The opening round of the 2017/18 JBRL Winter Indoor Off-road Series was held at Coyote Hobies Raceway in Victorville, California. In the Open 2WD Buggy class it was Ron DeVoll with the win from Austin Pannone in 2nd and Matthew Gonzales 3rd, making it an all-Team-Associated podium.
Ryan Maifield has won the first A-Main at the 2WD Offroad World Championship in China, the Yokomo driver having such a lead that he could still take the win despite needing to be marshalled in the jumps section on the last lap. Top Qualifier for the 17th running of the event, Maifield was able to quickly build up an advantage at the front, ahead of team-mate Lee Martin who came under pressure from Ryan Cavalieri, the Associated driver briefly getting ahead of the British driver. In the end however the Top 3 would finish in the same order as they started with Dakotah Phend getting 4th from 6th on the grid ahead of Jared Tebo.
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The opening round of the Finnish Winter Jumps Series was held last weekend. The event was held at the Vaasa indoor track, one of four slippery tracks in the series this season while races 5 and 6 will be held on EOS type carpet tracks. Friday was the official practise day and the fastest cars on track were the buggies of last season’s double champion, Konsta Saarinen and it seemed that Konsta could challenge multiple EOS A-main driver Joona Haatanen during the weekend. The 2WD race started on Saturday in Joona’s command. Joona TQ’d all four rounds, local star Oskari Mäki was 2nd and Konsta 3rd after the qualifications. In the finals Joona continued to dominate by winning all three A-mains. Konsta came in 2nd while Oskari rounded out the overall top 3.
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Schelle Racing Innovations have introduced their new Extreme shock towers for the Team Associated B64 buggy. Machined from 4.0mm carbon fibre for stiffness and durability the front and rear tower have the unnecessary outer holes removed for less leverage to break while the front tower sports optional wing mount holes. The front wing is a great addition in high traction when using the less-agressive kit B64 body. Schelle’s testing has found that the JConcepts F2 body does not require a front wing, but the kit body will definitely benefit from it. In the rear, racers get a more durable tower, with new upper link options that improve handling. The kit outer row of holes are shifted 2.5mm towards the centreline, which lengthens the link and improves cornering balance. The inboard row of holes are shifted 2mm and only marked with a drill dimple, as they will be rarely used except for extreme traction conditions. The towers are usable on all B64 kits with standard 27.5 rear shock bodies, they come separately or as complete set with the optional 3-D-printed front wing mount being available separately.
Ryan Maifield is the Top Qualifier for the 2WD Offroad World Championships in Xiamen, China. The Yokomo driver claimed his first 2WD Worlds’ pole position when he TQ’d the fifth & final round of qualifying ahead of team-mate Lee Martin who will line up second. Having initially struggled with the challenging Xiamen ARC International Raceway track, Maifield finally turned things around at the close of the second day of the event when under the floodlights he topped Q3. Kicking off finals day with a P3 in the penultimate qualifier, the American delivered his second TQ run in the final qualifier but with the running order reversed for Q5 he had to wait to see what Martin could do in the second fastest heat. For a time it looked like Martin would secure his first Worlds TQ as he ran more than 1-second up on Maifield’s pace but with just under 2-minutes on the clock he would crash coming onto the straight handing to overall TQ to his new for 2017 team-mate. Behind the Yokomos it is Team Associated’s Ryan Cavalieri who will start third, the Q2 pace setter’s unable to challenge for the TQ in the final qualifier as he managed only P14. The only other driver to TQ a round, Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski saw his challenge for the TQ end with a mistake in the jumps section that knocked a front shock of his car so he starts fourth with Bruno Coelho completing the top half of the grid ahead of Dakotah Phend, David Ronnefalk, Jared Tebo, Joern Neumann and Kyle McBride.
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Having claimed two P2 result in qualifying yesterday, Lee Martin has opened the final day of the 2WD Offroad World Championships in China with a TQ run in the penultimate qualifier. Running in the second fastest heat, the reseeding after three rounds that would have put the Yokomo driver in the top heat been withdrawn this morning, Martin’s time would see him post the quickest time ahead of Q1 pace setter Michal Orlowski. Having lead a Yokomo 1-2 last night from Martin in Q3, Ryan Maifield backed that up by posting a P3 run ahead of Chris Sturdy, Dakotah Phend and Jared Tebo. For reigning champion Spencer Rivkin, the fourth qualifier saw the American’s hopes of defending his title come to an end as he again failed to register a competitive result.
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Modelix Racing have introduced their new M-3R 3-port 3.5cc nitro off-road engine. Like the previously released M3S, the R version is a 3-port 0.S. based power plant but it features a high-precision and Japan-made rear steel bearing, a balanced crankshaft with tungsten weight and silicone filling and it comes with a 6.5mm venturi insert. The engine is of a long stroke design, it offers high torque and extreme power all combined with low fuel consumption. Other features include a low-profile cooling head designed by Modelix, the carburettor is the same as with the M3S and M3T engines and the backplate is machined from 7075-T6 aluminium with the hard material reducing the conrod/backplate friction.
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Ryan Maifield became the third different driver to post a TQ on the opening day of qualifying at the 2WD Offroad World Championship, the American leading a Yokomo 1-2 in China in the third round of qualifying. Having not featured in the opening two qualifiers, with a best run of P9 in Q2, Maifield took set-up direction from team mate Lee Martin for the final action of the day to top the third of the five qualifiers by 0.375 of a second from the British driver who also managed a P2 in the previous round. Behind the Yokomo duo, the round would see another of US Offroad racing’s big name drivers turn around a challenging day as Jared Tebo took his Kyosho to the third fastest time even with an error on his final lap. Having taken Q2, Ryan Cavalieri would conclude a long day, due to morning rain delays, with a P4 ahead of Q1 pace setter Michal Orlowski while TLR’s Dakotah Phend rounded out the Top 6 with his best run of the day.
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