Red RC » R Off Road

June 9, 2025

Champlin doubles at INS15 Mid Summer encounter

Round 3 of the 15th season of the JConcepts Indoor National Series, the Mid-Summer Carpet Indoor Nationals, took place at Island Speedway in Iowa, over the weekend where Schumacher’s Broc Champlin completed the double. Attracting almost 300 entries, qualifying would consist of three round with Champlin topping them all in 2WD to TQ ahead of Team Associated pairing Spencer Rivkin and Aydin Horne with Schumacher’s Tom Rinderknecht fourth. Winning A1 & 2 Champlin added his first 2WD win of the 2025 series as the Top 3 line-up on the podium as how they started. In 4WD, it was Rivkin who took the TQ from Champlin with Brennan Schimmel’s Xray third, each driver having posted a TQ run each. While Rivkin opened the finals with a win as Champlin dropped to 4th, Champlin took A2 forcing things to be decided in A3. With Rivkin leading for the first 2-minutes, Champlin forced his way into lead where ge stayed to take the win and with it his second 4WD win of the INS15 season having won at the season opener back in February at Trackside Hobbies in Wisconsin. With Rivkin A3 ending down in P5, it was Schimmel (2nd) and Rinderknecht would completed the podium.

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]

June 8, 2025

Ongaro defends European eBuggy title in Spain

Team Associated’s Davide Ongaro has defended his EFRA European 1:8 eBuggy title winning the 9th edition of the championship at Valladolid in Spain. Qualifying would kick off with Bruno Coelho and his prototype Infinity eBuggy topping the first of the four rounds but fastest in the next three qualifiers it was reigning European Nitro Buggy Champion Juan Carlos Canas who secured the TQ with his Sworkz. Behind the Spaniard it was Ongaro, last year’s Top Qualifier in France, who lined up second ahead of Coelho. Italian Sworkz driver Mattio Polito secured P4 with the Sparko of young French talent Noha Ben Mohamed in fifth as David Ronnefalk completed the Top 6 as the leading Xray. In the first of the 10-minute triple final encounters, late contact between Canas and Ongaro handed Coelho the win. In A2 a mistake from Canas early on saw him give the lead to Ongaro who would lead home Coelho and Ronnefalk. Unfortunately Canas’s hopes of retaking the title he last held in 2022 were over after he suffered a DNF trying to make his way back up the order. While Canas finally delivered a win in A3, second was enough for Ongaro to take his third eBuggy Euros title with Coelho the runner-up as Canas completed the podium. Finishing P4, Ben Mohamed took the European Junior title. A big year for 1:8 Electric Buggy, drivers will now turn their attention to the first ever IFMAR World Championship for the category which takes place in Portugal in August.

Image: EFRA [Facebook]

June 3, 2025

Phipps claims first BRCA 1:10 Offroad National win

Team Associated’s Thomas Phipps claimed his first BRCA British 1:10 Offroad National Championship win over the weekend when he won 2WD at Round 2 of the championship. Racing at Boughton Raceway in Norfolk in the East of the country, in 4WD it was Schumacher’s Ben Smith who took the win. Topping 3 of the 4 qualifiers, Neil Cragg managing the fastest time in Q2, Phipps secured the overall TQ ahead of the similar buggies of Cragg and Round 1 double winner Tommy Hall with Smith securing P4. In the finals an incident filled A1 saw Hall win from Smith as Phipps finished P4. In A2, the 20-year-old was able to convert pole into victory finishing 2-seconds ahead of Cragg. In A3 having pulled an early lead, Phipps was then chased back down by Hall but as the reigning champion attempted a pass the pair tangled handing the lead to the Schumacher’s Josh Holdsworth. Holdsworth stayed out front to win the leg ahead of Phipps and Smith but P2 was enough for Phipps to claim his first National race win. Josh Holdsworth (2nd) and Hall joined him on the podium. In 4WD, Smith would take the TQ and win ahead of Martin, who won A1, with Josh Holdsworth competing the Top 3 ahead of back to back champion Hall.

Image: Thomas Phipps [Facebook]

June 3, 2025

Landén doubles at Swedish 1:10 Buggy Nats – Report

Team Associated driver Alexander Landén produced a clean sweep at the Swedish National Championship over the weekend winning both 2WD and 4WD 1:10 electric buggy at the Karlskrona MRK organised event in the south-east corner of the country. The outdoor track and overall facility is one of the best in Sweden, and the club always puts on a great organization taking care of the racers with good food service and atmosphere. In 2WD qualifying Landén came out strong and managed to TQ rounds 1 and 3 with the fastest time of the day to secure overall TQ. In the process he also posted the fastest lap time of the day with Schumacher’s Elias Johansson lining up P2 followed by the Xray of Hampus Berg and TLR of Ludwig Albertz. In the first final Landén was able to break free and run a fairly undisturbed final followed home by Johansson in 2nd and Berg in 3rd. In the second final the Top Qualifier got away clean, but made a small mistake on the long-jump letting Johansson by. While Landén spent most of the final pressuring Johansson, but couldn’t find a way past and in the end made another mistake that allowed Berg to take 2nd. In the third A-final again the start was clean with Landén and Johansson managing to make an early break-away from the rest of the field. While Johansson managed to keep in contact with the leader for quite a while, a mistake saw him get hung up on an edge of the corner table jump, which allowed Landén to pull away and win the last final and take the overall championship. Overall 2nd went to Johansson with Berg claiming the final podium spot.

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June 2, 2025

Berton wins 25th edition of Kyosho Masters

Riccardo Berton took the Nitro Buggy win at the Kyosho Masters, this year’s event marking the 25th anniversary of the iconic Japanese manufacturer’s flagship annual event. With almost 200 Kyosho drivers plus JQ making the trip to the RC94 track in France, where they got to see the new MP11 Prototype in person, in Elite qualifying it was Berton who took the TQ ahead of Reno Savoya, Marco Baruffolo and Phi-Long Nguyen. With Berton and Savoya winning their respective Semi Finals, it was the 3-time European Champion who would line up on pole on home soil. With Berton starting P2, American Ryan Lutz, only 12th after qualifier, had a great Semi Final to secure P3 on the grid ahead Baruffolo and 13-year-old Nguyen. Over the 45-minute final, Berton set the fastest lap of the race to win by 2-laps over last weekend’s Kyosho Italia Meeting winner Baruffolo. With second through 5th all finishing on the same lap, back to back FEMCA 1:8 Offroad Champion Nguyen claimed the final podium step just ahead of Savoya with Lutz in fifth. In eBuggy it was Savoya who took the TQ and win ahead of Italian duo Berton and Baruffolo.

Image: Riccardo Berton [Facebook]

May 27, 2025

Canas wins Round 2 of Spanish Championship

Round 2 of the AECAR Spanish 1:8 Nitro Buggy Championship took place at La Masia Raceway in Girona where Sworkz’s Juan Carlos Canas took the win. Having missed the season opener due to racing at the Silverstate in the US, defending Champion Canas secured the TQ after topping 2 of the 5 qualifiers. Behind him a very on form 6mik team driver Adrian Pariente ended qualifying P2 ahead of the Mugen Seiki of Round 1 race winner David Todd. Winning the faster of the Semi finals from Oscar Baldo, his brother Bryan winning the second encounter to start P2, Canas took the pole for the 45-minute Main. An an impressive drive by Pariente would keep European Champion Canas honest the entire final the No.3 starter only 2-seconds behind at the finish. Unable to match the hot pace of the Top 2, the Xray of Bryan Baldo, who was runner up at the season opener, completed the podium just ahead of Robert Batlle’s Sworkz, the former World Champion report a number of mechanical issues. Having ran as high as 3rd position Todd would finish 7th.

Image: Adrian Pariente [Facebook]

May 27, 2025

Phend wins ‘The Dirt’ Lonestar Challenge

Over the Memorial weekend in the US, expected 2026 IFMAR 1:8 Offroad World Championship venue Thornhill RC Raceway in Hutto, Texas played host to ‘The Dirt’ Lonestar Challenge where Xray’s Dakotah Phend took the Nitro Buggy win. After 3 rounds of qualifying, 2 to count, it was Tekno’s Seth VanDalen who claimed the TQ honours from Phend, Ryan Maifield and 2025 Silver State dominator Mason Fuller. While VanDalen lead for the first 15-minutes, having already taken the Nitro Truggy win once Phend hit the front he stayed there to win by almost a full lap over the pole sitter while Maifield, winner of eBuggy, completed the podium with his Tekno. Fuller would finish 4th after a close finish with Xray’s Chase Lemieux who round out the Top 5 just 0.893 of a second back.

Image: Tekno RC [Facebook]

May 27, 2025

Holdsworth & Smith win at Scotty Ernst UK Showdown

Famed British astro track Robin Hood Raceway played host to the Scotty Ernst UK Showdown over the UK Bank Holiday weekend where Schumacher’s Luke Holdsworth and Ben Smith took the big wins. With 2WD action first up it was it was Luke Holdsworth who secured the TQ as he topped 2 of the four rounds. Tied for second with one TQ run each was Smith and the other of the Holdsworth brothers Josh, however with the faster time 2024 2WD winner Smith denied the brothers a 1-2 on the grid. In the finals, A1 would see a Holdsworth 1-2 as Luke got by Smith, however Smith got the better of them both in A2 meaning it was all to play for in A3. Taking a 4-seconds win over Josh, a mistake on lap 2 ending Smith’s challenge, it was a 1-2 overall for the brothers with Smith completing the podium. Moving onto 4WD, the battle between Smith and the brothers continued. While Luke opened and closed with TQ runs, taking Q2 & 3 with a faster time it was Smith who was the Top Qualifier. Winning the opening two encounters just ahead of third place qualifier Josh, Smith took the overall victory, while Josh completed a podium that was a complete reverse of 2WD.

Image: Scotty Ernst UK Showdown