Red RC » R Off Road

March 9, 2026

Desert Classic wins for Phend & Champlin

Xray’s Dakotah Phend and Schumacher’s Broc Champlin where the main winners at the annual Desert Classic presented By Stick It One. One of 2023 1:10 Offroad Worlds host track Hobby Action’s blue ribbon events, the 10th edition of the Arizona race attracted 325 entries and it Modified 2WD Buggy it was Phend who took the TQ from the Team Associated pairing of 2025 4WD winner Aydin Horne and Finnish visitor Joona Haatanen. In 4WD, taking two of the 4 qualifiers it was Champlin who locked in the TQ ahead of Phend, who topped Q4, and last year’s 2WD winner Chase Lemieux. In the Mains, 2WD would got to the third leg. While Phend won A1, he would finish 3rd in A2 with Haatanen taking the win from Horne who had a DNF in A1. Horne would win A3 from Phend but with his A1 winning time faster it was Phend who took the overall, his first 1:10 win with Matrix tyres, with Haatanen completing the podium ahead of Ryan Cavalieri. In 4WD, Champlin executed an early win taking A1 & 2 with Phend taking A3 to claim second as Haatanen again claimed third. In 40+, Team Associated team manager Brent Thielke completed the double taking both 2WD and 4WD as the Top Qualifier.

Image: Dakotah Phend / JConcepts [Facebook]

March 9, 2026

Noble becomes back to back Australian Champion

New 2026 Sworkz signing Caleb Noble has become back to back RCRA 1:8 Nitro Buggy Australia National Champion, the 19-year-old successfully defending his 2025 title at the Canberra Off Road Model Car Club hosted title race over the weekend. Having kicked off his new program with Sworkz with a dominant performance at the opening round of the Asian Buggy Championships in New Zealand a week earlier, Noble would secure the TQ in Canberra ahead of Team Associated’s Alex Bernadzik, both drivers recording two TQ runs each over the 4 rounds of qualifying. A race that attracted 331 entries over the various classes, Aaron Dexter, Christian Wolhunter and Logan Toia completed the Top 5. With Dexter and Wolhunter winners of their resoective Semi finals this would be the Top 3 order for the grid behind Noble. After a number of lead changes in the early stages of the 1-hour final, Dexter, Jarod Mont, Bernadzik and Wolhunter all taking stints at the front, as the race approached mid distance Noble would get to the front and stay there to eventually win by a 2-lap margin over Team Associated pairing Lachlan Donnelly and Bernadzik with last year’s runner up Wolhunter missing out on the podium in P4. In eBuggy Bernadzik took the title from the TQ spot ahead of Noble and Ment while in Truggy Noble added another National title with the win ahead of Felix Koegler and Dexter.

Image: RC Race Media [Facebook]

March 4, 2026

Neumann joins XTR for accessories & fuel

Spanish brand XTR has announced that new WIRC signing Joern Neumann will use their accessories and Shoot fuel as part of his race program for the upcoming seasons. The highly accomplished offroad racer and former 1:8 GT World Champion, joined Italian manufacturer WIRC for 2026 after an 8-year stint with Taiwanese manufacturer Sworkz. Running Reds Racing engines, Neumann joins multiple time European Champions Elliott Boots and Reno Savoya in representing XTR and running Shoot fuel.

Source: XTR Racing [xtr-rc.com]

March 3, 2026

Canas wins Spanish Nationals opener

Champion of the highly competitive AECAR 1:8 Nitro Buggy Spanish National Championship, Sworkz’s Juan Carlos Canas opened his 2026 campaign with a TQ and win. The Circuito RC Fernando Robles track in San Jose de la Rinconada played host to the first race of the 4-round championship with Canas taking 4 of the 5 qualifiers. Behind Robert Batlle made it an Sworkz 1-2 with a string of P2 runs while Tekno’s Joao Figueiredo completed the Top 3 having TQ’d the final qualifier. Winning his Semi final from Mugen Seiki’s David Todd Nieto, winner of the 2025 season opener, Figueiredo, and Sparko’s Daniel Pariente, winner of 2025 season finale, it was Canas who would start on pole, the Top 4 on the grid coming from the Semi A. Winner of the Semi B, Battle would line up P5. In the 45-minute final, Canas steered his Reds Racing powered Sworkz to the victory half a lap clear of Mugen’s Jose Miguel Sanchez with Adrian Pariente’s Sparko completing the podium ahead of Battle and Xray’s Oscar Baldo with Todd Nieto finishing sixth. In F2 category, the race attracting a combined 81 entries between F1 and F2, Saul Ordonez Ortiz made it a double celebration for Sworkz by also taking the TQ and win.

Image: Sworkz [Facebook]

March 2, 2026

Noble wins Asian Buggy C/ships opener in New Zealand

Sworkz’s Caleb Noble has won the opening round of the fourth season of the the Team Cayote and VP-Pro backed Asian Buggy Championships which was hosted by New Zealand’s Counties RC over the weekend. Having top qualified three classes, Noble went on to win all three – Nitro Buggy, eBuggy, and Nitro Truggy. It was a powerful performance from the Australian marking his move to Sworkz and JConcepts over the off-season. Noble led home Sworkz teammate, New Zealand’s Jayden Jamieson, in both buggy classes, and Kiwi Hotbodies driver Shane O’Connor in Truggy. The Nitro Buggy final was a straight shootout between Noble and Jamieson, with Jayden grabbing an early lead before Noble struck back on the cusp of the first fuel stop and, from there, driving away to a one-lap win. Kiwi veteran Mike Stratford drove a brilliant race from 9th on the grid to round out the podium and make it an Sworkz sweep. eBuggy was an easy win for Noble, dominating A1 and A2, with Jamieson trailing him home, and countryman Jonathan Coluccio (WIRC) an excellent third. Darren Perry (Masters 45+ EP and Nitro) and Shane O’Connor (eTruggy) were the other class winners. The series now moves to Malaysia’s Lap Paradise RC Raceway for April’s second round of the 2026 series.

Source: Asian Buggy Championships [asianbuggychamps.com]

March 1, 2026

‘We made the impossible possible’, Orlowski leads Schumacher 1-2 at MIBO International

Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski has added his name to MIBO International’s Roll of Honour for the offroad, the previous Touring Car Champion of the Czech event denying compatriot Bartek Zalewski the double when he took the 4WD Buggy title which went down to A3. Making the switch from the onroad track across to the parallel offroad track for the fourth edition of the annual race, Orlowski would qualify second to Zalewski in both 2WD and 4WD but coming up short on winning in 2WD, a team effort would see Orlowski lead a 1-2 result in 4WD from team-mate Daniel Kobbevik. Armed from fresh tyres for A1, Orlowski kicked off 4WD with a win ahead of Kobbevik as mistakes dropped Zalewski to P5. A2 would see Zalewski benefit from fresh rubber to win with ease over Orlowski despite the pair sharing identical fastest lap times for the race. In the decider while Zalewski looked to be dealing with the pressure of Orlowski almost on his rear wing, a small mistake at the tabletop with a minute to go gave us a lead change. While Orlowski led for a lap, Zalewski would then drive around the outside of his rival after they had came off the straight but they touched on the jump and both went tumbling handing Kobbevik the lead. With Zalewski trying for another pass after they resumed, he would catch the jump and roll out of contention finishing P3, 2-seconds back on Orlowski who took the overall win on tie break from Kobbevik.

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March 1, 2026

Zalewski defends MIBO 2WD title

Xray’s Bartek Zalewski has successfully defended his 2WD Buggy title at MIBO International, the young Polish racer wrapping up the overall win with two straight wins in the opening A-Mains at the Czech Republic event. Having secured the TQ for the fourth edition of the Michal Bok organised race ahead of Michal Orlowski, A1 would see his compatriot armed with fresh tyres mount a strong challenge but a cool headed drive from Zalewski meant he kept that challenge at bay. In A2 it was the 19-year-old who had the tyre advantage and he was able to cruise to win by a comfortable margin to lock in a very popular overall victory. With another second place to Zalewski securing Orlowski the overall runner-up but the upcoming 4WD title still up for grabs, Orlowski would along with the re-crowned Champion sit out A3 to focus on his 4WD quest. This left team-mate & 3rd place qualifier Daniel Kobbevik to lead away the 8-car field. Despite coming under the close attentions of Sworkz’s Micha Vidmaier for most of the race, the 2025 Top Qualifier & Runner-up would win A3 to complete the podium line-up in Hrotovice.

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February 28, 2026

MIBO International TQ double for Zalewski

Xray talent Bartek Zalewski will go for the buggy double at MIBO International as the Top Qualifier in both 2WD and 4WD. The Polish racer who is the reigning 2WD Champion of the annual Czech event and the 4WD Champion from the year before, will chase his first double title looking to emulate Bruno Coelho’s achievement at inaugural running of the race in 2023. Zalewski had the perfect event up to Q3, when Schumacher’s Michal Orlowski knocked him off the top of the timing sheet for the first time by delivery the TQ run in both 2WD and 4WD after a not so great start to qualifying. While Orlowski would of course liked to have push the TQ battle to Sunday morning’s fifth & final qualifier, Zalewski produced the fastest runs of the day in Q4 to lock in pole position for the triple finals. Daniel Kobbevik however push him hard in 2WD missing out by just 4/100ths and the Schumacher driver holds P2 overnight in both classes. In 2WD Sworkz’s Micha Widmaier sits in P2, the Austrian back up his second fastest time in Q2 with another in Round 3. Orlowski is tied on points with team-mate Kobbevik in 4WD but with the Norwegian having the faster individual qualifying time he is ranked 3rd.

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