flavio Elias in 2nd , while Ralph Burch racing a Mugen took 3rd. In the 1/10th scale 200mm class it was again a Serpent win, this time for new ATS signing DJ Apolaro, who had a clear advantage of 3 laps over Xray driver Scott Rister in 2nd, with Chris Lefebvre a distant 3rd.

Click here to see the 1/10th scale podium

February 12, 2009

Jovanovic clean sweep at NZ Gas Nats

Jovanovic clean sweep at NZ Gas Nats

The 2009 New Zealand On road Gas Nationals took place last weekend at the Ruapuna Raceway hosted by the Canterbury Radio Control Car Club and in attendance were several Australians including Peter and Steven Jovanovic. In the 1/10th scale class it was Steven and Peter Jovanovic that took 1st and 2nd respectively both running Kyosho chassis’, while in 3rd place was Mark Harling with the Xray NT1. In 1/8th scale there was another dominant performance by the Jovanovics, this time with Peter taking the win from Steven, both driving Motonica, with Selywn Duthie taking 3rd place driving a Mugen.

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February 11, 2009

2008 RCMC Singapore Nats Prizegiving

2008 RCMC Singapore Nats Prizegiving

The trophy presentation for the 2008 RCMC Singapore National Championships took place last weekend during the first round of the 2009 series. In the 1/8th Nitro On road series it was Tay Wui Kiat driving a Novarossi powered Motonica P8R that took the title ahead of Serpent racer Erwin Luhur in 2nd, while Shepherd driver Don Chng took 3rd. In 1/10th 200mm it was Philip Lee driving a Sirio engined Kyosho RRR that took the National crown in front of team mates Ben Seet in 2nd and Terence Chung in 3rd.

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February 11, 2009

Chris Lee wins Good Fortune Cup

Chris Lee wins Good Fortune Cup

This past weekend saw China’s premier 1/10th 200mm gas race, the Good Fortune Cup, take place and for the 15th anniversary of the event there was a big turn out, with drivers from Hong Kong, Macau and China taking part. After 2 days of qualifiers, it was Samuel Chiu from Hong Kong using the Xray NT1 and MAX engine that took the TQ spot from fast local driver Irvine Fong with a Novarossi powered NT1 taking 2nd. Unfortunately for Samuel, he couldn’t take the start having stripped his front belt in the warm up. At the 6th minute Chris Lee took over at the front, racing his new Capricorn powered NT1 and once up front he was able to extend his lead to nearly 3 laps, but a splash for fuel in the closing minutes resulted in a stop and go penalty and so the margin was only 1 lap at the end.

Thanks to Chris Lee for the report.

February 11, 2009

Drake & Truhe win Psycho Nitro Blast

Drake & Truhe win Psycho Nitro Blast

The Psycho Nitro Blast race was held last weekend in Atlanta Georgia, and the crew presented the racers with another crazy and challenging layout. In the 1/8th truck class it was top qualifier Adam Drake, running the Losi 8ight T 2.0, that took the win from CEN racer Gene Hickersen, with Losi team mate Mike Truhe in 3rd. Mike Truhe had a better time in the buggy class, taking the TQ spot and going on to win from Ryan Lutz, who was running the prototype 801X, while Berry Pettit finished 3rd for Mugen.

Thanks to Adam Drake for the report.

February 10, 2009

Mark Green switches to Novarossi engines

Mark Green switches to Novarossi engines

Multiple World Championship finalist and Pre Worlds winner, Mark Green, has announced that he has signed for Italian engine maker Novarossi World. The British racer had until recently used Mega powerplants to power his Serpent chassis’ but will now use Novarossi’s new 353 and Flash engines in the 1/10th and 1/8th scale classes respectively. Mark will soon announce more new sponsors, as he gears up both the European 1/10th scale Championships in Gubbio Italy, and of course the 1/8th scale World Championships in Lostallo, Swtizerland.

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