The opening round of the Italian 1/8th Nitro Buggy National Championship was held at the Gil Archi track in Corigliano Calabro over the weekend. In the 45-minute Expert main final it was Team Associated’s Davide Ongaro that proved to be unbeatable, bringing home the win one lap in front of Kyosho’s Riccardo Berton while Alessandro Stocco (TLR) completed the top 3 podium result.
Image: Piero Cresta
The second round of the Spanish 1/8th E-Buggy National Championship was held in Silla over the weekend. Mugen’s Robert Batlle took the TQ from Mugen team mate Jaume Figuls while the TLR duo of Oscar and Bryan Baldo completed the top 4 result. In the triple A-mains, Robert would secure the win in the opening leg from Jaume Figuls while Juan Carlos Canas came in third with the latter taking the win in A2, shifting the decision for the overall victory to the third and final A-main. Going into A3 four drivers were in the mix for the overall win and it looked like Jaume would bring it home but he would suffer from several issues that allowed Robert to cruise to the win with Juan Carlos Canas second and Oscar Baldo third overall.
The inaugural BAM Buggy Asia Madness electric off-road race kicked off at Shanghai’s SMP AstroTurf race track this past weekend. The Scotty Ernst Production event in cooperation with SMP and RCI aims to replicate the success of the AOC series and grow electric off-road racing in Asia and China. The 3-day pilot race attracted 60 drivers from all over China as well as several top world class drivers from abroad including current 2WD World Champion, Spencer Rivkin from Team Associated, Japanese drivers Shin Adachi and Young Kaito Kodera from Yokomo, Czech Xray driver Kaja Novotny, and multi-time World Champion Naoto Matsukura from Team Infinity. The local top drivers included Yokomo’s Wang Hai Feng and Serpent’s Lin Le Hua. The BAM was held in a total of five classes, 2WD Modified and Stock, 4WD Modified, 2WD Truck, and a Tamiy Lunch Box fun class. The race format five rounds of qualifying with the best two to count, followed by triple bump-up A-mains.
Continue reading the report here
American offroad ace Ryan Maifield is to make his Euro Offroad Series debut with the confirmation he will travel to the season finale of the five round championship in Wels, Austria (21-23 April). Joining Yokomo’s 1:10 Offroad team for the 2017 season, the 4-times EOS Champion manufacturer will be hoping the input of their high profile signing will lead to the team’s first win of Season #6 since Marc Rheinard won the season opener. With both EOS buggy title’s having been decided at Arena 33 in Germany earlier this month, all drivers will be targeting the win to cap off the season with Maifield’s participation adding an extra dimension to winning at Austria’s largest Hobby Show. Featured on the Euro Touring Series calendar last year, the Modellbau Wels show attracted over 30,000 visitors. At last season’s finale, held at the Nurburgring, Maifield’s great rival Ryan Cavalieri became the first American to win a round of the indoor carpet track based championship but it wasn’t the Team Associated driver’s first EOS outing. Accompanying Maifield on the trip will be the Arizona driver’s longtime sponsor Jason Ruona whose JConcepts brand is an associated sponsor of this year’s Euro Offroad Series.
Source: Euro Offroad Series [eurooffroadseries.com]
Hobbywing have announced the signing of multi-time IFMAR World Champion, Naoto Matsukura to their factory team. The Infinity driver will use Hobbywing brushless speed controller and motors in all of his electric rides in 2017 and he has the following to say about the deal:
I am very happy to join Hobbywing team. I tested 1:10 off-road power combos last month and found it super good. Then I decided to use Hobbywing power in CETC first round to feel it on my touring car and it worked amazing. I think Hobbywing can provide me the best combos in all my electric classes. Thanks to Hobby and Sekido for this good opportunity.
Source: Hobbywing [hobbywing.com]
RC Excitement recently held their Supercross Showdown Race and in the 4WD Modified Buggy class it was Caleb Jennings who took the win from Jared Phair, coming from the 6th spot and chasing Caleb for a good part of the race, in 2nd and Mike Barkus 3rd. In Modified Truck Jared Phair jumped into the lead right at the tone and he would bring home the win from Jose Rodriguez in 2nd and Luis Moreno 3rd.
View the Mod Truck podium here
The Top Gun Carpet Shootout was held in Kennewick, Washington. In the 2WD Modified Buggy class Jeremy Potter (Xray) took the overall win coming from the 4 spot on the grid. Wins in A1 and A3 secured him the victory from Austin Azure (Xray) in second and Kason Russel (Kyosho) third. In the 4WD Modified Buggy class Darren Shank would end the day on he highest step of the podium, leading an Xray 1-2-3 from Jeremy Potter in second and Kevin Searl third.
The 2017 Tennessee Winterchamps were hosted by Thunder RC in Nashville. Paul Sinclair took the pole position in both 2WD Modified Buggy and 2WD Mod Short Course after swapping TQ runs with Jeremy Daniels throughout the 2WD Mod qualifying. In the 2WD Buggy A-main Paul and Jeremy were battling through several lead changes to the very end. An early wreck made things dicey for TQ Sinclair. Paul was able to gap the field a little bit over the first minute or so, but he rolled his buggy getting on the straight away and Jeremy got through. Pushing hard Paul caught back up to Jeremy, and both battled through the second half of the race. On the very last lap Sinclair turned up the pressure and came out on top.
