Red RC » R Off Road

March 20, 2025

Asian Buggy Championships underway in New Zealand, Noble & Dawson top seeding

With a new title sponsor in Cayote, the third season of the Asian Buggy Championships officially got underway today in New Zealand with Tekno’s Caleb Noble and WIRC’s Kasey Dawson topping seeding at the Counties RC Car Club track which once again plays host to the first stop on the championship’s 4 round calendar. Winner of the third round of the ABC in Australian last year, Caleb would set the fastest 2-consecutive laps in Nitro Buggy ahead of Kyle McBride and the Sworkz of Jayden Jamieson while a strong end to the day netted Mayako Youth Mentoring Program driver Dylan Toia P4. In eBuggy, local star Dawson had the advantage over Caleb thanks to his effort in the first of the two seeding rounds. Noble topped the second encounter but that effort was 2/10th slower overall. Behind them the older of the Toia brothers, Logan completed the eBuggy Top 3 as drivers now get ready for 3 rounds of qualifying in Pukekohe tomorrow.

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March 20, 2025

Setser confirmed at Sparko

As widely expected following his announcement he was leaving long time sponsor Team Associates, American Lee Setser has been confirmed at Sparko Racing. The 25-year-old from Florida becomes the lead driver at the 1:8 Offroad manufacturer following the acrimonious end to the short lived deal between the Taiwanese and Cole Odgen. On the announcement Setser said, ‘I’m am super excited to team up with Sparko racing! I’m really looking forward to help grow the brand and helping all the customers and team guys get tuned in with all the Sparko Cars. Looking forward to getting to the races and working along side the team! See everyone at the Track!’

Source: Sparko Racing [Facebook]

March 17, 2025

Phi-Long Nguyen defends FEMCA 1:8 Offroad title

Young Kyosho star Phi-Long Nguyen has successfully defended his FEMCA 1:8 Offroad Championship title, becoming the Champion of Asia once again in Vietnam over the weekend. The Far East Model Car Association (FEMCA), the governing body of RC racing that represents 15 nations in Asia and Australasia, on the awarding of last year’s championship made the move that a host track would have the option to run the event two years in a row to help recuperate any investment in putting on the event. After the success of the 2024 FEMCA Championships at Huỳnh Vĩ ‘s L.A track, this year the championship attracted 115 entries. With 6 rounds of qualifying it was 13-year-old Nguyen who secured the TQ topping four rounds with Team Associated’s Hyunkyu Jung his closest rival topping the other two qualifiers. With both drivers winning the respective 30-minute Semi Finals, it was the Vietnamese born & now American based Nguyen who like up on pole for the 45-minute title decider. Setting the fastest lap of the race, Nguyen took his Ielasi Tuned powered MP10 TKI3 to the win with a lap in hand over Jung, who like last year finished runner-up. The podium was completed by the Sworkz of Thai driver Paphon C who had lined up 6th on the grid with the similar buggies of Ryan Lee and Kevin Ho with 2023 FEMCA Champion Jeff Wang’s Ming Yang rounding out the Top 6.

Image: Hyunkyu Jung [Facebook]

March 13, 2025

Bayer joins Matrix Tires

Matrix Tires has announced former European Offroad Champion Martin Bayer has joined its offroad team line-up for the 2025 season. A racer who transitioned from team driver to the role of head designer for Xray’s offroad chassis offerings, on the news of joining the Italian manufacturer the Czech driver posted, ”Thank you for your trust and welcome me to the team’.

Source: Matrix [matrixtires.it]

March 13, 2025

Sparko Racing & Odgen part ways with immediate effect

Less than 2-months after announcing the signing of Cole Ogden, Sparko Racing has announced that it is no longer working with the US 1:8 Offroad driver with immediate effect following last weekend’s Dirt Nitro Challenge. The Taiwanese manufacturer and its US distributor issued the following statement on the matter, ‘Sparko Racing and Power Hobby would like to formally announce that we have parted ways with team driver Cole Ogden, effective immediately. During his short time with us, Cole has been an integral part of our team, bringing his talent, experience, and passion to the track. We are grateful for his contributions and the successes we have shared during our time together. As a professional organization, Sparko Racing is committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and sportsmanship. We expect all team members to align with our core values and code of ethics both on and off the track. While our paths are now diverging, we want to clarify that the consumption of alcohol was not a factor in this decision. We hold nothing but respect for Cole and his future endeavours. His dedication to RC racing is undeniable, and we have no doubt he will continue to be a strong competitor in the industry. We wish Cole the very best in his journey ahead and look forward to seeing him continue to push the limits of RC racing.’

Source: Sparko Racing [Facebook]

March 11, 2025

Donnelly dominates 2025 Keilor Invitational – Report

Australian 4WD National Champion Lachlan Donnelly has won an action-packed 2025 Keilor Invitational. The Reedy Race of Champions-style event, now in its 9th year, brings together the top ten Modified and Stock-class off-road racers from across Australia to battle it out on the unique oiled surface of Keilor Electric Offroad RC Association in Melbourne. competitors battle it out in 5 heads-up races over two days in each of 2WD and 4WD, with only one dropped result from each class. Donnelly headlined a Modified Invite field that featured 9 of the top 10 ranked drivers in the country, driving his Team Associated buggies to the win off the back of a dominant 4wd performance. Team-mates Lachlan Munday and Jordan Isergin rounded out the podium, with Munday earlier leading at the half-way mark after 2wd was completed. It was a powerhouse performance from Donnelly, travelling to the Invitational from Sydney’s Hills Offroad RC where he will next month tackle the IFMAR Worlds Warmup event. The 2025 win marked a defence of his first Keilor Invitational victory in 2024.

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March 10, 2025

Maifield & VanDalen compete Tekno sweep at DNC

US manufacturer Tekno enjoyed a clean sweep at a weather interrupted Dirt Nitro Challenge, Ryan Maifield taking the Nitro Buggy win as part of triple victory while Seth VanDalen took the Nitro Truggy win in Perris, California. The 26th edition of World renowned track builder Joey Christensen’s signature event, Joey and his team putting in some serious night shifts to prep the track after heavy rains, two rounds of qualifying saw Xray’s Dakotah Phend secure the Nitro Buggy TQ ahead of Maifield, Team Associated’s Spencer Rivkin and the Sworkz of European Champion Juan Carlos Canas. In the 45-minute final Phend and Maifield would dual it out in very rough track conditions with Mason Fuller taking a turn at leading before Maifield delivered the victory by 5-seconds over Mason with Phend completing the podium. In eBuggy it was Canas who took the TQ but it was Maifield from ninth on the grid who won 10-minute encounter ahead of Phend while the Spaniard completed the podium. With Maifield also taking the eTruggy win, in Nitro Truggy the defending champion secured the TQ but a great battle with team-mate VanDalen saw the 8th place qualifier take win by just 6/10ths of a second. Spencer Heckert completed the all Tekno podium.

Image: JConcepts [jconcepts.net]

March 3, 2025

Desert Classic wins for Lemieux & Horne

The annual Desert Classic presented By Stick It One took place at Hobby Action where it was Xray’s Chase Lemieux and Team Associated’s Aydin Horne who took the big wins. Attracted 320 entries, this was the 9th running of the event at the 2023 World Championship indoor track. In qualifying it was to be a dominant performance from Horne in 2WD as he topped all four rounds to secure the TQ from Lemieux, Japaneses visitor Kouki Kato and Spencer Rivkin. In 4WD it was also Horne who claimed the overall TQ after going fastest in 2 rounds. Fastest in Q3, Lemieux was again his nearest rival with Schumacher’s Broc Champlin P3 ahead of Dakotah Phend’s Xray which topped Q2. In the triple finals it was Rivkin who took A1 of 2WD as Horne fell to the back of the pack at the start before recovering to P3. In A2 Lemieux took a very close win over Horne which set up a three battle for A3. This time Horne would get the win over Lemieux but on tie-break Lemieux got the overall victory. In 4WD it was a more straight forward affair as Horne took the opening two encounters to seal the overall. Winning A3 from Phend, Lemieux got second with his team-mate completing the podium in Arizona.

Image: Mod Live Media [Facebook]